Dalit Woman Writers

Dalit literature is the saga of resistance against the hegemony of Brahmanic literature which pretends to be omniscient and all-encompassing while presenting a narrow, one sided, twisted and biased view of reality. Society is changing. So it is obvious that the role of literature and expression must be changed accordingly. An inferiority complex attached with ‘being Dalit’ is reduced considerably. It is time taking process and will go with time. So it is essential that our approach towards Dalit literature must be changed. There is a drastic change in dalit consciousness in last decades. The depressed consciousness of dalits is changing. It is replaced by asserting themselves in every field. Dalits, who were practically invisible from socio-political arena, are making their presence everywhere. They are giving their contribution to society. So our literature must encompass the changing role of dalits. In the present paper we propose the concept New Dalitism as a changed way of expression in the current and emerging socio-political milieu. This is required to differentiate it with the previous approach. Contrary to the Dalitism which is to highlight the disabilities and difficulties and seek sympathy, Neo Dalitism is to question the very literature which justifies this caste hierarchy. It is to develop not only a healthy (not sympathy) image for dalit but an image of appreciation for the people who have been unjustly victimised over the centuries and endured it. It is not to artistically portray the sorrows, tribulations, slavery, degradation and poverty endured by Dalits, but question them and rewrite them from dalit points of view. It is critically examining and pointing out the flaws on the basis of which this caste system is based.

Dalits have been striving to get rid of their stigmatized identity for quite a long time. In this course they tried to form various movements mainly through their own literature. Through their short stories, poetry, autobiographies they have been trying to expose the cruelty which the society had implemented upon them. Among these writings, autobiography claims to have a significant place as it weaves the true stories of a writer’s life. But there is a sheer difference between a male and female Dalit writer’s autobiography. When a male Dalit writer envisions only the tyranny of the upper caste people on them, a female Dalit writer not only mirrors the oppression due to caste discrimination but also due to their gender.  This article attempts to differentiate the ways in which Dalit male and female autobiographers dealt with the theme of oppression.

It is extremely significant to enquire how the lower caste Dalit people have read about the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of Dalit colony life that have changed their life and society. I argue that these colonies serve as an index of their inferior social status. It serves more of their ghettoisation than for their empowerment. It further distances them from society and helps to appropriate their labour. This is the continuation of the age-old practice of caste discrimination and deprivation that kept them away from the mainstream while appropriating their labour for the general development of society. This paper focuses on the rereading of social norms which evolved through the author's probing of the social history of 'caste colony' as part of her research, especially on Dalit women.

The world of manual scavenging
is informed by caste, patriarchy,
fi lth and humiliation. Their
only source of “power” comes
from politicians considering
them a vote bank; yet, without
truly understanding their lives,
aspirations, and living conditions,
how can governments promise
them policies that could empower
and change their lives?

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was inspired from Mahatma Phule. He raised women’s issues as Member of Legislative Council during a debate in the Bombay Legislative Assembly. In his address on November 10, 1938,
he strongly advocated family planning measures and said that besides many other problems, giving birth to too many children negatively  ffects a mother’s health....The movement of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was, thus, very well carried forward and enacted by Dr Ambedkar.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar owing to his personal experience as
well as on account of available data, found caste as the root cause
of all the socio-political problems in India. Women welfare and
empowerment was one of the major moves of Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar. He participated in the Depressed Women Congress
twice at Nagpur. In a congress he said, “I measure the progress of
a community by the degree of progress which women have
achieved.” This view is not only applicable to the castes and
communities of India, but also to all the countries in the world.