Caste,Gender and Labour: Narratives of Exclusion and Discrimination of Dalit Women in the Education Sector of Chandigarh Region

Abstract

Caste, often understood as a social category, has economic implications in the labour market and stands for the division of labourers, as per Mandal (2013). Caste in India has thereby determined the position that one has in the social hierarchy, and at the same time the labour that one can be considered suitable for. Similarly, the gender-based strict separation of spheres between the public realm and the private realm has consistently determined the nature of work women are considered apt and suitable for. The intersection of these two identities of caste and gender and the experiences therein form a predominant part of the discourse around dalit women. The site for production of these discourses and reproduction of knowledge systems can be aptly traced to that of the workplace in which dalit women work, as their labour constitutes an important part of what they think about themselves, how they are perceived within the society and the larger debate on social exclusion. This article aims to comprehend the layered and multi-dimensional experiences of social exclusion and the narratives of the dalit women employed in the organised sector, specifically the education sector of the Chandigarh region.