Inequalities across gender are not homogenous.

Exploitation, injustice and inequalities

vary among castes and classes. The census report of India showed that the literacy rate

has improved over the years; for women it was 0.6% in 1901 to 45.8% in 2001 and for the

men from 9.8% in 1901 to 64.1% (Vaid and Breen, 2009). However, the relative chance

of inequalities that are still persisting between men and women, in the broader framework

of social class and caste.

The first half of this section discusses the framework of caste, followed by that the study

discusses gender disparities in context of social classes.

The schooling of the Dalit girl is at risk (Nambissan, 2009). Nambissan (2009), in her

study on Rajasthan, found that there is a gap in the rate of enrolment of the Dalit girls

(68%) as compared to that of the Dalit boys (80%) in primary and secondary level. The

primary reason behind low enrolment rates among the Dalit girls is the family, which acts

as a major constraint for girl education. In addition to that there is a social and economic

conservatism in regard to girl education. Her study confirms that the boundaries between

home and outside are clearly drawn for the girls and it acts as a constraint for their access

to educational institutions. In some of the cases, if a girl has a companion, her parents

allow her to go to school. The parents are also under community pressure which favours

marriage for girls at a younger age and they fear that their girls might get spoiled if they

are sent to school. The daughters are not sent to schools to protect their virginity,

especially when the teachers are male and it’s a co-educational school (Desai, 1994). This

is regarded as an accepted social practice to not to send girls out for education and in

return it restricts girl’s education. Even if some of the SC and ST girls get enrolled most

of them are likely to drop out (Desai et al, 2010; Kabra, 1991; Pimpley, 1990). Sengupta

and Guha (2002), in their quantitative study on West Bengal, reported that in regards to

enrolment in school, the Hindu general caste woman comprises nearly 94 per cent. In

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comparison to the general castes, 78 per cent of Scheduled Caste girls, 73 per cent

Muslim girls, and only 53 per cent of Scheduled Tribe girls were ever enrolled. There are

sharp differences in enrolment rates across caste and gender. STs have reported the lowest

rate in enrolment and attainment in higher education.

At the primary level of education, Desai and Kulkarni's (2008) study reported that, Dalits

of higher income group have greater enrolment rates. However, as they move into the

colleges, likelihood of college completion with increase in household income is absent

(Desai and Kulkarni, 2008). The reason behind this is the social prejudice attached with

the Dalit identity, for which they continue to suffer from disadvantages and

discriminations (Desai and Kulkarni, 2008; Nambissan, 2009). Kabra (1991) argues that

after the independence much has been done for the improvement of SCs, but benefit has

not reached all, especially women. In the year 1979-80 there were only 0.70% of SC girls

enrolled in secondary and higher secondary education of Rajasthan, and although the

percentage rate of SC women has continued to increase, it is still lesser compared to the

men. Pimpley (1990) studied SC women in Punjab to study the overall progress made by

them. He argued that SC communities have made a progress in education after

independence. However, the progress is not uniform in case of men and women. Pimpley

(1990) studied the sample of 62 SC girls of whom 48 were school students and 14 were

college students. His study concludes that in most of the SC houses’, the education of

men is given priority over that of women. It is not considered proper that women should

be educated. A study on Mahar women was conducted in Ahmednagar district of

Maharsahtra by Vetschera in 1990. She reports from her study that in the Ahmednagar

district, higher education for most girls seems beyond their reach. In most of the villages

only one or two girls manage to pass their senior secondary class in couple of years. The

girls who reach the 10th standard and fail, are not permitted to repeat the class. She

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suggests through her study that the Dalit movement has done much more for handful of

men intellectuals, less for the major population of Dalit men and nothing for Dalit

women.

According to the census report of 2001, over time sex disparities showed a declining

trend. Nevertheless, the literacy gap of SCs and STs compared to the other Hindu general

castes shows wider disparities across gender (Raju, 1991). The role of caste stands as a

significant determining factor in educational transition. Especially while one moves high

up in the educational ladder, for instance in colleges, there are sharp declines in

representation of the deprived castes compared to the upper castes, because of high

dropout rates and discriminatory practices from the school itself. The inequalities in

college education have widened for Dalits even after the reservation policies. Dalits

experience a greater disadvantage in college completion (Thorat and Senapati, 2008;

Deshpande and Newman, 2007).

Viswanathan (1993), in her study, finds education as a helps to overcome the stigma,

attach with caste identity. In her study on SC women in Kerala, she found that there is a

considerable educational mobility between two generations of SC women. A larger

number of daughters were found to be literate compared to their mothers. The study

reports that the major factors responsible for educational mobility are– parental pressure,

higher level of aspirations, and awareness of advantage of education and government

welfare measures.

Karuna Chanana (2000) attempted to depict the proportion of women in higher education

among faculties by analysing the UGC report of 1950-51 and 1993-94. Her study

analyses that the representation of woman in science faculties have increased in what was

once considered to be men’s domain. The proportion of women in science faculties,

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which was 7.10 % in 1950-51 increased up to 34.17% in 1993-94. Likewise, in Law the

share of women has gone up from 2.10% to 11.32% during the same period. One of the

most interesting features in women’s enrolment seems that education is the only area

where women have surpassed men and they constitute 52 % of the share of total

enrolment in 1993-94. In regard to proportion of women at different levels of higher

education – Undergraduate, Graduate and Research, the representation of women is

higher in research than the other two levels. It is 36.49% in 1993-94 from 14.1% in 1950-

51.

Further, selected educational statistics report from 1978-79 to 1998-99 of government of

India depicts that the representation of Scheduled Caste women in higher education was

quite low as compared to the non-scheduled caste women. In 1978-79 SC women were

only 17.1% in higher education while non-SC women were 25.62%. There are many

factors which cause the low enrolment rate of women in higher education such as non-

availability of colleges, socio-cultural factors like lack of economic resources in the

family, heavy expenditures on marriage and dowry (Chanana, 2000). Poverty may be an

important reason for many SC women to abstain from education. For those who are in an

economically better position to go beyond the first few years of school, their culturally

disadvantaged position hampers their goals. The parents are unwilling to assume the

direct cost for educating their daughters (Kingdon, 1996; Dreeze and Kingdon, 2001).

Interestingly, growing demands for better educated men provides incentives for some of

them to educate their daughters (Acharya, 1994; Desai, 2004; Kingdon, 1997).

Even though there is a presence of disparity between SC and Non-SC population with

regard to access and completion of higher educational levels, yet it needs to be noted that

SCs are not a homogenous group. The value attached to women’s education varies from

sub-group to sub-group. On the one hand, Ad-Dharmis and Balmikis pay greater attention

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to the education of boys than that of the girls. On the other hand, among the “chamars”,

Ramdasis and Mazhabis the condition of women is not as bad compared to men (Pimpley,

1990).

Various past research works have brought out that the cultural environment within family

is an important factor responsible for educational backwardness among SCs and

specifically among SC women. According to Jha (1997) lack of parental encouragement

was found to be highly responsible for low levels of education among SC woman at all

levels of education. The socio–economic situation of the family is an important aspect in

educational achievement. However, Parvathamma (1989) argues that the socio-economic

prosperity doesn’t remove stigma of untouchability.

The discussion presented above confirms the role of family socialization as a major

barrier for the girl’s success in higher educational attainment. It’s from the family itself

the exclusionary practice begins (Bourdieu, 1986). Integral to the process of socialization

is the learning of one’s role based on gender and caste (Nambissan, 2009). It reflects an

asymmetrical relationship between parental incentives and education of sons and

daughters (Sengupta and Guha, 2002; Kingdon, 1997). The school practice reinforces

these identities, as they carry stereotypical believes and practices against girls and

particular communities (Nambissan, 2009; Jeffrey et al., 2004; Ciotti, 2006).

Given the summary and observation on the relationship between caste and educational

attainment across gender, in the next section, I discuss the unequal educational attainment

across social class. To analyse educational inequality across gender by class, I have

understood class origin based on parent’s occupation, employment status and condition.

Kingdon (2005) studied inequality in higher educational attainment across gender

considering both social and economic gain from the perspective of women’s education.

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She did her survey in Lucknow by collecting data from 1000 households. The data

collected information on parents’ level of education, parental background, time

allocations and labour market activities. According to her, the lower economic returns on

education are among the girls and particularly among lower castes and classes. The

economic returns to education have two elements: how the likelihood of being employed

varies with different levels of education and the other is how income varies with different

levels of education (Bhandari and Bordoloi, 2006; Kingdon, 1996). Kingdon's findings

are supported by Rosenzwieg and Kaivan (2006), who reported that in rural India, in the

early green revolution period, there was no direct economic return to women’s schooling

since they were not involved in an occupation where education was rewarded.

Even with a free primary schooling in India, enrolment is related to wealth of the family

because of high opportunity cost of enrolling (Kingdon, 2001). The fee-free schools also

have substantial cost involved. There are enough evidences to show that tuition fee is a

rule, hence it proves that primary education is not really free (Chanana, 1996). The other

burdens are the ones contributing to the purchase of books and other materials, uniform,

transport and so on (Desai, 1994).

Besides that, in regard to gender, parents' education holds much more importance for

females than males. The gender differences in educational attainment are dependent on

parental background, wealth, individual abilities, age of marriage and also quality of

primary school attended (Kingdon, 1996; Kingdon, 2007). Sengupta and Guha (2002), in

their study on grade completion and enrolment among girl children in West Bengal, also

emphasise the role of parental education in educational outcome of children. Her study

reports household resources like parental education, and especially mother’s education

plays a significant role in continuing education of the child in early stage, whereas family

income and occupation holds importance in latter stage of educational attainment. Vaid

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(2004) also stresses on mothers’ literacy35 as a stronger motivation factor on girl child’s

continuing education at the first level of educational transition, whereas father’s literacy

holds a strong influence at the final transition to college.

Sathar and Lloyd (1994) report that parents understand the cost of education by

anticipating cost and returns, and they argue, in regards to educational investment, parents

see girls as having limited opportunities in labour market since they receive lower wages

compared to the men. Moreover, they will be getting married and money will be

transferred to the other family and shall add to the earnings of the husband’s family. The

household with poor income prefers immediate benefit by making children work as a

labour force than wait for future benefit through higher level of education (Kingdon,

2001). The burden of “economic constraint" (Sengupta and Guha, 2002: 1622) within

family falls more upon girls, and they are expected to take care of siblings and engage in

household chores to supplement the family income (Sengupta and Guha, 2002). The

patriarchal society prefers investment of family resources on sons (Kingdon, 2007) that

acts as a barrier in a girl child’s continuing education (Singh and Singh, 2009). Due to

economic backwardness, the girls stay back at home to look after siblings and assist in

household chores. They supplement the family income either by working on daily wages

or on part time basis (Kingdon, 2007). A large number of girls who are not in schools are

kept at home because of responsibilities in households (Desai, 1994). This explains the

low school participation and grade attainment of the children, where family structure is a

significant determinant.

35

According to the census report, ‘a person is considered as literate if he or she can read or write
with understanding in any language’ (Education statistics, Department of education website). So those who
can read, but not write are not considered as literate.

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To combat and reduce the inequalities across gender, National policy on education came

into force in 1986. It pledged for equal educational opportunities in regards to region,

social class, tribes, caste and gender (Ghosh, 1995). It emphasises on girl’s education for

social transformation (Datt, 1996 for a discussion). After a decade since the policy came

into the practise, the gender gap is still persisting. It is higher in the rural area (Vaid,

2004). ‘Since the beginning of the century, gender inequality in literacy has declined, but

more importantly that the relative chance of women and men have remained fairly stable

in the last few decades. Hence despite the rapid expansion of educational system, increase

in number of women in higher education and other government policies, gender

inequality seems to be persisting’ (Vaid and Breen, 2009: 6)

2.7 SUMMARY:

Summing up the discussion, I can conclude that the unequal educational attainment across

social groups is related to the differential amount of household resources in the form of

family security (economic capital), social connection (social capital) and parents' level of

education (cultural capital). Disparity in most cases continues within the educational

institutions through various discriminatory practices as explained above. Therefore,

education which plays an important role in achieving economic development stands

against the idea of justice and equality with reference to social class and caste. The

aspects of gender inequalities are much more complex considering both the supply and

demand side (Jejeebhoy, 1994 cited in Desai, 1994). Part of the answer lies in the supply

side where there is clearly a lack of adequate and sensitive educational effort to mobilise

women, involve them in the educational process (Desai, 1994; Ramachandran, 2003). The

inflexible timing of school hours and inconvenient distances from the villages are a major

constraint for the children in rural areas to continue their education (Nambissan, 2009).

The other side of the problem lies in women’s own inability and lack of will to continue

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