Labouring at the Intersections: Caste, Gender and Survival in Dalit Women’s Life Writing

Abstract

The position of Dalit women is one of the most vulnerable in the labour hierarchy in India, where the intersection of caste, gender, and class creates conditions of vulnerability. Their labour is largely restricted to stigmatized, informal, and physically demanding work, making it both socially necessary and devalued. The vulnerability of women workers, therefore, cannot be understood without considering the caste organization of labor and the gender division of work that structure the lives of Dalit women.

This paper will analyze the intersection of caste, gender, and labor through a close reading of Bama's Sangati and Urmila Pawar's The Weave of My Life, which are two important works of Dalit women's life writing. Based on the concepts of intersectionality and Dalit feminism, it contends that these stories serve as a testimonial archive of the hard work and survival that happens in everyday life. Instead of depicting labour as a process of empowerment, these stories portray it as a necessity that is driven by the absence of caste inclusion, economic marginalization, and patriarchal domination. However, these stories also highlight the importance of resilience that happens through collective power, communal unity, and educational ambition, which give insights into the lived experiences of marginalized Dalit women workers in contemporary India. These stories also point towards the need for policy intervention and labor rights in marginalized communities in contemporary India.