Ethnicity and Class Division

In the majority of societies, women's roles are well defined. Men have traditionally been viewed as the
breadwinners, while women have been expected to take care of the home and raise the family, both in the West
and in middle-class Indian society. Because of the biological similarities between the sexes, this arrangement
was once seen to be "natural" and complementary. There was a close relationship between the sexual division of
labor and women's economic dependency. Since women began to enter the workforce in significant numbers in
the West, the notion of the "naturalness" of the division of labor has come under scrutiny. Concerns regarding
the division of labor and the nearly universal subordination of women in all civilizations and cultures were
brought up by the emergence of the feminist movement in the west. Questions such as "Has employment
changed the status of women?" Do they have to perform jobs that are undervalued on top of that? For instance,
paid labor performed outside the home is seen as work, but housework is not. According to statistics, women
worldwide are paid significantly less for doing the same work as men. Gender-based occupational segregation
also exists. Other concerns center on women's active engagement in the workforce, its ongoing devaluation, and
their lack of representation in decision-making processes. We turn to the stratification theories for answers in
order to comprehend these problems. The view held by feminist academics is that women's issues are mostly
products of the modern economic exploitation system. They contend that economic oppression should not be
viewed as "secondary" to the oppression of women. Men oppress women as a class, and patriarchal systems
have virtually always existed in all parts of the world both historically and geographically.

The most crucial and fundamental finding of social stratification theory comes from Weber's observation that
societies can be divided based on the extent to which class or status development occurs. The first type of
investigation focuses on how much class or status systems dominate social action at the societal level. The inter-
and intra-societal diversity of class or status formations is therefore assumed by theories of social stratification
as their explanatory goal. Currently, the issue of sexual inequality is approached from a Marxist perspective that
views women as a "reserve army," i.e. Women's labor could be needed to support the expansionary "deskilling"
of office work as well as during times of severe labor shortage, like during a war. Economic and technological
advancements, in Max Weber's opinion, encourage class stratification and push status stratification to the
periphery. Documenting the disparity in opportunities and outcomes has taken a backseat to the study of social
stratification, which has focused primarily on determining and explaining the variety of class and status
formation. It was appropriate for a number of reasons. First, due to curiosity about how disparate life chances
and rewards are distributed as well as how other social structures can result in "better" opportunities and results.
The significance of explaining the "outcomes" of class or status differentiation—which were viewed as a
byproduct of stratification analysis—was highlighted in the second season. Class division and status-group
consolidation were prioritised over gender inequality, hence gender inequality was never a prominent
consideration in these tactics. In the past, it was always assumed that gender relationships are typically
heterosexual and that class and status interactions follow naturally from this. It had an impact on the idea that
gender relations and ethnic relations are comparable in some way.

Weberian philosophy is frequently acknowledged as the cornerstone of interpretivism, however it's unclear if he
would have accepted this title. Weber came up with ideal kinds as a result of his concern for cultural
importance. In Weber's 1905 publication, "'Objectivity' in Social Science and Social Policy," the ideal type was
initially introduced as a methodological process for preparing "the descriptive materials of world history for
comparative analysis." In his essay, Weber noted that hundreds of words in the lexicon of historians were
ambiguous constructs made to satisfy the unconscious need for adequate expression, the meaning of which is
only concretely felt but not well thought out. Weber felt that social scientists should employ logical and
unambiguous conceptions. Weber viewed the ideal type primarily as a conceptual framework for examining and
methodically characterizing distinct concrete patterns that are noteworthy for their rarity. The ideal kind is a
conceptual pattern that integrated specific historical relationships and events into a complex that was intended to
be an internally coherent system.

According to Weber, exact and ideal-typical structures are the only ways in which we can clearly express a
theoretical idea, which is why ideal types are significant. The optimal type fulfills various analytical functions. It
can first impart knowledge about reality by investigating if ideal types have real-world counterparts and whether
their traits can be explicated in an understandable way. Second, it is essential for explanatory and heuristic
functions. Thirdly, even if it isn't a hypothesis, it aids in the creation of ones. Fourth, even though it isn't a
description of reality, its goal is to offer clear ways to describe reality; it's not an end in and of itself. Fifth, by
promoting the formation of notions about historically specific societies, it aids in the development of concepts of
society.
Marxism and feminism have never had a strong relationship historically, mostly because many Marxists have
avoided talking about gender and conventional women's issues. Furthermore, these studies typically adopt
Engels's less complex, more economically orientated thesis, even in cases where gender and the family have
been discussed. Nonetheless, significant problems about the potential applicability of Marx's ideas on gender
and the family still need to be addressed. For example, is it possible to analyze modern capitalist society using a
Marxist feminism that avoids economic determinism or favoring class above gender?

Patriarchy in all civilizations and cultures serves as justification for men and women's uneven access to
resources, opportunities, rewards, and rights. The phenomenon of gendered labor division, patriarchy and its
institutions, marriage, dowries, property and inheritance, and subordination all contribute to the persistence of
status disparity between men and women. According to Sylvia Walby, patriarchy is ingrained in the entire
system of production and manifests itself not simply as an unequal allocation of authority.

They contended that gender is one such prestige structure, and that in every human civilization, men and women
make up two components of a value set that are differentially valued because men are higher than women
(ibid..16). They proposed that female prestige is defined in relation to males, in roles like wife, sister, and
mother, whereas male prestige is associated with "public roles" like chief or Brahman. In other words, female
structures are encapsulated within the male structures. Gender-based analyses of social stratification have been
pushed across civilizations by conceptualizing gender as one of the prestige systems. According to
anthropological research, women's employment in the subsistence economy and beyond the home both reflect
and strengthen the typically equal relationships between men and women. In Vanatinai culture, women possess
authority not just because they own the land, which is their economic capital, but also because they have
amassed symbolic wealth via trade and funeral rites. However, women cultivate staple crops while males
cultivate prestige crops that serve as the focal point of social interaction among highland New Guinean
horticulturists.

In France, feminism was primarily a literary phenomenon for many years. Although women have traditionally
fought for better rights, there have been two particularly prominent waves of public activism, known as the first
and second waves of feminism. The liberal demand for women's participation in public life, including the right
to vote, admission to universities, and entry into the workforce, was the main thrust of the first wave of the
nineteenth century (Rendall, 1985).

Nita Kumar (1994:4) proposes four approaches to conceptualize and write about women: making women the
subject of human "gaze," treating them as subjects and actors and granting them the authority of men;
concentrating on the patriarchal, ideological discursive framework that women live in and that seems to control
them without giving them an opportunity to escape; and examining the covert, subversive means by which
women express their agency. She poses several queries, such as whether it is desirable to have female subjects
and whether a feminine subject should take the place of a masculine, free-thinking, logical subject.

Monisha Behal (1984) found that women in the Mainpuri district in west Uttar Pradesh lead depressing lives
due to poverty, poor health, drudgery, and an overwhelming workload. The subject of women's rights is raised
by Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita (1984), who draw attention to the inconsistencies between Indian
constitutional law and acts of violence, aggression, and crimes against women. Critical analysis has also been
done on Mahatma Gandhi's belief that women are infinitely capable of suffering because they are the mothers of
men. In 1986, Joanna Liddle and Rama Joshi conducted research on Indian women, taking into account the
interplay among gender, caste, and class. They noted that in consolidating their economic power and resisting
challenges to it, the patriarchal upper castes deepened the divisions between genders and castes.

In India, women's movements have mostly concentrated on issues that appear to transcend national boundaries,
such as gender-based violence, disparities in the workplace, health, education and employment opportunities,
social recognition of housewives' labor and compensation for it, political repression and underrepresentation,
rising costs, etc. Feminists tend to address a wide range of gender issues in various Indian contexts by bringing
up issues of exploitation and oppression in the home, marriage, economy, religion, and politics. It has been
acknowledged in all types of works that there is a close relationship between the patriarchal system, the
stratification system, and the status of women; hence, any improvement in women's status would be viewed as
an attack on these structures. Unfair practices have been shown through symbolic analysis to reflect ingrained
cultural beliefs about what it means to be a man and a woman. In her discussion of the relationship between men
and women, Leela Dube (op. cit.) justifies gender imbalance by citing patrilineal cultures' metaphorical ideas of
"seed" and the soil. Women have historically been portrayed as conservative in literary works. A vast body of
work on a variety of facets of gender inequality has been produced over the past thirty years, challenging male
privileges such as violence and criminality against women, as well as the economy's lack of visibility for
women, unemployment, and decision-making. Women have benefited from the end of landlordism and the
dissolution of its sociocultural environments. According to Mencher and Saradamoni (1983:A–167), female
income is necessary for homes that fall below the poverty level. The majority of women work in three different
capacities: (a) as members of the conventionally recognized labor force; (b) as housekeepers and/or independent
contractors. Due to their sexual orientation and low socioeconomic status, even these ladies suffer abuses.
Karuna Ahmad (1979: 1435–40) identifies five trends in women's employment: (a) women are concentrated in a
small number of occupations; (b) women are either concentrated in low status occupations or in the lower
echelons of prestigious professions; (c) women are paid less than men; and (d) there is a high percentage of
unemployed women who are highly educated and professionally trained.

According to studies, women's occupations are a reflection of their social status, educational attainment, and
caste/class backgrounds. Women's perceptions of their position are more influenced by contemporary schooling
than by traditional ideas about marriage and family. Marxist analysis of women was preferred by Agnihotri
(1996) and Agarwal (1984). According to Agarwal, many issues with gender relations would be obscured by the
way production is organized and how production interactions are handled. However, despite the metaphor of
reforms and women's individuation, the focus on chastity, patriarchy, the division of labor, the sanctity of
marriage, and living apart from the household has endured.

The three fundamental features of caste are as follows: i) Exclusion or separation, which refers to laws
restricting unions and social interactions and preserves caste differences. ii) Hierarchy, or the idea of standing in
relation to status and order. iii) Interdependence, or the division of labor, which has a direct correlation to
separation and hierarchy. The caste system is built on three analytically separate principles that function through
kinship-based units. The majority of women's lives are spent inside their families. In their life, the family and
home continue to be extremely essential (Dube, 1996: 1- 27). The employment of women makes a significant
contribution to a caste group's occupational continuity. There are still notable examples of the caste-occupation
relationship, such as the Brahmin community's continued role as Purohits (priests) for upper and middle castes.
Many members of the artisan castes, which include potters, weavers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths, still make a
living from their traditional trades, and women support them either directly or indirectly across all job levels.
Weaving baskets is a cooperative endeavor between genders. Women from the houses of petty traders and
shopkeepers frequently grind spices, make fritters, fries, and preserves to sell in the family store in rural areas
and small towns. It is a reality that women play a major role in a given caste's occupational continuity (ibid). At
the family level, jajmani connections—a term-of-service contractual affiliation between craftsmen and service
castes and landowners, cultivators, and traders—and the exchange relations among occupational castes—a
characteristic of many rural and semi-urban areas—operate. Men and women both provide services and are paid
in kind and cases for their labor. It is evident that there are particular "Untouchable" castes in every part of
India, whose women function as midwives. These women and the males in their caste are responsible for the
vital duty of clearing the upper and clean castes of pollution. It is believed that the services of both the husband
and the wife are included in the bond or contract that binds laborers to their lords (ibid). An essential
precondition for caste marriage is the need to pursue professional employment. The contribution of women to
the continuation of their profession is made within patrilineal bounds and subject to caste restrictions. With the
demands of the job market and the marriage market in mind, a woman's educational options may also be limited.

Scheduled Caste women typically scavenge during hard times for the household; men do not. It is believed that
because women are accustomed to handling domestic tasks for their own homes, they can handle tasks of a
similar nature for others. The males believe that performing such tasks or jobs is beneath their dignity. Women
are frequently the primary breadwinners in immigrant families. However, the controls are still in place at this
point. The male members of the caste who live nearby debate and make decisions on social and ritual issues
(ibid). Food and Rituals: In the ritual metaphor of contamination and purity, food plays a crucial role. Food-
related purity and pollution concerns start at home. Principles of kinship, marriage, and sexuality dictate what
foods are appropriate and inappropriate for women. Women are essential to preserving the purity and holiness of
the home. Food preparation, preservation, cooking, and distribution chores for women are restricted in a number
of ways by notions of safety related to purity/pollution and the "evil eye." Men are generally more lenient when
it comes to the standards of decorum when they are out of their homes and community; conversely, women are
expected to adhere to the rules more rigidly and are also chaperoned and closely observed in comparable
situations (ibid). There is a widespread belief that women can never become as pure as men in their own caste. It
is commonly known that women from twice-born castes have historically been associated with Shudras, who are
incapable of receiving Vedic education (ibid). Caste affects women's lives primarily in two areas: marriage and
sexual encounters. Important elements of managing female sexuality in a caste community include the cultural
fear of women's vulnerability and the stress on their purity and restrained behavior, which emphasizes minimal
engagement with the opposite sex. In North India, the strong patriliny institutionalizes control over women's
sexuality and reproduction. Pregnancy is disastrous for an unmarried woman because, in a caste-based society, it
raises questions about her own purity and caste limits. A female child's upbringing is characterized by tight
regulations, an idealization of family responsibilities, a focus on feminine modesty, and a high regard for female
virginity. It is expected of women to uphold the caste's purity throughout their lives. Prepubescents are
considered to be in an intrinsically pure state, and they are honored in many ways. For example, on the eighth
day of Navaratri, virgin girls are worshipped and fed. This emphasizes the necessity for protection and vigilance
and calls on them to act in a restrained manner. Socially acceptable motherhood in Indian society requires
restricted and regulated sexuality (Dube ibid). Middle-class women employed in the public sector confront
sexual harassment and pressure to live up to the stereotype of the "good woman" even in metropolitan settings.
The relationship between caste endogamy and dowry, the disparate outcomes for men and women in intercaste
marriages, and the sexual abuse of women are all based on the concepts of sexual asymmetry. Women from
"lower castes" are subject to less stringent sexual norms and limitations.

Men have a mechanism to escape pollution caused by sexual relations with a lower caste woman by taking
purification baths and ritually expressing their offense; however, this is not allowed in the case of a "upper
caste" woman, who is banished and deemed deceased by her family. In rural India in particular, intercaste
marriages are still frowned upon, and there have been numerous reports of couples being killed in recent years.
Here, sexual violence against women from lower castes and tribes is not unusual. N.M. According to Srinivas
(1976: 90), caste both imposes restrictions and forms the prevailing ethos that supports the practice of dowry in
Hindu society. This means that in modern caste society, cognate jatis often telescope to form a single entity for
the sake of marriage. The growing social and economic disparities have raised the groom's family's expectations
and demands.

"Gender and Tribe"

It was long believed that gender relations in tribal communities were almost egalitarian and that these societies
were not divided by caste and class in the Indian context. Tribal women were also viewed as having a far better
status than caste women since they were exempt from the notions of defilement and purity and had a great deal
of autonomy over their marriages and sexual relationships. Women made significant contributions to the tribe
economy, but they were not allowed to inherit property or participate in political decision-making. According to
recent research, tribal civilizations are evolving quickly. They have been greatly impacted by industrialization,
education, political democratization, coexistence with caste groups, colonialism, and missionaries, among other
things. Because of the introduction of outside influences and the expansion of power and wealth stratification,
gender asymmetry, which has always existed in these communities, has expanded and grown more complex
(Mehrotra, 2004). Other key areas of concern are the state and the gendering of politics. Women's active
involvement in politics and statutory bodies could not be guaranteed by the right to vote or the gender equality
provisions of the constitution. They have almost entirely been excluded from public decision-making bodies.
Swaminathan (1987; see also Sharma, 1997) highlights how the state's ostensibly progressive policies are
ingrained with gender inequity. She learns about the Equal Remuneration Act, the Minimum Wages Act, the
Hindu Law of Succession, and regulations pertaining to women's education. Gender issues have gained
significant attention in India thanks to the efforts of women's movements. Women's groups that advocate for
gender equality and empowerment have been active in Indian society at all levels, using grassroots and other
local tactics to fight against social and economic injustice (Mehrotra, 2002). Through NGO work, national and
international organizations have made places available for social and economic development in rural and tribal
communities. The term "women's empowerment," which has been discussed and used extensively, has gained
popularity. Women's active participation in the development process is causing a small-scale revolution.
However, Agarwal (1994) points out that women can be empowered by their effective land rights alone. The
goal of women's battles is to free themselves from the cultural enslavement that maintains social inequality and
to bring about social reform.