Abstract

The reality of women’s lives remains invisible. For Dalit and Adivasi women this invisibility persists at every level – from family to state. Although they share a common space with others in mainstream society and have made great strides in several fields, their presence is hardly recognized. The world in which they live is characterized by an intense unequal sharing of hardship due to their geographic, economic, cultural, societal and educational location. These extensive inequalities persist in their access to education, health care, and opportunities in the political, cultural, social and economical spheres. This paper documents subjectively the content of the National Dalit and Adivasis Women’s Congress around the articulations of three women; Abhinaya Kamble on Dalits, Razia Patel on Muslim NT/DNT and Gomati Bodra on Adivasis. It explores the scope for confronting these invisible realities through a gender and Dalit/Adivasi perspective and seeks to incorporate the standpoint of Dalit and Adivasi women into the process of critical, emancipatory knowledge creation by locating this discourse within the Ambedkarite framework of liberation.

Introduction

The categories ‘Dalit’ and ‘Adivasi’ are as complex as their lived realities. It is extremely significant to understand, comprehend and analyse the realities of women from the lived realities of these two communities as most universalised understanding of women’s realities does not apply to them. A woman from either of these communities is not just a woman but a Dalit or an Adivasi woman. With reference to their shared lived experiences, their space in society, the way they pursue their lives and struggle to survive, they are poles apart from other women. Revealing their realities is necessary and crucial for critical engagement. The National Dalit and Adivasi Women’s Congress 2013, held in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences organised jointly by the Centre for Social Justice and Governance, TISS, Insight Foundation, Delhi and the Dalit and Tribal Social Work International Collective was one of those critical and extremely important engagements, conceptualised around the idea of bringing Dalit and Adivasi Women together to discuss and debate on issues pertaining to their realities with the intention of unravelling intersectionalities. This paper focuses on the issues raised by three Dalit and Adivasi women and responses to them at the Congress and seeks to incorporate the same into the knowledge production process. For the purpose of this article I will be using an Ambedkarite framework rooted around the ideas of liberation through education and concomitant strategies emanating from the same that confronts invisibility and marginalization.

Education as a Tool for Emancipation

“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which woman have achieved” said Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Dr. Ambedkar emphasizes the role of education for women’s liberation. Dr. Ambedkar always emphasized that Dalit women should have equal social status in the society. He believed the true index of development of any society is the development of the women. In a conference on 18 th July 1927 Dr. Ambedkar addressed about three thousand women of depressed classes, where he said “Never regard yourself as Untouchables, live a clean life. Dress yourselves as touchable ladies. Never mind, if your dress if full of patches, but see that it is clean. None can restrict your freedom in the choice of your garments. Attend more to the cultivation of the mind and spirit of self-help”. Further he said, “But do not feed in any case your spouse and sons if they are drunkards. Send your children to schools. Education is as necessary for Females as it is for males. If you know how to read and write, there would be much progress. As you are, so your children will be.”

Further Dr. Ambedkar said to women “Learn to be clean. Keep from vices. Give education to your children. Instil ambition into them. Inculcate in their minds that they are destined to be great. Remove from them all inferiority complexes”. On marriage he remarked, “Do not be in hurry to marry. Marriage is liability .You should not impose it upon your children unless they are financially able to meet the liabilities arising from marriage. Those who will marry will have to keep in mind that to have too many children is a crime. The paternal duty lies in giving each child a better start than its parents had. Above all, let every girl who marries stand by her husband, claim to be her husband’s friend and equal, and refuse to be his slave. I am sure if you follow this advice, you will bring honour and glory to yourselves”. The way in which Babasaheb viewed the question of women is very critical to understand, extremely necessary in this era. As an analyst Babasaheb was deeply concerned about improving the status of women especially Dalit women. He was consistently working towards making Dalits aware about their conditions and women’s liberation was an integral part of his vision. Women were integral to his visionary egalitarianism, and the Ambedkarian movement had an enormous and radicalizing impact on Dalit women. Ambedkar made a separate, conscious and determined effort to politicize and politically educate Dalit Women (Zelliot, 2003). Along with democratic politics and later Buddhism as a chosen way of life of moral elevation, formal education was accorded central instrument as an instrument of revolutionary consciousness. Education had always been considered as way out of the miserable social conditions by those who have been oppressed. Babasaheb’s idea of education remained neglected, even in the so called Liberal Indian Education. The imbibing of Ambedkar’s thought and participation in his movement constituted the bedrock of Dalit women’s political education. Simultaneously, formal education became a significant focus of their political involvement, providing space for women’s action as political educators and educational activists, which in turn shaped Dalit, especially Mahar educational history (Purvis, 1992). Babasaheb’s life was a constant quest for values and principles to break the discriminatory social order. He framed his position in a very sharp manner saying “my quarrel with the Hindus and Hinduism is not over the imperfections of their social order. It is much more fundamental. It is over their ideal”. He framed his critique about caste in several ways, Rise and Fall of Hindu Women was one among them. He objected and attacked the extremely patriarchal injunctions of Manusmriti. Together they established the close link between caste endogamy and the ideological subordination of women through the imposition of customs and rules that controlled and circumscribed them and sanctioned their sexual oppression. Thus Ambedkar rejected the essentialism of both caste and gender inferiority that were deeply ingrained in Hindu thought. He was also concerned about the issues of class exploitation and poverty and was not unsympathetic to Marxism. He recognized capitalism as an enemy of Dalits. However, he saw caste as the foundational and autonomous building block of Indian social structure that was not reducible to class (Omvedt, 1994, 2004a).

Babasaheb’s thoughts on education must be understood in his social philosophy. Padma Velaskar, mentions three strands of the idea of education of Babasaheb i) Recasting the aims and purposes of education ii) Education as an instrument of substantive equality and iii) Women’s education. Babasaheb’s thoughts on education formed the core of his ideology. Education is seen as vital to women as much as to men. Women’s progress should be the yardstick of the overall development of Dalits. As mentioned above Babasaheb appealed to Dalits, asking their daughters be educated and that knowledge is not the domain of men alone – it is important for women as well. At the same time he did not cherish and said nothing about cultivating the feminine accomplishments, nor using education to elevate the performance of domestic tasks, and strongly supported co-education of boys and girls. He was clear that the ideal aims of education namely the development of critical thinking and rational spirit, were to be pursued by both men and women.

Contextualizing Invisibility of Dalit Women

Scholars like Gopal Guru has also stated that the Dalit women does talk differently and this is on the basis of external factors such as non-Dalit forces homogenizing the issues of Dalit women and internal factors like the patriarchal domination within the Dalits. Their social location determines their perception of reality. The issues of Dalit women raised by non-Dalits have been considered less valid and less authentic. In the case of sexual violence and rape against Dalit women, it is not only criminality and male psyche but there is a dimension of caste which needs to be taken in to consideration. The extent and magnitude of the severity of sexual violence is more in the case of Dalit and Adivasi women. The caste dimension is totally ignored by upper-caste, urbanized women activists. In the era of peasant movements such as Shetkari Sanghtana in Maharashtra and Karnataka, Dalit women did appreciate the feminist radicalism but not the ultimate subordination of the Dalit voice. They questioned the notion of such peasant movements who represent the interests of rich farmers; thereby they entered into the contradiction with the interests of Dalit agricultural labourers over the issue of minimum wages. Dalit women would not make common cause with the ‘moral economy’ advocated by Shetkari Sanghatana and its feminist supporters. It did not provide a solution to their poverty, instead attempted to naturalise their poor living conditions. Dalit women are also not in favour of the eco-feminist call for development since they have been denied access to any natural resource or to legitimately own a piece of land. This statement is justified when we see massive atrocities against Dalits. The Marathwada region is one among these several places. In Marathwada, Dalits have been and are being brutally killed and humiliated, women are being raped and murdered because they have tried to break the traditional hegemony of the ‘other’ and own resources such as land, water, and receive an education. This is where the struggle for acquiring grazing land started to have a decent livelihood option with Dalits, and one can observe the extent of atrocities against them. “No Shudra should have property of his own; He should have nothing of his own. The existence of a wealthy Shudra is bad for the Brahmins. A Brahman may take possession of the goods of a Shudra.” (ManuVIII-417 & X129). The whole society is by and large affected by the Manusmriti and does reflect brutality against Dalits, especially women. Looking at the nature, extent and magnitude of atrocities against Dalits, Marathwada becomes a classic example; the most number of victims are Dalit Women. The gap between the realities of upper caste, upper class women and Dalit women cannot bring national or international level solidarity among them. It is at first upper caste and upper class women who discriminate against Dalit women in both rural and urban areas. Ample instances can be sited for this statement even though they are not noticed or recognized or in the news. When a woman from the Matang (Dalit) community contested and won the Gram Panchayat election in one village of Marathwada, she was beaten up by the upper-caste women from another political party stating that she used unethical means to win the election. This shows how easy it is for non-Dalits to brand Dalits as ethical or unethical, deny their victory by rationalizing it in any manner. Who decides what is ethical and unethical? If ‘they’ decide what is ethical and what is not, then what is the validity of such explanations. Dalit is purely and strictly a caste terminology and no upper caste and upper class woman has the right to associate with this identity.

Social Status of Dalit Women and Dalit Patriarchy: Unlike upper-caste women, Dalit women are more free and not bounded by restrictions to be within the four walls of a house. She has always worked along with the man in the field. At the same time this does not mean that Dalit women are at a lower risk of being attacked than upper caste or upper class women. She is under the constant threat of being molested, raped, murdered, and humiliated inside the community as well as outside of the community. Even if she works along with (her) man on the field it doesnot mean that she holds equal rights in the family, in education, in decision making and so on. She is beaten and raped at the household level as well. The burden of identity is more – not only is she a woman, she is a Dalit woman. Her issues cannot be subsumed with the issues of Dalits at large but it is needed to address them separately. Dalit women have been subordinated in the Dalit movements by men and their potential in such acts has been denied. This subordination did not remain only with reference to politics but also in other spheres too – in literature and education. Dalit girls have a lower enrolment rate in schools after primary education; they barely manage to complete their primary education and are married off most of the time. This certainly reflects how patriarchy within Dalits is infected by Hinduised ideas of treating a woman and can be called Dalit Patriarchy. For the clarification of Dalit patriarchy this is not the only reason but there are several other reasons too, even today in the educated Dalit Families men of the family hardly wish to allow their wives to be in movements. Using the term Stri-Mukti,they are not at ready in the real sense.

Dalit leaders focused on the custom of child marriage, which was borrowed from upper castes and which was mainly a result of poverty. In 1924 at Nagpur, the Ladwan caste fixed the age of marriage of boys as 22 and 16 for girls. It was also decided that the expenses of a marriage should not exceed Rs. 16,000. Certain rules were formulated regarding a man-woman relationship. For example, if a woman deserted her husband and stayed with another man, the shradh ceremony and the jati-jevan (community feast) would not be performed after her death. This rule was formulated in 1913 at the Mahar Parishad in Nagpur. (Pawar 1994: 95) This also indicates that there were no such binding restrictions on men. This conference also formulated many other rules – women were prohibited from watching Tamasha or carrying petromax lanterns on their heads. What then is Dalit women’s liberation? For them the issues of Dalit women are merely a notion that men are enemies of women, and which is why they try to restrict women from having their own space. However, Dalit women have attempted to break these ideas of Dalit Patriarchs and rejected the notion of needing any consent from men to organize or liberate themselves because no one can liberate by asking, it has to be achieved.

Conceptualising Intersecting Frameworks

The National Dalit and Adivasi Women’s Congress was conceptualised with the view of confronting fundamental questions concerning community and society at large, with reference to women’s identity and location within a community. Examining the categories of caste, Adivasi and gender from a Dalit and Adivasi women’s perspective was one of the crucial aspects of this congress. Dalit and Adivasi women are present in academia, media, management, activism, science and so on with tremendous potentialities. This piece of evidence was the point of inception for the congress. While conceiving Dalit and Adivasi women as two distinct categories the congress was organised to facilitate discussions and share commonalities and differences in the struggle of Adivasi and Dalit Women, their ideological positions regarding their identity as either Dalit or Adivasi and women – factors that foreground and undermine their struggle for equality and justice and possibility to overcome them.

Contestation galore took place while conceptualising the Congress. Although the issues of Dalit and Adivasi women shows some degree of similarities, their histories and categorical realities are different and thus cannot be viewed within a single frame. The reality of their existence lies in immense oppression, exploitation, exclusion, discrimination and most importantly the burden of their identity as being Dalit or Adivasi and then a woman. Thus in a common struggle for a dignified life, for equality and for justice, their differences were more stark than any shared experience or commonality which acted as a methodological obstacle for organising a platform. The quest for existence in society has remained divided into two worlds – one is the world of Dalits and the other is of Adivasis. The issues of women in these communities have always been seen in seclusion rather than emphasising on the common fundamental aspects of their struggle.

The congress was conceptualised to reconstruct the histories of their resistance to patriarchal control within the communities and build upon the feminist legacies of their foremothers, elders and peers. There have been assertions by women of these communities against patriarchy within and outside the community. There is evidence of such resistance in the pithy sayings, songs and poems of foremothers of these communities. A dialogue, documenting such oral history and tradition was long overdue. Since the beginning leadership has always been in the hands of men of the community and such patriarchal leadership is often caught in the power struggles with other communities. Such leadership became futile for women of these communities. The matters of leadership have revolved around male-male conflict for intra and inter community leadership. It is in this context that Dalit and Adivasi women’s leadership become extremely important as she has the vision of returning back to the community as most pursuits are rooted in the emancipation of community.

There are extreme margins for women as citizen of modern state which needs to be mapped. The roots of Dalit and Adivasi Feminist discourse are linked with the outer world and are humongous. The apriori realities of Dalit and Adivasi women are not concentrated only around massive exploitation but other factors too, such as, need to divulge Caste, Tribe and Patriarchal intersection. Further the politics of patriarchal language, culture and religious influence weaved around their lives, their assertion against physical, mental and sexual violence and atrocities and role of education in the lives of Dalit and Adivasi women while confronting their marginalisation and invisibility. There is also a need in this context to understand the contribution of Savitrimai Phule, Ramai Ambedkar, Mahatma Jotiba Phule, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shahu Maharaj to women’s movement in the country and incorporate their ideologies in Dalit and Adivasi women’s struggles based on shared lived experiences of Dalit and Adivasi women around the notions of labour, understanding the meaning of academia and the space given and captured by Dalit and Adivasi Women in academia, women in other professions such as media, law, their experiences, presence of women in Indian Legislature and Politics, experiences of Dalit and Adivasi students, movements of Dalit and Adivasi students, their positions and contributions and the politics of empowerment and women in development sector. Challenging the objectification of Dalit and Adivasi women through their distorted portrayal in mass media, articulation of their radical thinking through their poems, writings is imperative and although their experiences vary there is unity in their call for change in pre-existing situations in which they are living.

Confronting Invisibility: The invisibility of Dalit, Adivasi, and Muslim NT/DNT women has remained unexplored for many reasons. A huge challenge in this regard is to define their invisibility itself. The reason for this challenge is again goes back to the fact that these communities are different identities. This identity is in terms of socio-cultural, Politico-historical, educational and religious contexts. These vast spheres of their identity are essential components while defining their invisibility. In this section I’m de-briefing an account of realities in relation of invisibility of Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim NT/DNT women. This section explains the way their invisibility is expressed by them through their experiences, confrontation with the world in their possible capacities.

Abhinaya Kamble raised issues under the following broad thematic areas – critical knowledge, practice of critical knowledge – necessary critique on ‘us’ and ‘they’, notion of patriarchy, scope to use the term Dalit patriarchy, caste violence specially the case of Khairlanji, women in scavenging and trafficking and their fate. Confrontation of invisibility has several aspects which one needs to look through. The several spheres of Dalit and Adivasi women have their own significance to be studied.

Dalit Women and the Need for Questioning: Knowledge creation has never been a smooth process for Dalit women. The bulk of information that has been created by their lived experiences could never appear as knowledge. The boundaries of their information dissemination were strictly defined. It could never take a shape of a structured knowledge and there are several reasons for that. To site few of them – their limited access to education, ability to comprehend their realities and articulate in public domain and the influence of internal as well as outer patriarchy. These are fundamental reasons, or let us say factors that have never allowed space to locate their issues in a manner that is ‘politically correct’. Perhaps they have never been recognised as such. Thus their sublime confrontation with their invisibility remained subterranean and never appeared in public domain to masses in general and even within their own community in particular. If one views the same even more critically then their confrontation has always remained sidelined by the ‘mainstream’.

Dalit and Adivasi women have confronted their invisibility in several ways. An engagement on knowledge creation and hence recognition to the same is important. Considering Dalit women as an analytical category, the knowledge creation process in the context of critical knowledge is important. In social science oriented knowledge production or otherwise in the public domain and spaces, it is evident that Dalit women in their critiquing process did have some space. Dalit women as a category were analyzed and used to understand the subordination of mainstream women that led to sharpening the lenses of upper caste and upper class women comprehension of their self. Dalit women are more concerned with the context of Dalit women subjugation and how free are they to choose their partner unlike upper caste-class women. In this context it is important to note that Dalit and Adivasi women are being discussed and studied, not for themselves but for the understanding of subordination of mainstream women.

The issues of Dalit and Adivasi women are identified with upper caste-class women without taking note of their different worlds. This is a danger which has been created by a naïve understanding of Dalit and Adivasi women’s reality. Still the question remains, is the Dalit woman an analytical category? Nothing was available on the lives of Dalit and Adivasi women and hence it becomes important to look at them in a fresh manner so as to understand. Dalit women were in the outskirts of the village whereas Adivasi women were in far flung interior areas. Dalit woman has never been understood through a sociological perspective and hence there is greater need to understand her reality through newer ways. It is a fact that was rarely conceived as source of knowledge production.

The understanding of the term Dalit women cannot be understood through the blanket understanding of women or feminist ideology, rather it has to be understood by contextualising it, coming down to the lived reality of Dalit woman. A Womanist, Genderist perhaps Dalit Womanist perspective is worth taking up; because there is a lapse in ignoring not only the category Dalit women but also Dalit community as it overshadows the issues of upper caste-class women. Womanist perspective is necessary because Dalit woman were basically co-workers in production along with her male partner – the subordination which she was subjected too was not all by herself but her man was always there with her. With some degree of variation these are also the issues of Adivasi women. The given context suggests that there is a need to have a knowledge system owned by Dalit and Adivasi women and recognition of their pre-existing knowledge system, because they do have one. Kumud Pawade in her narratives on Sanskrit as a language of upper caste argues “What I have to listen is to praise; I need to listen for praises”, indicating what really has been created about “these others” from “those” privileged categories.

Another aspect to understand the Dalit women’s reality is the Practice of Critical Knowledge – a necessary critic on ‘us’ and ‘they’. Provided there is a need to understand the notion of critical knowledge, it is basically for emancipation. This emancipation is not only for the oppressed but also the oppressor. The critique on ‘us’ and ‘they’ traces back to the analysis of several black feminists especially Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, Mcclaurin, Bell Hooks, Alice Walker and several others who used standpoint feminist epistemology as an approach while studying women of colour. It also proposes that ‘we don’t have to go for the emancipation of the subordinated but we also have to understand why these particular aspects have subordinated us’.

In India, various pedagogies are in practice to understand Dalits and different sets of people are studying the category Dalit. There are differences in the way they present their studies, findings and analysis. Each set of people produce information with different approaches. These categories or set of people can be referred to as – category of upper caste-upper class researchers, category of Dalits themselves the category of non-Indian or to be more specific, western whites.

For the category used by upper caste and upper class researchers, the recent example is of Ashish Nandy’s statement on corruption in India. These facts show who is corrupt but he projected it otherwise and also got interpret in such a manner. His statement in a way brought to notice groups who do and do not engage in corruption. Facts regarding the same came into discussion and criticism. This category of researchers critique and criticise Dalits and give them suggestions to change – in doing so, emphasis is given on changing the victim more than changing the outlook and perception of the victimizer.

There is another category of researchers who are Dalits themselves. These researchers have been under tremendous Brahminical surveillance and they have failed to understand what exact knowledge they have to produce. They repeat articulation about their realities as others do. If they produce knowledge it is the same that has already been produced about them.

The third category of researchers studying Dalits is foreigners, mostly western whites. Their articulation is totally different and comes from above and outside. A case in point is the recent documentary created by Anand Patwardhan. Dalit women’s realities are told by others, without clarifying. Dalit women’s role is nowhere found in this articulation, in relation to what they feel and what they have to say. It could also be read that this is the intentional behaviour on part of upper caste researchers who talk about these issues.

There are critiques on the Dalit movement, its nature and impact. An example of this is Nicolas Jaoul’s article on the Khairlanji caste atrocity. This article appeared in Samaj (South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal) and was largely about Khairlanji and the protests that followed – the righteous anger of the powerless and investigating Dalit outrage over caste violence. It wasn’t about scrutiny or investigation about the Khairlanji case; as in what really happened, whether they had justice or not, but about capturing the kind of outrage that can take place related to such incidents. It pre-supposes that Dalit protest movements against caste violence through such outrage is supposedly emotional, used in an open and demonstrative manner. It framed Dalit movement’s aggression as emotional acts. In this context the analytical category is less about unravelling what happened, what went wrong, the injustice of what happened in Khairlanji, as no one wants to know what happened to Dalits because they are not the concern of the mainstream. While the Delhi rape case provoked the state to enact a special ordinance, there are a number of atrocities against Dalit women pending where even taking cognizance is a challenge. These are the harsh realities Dalit women operate in within the confines of the Indian nation state.

If a Dalit women is forced into the prostitution isn’t it an everyday, ongoing process of rape? Why does no one take this up as rape? There cannot be prostitution by will. It is extremely important to mention some facts about Mumbai in this regards. Statistics indicate that the population in general as far as Dalit women are concerned is 2.5 percent but their representation in the prostitution and trafficking is 45 percent. If prostitution is considered as rape since it is by force and not by will, then the culprit is not only the individual but also the one who sends the individual into prostitution and the entire society who contributes by not saying a thing. NGOs, especially those run by the upper caste /class play an important role in sustaining these practices. They provide educational institutions for the children of women in prostitution provide education to the women as well but they do not touch the aspect of relieving them from their work and propose alternatives. Then there are also the brothel owners. This is nothing but intentional behaviour of upper caste/class NGOs who also project these women as their workers while still continuing with their work as prostitutes. There is justification given to trafficking and scavenging. So much so that they are called professions. No one asks why these professions are not opted by upper caste and upper class or why these women are forced into it due to lack of alternative livelihood.

On the part of academics, there is an ongoing debate related to Dalit women writers writing only from a patriarchal perspective and not from the point of view of caste subordination. This is ongoing at this moment especially in Mumbai and Maharashtra. Taking analytical categories of the narratology or Dalit women writings and the aspects of how patriarchy has made them suffer, local politics comes first as knowledge production is concerned. Such practices are there in our country and so called intelligentsia.

In the context of knowledge creation and critical knowledge the relationship between teacher and student has to be friendly. In the tradition of Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu, everything is Guru; you touch the feet of the Guru and there ends any scope for questioning. The Buddhist questioning is not there, and since there is no questioning process, knowledge is stagnant, and no questioning means no new knowledge. Because of this, the very purpose of sociological sciences, to solve the issues and problems of society, is completely bypassed. Pedagogy needs to understand the learner starts learning with critiquing one’s teacher, and the teacher too must critique oneself now and then. Traditional knowledge is official knowledge and official knowledge of art and art forms sometimes have sharp edges against the oppressed. The best example that can be sited is of Lawnee ; Eros is important in everybody’s life and for all of us. But is this Eros equal? She dances for the consumption of men not only upper caste but men in general. Students need to critique and then accept.

There should be balance between theory and practice. Theory is considered legal. A well known luminary Catharine MacKinnon says that theory is not luxury, one need to work on it and understand ground reality. If theory is super structure, ground realities (which are being worked on by those on the field) should be the foundation. We need to make meaning of these experiential realities and we should not eliminate them. Knowledge which has been produced at least after India’s independence should be reviewed.

Image in Reality – Portrayal of Adivasi Women in Media: Dr. Bodra primarily analyzed the representation of Adivasi women, specifically those of central India and northeast in print media and popular cinema. She has been following the Times of India, Hindustan Times, Deccan, Indian Express, and Asian Age since 1999. Dr. Gomati Bodra reflect upon how popular perceptions are being constructed and strengthened within the power structure of ethnicity and patriarchy – further reinforced by the media’s hegemonic power and c o nfronted invisibility and distortion in a different manner by analysing media’s representation of Adivasi women in relation to the popular discourse. She argues that the subordination of Adivasi women operates at various complex levels. Traditional notions related to women’s roles, social position and responsibilities, political, economical and sexual rights are determined and judged from the dominant caste cultural perspective which clash with the principles of the Adivasi tradition. Linked to the basic form of subordination is the injustice inherent in the mind set which goes into the construction of the image of Adivasi/Tribal women in media.

From a sociological perspective we need media as text. Media is one of the prime cultural sites through which it is possible to study the position of women in society. This is an arena within which our society presents itself publicly, finds an identity, establishes the parameters for consensus and relegates the unconventional to margins. In contemporary society the term culture is used to describe the symbolic expressions of the various characteristics, the ways in which it comes to be represented in language, printed text, sound, visual image etc. According to sociologist Adorno cultural forms are primarily mass produced and disseminated to an undifferentiated audience which is best described as mass culture. Most of these are produced, marketed and distributed by global corporations that have been described as cultural industry.

Popular discourse has a tendency to represent Adivasi women as a homogenous group having similar life experiences. Representation is a political issue without the power to define their interest and to participate in decisions that affects them. Adivasi women in media are subjected to the definitions and decisions of others which serve the interest of mainstream society. Dominant patterns of representation are constructed on the basis of socially and structurally dominant values which are in turn produced and reproduced through the same set of dominant representation.

One of the most fundamental features of the growing discontent between mass media and mass reality is the structural shutting out of the poor in the media and a corporate hijack of media agendas. In this context media is most exclusive and elitist. These determine media coverage and representation of women in relation to the patriarchal social structure. Media cannot be considered as an autonomous structure of society. The prevailing power structure determines equally the nature of coverage. Undeniably therefore caste, class and patriarchy are operationalized. There is an evident preoccupation of upper caste, middle and upper class, educated urban men and women and in contrast no presence of Dalits or Adivasis in the media. This is the reason for the negligible understanding of issues related to them.

The portrayal of Adivasi women is always around the concept of the ‘other’. If we look at the projection of Adivasi/Tribal women there is a proclivity to view them as a homogenous group having similar life experience. This reveals fundamental upper caste, patriarchal principles. In an article titled “Efforts to create a wonderful world” in the Deccan Herald, different customs prevailing in different Adivasi/Tribal communities was written about. It stated:

The Bondo girls older by many years marry a young boy who takes care of her when she’s old. Eligible teenagers of the Dhruva tribe of Chhattisgarh choose their own partners. The girls wear a bone comb in their hair. The boy chooses a girl, chases her, takes the comb out of her hair and runs into the deep forest, followed by her. Her mission is to retrieve the comb, and return to the village. That can be after a day or two, when the couples have had time to explore all the sexual rituals. Returning with the comb, she decides if she wants to marry him or not. If yes, the dowry is decided by the families, which would be in form of a goat, chicken, banana, and ‘mahua’.

This type of presentation of Adivasi/Tribal people in general and women in particular is depicted by the cultural stereotype.

There is also the projection of Adivasi/Tribal women as the victim, and the preference of dealing with women as victims is doubled. Even if the problems of Adivasi/Tribal women are mentioned, the otherness is maintained by most newspaper articles. For example, in primitive Adivasi/tribe of C haukhutia Bhunjiya of Odisha, women are not allowed to wear blouses, petticoats, chappals and they are not allowed to write the Higher Secondary exams. Other articles focus on problems of abandoned Adivasi/Tribal women in Kerala and Odisha specifically in Kandhamal district. Most of these news articles mention sexual abuse of Adivasi/Tribal women by non Tribal men yet they reinforce the stereotype of Adivasi women enjoying more freedom than women from mainstream society as they are free from practice of child marriage, dowry or prohibition of widow remarriage. Such perceptions view Adivasi/Tribal women as being in a better place than their non Tribal counterparts. Another indication of gender equality is the sexual freedom Adivasi/Tribal women enjoy in terms of choosing spouse, easy divorce, remarriage etc. These are recognised as great markers of liberation or high status- these are all upper caste and upper class perceptions.

In relation to domestic workers in Delhi- most of whom are Adivasi/Tribals from central and eastern Indian states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc, there are reports of abuse and ill treatment of young maids who are new to the job. On the other hand there appears another article. The headline of the same; ‘Delhi’s maids get upwardly mobile’. It also refers to the Hollywood Romantic Comedy film ‘Maid in Manhattan’ that released in 2002. It states:

When Maggie came to Delhi from Jharkhand, she was terrified of traffic signals. After eight years — mostly with upper crust families — she’s on to a blue-chip, all-expenses-paid and no-taxes career. She speaks English, bakes bread and takes messages from American teachers of her employer’s child. She is a housekeeper, making Rs 6,000 a month. Pretty good, for someone who didn’t even get the chance to go to school…I won’t get married and blow it all up… Maids from faraway villages are arriving here to scale up their profession like never before. Artless, rural girls are transforming themselves into smart and urbane professionals.

This misrepresents Adivasi/Tribal domestic workers who migrate from Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh and are concentrated on the lower levels of unorganized sector who remains at the mercy of their employers. This reinforces the stereotype that Adivasi/Tribal women have the mobility to make choices in life specifically regarding migration, marriage and livelihood.

On one hand she has been projected as a victim and on the other hand she is considered brave. Adivasi/Tribal women particularly resist injustice and participate in any resistance movement. One thing is common – she is branded as the other and automatically her activity is related to that particular community. Though bravery is considered a masculine trait it also relates to Adivasi/Tribal women because the popular perception is that they are close to the wilderness and forests. In few articles and newspapers, docile looking Adivasi/Tribal women armed with lathis and traditional weapons roam the forests and they resist mafias with courage. Such depictions are to create an emotional rhetoric and an invasive picture which is very different and also opposed to the image of mainstream women, who, in contrast are considered more sensible, homely and domesticated. This framing of women by the media was defined by Tuchman as a symbolic annihilation achieved by the condemnation, trivialization and absence of women from media. The direct bearing of globalization on the representation of culture and gender is generally being represented and it is promoting a consumer culture within most English newspapers. A section on lifestyle is an integrated feature of most of the newspaper which comes as a supplement. Adivasi/Tribal women have been specifically featured many times under the column Art and Culture – Particularly traditional Tribal clothing, embroidery work, jewellery which is basically women’s work which is considered to be ethnic, stylish and sellable to the urban upper middle class.

Another article in Deccan Herald art work of women in Lumbada tribes in Andhra Pradesh by the government represents high workmanship and graphically depicts different form of art practices by l umbani tribes having very close contact with nature. The colourful attire with all their embellishment, crafty jewellery worn by the women folk always seems associated with the civilized law. On the other hand their ivory bangles are important to them since it is part of their traditional attire; silver toe rings, neck chains specifically made thumb rings, bead works their hair and other broom sticks for their ears all these are being described. According to this article when lumbani women is in her traditional attire besides colourful costume also revealing their back are considered extremely beautiful. Such descriptions are also made for Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. There is a cluster of binary conception in sociological perspectives which helps make sense of the world; such as public, private, culture, etc. Such cultural representation reinforces the notion of gender difference. One key way of gender representation culturally is the segregation of certain art work which reinforces the notion of women both as feminine and inferior.

With reference to the photographs depicting Adivasi women, meanings generated around representation are created by where it appears and what is brought to it by context and convention. The use of photographs by English print media in most articles revolve around Adivasi and Adivasi women shown as part of already framed discourses that are conventional and portray a generic understanding of Adivasi women representation. There are the typical representation of the exotic and the feminine, represented as half naked dark skin. Most picture shows Adivasi women in central India carrying bamboo baskets, pots of firewood, grabbing a piece of cloth running in the middle of the forest, selling rice bear in the weekly markets and dancing together. Generally popular media fails to capture changing roles of Adivasi women. Such stereotypes draw heavily from anthropological accounts and north Indian writings.

The overall exclusion and marginality of Tribal women from public space, cultural, political and economic power is achieved through the self negation of self identity and abrogation of rights and processes of repression. The media did not event women’s equality victimization and they cannot be solely be held responsible for resistance of discrimination. Yet the image they create around glorifying the situation and presenting it as normal and expected state of affairs is often reinforced. Constant distorted depiction may mislead or blind people and also tempt to create a belief that Adivasis are nonexistent and thus not an important part of Indian society. Exposing the ideological ties, socio economic and political reality and media image represented is one step towards breaking hegemony.

Marginalisation of Muslim Nomadic Tribes /De Notified Tribes (NT/DNT): The notion of invisibility is applied to diverse realities of women belonging to Dalit, Adivasi and NT/DNT communities. In the case of Muslim NT/DNT it is worth understanding through the very idea of visibility. Physical and intellectual invisibility are the biggest challenges they face. No one cares whether they are citizens of India or human beings. Their invisibility has an element of religion. Measures are thus needed to bring them to the ‘mainstream’ development discourse and also question state’s role as a welfare state. In this regards, the fact of marginalisation is constant in their survival which is the reason for their invisibility too. Subordination is seen at multiple levels such as their caste location, religion, community practices, gender and most widely experienced factor of patriarchy. The question of creating or occupying space is far away since there have never been any space created, for which the mentioned factors are dominant to great extent.

Razia Patel expressed the need to understand where marginalization lies in society. While understanding marginalization processes there is a need to work differently and the best point to begin is from where there is extreme and massive marginalization. Not only in India but around the world there is a perception about Islam being a monolithic society, a religious community without a caste system. There is a misunderstanding about the same in India as well as outside. The fact is that there is no community in India free of caste and hence the need to relook at marginalisation through a caste perspective.

While looking at the Muslim community along the lines of caste, there are sections which are the lowest – a minority within the minority, who are marginalised within the marginalised. Muslim Nomadic Tribes are a part of the extreme lowest, which have no identity. Muslim women, especially NT/DNT Muslim women, face exploitation in several ways. Firstly, they are a minority, secondly they belong to a backward caste, and lastly they are women. After the Mandal Commission, Muslim OBCs came to the fore front but the question of Muslim NT/DNTs is never the agenda. There are Shiekhs, Shias, Sunnis and also different schools of thought within Muslim society. Muslim society does not have a single face. Their characteristics are not the same. There is difference between Muslims of Arabistan and Muslims of India. If one views the Muslims of India, especially those who converted into Islam and were once Hindus who had been identified as untouchables and belonged to lower castes, they form a huge section. There were rumours that the sword was used to make people convert to Islam. It is important to deconstruct this conception because we first need to understand how the sword of caste was used on untouchables and then grapple with the fact, why is it that nearly 75-80 percent of those who converted to Islam have come from lowest castes, with around 20 percent from middle castes and only 5 percent are those who can be called Brahmins within Muslims. Even after conversion to Islam, caste identity has remained the same, hence the saying among people jo kabhi nahi jaati, who jaati hai ( caste never goes) . The main criterion of the caste system that has penetrated is around roti aur beti, khanpan (no inter-caste marriage and no commensality). Those who play religious politics say that among Muslims there are three distinct layers conceptualising around caste; Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arjan ( those who are at the highest, middle and lower in ranking respectively). Marriage, inter-dining and social interaction are not seen among them. However, there is no untouchability unlike the Hindu Varna system.

In relation to the issues of Muslim NT/DNT communities, especially women, nothing is available about them in literature. A study conducted by the Minority Cell of the Indian Institute of Education revealed that there are around eighteen Muslim NT/DNT castes ( Faquir, Darweshi, Baghwale, Ricchwale, Madari, Mungus-Titarwale, Bandarwale, Jadugar, Untwale, Tambatkari, Shikalgar, Nalban, Santraj, Bahurupiyan, Tadwi Bhill , Bhangi Mehtar, Chhapparband). They have been categorized as SCs, STs or OBCs in some places. However, their existence, political identity or citizenship is almost invisible. The maximum number belong to the B aghwale, Richhwale, Sapwale, Titarwale, Baterwale and Bandarwale castes and their displacement is seen as well. When the Wild Life Protection Act came into existence these groups were displaced and rarely any voice was raised about their rehabilitation. Because of the patriarchal system the subordination of these women is very evident. In the process of displacement these women suffered a lot. A study on their settlement reveals that they live in cloth tents in the outskirts of the village (known as pal in Marathi). These tents are set up where the village dumps its garbage. Women are there for most of the day; this seriously affects their security and health. Most importantly, they are not considered a caste group but as Muslims. They are hated because majority fundamentalist powers have created this notion that Muslims should be hated. In urban areas Muslim NT/DNT women stay in very small, dark rooms with no light or windows just as it is with NT/DNT Muslim women in rural areas. This is because they are hardly present in any government lists. They have no village, no home, no land, no existence – they have no proof or evidence required to identify them as citizens. Marginalisation of these communities is a reality. There is a need to have unity and a voice and there is a need to have thorough information about their lives. Caste and occupation cannot be separated – when their animals were snatched away, their means of livelihood vanished. The whole family lost its source of livelihood, and subsequently the situation of women became more painful and miserable.

Just as there are caste panchayats in every caste based society, they operate here as well. Studying the conditions of these women also includes the study of such caste panchayats in terms of their role in the lives of women. Muslim NT/DNT women in rural areas and in urban slums are controlled by caste panchayats. Muslim NT/DNT women demand that their questions be addressed by the government and not by the caste panchayat because there is not a single woman in the caste panchayat. This shows their political aspirations and simultaneous marginalisation. They have expressed their lives through the lines of these folk songs:

Kahibhi apana thikana nahi jamane mein, na ashiyaane ke bahar na aashiyane mein

“ I have place neither at home nor outside”

Maut de de khudai, Zindagi ka bharosa nahi hai, meri aankhon pe padada pada hai, teri aankhon pe toh padada nahi hai.

Directly complaining to Allah they say “Oh Allah, at least give me death, I have no belief in my life, what if my eyes are closed but you are seeing everything”.

Like non-Muslim Tribal communities where Hinduisation took place, Islamization is taking place in Muslim Tribal communities. Hinduisation and Islamization are big issues. In the process of Islamization, women in these communities are being sacrificed and the difference in the education pattern for boys and girls is evidence enough to explain the same. There is a need to understand that marginalisation is not by choice and their impacts are far reaching. The whole system is in fact responsible for this. There is a need to think about which powers we have to fight, who is pushing us to our marginalisation, why we have to fight and how we have to fight? How can we break these systems? A danger we have now is that caste is becoming a political unit. When we talk about equality and social justice, how do we break this system and work with caste and gender together? How we can build power for the same? Irony is that their expression has remained confined and could never been heard.

Intersections: The three above mentioned contexts are located in different frames. The invisibility of Dalit women has been highlighted through their own writing, space in academics, approaches to study their category and its impact on Dalit women. The reality of Muslim NT/DNT women is described is in relation to their demand to create a space for the present as well as future generation, societal perception about them, forced education which does not serve the purpose of emancipation, the gap between the education pattern for boys and girls. The portrayal of Tribal women in media, although a different context all together, shows the projection of Tribal women as the other – a reality for all three categories. The attempt of researchers outside of these categories is to subsume the original conditions of these women into the larger question of community or universalise women to include women from other communities as well. There is a need to deconstruct the realities of these women with regards to their shared lived experiences, and mainstreaming them has to be redefined. Is it required to introspect whether mainstreaming them is a necessity at all because these women also propose not to be identified with the so called mainstream society – this is where the invisibility of women belonging to these communities intersect.

Conclusion

This article in the form of a reflection has explored the idea of invisibility in terms of Dalit, Muslim NT/DNT and Adivasi women. The context traced out identifies education as an imperative, not just around its general idea but one which helps develop the ability to question, inculcate egalitarian values, and strengthen ability to confront oppression and ability to strive for the betterment of our community. I would locate these three different realities in the framework of education as elucidated by Dr. Ambedkar. While noting the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar about education and women, one understands how significant they are to current day realities. The given contexts not only call for freedom but before that, a deconstruction of pre-existing notions about their realities in a practical and non glorified manner. I see this as a call for political mobilization too, where Dalit, Muslim NT/DNT and Adivasi women take the lead of addressing their issues without being mere recipients of hegemonic powers, be it any movement in general or feminist movements in particular. Throughout the expression of his ideas about women’s education Dr. Ambedkar emphasizes on equal social status of women, having big ambitions, denial of feminine virtues which are in fact imposed on women, equal rights for women which makes it clear that there should not be a subordinated existence of women. Taking into consideration this fact, by educating themselves Dalit, Muslim NT/DNT and Adivasi women can confront their invisibility efficaciously.

Education has always been the site of caste contestation, imbued with new values and meanings and was assigned multiple roles. Contestations were both ideational and instrumental in the process of social reconstruction. Dalit, Muslim NT/DNT and Adivasi women can play a pioneering role in terms of re-establishing the new systems and deconstructing the pre-existing ones which are exploitative, humiliating and discriminatory in nature. Their standpoints can demolish the extremely stereotyped identities of caste, tribe and gender.

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