Dalit women face violence at a younger age and at a higher rate than women of other castes. According to the National Family Health Survey by the age of 15, 33.2% scheduled caste women experience physical violence.The figure is 19.7% for “other” category women.The violence continues, largely due to a sense of impunity among dominant castes.There is a mind-set among the dominant castes that make them feel that they can do anything they want with dalit girls and that they will get away with it.The discrimination faced by Dalit women at the cost of the Brahmanical obsession with “purity and pollution” has had a detrimental effect on all the dimensions of development.

Even today Dalit women along with their families are commonly clustered in segregated hamlets at the edge of a village or mohallas in one corner of the village, devoid of civic amenities, drinking water, health care, education, approach roads etc.In urban areas their homesteads are largely found in slum bases normally located in very unhygienic surrounding.The exploitation of them under the name of religious such as “Nude Worship,” practice of devdasi system and such other similar types of practices make them more submissive to violence, and discrimination.

The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women has noted that Dalit women face targeted violence, even rape and murder, by the state actors and powerful members of the dominant castes used to inflict political lessons and crush dissent within the community.Very often cases are withdrawn and witnesses turn hostile because of pressure outside the system without adequate protection given to them.Sanctioned impunity on behalf of offenders is a major issue in India, and the police often deny or purposefully neglect and delay Dalit women’s right to legal aid and justice. There is a consistent pattern of delay in report filing and irregularities regarding criminal procedures, which leads to widespread impunity and creates serious barriers to justice for Dalit women.The risky workplaces compounded with a lack of labour rights protection measures render migrants dalit women more vulnerable to occupational injury.Further, the emerging problem of sub-contracting short-termed labour makes it more difficult for them to claim compensation when they are injured at work places.Dalit women are most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by employers, migration agents, corrupt bureaucrats and criminal gangs.Th enslavement trafficking also contributes to migration of large proportion of Dalit women

At a general level, the innate nature of women in Indian Caste System has been represented as sinful. In Manu Dharam Shastra, women are seen as untruthful being having an indiscriminate love of ornaments, anger, meanness, treachery and a bad conduct. Women as a sex are composed of wickedness and guile. They have an insatiable passion and are innately promiscuous. All this was seen as a sufficient reason to control and impose restrictions on women. They, thus, needed to be closely guarded day and night. Their uncontrolled sexuality was perceived as posing a threat. Women’s’ sexuality thus had to be organised by paternal power to serve the new social and political arrangements organised by men of the dominant classes. Many Hindu text talk of the use of violence to punish women, particularly wives, to make them conform to the requirements of wifely fidelity. In the contemporary times women’s sexuality is still under patriarchal and caste control and still requires to be formally transferred from father to son

As far as unfolding the issue of identity of women in caste based society is concerned, it cannot be discussed without bringing in the concept of patriarchy. Patriarchy is part of all identity construction. Gender, class and caste intersect with patriarchy. Men mostly enjoy more power. Women, on the other hand, occupy a lower position in all identity groups and sub-groups. A large majority of women accept and play out these inequalities that are used in identity politics. Failure to do so angers their community, and can even destroy their relationship. Challenging their community identity codes can lead to severe consequences, in some cases it can lead to death too. Women are symbols and represent the honor of their community. Their autonomy is controlled. Due to dominance and universalism of patriarchal practices, women end up negotiating with patriarchy. The chastity of women is strongly related to caste status. Generally, the higher ranking the caste, the more sexual control its women are expected to exhibit. Brahman brides should be virgin, faithful to one husband, and celibate in widowhood. By contrast, a sweeper bride may or may not be a virgin, extramarital affairs may be tolerated, and, if widowed or divorced, the woman is encouraged to remarry. For the higher castes, such control of female sexuality helps ensure purity of lineage-of crucial importance to maintenance of high status. Women in upper caste societies live their lives largely within the familial parameters. Their mobility is severely restricted and they are not permitted to go out for work. Women play the key role in maintaining the sanctity and purity of the home. The bodily purity of upper castes is believed to be linked to what is ingested. Leela Dube, a renowned feminist anthropologist has argued that women play an important role in maintaining caste boundaries through preparation of food and in maintaining its purity. The job of safeguarding food, forestalling danger and in a broad sense, attending to the rules which govern the relational idiom of food fall upon women. Women’s practices in relation to food play a critical role in the hierarchical ordering of castes. The place of women as active agents and instructors in the arena of food and rituals also implies that women who command its gamut of rules gain special respect. Thus, women who espouse the family tradition and conform to the patriarchal order of society are honoured and respected; else they are subjected to severe punishment. The rules the women are expected to uphold and mostly designed to suit to the requirements of their male folks. These rules are generally considered to be absolute and women are expected to adhere to them blindly. There is striking difference in the levels of purity/impurity between men and women of high caste. Men of higher caste neither incur self-pollution of the kind their women do nor do they have to perform polluting work for other castes. Their women, on the contrary, are involved in pollution incurred through bodily processes, mainly menstruation and childbirth. They are also responsible for doing some of the polluting tasks within the family. There is a pervasive notion that women never attain the level of purity of men of their own caste. It is well known that traditionally women of twice-born castes have been equated with Caste and Gender Shudras who could not be initiated into the learning of the Vedas. Now, let us move to low caste women. The difference in the levels of purity / impurity between men and women is much less among the lower castes than among the high castes. Low class women, apart from self pollution, also deal with other’s pollution through occupational activities such as midwifery, disposal of dirt, the washing of dirty clothes, and many other services. But, their men too have to undertake polluting crafts work and services for others. Among these castes, women’s substantial contribution to the process of earning a livelihood along with sharing of impure tasks by both men and women makes the gender division less unequal. However, it is worth mentioning here that women’s contribution to occupational continuity is carried out within patrilineal confines and under the imposition and control of caste. Thus, position of women in upper caste society is considerably different from their counterpart in lower castes. The higher the location in the caste hierarchy, the greater are the control on women.

Caste is one of the basic institutions of Hindu society. The significance of gender in understanding the caste system and the way caste invades on women’s life cannot be ignored. Indian society is strongly patriarchal. Women’s compliance to structure of caste and class is not merely passive but can extend to incitement of their menfolk to hold on to unchallenged social power that they have wielded into contemporary times. Women in India are treated as inferior and lowly by their male counterparts. Women are treated as subordinates and their sexuality is controlled by men. In India caste system is an important institution. This feature makes the Indian society highly stratified and hierarchical. Caste and gender are highly correlated. Though women of upper caste face gender discrimination at every step of their life and it is their men who control their destiny. Yet women of upper caste are entitled to certain privileges. It is important to note that these privileges are granted to them only when they conform to the patriarchal order of society. Women of the lower caste are the most disadvantaged lot. They are victim of both gender discrimination and caste inequality.

Inside Jharkhand has been actively involved in the protection and empowerment of Dalit and Tribal women at the risk of violence and/or dispossession – adolescent girls, rural and urban women including indigenous/ethnic minority women , migrant women workers, domestic workers and victims of trafficking and displacement  .