higher-ranked jatis is consistent with our hypothesis, as well as with the large body of literature described earlier on the subordination of women in these specific groups.

We see similar patterns for women’s input into livelihood decisions, as well as for patterns of mobility. In the top panel in Table 5, we see that women from the Musahar jati appear to have the highest level of input in family decisions related to livelihoods and they have greatest freedom of mobility for going to a store. They appear to have lower input into children’s tuition funds, though this could be driven by the lower levels of schooling in this group. In the bottom panel, we see again that Brahmin and Rajput women have significantly lower levels of empowerment on all our indicators (employment, decisionmaking autonomy and mobility), but Brahmin women have even lower levels of labor force participation than Rajputs. We also note that Muslim women’s employment is 19 percentage points lower than the SCs in Bihar.

Similar mixed patterns are evident for Odisha. In the top panel of Table 6 and Figure 3(a), we see that in Odisha, ST women and SC women from the Barui caste are 21 percentage points more likely to be employed than the higher-ranked castes. In the bottom panel and Figure 3(b), we see that women from the highest ranked Brahmin, Karan and Khandayat castes have 9–17 percentage points lower labor force participation rates compared to SC/ST groups. Chasa, Goala and Tanti women of the OBC group are 5–12 percentage points less likely to work than SC/ST women. Higher-caste women from the Chasa, Goala and Khandayat jatis are also less likely to make decisions on buying household durables. We do not, however, see much evidence of jati-level variation for mobility indicators in this state. This suggests that perhaps in the case of Odisha, location and issues specific to the tribal culture in the poorest regions of the state could be playing a key role in determining women’s autonomy.

Finally, in Tamil Nadu (Table 7 and Figure 4), we find in the top panel and Figure 4(a) that Adi Dravidars exhibit higher employment among the SCs relative to higher castes.<sup>22</sup> The other SC castes—Chakkalians, Pallars and others—do not appear to be statistically distinguishable from their upper-caste counterparts, possibly because these castes have mobilized themselves very successfully in the state.<sup>23</sup> The lower panel of Table 7 and Figure 4(b) show differences within the BC and MBC groups. Naidu, Gounder and Reddiyar women of the BC caste are less likely to work than SC/ST women by 14.7, 7 and

> 22 Adi-Dravida or Adi-Dravidars are also known as Pariyars or Pareiyas. They have historically served higher castes and/or colonial officers (Bergunder, Frese and Schroder, 2010). Today they are classified as a Scheduled Caste and are the largest SC group in Tamil Nadu <u>(http://tnpsc.gov.in/communities-list.html,</u> Accessed on Nov 30<sup>th</sup> , 2016).

> 23 The Pallars of Tamil Nadu are also an SC jati _._ Largely concentrated in the southern area of the state, this jati has mainly consisted of agricultural laborers with both men and women working in paddy cultivation. The Pallars have been very effective in mobilizing for political action, and they created Tamil Nadu’s first all-Dalit party, the DKV (Mosse 2012).

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