# **1. Introduction**

Indian society is highly stratified and hierarchical. Caste, class and gender all contribute to an individual’s status. Each of these three identities is powerful in its own right and a large body of literature explores the importance of all three in determining social and economic opportunities. The complex and dynamic interplay between these elements, however, receives less attention even though across India it drives significant regional and temporal variations in social structures (Dreze and Sen, 2002).

This paper examines the relationship between two of these categories: caste and gender. Numerous studies have argued that there is a paradoxical inverse relationship between caste and gender in Indian society. Stringent patriarchal codes designed to subordinate women have been observed to be restricted to high-status caste groups; women from low-status castes thus display higher labor-force participation rates, fewer patriarchal restrictions on mobility and greater decision-making autonomy (Boserup 1970; Liddle and Joshi 1986; Mencher 1988; Chakravarty 1993; Chen 1995; Kapadia 1995; Eswaran, Ramaswami and Wadhwa 2009). A related argument is that increases in wealth and income among low-ranked castes can have a negative impact on the status of women: As these castes emulate the customs, practices and patriarchal codes of higher-ranked castes, women become disempowered (Srinivas 1977).

However, some recent evidence from large-sample surveys is challenging this idea of a negative relationship between caste and the status of women. Deshpande (2002) for example, argues that far from being empowered, women from lower castes may actually be in a trap of material deprivation, low education, limited employment opportunities, inadequate safety and persistent indignity.

A rigorous examination of the relationship between caste and gender has been constrained by methodological challenges. First and foremost is the challenge of defining caste. There is no universally accepted definition of the term.<sup>1,2</sup> In Hindu texts, caste is equated with _varna_ , the ancient organization of society into four vertical categories: priests (brahmins), kings and warriors (kshatriya), farmers and merchants (vaishyas), laborers (shudras), and a fifth group of “untouchables” excluded from the system altogether.<sup>3</sup> The Government of India as well as various state governments classify caste according to a different group of categories, including Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST),

> 1The Miriam Webster dictionary of 2016 offers three separate definitions: (1) one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with the members of other castes; (2) a division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank or privilege, profession, occupation, or race; (3) a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion. (Miriam Webster Dictionary Online, Accessed on 7/24/2016).

> 2 The very word “caste” is a European term that comes from 16th century Portuguese travelers who applied their word for clan, _casta_ , to describe the visibly segregated groups they observed as outsiders.

> 3 _Varna_ is the Sanskrit word for type, order, color or class.

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