SHAKTI STORIES

Interviewer:     So you mentioned that you work with marginalized groups of women. So what kind of issues do they face that are different from, say the issue is that upper middle class, Delhi based, English speaking women and feminists face?

 

Shibani Chaudhury    It wouldn't be just specific only to Delhi women, but immediately from urban, upper class, English speaking women and the urban, rural divide is one that is very pronounced. Even within urban India, the upper middle class and the middle class and the lower middle class and the below the poverty line people have very, very vast, different diverse experiences of digital life. But to basically answer your question, women from any of these backgrounds were women in tribal communities. Again, it varies from different kinds of tribal communities, but largely women in tribal societies have more agency. They do have agency within the community. Most established tribal societies have a situation where they do respect their women.

 

There are very fair gender laws. Their wisdom is appreciated and valued and they do have decision making powers within their community. But when you look at it as an overall divided vis-à-vis society, then there is… as a whole, tribal rights are some things that are overlooked in India. The rights over resources, rights to their… if there is any kind of development, the first group of people, villages will just be wiped out. In Delhi for the flyovers and the highways you'll never find a neighborhood being uprooted. Houses will not just be taken over because of some ad hoc government decision. But with tribal villages, they don't have that kind of collective agency where they can stand by it. It's a huge, huge battle and there's a lot of fight over hanging onto what is their tradition, what is their resources.

 

There is a big disjunct. So within that framework then women get… even for the marginalized because in those larger battles it is the men who go The Dalit women on the other hand have a different situation because they are kind of trapped in a culture and caste divided as well.

 

They are kind of stratified into doing the menial kind of work. I mean, of course there is this whole movement for dignity of labor of all kinds, but it is almost as if they are stratified into doing the roles of sweeping and sewage workers and sanitation workers. In the smaller towns you still have manual scavenging of human waste. Also, there are some small pockets of homes which were manuals scavenging of human also happens. And therefore the women end up being extremely, extremely exploited and their role in voicing their rights within their own community becomes very difficult as well.

 

Interviewer:     So you mentioned that they get… the Dalit women especially because of this cost divide and class divide. That they get marginalized. In what way do they get exploited?

 

Shibani Chaudhury:    They are just… it's very difficult to communicate, but they're just born into that particular scenario. They are taught that they cannot break out of it. They are not… they don't even imagine that that is something that… breaking out of that code is something that can come upon them. So they really actually endorse that whole cycle because they're born into it and they are kind of conditioned into it, so they will be hugely impaired in the decision making. They will have to go out and do what has been ordained for them and at a very young age they get married and they get married into the same cost.

 

So then they are… of course the whole other gender debate of getting married early, having to deal with… their bodies are not strong enough, but they have to give into the physical intercourse that is expected after marriage, early pregnancies. And they're not equipped really to be taking decisions for themselves and yet they become mothers and no access to education. They don't know their rights. They don't know that they are… they have the ability to access governance, mechanisms that actually give them certain agency or equity. So there is no information, awareness, education. So as a result they are really, really cornered into whatever. So they'll go and work as domestic workers. They will go and work as sweepers and they can't see beyond that. So imagine just being completely caged in with just that as your world view.

 

Interviewer:     So you mentioned that they're completely caged. Do they face any abuse, emotional, physical, mental, or is it just part of the systematic abuse of ballots in general?

 

Shibani Chaudhury:    That would be, I think individual case to case basis at this…. the level of pain and the level of struggle that they live with. There is a lot of violence that they deal with. There's a lot of alcoholism they deal with in their husbands. So there is… I'm sure there are many instances of wife beating. There are… but it's just considered part for the course. It's not as if you hear… like you mentioned, the upper class, urban societies. Even there very often domestic violence doesn't get reported because of various reasons of not wanting to come out with it and women are buried in silence. Now the environment is shifting, but for years on end.

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Interviewer:     So what can we as urban girls and women do to understand the plight of Dalit and tribal women?

 

Shibani Chaudhury:    See, the generalization of Dalit and tribal is not productive, because when you look deeper, it's not as if all tribal women are exploited and all tribal women are without agency. And it's a general kind of type cast. So the first step would be to actually understand where there is agency, where there isn't. The tribal women in the northeast for instance, they are hugely respected. They have a lot of agency. In fact in some areas it's a matriarchal society. So they… it's actually the woman's say-so that works. So the first step would be… if you really, really want to explore and understand this, it will be very important to contextualize this understanding.