Dalit women face dual discrimination

Dalits in India are subject to all sorts of discrimination, including untouchability. Dalit women face dual discrimination, i.e., discrimination due to both gender and caste. Dalits are also the targets of hate crimes and violence. For thousands of years, the casteless in India have been oppressed, discriminated and abused. The result is that 90 per cent of the more than 160 million Indian casteless belong to the poorest of the poor in the country.

In addition to being targets of physical and sexual violence, Dalits are often required to eat and drink from separate containers in restaurants, attend separate religious services, walk long distances to get water and work in degrading conditions.

Dalit women face dual discrimination, i.e., discrimination due to both gender and caste. Although Indian law contains extensive protection against caste discrimination, the government still fails to enforce its domestic and international obligations to ensure Dalit rights (Human Rights Brief, Center for HR & Humanitarian Law, Washington).

Dalits are forced to undertake the occupations that the rest of Indian society finds ritually polluting, such as handling carcasses, disposing of human waste (manual scavenging), sweeping streets and cobbling. Historically, Dalit women have been forced to serve as sexual servants to upper caste men. Dalit children are also subject to human rights abuses including bonded labour.

Hence these show how the Dalits are look upon in their homeland. They are not treated with respect but humiliation and this treatment had lasted since thousands years ago, but this does not change.