All about the various strata's under which the society is differentiated and how its impacts the lives of the common people.

1. “Caste and gender inequality in India.”

2. Introduction of CasteSystemin India
 The caste system in India is an important part of ancient Hindu tradition and
dates back to 1200 BCE. The term caste was first used by Portuguese
travelers who came to India in the 16th century. Caste comes from the
Spanish and Portuguese word “casta” which means “race”, “breed”, or
“lineage”. Many Indians use the term “jati”. There are 3,000 castes and
25,000 subcastes in India, each related to a specific occupation.
These different castes fall under four basic varnas:
 Brahmins—priests & teachers
 Kshatriyas—warriors & rulers
 Vaishyas— farmers, traders & merchants
 Shudras—labourers

3. • Caste not only dictates one's
occupation, but dietary habits
and interaction with members
of other castes as well.
• Members of a high caste enjoy
more wealth and opportunities
while members of a low caste
perform menial jobs.
• Outside of the caste system are
the Untouchables.
• They are considered to be in a
permanent state of impurity.
Untouchables were named
"Harijans" (Children of God)
by Gandhi.

4. Introduction of Gender Discrimination in India
 Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political
inequalities between men and women in India. Various international gender
inequality indices rank India differently on each of these factors, as well as on
a composite basis, and these indices are controversial.
 The Gender gap index for India compared to other countries. The gender gap
index is one of many multi-dimensional measures of gender disparity. India
was scored at 0.66 by the World Economic Forum, and ranked 101 out of 136
countries in 2013.
 Research shows gender discrimination mostly in favor of men in many realms
including the workplace. Discrimination affects many aspects in the lives of
women from career development and progress to mental health disorders.
While Indian laws on rape, dowry and adultery have women's safety at
heart, these highly discriminatory practices are still taking place at an
alarming rate, affecting the lives of many today.

5. Howdid CasteSystemoriginate in India
There are many theories like traditional, racial, political, occupational, evolutionary etc which try to
explain the caste system in India.
 Traditional Theory
According to this theory, the caste system is of divine origin. It says the caste system is an extension
of the varna system, where the 4 varnas originated from the body of Bramha.
At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and intellectuals and came
from Brahma’s head. Kshatriyas, or the warriors and rulers, came from his arms. Vaishyas, or the
traders, were created from his thighs. At the bottom were the Shudras, who came from Brahma’s
feet. The mouth signifies its use for preaching, learning etc, the arms – protections, thighs – to
cultivate or business, feet – helps the whole body, so the duty of the Shudras is to serve all the others.
The sub-castes emerged later due to intermarriages between the 4 varna.
 Racial Theory
The Sanskrit word for caste is varna which means colour. The caste stratification of the Indian
society had its origin in the chaturvarna system – Brahmins, Kashtriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.
Indian sociologist D.N. Majumdar writes in his book, “Races and Culture in India”, the caste system
took its birth after the arrival of Aryans in India.
 Political Theory
According to this theory, the caste system is a clever device invented by the Brahmins in order to
place themselves on the highest ladder of social hierarchy.

6. • Occupational Theory
Caste hierarchy is according to the occupation. Those professions which were regarded as better and
respectable made the persons who performed them superior to those who were engaged in dirty professions.
• Evolution Theory
According to this theory, the caste system did not come into existence all of a sudden or at a particular date. It
is the result of a long process of social evolution.
1. Hereditary occupations;
2. The desire of the Brahmins to keep themselves pure;
3. The lack of rigid unitary control of the state;
4. The unwillingness of rulers to enforce a uniform standard of law and custom
5. Ideas of exclusive family, ancestor worship, and the sacramental meal;
6. Clash of antagonistic cultures particularly of the patriarchal and the matriarchal systems;
7. Clash of races, colour prejudices and conquest;
8. Deliberate economic and administrative policies followed by various conquerors
9. Geographical isolation of the Indian peninsula;
10. Foreign invasions;
11. Rural social structure.

7. Modern Problems of CasteSystemin India
 The caste system is a check on economic and intellectual advancement and a
great stumbling block in the way of social reforms because it keeps economic
and intellectual opportunities confined to a certain section of the population
only.
 It undermines the efficiency of labour and prevents perfect mobility of
labour, capital and productive effort.
 It perpetuates the exploitation of the economically weaker and socially
inferior castes, especially the untouchables.
 It has inflicted untold hardships on women through its insistence on
practices like child-marriage, prohibition of widow-remarriage, seclusion of
women etc.
 It opposes real democracy by giving a political monopoly to Kshatriyas in
the past and acting as a vote bank in the present political scenario. There are
political parties which solely represent a caste. Eg: BSP was formed by
Kanshi Ram mainly to represent SC, ST and OBC.

8. Gender Inequalities in India
 Gender inequality has been a social issue in India for centuries. That in many
parts of India, the birth of a girl child is not welcomed is a known fact. It is a
known fact too, that discrimination starts from even before the girl child is
born and sometimes she is killed as a foetus, and if she manages to see the
light of day, she is killed as an infant, which makes up the highly skewed
child sex ratio where for every 1000 boys in India, there are only 908 girls. In
such a scenario, it is but obvious that for myriad reasons, many girls across
the country are forced to drop out of school.
 Patriarchal norms have marked women as inferior to men. A girl child is
considered a burden and is often not even allowed to see the light of the
world. It is hard to imagine this state of affairs in the 21st Century when
women have proved to be strong leaders in every field possible. From
wrestling to business, the world has been revolutionised by exceptional
women leaders in fields that were until recently completely dominated by
men.

9.  But in spite of such progress, even today, the girl child is discriminated
against in most Indian households. The birth of a baby boy is celebrated with
great pomp and ardour, but the birth of a girl child is received with dismay.
The practice of female foeticide through sex selective abortion continues to be
practiced in spite of the Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Act of 1994. In India
the child sex ratio is at the lowest it has ever been with just 914 girls for every
1000 boys (Census, 2011).
 42% of married women in India were married as children (District
Information System for Education (DISE) 3)
 1 in every 3 child brides in the world is a girl in India (UNICEF)
 India has more than 45 lakh girls under 15 years of age who are married with
children.
 Out of these, 70% of the girls have 2 children (Census 2011).

10. Causes of Gender Discrimination in India
 Attaining gender justice is not an easy task in India. From time immemorial,
a girl child has been considered as an unwanted entity and a burden whom
the parents would not mind doing away with. Discrimination against women
begins even before her birth. The gruesome evils of female feticide and
infanticide prove how brutal the world could be to women.
 Though the Indian constitution provides equal rights and privileges for men
and women and makes equal provision to improve the status of women in
society, majority of women are still unable to enjoy the rights and
opportunities guaranteed to them.
 The most important causes of gender disparity such as poverty, illiteracy,
unemployment, social customs, belief and anti-female attitude are discussed
here.

11.  Poverty:
In India of the total 30 percent people who are
below poverty line, 70 percent are women.
Women’s poverty in India is directly related to
the absence of economic opportunities and
autonomy, lack of access to economic resources
including credit , land ownership and
inheritance, lack of access to education and
support services and their minimal
participation in the decision making process.
 lliteracy:
Despite the notable efforts by the countries
around the globe that have expanded for the
basic education , there are approximately 960
million illiterate adults of whom two thirds are
women .Educational backwardness of the girls
has been the resultant cause of gender
discrimination.

12.  Lack of Employment Facilities:
Women are not able to resolve the conflict
between new economic and old domestic roles. In
both rural and urban India, women spend a large
proportion of time on unpaid home sustaining
work. Women are not able to respond to new
opportunities and shift to new occupations
because their mobility tends to be low due to
intra-house hold allocation of responsibilities.
 Social Customs, Beliefs and Practices:
Women are not free from social customs, beliefs
and practices. The traditional patrilineal joint
family system confines women’s roles mostly to
the domestic sphere, allocating them to a
subordinate status, authority and power
compared to men. Men are perceived as the major
providers and protectors of a family while women
are perceived as playing only a supportive role,
attending to the hearth.

13.  Social Altitude:
Though many social activists and reformers
carried their crusade against all social odds to
restore honour and dignity to women, attitudinal
disparities still hunt our rural masses. Despite
pronounced social development and
technological advancement, women in our
society still continue to be victims of exploitation,
superstition, illiteracy and social atrocities.
 Lack of Awareness of Women:
Most of the women are unaware of their basic
rights and capabilities. They even do not have
the understanding as to how the socio-economic
and political forces affect them. They accept all
types of discriminatory practices that persist in
our family and society largely due to their
ignorance and unawareness.

14. The Economic Dimensions of Gender Inequalityin India
 Gender inequality subsists in Indian economy and prevails in all sectors of
life like health, education, economics and politics. Men have always had the
upper hand in these fields, depicting how deeply patriarchy is entrenched in
India. Even though gender equality soars to great heights in post-
independence era, many steps have been taken in various sectors of life to
bridge the gap between men and women and to bring them up to the same
level.
 Women have been actively involved in economic activities and labor force in
contemporary times. In the agriculture sector for instance, 74% of the labour
force consists of women. Yet, the wage gap between men and women across
the Indian economy despite the active involvement of reformists and
feminists who have been fighting for equal pay.

15.  Women are also discriminated in terms of credit lending and property
ownership. This situation can be again drawn back to the patriarchal system
prevalent in the Indian economy: women have always been disbanded from
share in the properties as it is believed that men are the ones who actually
carry their generation forward and earn bread and butter for the family, while
women would just sustain upon the money earned by men.
 Women also lack behind the corporate and government sectors. Various
government programs and schemes have been launched in an attempt to
provide equal opportunities for men and women. Reservations have helped to
rise the number of jobs of women in government sector. This growing trend
also lead to changes in the

16. Article 15 Of the Indian Constitution
 Article 15 states that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds
only of race, religion, caste, sex, and place of birth.A suffocating patriarchal shadow
hangs over the lives of women throughout India. From all sections, castes and classes
of society, women are victim of its repressive, controlling effects. Those subjected to
the heaviest burden of discrimination are from the Dalit or “Scheduled Castes”,
known in less liberal democratic times as the “Untouchables”. The name may have
been banned but pervasive negative attitudes of mind remain, as do the extreme levels
of abuse and servitude experienced by Dalit women. They experience multiple levels
of discrimination and exploitation, much of which is barbaric, degrading, appallingly
violent and totally inhumane.The divisive caste system – in operation throughout
India, “Old” and “New” – together with inequitable gender attitudes, sits at the heart
of the wide-ranging human rights abuses experienced by Dalit or “outcaste”
women.“Discriminatory and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of over 165
million people in India has been justified on the basis of caste,” according to Human
Rights Watch

17. Provisions under Article 15:
 Article 15(1)
It prohibits the the state from discriminating against a citizen on grounds of religion,
race, caste, sex, place of birth.
 Article 15 (2)
Article 15(2) elaborates that no Indian citizen can be discriminated against on basis of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. It states that no citizen shall be denied access to
shops, public restaurants, hotels and palaces of public entertainment. It also adds that no
citizen shall be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with the use of
wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly
out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.

18.  Article 15 (3) and (4)
The Article also states that the article cannot be used as an argument to make special
provisions for women, children or any other backward classes. “Nothing in this article or in
clause ( 2 ) of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the
advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes,” the article states.
 Article 15 (5)
An amendment was made in the article in 2018 after the government announced 10%
reservation in colleges and universities for economically weaker sections. It states, “Nothing
in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 shall prevent the State from
making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally
backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as
such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including
private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the
minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30.]”

20. CONCLUSION
 Formal equality is not enough for achieving equality in outcomes, substantive equality is
essential.
 The concept of substantive gender equality recognizes that women and men have to be
treated differently and that women’s disadvantages (in particular marginalized) with have to
be addressed to achieve equality.
 The gender gaps globally and in India are higher in economic and political sphere than
Education and health. Skewed sex ratio at birth is becoming a global and Indian concern, As
well as high incidence of gender based violence against women
 The four important international conventions and agreements towards substantive gender
equality are the CEDAW, 1979, Vienna Declaration, 1993 that violence against women is a
human rights violation, Beijing Platform for Women, 1995 and Goal 5 of Sustainable
Development Goals, 2015.
 National approaches towards gender equality are many and include a combination of
welfare, formal gender equality, women’s poverty reduction, efficiency and empowerment.

21. References
 WWW.researchgate.net
 WWW.financialexpress.com
 https://www.communitybusiness.org/latest-news-
publications/culture-caste-and-religion-india-%E2%80%93-we-cant-
talk-about-
work#:~:text=Traditionally%2C%20India's%20caste%20system%20str
uctured,outside%20of%20this%20caste%20system
 WWW.jagranjosh.com

22. Acknowledgement
In the accomplishment of this project successfully, many people have best owned
upon us their blessings and the heart pledged support this time we are utilizing to
thank all the people who have been concerned with this project.
Primarily we would thank God for being able to complete this project with, Then I
would like to thank our principal Mrs. Hemlata Bagla and our F. C. teacher whose
valuable guidance has been the ones that helped us patch this project and make it full
proof success. Her suggestions and her instructions have served as the major
contributor towards the completion of the project.
Then we would like to thank our parents and friends who have helped us with their
valuable suggestions and guidance has been very helpful in various phases of the
completion of the project.
Last but not the least we would like to thank our all the members and the group
leader who have sailed us to the great success.