iv) Class Structure and Women’s Work

Class is defined primarily by the ownership of property or capital or economic resources. In simple terms, in a capitalist structure hierarchy is determined by wage, relation viz., people who work for a wage and people who hire workers for wages in rural areas, where the social, economic and political power coincide with caste structure. The constraints on women that vary from upper to the lower castes are reinforced by the class structure as well. Women of upper castes/classes are secluded, and participate in activities in the domestic sphere.

Women from middle castes with medium and small holdings are more likely to work on their own fields and in certain cases work for wages. Women from artisan castes/classes contribute to the home-based production They belong to the bottom of the hierarchy where seclusion and restriction on social mobility are not practiced.

In the urban context, where there is a transition to non-agricultural occupations (from an ‘ascribed’ to ‘achieved’ status situation) the upper castes form the predominant group among middle classes. Women of this class emerged from seclusion during the century to acquire education and employment. The important aspect is that the economic

dependence on men is broken. However, this did not drastically change the subordination of women. The class structure appears to build upon the existing gender hierarchy in the caste structure. The family within the class structure also derives status from women’s education and employment. Women perform status – maintaining and enhancing activities to the family – as educated housewives, mothers and earners. Advertisements in matrimonial columns are ample evidence of this trend.

Women’s subordination is entrenched in the caste and class hierarchies which have to be understood. Otherwise, women’s issues will be misunderstood as mere cultural accidents and violence on women as stray incidents.