CHENNAI: If there’s one thing that unites every woman in India, it is pain. At least, that’s how writer and activist Shalin Maria Lawrence puts it. Called upon by every other media organisation, college administration or leftist and feminist movements to talk about gender or caste-based violence, Shalin cannot help but ponder on the toll it takes on the women in attendance, including herself.
For which woman has not been subjected to violence — once or twice or every day? While there are many kinds of violence (active and passive) that play out here, how does it manifest in the life of a Dalit woman who finds herself at the bottom of every social hierarchy? What are her problems that upper caste feminism still fails to acknowledge? Where do we find reprieve? It’s these questions that she attempts to answer in the third edition of Prajnya’s Equality Colloquium Series -- Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Caste: An Overview.
“Feminism is about equality but not all women are treated equally in society,” remarked Shalin. But, it wasn’t until 2015 and the devastating floods it brought along that she realised how true this was. Actively engaged in flood relief work in the north Madras regions, she witnessed how much even a natural disaster disproportionately affected Dalit women. Everything from access to toilets and sanitary products became difficult and the state had little help to offer.
However, this state of affairs was the status quo; even when there is no disaster drawing attention away from their needs. And this spilled over into the area of sexual violence too. “They were usually unorganised workers who were neglected by the government. They have issues of workplace harassment but they have nowhere to go to. It was normalised: “It happens everywhere, just bear with it” was the way,” she recounts from her learnings.
Yet, it wasn’t until she began working with Dalit women in Madurai and thereabouts that she witnessed the full extent of caste-based violence visited upon women. “Caste-based violence is something I never witnessed in Chennai. People treat us badly, discrimination is always there but violence was a rarity. When I went to Madurai and neighbouring districts, and interacted with women from districts like Ariyalur and Perambalur, is when I realised how gruesome it was,” she says.
The very first victim she encountered was a middday meal worker in Usilampatti, who had hot burning oil thrown on her face by a woman of the dominant caste; all for being praised by and winning a reward from the school headmaster. “She is not a criminal, she did nothing wrong, she didn’t boast about her work or the reward she got. The only issue was that she is Dalit and she got punished for it. We talk about colonial imperialism and how people are being enslaved in different countries, we talk of racism and George Floyd and everything. But, even people (in India) who cry their heart out for the racist atrocities that happen in America turn a blind eye to the caste atrocities that happen to Dalits in India. And who gets affected the most because of caste atrocities? The Dalit woman,” she reasons.
Such discrimination manifests itself in every aspect of a Dalit woman’s life and it’s all the more exacerbated in rural, further marginalised communities, says Shalin. The healthcare they are offered/have access to, when they reach out to government offices for the most basic of needs, the education made available to them — everything is laced with this discrimination. And the statistics of rape and violence for Dalit women is by the minute. Every minute, a Dalit woman is raped, paraded naked, branded a witch, or gang-raped.
“Every day, there is a story of rape, breaking the spine, cutting the tongue….this is how Dalit women are raped. Rape is a rape; every rape is cruel, it should not happen to any woman or man, of any community or caste or class. But, when it happens to Dalit women, they do that in a very cruel, gruesome and horrific manner, so that other Dalit women to look at it, experience that and go into their shells. And the way we respond to these crimes too are starkly different, than when it happens to Brahmin-Savarna women. She points to the difference between the handling of the Hyderabad rape and murder of a doctor woman and that of Ariyalur Nandhini. When the latter’s parents approached the police and broached the possibility of abduction after she had been missing for two days, they were told that the woman is too ugly for anyone to abduct her. Even the woman’s body has no right to decency, points out Shalin, referring to the number of times news media have published pictures and videos, irrespective of how much violence the woman had suffered.
This is where the violence gets systemic, when the government, judiciary and law-enforcing bodies — all run by upper/dominant caste men (more often than women) — work against the Dalit woman. “Most of the cases of violence against Dalit women are not registered; then, the conviction rate is very very less. SC/ST Act of 2015 says every district should have one special court for taking care of Dalit atrocities cases. But, we only have seven special courts. Here, the state is the perpetuator. So this is a bigger fight — I’m not just fighting with the dominant caste man or woman; I’m fighting with the police force, the judiciary and the state itself. Even before that, the Dalit woman has to have her own fights at home — there’s domestic violence, domestic sexual violence, rural Dalit women are not allowed to pursue education or a job, they are married earlier for fear of violence from other caste men,” she surmises.
While there is a lot that has to go into this fight, even feminism — from most quarters — has not been of much help here, she suggests. “The whole world is talking about fourth-wave feminism, my body my rules, sexual independence, showing off sanitary pads and becoming woke about it….all this is feminism, there is no denying that. Showing the sanitary pad might be feminism for you; but not being killed on the way to the bathroom or the field to defecate is our feminism. Women in India live in two different worlds — the privileged, upper-caste women have different worlds, while the Dalit-Bahujan-Adhivasi women have a different world,” she explains, adding that these women with a voice and privilege must talk about these issues too.
The double standards of public perception
When it comes to talking about feminism on social media, Shalin points out that she is quite well received. Even the find find reason to express solidarity and sing praises. But, when she talks about caste-based violence, people turn around and use caste slurs and threaten rape and violence. Where does this end then?