📘 Class 10 Political Science – Chapter 4
💠 Gender, Religion and Caste 💠
🧑🤝🧑 Gender and Politics
- Gender division is often seen as natural & unchangeable, but it is actually based on social expectations & stereotypes (पूर्वाग्रह).
🏠 Public vs. Private Division
- Women = half of humanity 👩🦱, but minimal role in politics & public life.
- Earlier → only men could vote 🗳️ & contest elections.
- Gradually → gender issue raised in politics → demand for:
- Political & legal status of women 📜
- Better education & career opportunities 🎓
- Movements started by women for equality in personal & family life → called Feminist Movements ✊
🚺 Women in Patriarchal (पुरुष-प्रधान) Society
India is male-dominated (Patriarchal) → women face discrimination & oppression:
- 📖 Literacy Rate → Women: 54%, Men: 76%
- ⏰ Women work 1 hour more daily than men → most of their work is unpaid
- ⚖️ Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 → equal wages for equal work
- 🍼 Sex-selective abortion → decline in child-sex ratio (girls per 1000 boys)
- 🏙️ Urban areas → unsafe for women
🗳️ Women’s Political Representation
- Women’s issues → not given adequate attention.
- Feminists argue → unless women control power, problems won’t be solved.
- Lok Sabha (2014) → Women’s representation reached 12%.
- State Assemblies → Less than 5% women.
- Local Bodies (Panchayats & Municipalities) → 1/3rd seats reserved for women → now 10 lakh+ elected women representatives.
👉 Gender division proves that social divisions must be expressed in politics.
👉 Disadvantaged groups benefit when their issues become political.
🙏 Religion, Communalism and Politics
📖 Religion in Politics
- Religious differences are often expressed in politics.
- India → followers of many religions 🕌⛪🕉️✡️
- People should be free to express their needs, interests & demands as a member of a religious community.
⚔️ Communalism (सांप्रदायिकता)
👉 Definition → Use of religion in politics.
Forms of Communalism in Politics:
- When one religion is presented as superior to others.
- When demands of one religious group oppose another.
- When state power is used to dominate other religions.
Expressions of Communalism:
- Everyday beliefs → religious prejudices & stereotypes.
- Desire for political dominance of one’s religion.
- Political mobilisation → use of sacred symbols, leaders, emotional appeal, fear.
- Worst form → communal riots, violence, massacre (e.g., Partition of India & Pakistan).
🕊️ Secular State (धर्मनिरपेक्ष राज्य)
India is a Secular State 🇮🇳
Features:
- 🚫 No official religion in India.
- 📜 Freedom to profess, practice & propagate any religion (or none).
- ⚖️ No discrimination on religion basis.
- 👥 State can intervene in religion to ensure equality (e.g., ban on untouchability).
🪔 Caste and Politics
📉 Caste Inequalities
- Caste system = based on hereditary occupations.
- Same caste → same occupation, marry within caste, eat separately.
- With development & urbanisation → old caste hierarchy is weakening.
- Indian Constitution → banned caste discrimination ✊ & introduced policies to reduce caste-based injustices.
🗳️ Caste in Politics
Caste plays a role in politics in different ways:
- Political parties → select candidates ensuring caste balance.
- Election campaigns → appeal to caste sentiments.
- Parties raise caste-based issues to gain support.
- Lower castes became more aware of voting rights & power.
👉 But caste is not the only factor in elections:
- Candidates need support from multiple castes/communities.
- No party can win support of all voters of one caste.
- Some voters have multiple candidates from their caste; some have none.
- Performance of government & popularity of leaders also affect results.
Power keeps changing → elections bring new MLAs/MPs.
🗳️ Politics in Caste
Politics also influences caste system & caste identities by bringing them into the political arena.
🔹 Key Points:
- Each caste group tries to become bigger by including neighbouring castes or sub-castes.
- Different caste groups form alliances 🤝 with other castes/communities → enter into dialogue & negotiation.
- New kinds of caste groups emerged in politics → ‘Backward’ & ‘Forward’ caste groups.
- Caste plays different roles in politics:
- Sometimes → helps in representation & mobilisation.
- Sometimes → leads to tensions, conflicts & even violence ⚔️.
