CHAMAAR TAB AUR AB

THE SITUATION OF DALIT RURAL WOMEN Submission to Discussion on CEDAW General Comment on rural women – Article 14 by Navsarjan Trust (India), FEDO (Nepal) and the International Dalit Solidarity Network – September 2013  1. INTRODUCTION  Dalit women are placed at the very bottom of South Asia’s caste, class and gender hierarchies. They suffer multiple forms of discrimination – as Dalits, as poor, and as women. The caste system declares Dalit women to be intrinsically impure and ‘untouchable‘, which sanctions social exclusion and exploitation. The vast majority of Dalit women are impoverished; they are landless wage labourers; and they lack access to basic resources. They are subjugated by patriarchal structures, both in the general community and within their own family. Violence and inhuman treatment, such as sexual assault, rape, and naked parading, serve as a social mechanism to maintain Dalit women’s subordinate position in society. They are targeted by dominant castes as a w...