Chapter 3 — Gender, Religion and Caste

The sexual division of labour is a system where all housework (cooking, cleaning, washing, childcare) is done by women of the family, while men do work outside the home. This happens not due to biology but based on social expectations and stereotypes.

The percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha touched 14.36 per cent of its total strength for the first time in 2019. Their share in state assemblies is less than 5 per cent.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Act, 2023) gives 33 percent reservation of seats for women in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and Delhi Assembly.

A feminist is a woman or a man who believes in equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Feminist movements are more radical, aiming at equality in personal and family life as well as political and legal status.

Communal politics uses religion as the basis for politics in exclusive and partisan terms. It occurs when one religion and its followers are pitted against another, beliefs of one religion are presented as superior, or state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over others.

Yes, India is a secular state. The Indian Constitution provides no official religion for the state, gives freedom to profess and practice any religion or none, prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, and allows the state to intervene in religious matters to ensure equality within religious communities (e.g., banning untouchability).

Casteism is the belief that caste is the sole basis of social community with fixed interests. Caste politics refers to how caste gets expressed in electoral politics through candidate selection, government formation, and political appeals, which can both marginalize disadvantaged groups and create political coalitions.

Although explicit caste-based discrimination is outlawed, the effects of centuries of accumulated advantages and disadvantages persist. Caste remains linked to economic status: upper castes are best off, Dalits and Adivasis worst off, and backward classes in between. Most people still marry within their caste, and untouchability has not ended completely.

No. No parliamentary constituency has a clear majority of one single caste, so candidates need support from multiple castes. Not all voters of one caste vote for the same party. People's attachment to political parties is often stronger than to caste, and government performance and leader popularity matter in elections.

The child sex ratio is the number of girl children per thousand boys. In India, sex-selective abortion has led this ratio to fall to merely 919, with some states falling below 850 or even 800, illustrating gender-based discrimination before birth.

Because politics is about power, and male dominance in households is political. Gender division and discrimination are not just personal matters—they affect women's participation in public life and politics, making them legitimate topics for political analysis.

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