Reimagining Intersectionality & Social Exclusion: Lower Caste Muslim Women

• In Event: Gender, Leadership and Livelihood in a Global Context

Abstract

This study explores the question of lower caste women among Indian Muslims and the issues of discriminations, social exclusion, economic exploitation, political marginalization, also the paradigms and debates around their lived experiences. It focuses on how caste becomes a lived reality and source of discrimination & exclusion from the mainstream more deeply for lower caste Muslim women. The paper provides an ethnographic profile of Dalit Muslim women. Based on fieldwork, it studies the forms of discrimination, stigma, social distance and structures of domination faced by Dalit Muslim women in one of India’s provinces i.e. Bihar. It reflects on how women’s lives are getting transformed due to global changes in culture and technology. However, paper also contends that with the rise of new nationalism, structures of power have further entrenched and resisting the voices for gender equality.
The paper explores the possibilities and avenues of decision-making for Muslim women which can help eliminate barriers and increase the diversity of voices among Muslim community in general. The paper aims to challenge the systemic exclusion of lower caste Muslim women (within Muslim community in particular and within a larger Indian society in general) and explore new practices, approaches, and institutional designs.

Authors

• Yasmeen Jahan, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi

• MD AFTAB ALAM, University of Delhi