Are Caste Categories Misleading? : The Relationship between Gender and Jati in Three Indian States

Joshi, Shareen ; Kochhar, Nishtha ; Rao, Vijayendra

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GENDER;    ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT;    CASTE;    RURAL DEVELOPMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8109
RP-ID  :  WPS8109

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines the relationshipbetween caste and gender inequality in three states inIndia. When households are grouped using conventional,government-defined categories of caste the paper findspatterns that are consistent with existing literature:lower-caste women are more likely to participate in thelabor market, have greater decision-making autonomy withintheir households, and experience greater freedom ofmovement. When households are grouped by the narrowersub-caste categories of jati, where caste is lived andexperienced, the paper finds the relationships to be farmore varied and nuanced. These results suggest thatfocussing on broad caste categories such as "scheduledcastes" and "scheduled tribes" can bemisleading for understanding the relationship between casteand gender, and for targeting anti-poverty programs.