16/08/2022

11. GENDER RELIGION AND CASTE

(A) Gender division is social where as sexual division is biological.
(B) Sexual division of labour:- a system in which all work inside the home is either done by the
women or organised through domestic helpers.
(C) Feminist :- a woman or a man who believes in equal rights and opportunities for men and
women.
(D) Feminist movement :- Radical women's movement aimed at equality in personal and family
life . These are called as feminist movement.
(E) Patriarchy :- a system in which the father is the head of the family. It values men more than
women . It gives them power over women.
(F) Political expression of gender division and political mobilisation on this issue can improve
women's role in public life.
Q1:- How Women face disadvantage, discrimination and oppression ?
A:- Women face disadvantage, discrimination and oppression in various ways:-
1. (a) The literacy rate among women is only 52% compared with 76% among men.
(b) Smaller proportions of girls students go for higher studies.
(c) Parents prefer to spend the resources for their boys education rather than spending equally
on their sons and daughters.
2. The proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs is still very small.
3. The equal renumeration act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be paid to equal work.
However in almost all areas of work, from sports and cinema to factories and fields, women are
paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.
4. In many parts of India, parents prefer to have and find ways to have the girl child aborted
before she is born.
Q2:- Why the sex ratio in the country is continuously decreasing in our country ?
A:- The sex ratio in the country is continuously decreasing in our country because of different
reasons:-
1. Sex ratio is the ratio of number of women per 1000 males.
2. National average is 914/1000
3. Favourable sex ratio is the ratio, when the number of women is more than number of males.
4. Unfavorable sex ratio is the ratio when the number of women is less than the males.
(G) 1. One way to ensure power to women is to increase their political representation.
2. In India the proportion of women in the legislature has been very low.
3. The percentage of elected women members in lok sabha has never reached 10%.
4. In the state assemblies, it is less than 5%.
Q3:- How can we improve the political representation of women ?
A:- 1. It should be made legally binding to have a fair proportion of women in elected bodies .
2. Seats are already been reserved in the local bodies .
3. A bill demanding 93% reservation for women in lok Sabha and state assembly is pending in
the parliament.
(H) Religion Communalism and Caste:-
1. The feeling of considering once own religion superior to other religions.
Q4:- The religious differences are often expressed in politics. How ?
A:- 1. Gandhiji used to say that religion can never be separated from politics.
2. What he meant by religion was not any particular religion like Hinduism or Islam but moral
values that inform all religions.
3. Human rights groups in our country have argued that most of the victims of communal riots in
our country are people from religious minorities.
4. Women's movement has archived the family loss of all religions discriminate against women.
(I) Communalism:-
1. Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principle basis of social
community.
2. The communist beleive that people following different religions cannot belong to the same
social community.
3. People belonging to different religions cannot live together.
Q5:- Communism can take various forms in politics. Explain.
A:- 1. The most common expression of communism is in everyday believes. These routinely
involve religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious communities and belief in the superiority of
once religion over other religions.
2. Communal mind often leads to a quest for political dominance of ones own religious
communities.
3. Political mobilisation on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism.
4. This involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear in
order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena.
5. Sometimes communalism takes its most ugly form of communal violence, riots and
massacre.
6. India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of the partition. The
post independence period has also seen large scale communal violence.
(J) Secular state:-
1. In order to face the challenge of communalism the makers of Indian constitution have made
India a secular country.
2. Secular:- A system in which all the religions are treated equally without any discrimination.
Q6:- Which provisions of the Indian constitution that make it a secular country ?
A:- 1. There is no official religion for the Indian state.
2. The Constitution provides the right to freedom of religion to all citizens.
3. The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion.
4. At the same time, the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in
order to ensure equality within the religious community.
For ex- it bans untouchability.
(K) Casteism:-
1. Feeling of considering once own cast superior to other.
2. In India, caste system was hereditary.
3. Occupational division was sanctioned by rituals.
Q7:- Describe the factors that are responsible for breaking down of caste system ?
OR
Why has caste system undergone changes in India ?
A:- 1. Partly due to the efforts of the reformers and partly due to other socio- economic changes,
caste and caste system in modern India have undergone great changes.
2. With economic development, large scale urbanization, growth of literacy and education ,
occupational mobility and weakening of the position of the landlords in the village, old notions of
caste hierarchy are breaking down.
3. Ex- In urban areas, it does not matter, who is working along next to us on a street or eating
on a next table in a hotel.
4. The Constitution of India prohibits any kind of caste based discrimination.
Q8:- Caste system has not disappeared from Contemporary India . Justify .
A:- 1. Even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe.
2. Untouchability has not ended completely.
3. Effects of centuries of advantages and disadvantages continue to felt even today.
4. The caste group that had access to education under the old system have done very well in
acquiring modern education.
Those groups which did not have access to education are still lagging behind.
5. The proportion of upper caste people he still high among the urban middle classes in our
country.
(L) Caste in Politics-
1. As in the case of communalism, casteism is rooted in the belief that caste is the soul basis of
social community.
2. According to this way of thinking, people belonging to the same caste belong to a natural
social community and have the same interest which they do not share with anyone from another
caste.
3. Caste is one aspect of our experience, but it is not the only relevant or the most important
aspect.
Q9:- Caste can take various forms in politics, Explain.
A:- 1. When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of
the electorate and nominate candidates from different caste, so as to muster necessary support
to win elections.
2. Political parties and candidates in election make appeals to caste sentiment to mustar
support.
3. Universal Adult Franchise and the principle of one person one vote compelled political
leaders to gear up to the task of mobilising and securing political support.
Q10:- Elections are all about caste and nothing else , This is far from true. Justify.
A:- 1. No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste.
2. No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community.
3. Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste. Some voters have more
than one candidate from their caste while many voters have no candidate from their caste.
4. The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently loss elections in our country. That could
not have happened , if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences.
Q11:- Caste ridden politics can take many forms . Explain.
A:- 1. Each caste group tries to become bigger by including within it the sub-caste, which were
earlier excluded.
2. Various caste groups enter into coalition with other caste and enter into negotiations.
3. New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena, like backward , forward etc.
Q12:- Expression of caste differences in politics can be healthy. Explain.
A:- 1. It gives many disadvantage community to share power.
2. It has helped people from Dalits and OBC caste to have share in decision making.
3. It helps in fighting against discrimination.
Q13:- Expression of caste differences in politics can be unhealthy. Explain.
A:- 1. Expression of casting politics can divert the attention from other issues like poverty,
corruption, development etc.
2. In some cases divisions can lead to tensions, conflicts, violence etc.