CHAPTER 3

GENDER RELIGION AND CASTE

Glossary:-
Sexual division of labour:
Page | 243 A system in which all work inside the home is either done by the women of the family or
organized by them through domestic help.
Gender division: The practice of favoring men or boys over women and girls. It is not based
on social expectations and stereotypes.
Feminist: A women or a man who believes in equal rights and opportunities for women and
men.
Patriarchy: Rule by father; this concept is used to refer to a system that values men more and
gives them power over women.
Family laws: Those laws that deal with family related matters such as marriage, divorce,
adoption inheritance etc. in our country, different family laws apply to followers of different
religions,
Urbanization: Shift of population from rural areas to urban areas.
Occupational Mobility: Shift from one occupation to another, usually when a new generation
takes up occupations other than those practiced by their ancestors.
Caste hierarchy: A ladder like formation in which all caste groups are placed from the highest
to the lowest castes.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. “A women or man who behaves in equal rights and opportunities for men and
women?
(a) Patriarchy
(b) Caste hierarchy
(c) Gender division
(d) Feminist
Ans: Feminist
2. The idea of _________ constitutes one of the foundations of our country
(a) Secularism
(b) Communalism
(c) Atheism
(d) None of the above
Ans: Secularism
3. Gender division is based on …………………. and ……………………
(a) Equality and special privileges
(b) Social expectations and stereotypes
(c) Religion and caste
(d) None of the above
Ans: Social expectations and stereotypes

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 4. The Equal Remuneration Act of _______ provides that equal wages should
be paid to equal work.
a) 1986
b) 1976
c) 1966
Page | 244 d) 1972
5. Which among the following is a Scandinavian country?
a) Sweden
b) Brazil
c) Algeria
d) Serbia
Ans: Sweden
6. Religion can never be separated from politics who said these words.
a. Gandhiji
b. Jotiba Phule,
c. B.R. Ambedkar
d. Periyar Ramaswami
7. Most of the victims of communal note in our country are
a. People from religious minorities
b. People from poor families
c. Illiterate people
d. None of the above
Ans. People from religious minorities
8.______ region has the highest representation of women in their national
parliaments.
a) Pacific
b) Americas
c) Middle-east
d) Nordic countries
9.Which of the following statements are true regarding feminist movements?
a) Radical women’s movements aimed at equality in personal and family life.
b) Agitations demanded enhancing the political and legal status of women and improving
their educational and career opportunities.
c) There were agitations in different countries for the extension of voting rights to women.
d) All of the above
ans.A
10. The distinguishing feature of communalism is:
(a) Followers of a particular religion must belong to one community.
(b) Communalism leads to the belief that people belonging to different religions can live as
equal citizens within one nation.
(c) A communal mind does not lead to quest for political dominance of one’s own religious
community.

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 (d) A secular constitution is sufficient combat communalism.
Answer: Followers of a particular religion must belong to one community.

Page | 245 Two marks questions:

1. Which is the outcome of division of labour?
Ans: The result of the division of labour is that although women constitute half of the
humanity. Their role in public life, especially politics is minimal in most societies.
2. What is Equal Remuneration act ?
Ans: The act was passed in 1976.As per this act equal wages should be paid to equal
work.
3. What is the meaning of Patriarchy?
Ans: : Literally, rule by father, this concept is used to refer to a system that values men
more and gives them power over women.
4. What is the base of communal politics?
Ans: When beliefs of one religion are presented as superior to those of other religions,
when the demands of one religious group are formed in opposition to another and when
state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over the rest. This
manner of using religion in politics is communal politics. It is based on the idea that
religion is the principal base of social community.The extreme form of communalism
beliefs that people belonging to different religious cannot live as equal citizens which
in one nation.

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 LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
1.What are the aims of feminist movements?
• Earlier, only men were allowed to participate in public affairs, vote and
contest for public offices.
• Gradually the gender issue was raised in polite.
Page | 246
• Women in different parts of the world organized and agitated for equal
rights.
• There were agitations in different countries for the extension of voting
rights to women.
• There agitations demanded enhancing the political and legal status of
women and improving their educational and career opportunities.
• The feminist movements aimed at equality in personal and family life
aswell.
2. Women face disadvantacy, disimmunation and oppression in various ways
explain?

(a) Literacy Rate:-

• The literacy rate among women is only 54 percentage.
• Small proportion of girl students go for higher studies.
• Drop outs of girls from school are high because parents prefer to spend
their resources for their boy education.
(b) Remuneration:
• The proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs are
very small.
• Equal remuneration Act 1976 provides that equal wage should be paid
to equal work.
• But in almost every field women are paid less.
(c) Sex selective abortion:-
• Still in many parts parents prefer to have son.
• Sex-Selective abortion led to a decline in child sex ratio.
(d) Harassment, Exploitation and violence:-

• In some places ladies are not safe even with in their home from beating,
basement and other forms of domestic violence.
3. Religion can news be separated from politicsWho said this words?
• There words were said by Mahatma Gandhiji
• What he meant by religion was not any particular religion like Hinduism
or Islor, but moral values that inform all religious.
• Gandhiji believed that politics must be guided by ethics drown from
religion.
4. Relationship between religion and politics do not seem very wrong or
dangerous. Examine?
• Ideas, ideals and values drawn from different religions can and perhaps
should play a good role in politics.
• People should be able to express in politics their needs, interests and
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 demands as a member of religious community.
• Those who hold political power should sometimes be able to regulate
the practice of religion so as to prevent discrimination and oppression.
• These political acts are not wrong as long as they treat every religion
equally.
Page | 247 5. What is communal politics?
• Communalism begins when religion is seen as the basis of the nation.
• The problem becomes more acute when religion is expressed in politics
in exclusive ad partisan terms.
• When one religion and its followers are pitted against another.
• This happens when beliefs of one religion are presented as superior to
those of other religion.
• When the demands of one religious grow are formed in opposition to
other?
• When state power is used to establish dominion of one religious group
over the rest.
• This manner of wine religion in politics is communal politics.
• Communal politics is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis
of social community.

6. The belief of communal politics is fundamentally flawed? Explain?

• People of one religion do not have the same interest and aspirations in
every contest.
• Everyone has several other roles positions and identities.
• There are many voices inside every community.
• All these voices have a right to be heard. Therefore any attempt to bring
all followers of one religion together in context other than religion is
bound to suppress many voices within that community.
7. India is a secular state .It is reflected in the constitution of our country.Explain.
• There is no official religion for India.Our constitution does not give a
special status to any religion.
• The constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom
to profess ,practice and propogate any religion,or not to follow any.
• The constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion
• The constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion
in order to ensure equality within religious communities.eg.it bans
untouchability
8. Caste can take various forms in politics Examine.
• When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the
caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from
different castes so as to muster necessary support to win elections.
• Political parties and candidates in elections make appeals to caste
sentiment to muster support
• Universal adult franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote
compelled political leaders to gear up to the task of mobilizing and
securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among

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 the people of castes that were hitherto treated as inferior and low.
9.What is the most common expression of communalism?
• The most common expression of communalism is in everyday
belief.
• Eg: religious prejudices; stereotypes of religious communities;
Page | 248 belief in the superiority of ones religion over other religion.
• A communal mind of the majority community results in the
majoritarian dominance.
• A communal mind of the minority community will take the
form of a desire to form a separate political unity.
• Most ugly form of communalism communal violence.
• Caste system was based on exclusion of and discrimination
against the outcaste group.
• Casteism is based on the idea caste is the sole basis of social
community.
• The scheduled castes are commonly known as Dalit’s.
• Scheduled Tribes are often referred to as Adivasis
10. Explain the status of women’s representation in India’s legislative bodies. (2014)
Answer:
The one way to ensure that women related problems get adequate attention is to have more
women as elected representatives. To achieve this, it is legally binding to have a fair
proportion of women in the elected bodies.

• Panchayati Raj in India has reserved one-third seats in Local Government bodies for
women.
• In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. The percentage of
elected women members in Lok Sabha is not even 10 per cent and in State Assemblies
less than 5 per cent. India is behind several developing countries of Africa and Latin
America. Women organizations have been demanding reservations of at least one-third
seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women.
o And only recently, in March 2010, the women’s reservation bill was passed in
the Rajya Sabha ensuring 33% reservation to women in Parliament and State
Legislative bodies.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

Partly due to their efforts and partly due to other socio-economic changes, castes and caste
system in modern India have undergone great changes. With economic development, large
scale URBANISATION, growth of literacy and education, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY
and the weakening of the position of landlords in the villages, the old notions of CASTE
HIERARCHY are breaking down. Now, most of the times, in urban areas it does not matter
much who is walking along next to us on a street or eating at the next table in a restaurant.
The Constitution of India prohibited any caste-based discrimination and laid the foundations
of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system. If a person who lived a century ago
were to return to India, she would be greatly surprised at the change that has come about in
the country.

11. State reasons to say that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.

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 • No majority of one caste in a constituency:
No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste.
So, every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and
community to win elections.
• No votes of one caste/community:
Page | 249 No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. When people say
that caste is a vote bank of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the
voters from that caste vote for that party.
• Candidates from the same caste:
Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste if that caste is
believed to dominate the electorate in a particular constituency. All these factors
divide the voters between two or more candidates.
People within the same caste or community may have different interests depending on
their economic condition. Rich and poor or men and women from the same caste
often vote very differently.

The ruling party and the sitting members frequently lose elections in our country. This could
not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in
their political preferences. Sometimes the voters have strong attachment to political parties
which is often stronger than their attachment to their caste or community. Thus it can be
concluded that caste alone cannot determine election results in India.

Q. What are the changes emerged due to economic development?

With economic development, large scale URBANISATION, growth of literacy and

education, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY and the weakening of the position of
landlords in the villages, the old notions of CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.

Q. What is urbanization?

➢The process by which large numbers of people became permenantly concentrated in

relatively small areas.
MIND MAPPING

GENDER AND POLITICS

Public/private division Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of women is
housework and bringing up children. This is reflected in a SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR in most families: women
do all work inside the home such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, tailoring, looking after children, etc., and
men do all the work outside the home

In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low

CASTE AND POLITICS

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 Politics in caste: It is
not politics that gets Caste in politics: AS in the
casteridden; it is the case of communalism,
caste that gets casteism is rooted in the
Page | 250 politicised belief that caste is the sole
basis of social community

RELIGION COMMUNALISM AND POLITICS

The problem begins when
religion is seen as the basis of
the nation. Communal politics is
based on the idea that religion is Secular state
the principal basis of social Communalism was and
community. Sometimes continues to be one of
communalism takes its most ugly the major challenges to
form of communal violence, democracy in our
country. The makers of
our Constitution were
aware of this challenge.
That is why they chose
the model of a secular
state.
Chapter -4
POLITICAL PARTIES

CONCEPT MAPPING

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