UNDERSTANDING GENDER INEQUALITY IN INDIAN SOCIETY: INTERESECTIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL PRESPECTIVE ON CASTE, CLASS, AND CULTURE
Keywords:
Gender Inequality, Intersectionality, Caste, Class, Cultural Norms, IndiaAbstract
Gender inequality is among the most long-standing social problems of the different societies, especially in those countries where historical social inequalities and cultural values still influence the possibilities and life prospect. Gender discrimination in India is not a uniform phenomenon but it is mediated by other social categories (like caste, class and cultural expectations) to create a complex and layered form of inequality. Intersectionality is a very useful sociological theory to study the way in which various regimes of power and discrimination intersect to shape the experiences of women who qualify into various social groups.
This review article will review the current sociological works on gender inequality in India especially with reference to the overlapping nature of caste format, division of classes as well as cultural patterns. The paper examines the impact of these structural factors on access to education, job opportunities, social mobility, and decision making power by the women. Marginalized populations are also given special consideration, such as women of lower caste and socio-economically disadvantaged populations, because their lives can be characterized by more than one type of discrimination.
The review identifies several themes, which have been developed in the past studies, such as the continuity of the patriarchal norms, socio-economic differences, and influence of the cultural demands on the independence of women and their social status. Simultaneously, the literature also demonstrates the tendency to develop awareness, policy intervention, and feminist movements as the means of the approach to these inequalities. Through the synthesis of available literature, this research will attempt to give a better perspective on the multidimensionality of gender inequality in India and find significant research gaps that a sociological researcher can address in the future.
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