Workshop on Dalit women


Express News Service

New Delhi, April 22: The Centre for Social Research held a workshop on Dalit women and emphasised the need for a “rainbow” coalition of women’s groups to work for empowerment.

In the inaugural address, CSR director Ranjana Kumari proposed awareness programmes at grassroots level to decrease the ‘‘deficit of involvement of Dalit women, more so in villages’’.

The workshop sought to find solutions to the prevalence of patriarchy within the Dalit community, which makes women ‘‘doubly marginalised’’.

According to a study, there are about 250 million Dalits in the country. Of these, 75 per cent of live below the poverty line, the study says.

Although there has been a rise in the literacy rate in theDalit community, for boys the rate is still 31.48 per cent, while it is only 10.93 per cent for girls.

The Centre for Social Research said groups like the National Women’s Commission, and various national and autonomous women’s organisations and Dalit organisations need to work for the upliftment of Dalit women.

Anand Kumar, head of the JNU Department of Sociology, suggested that a ‘‘rainbow coalition’’ of these groups be formed, which should encourage women’s groups at the panchayat level.

Kumar added that similar workshops will be conducted across the country, including the Northeast.