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Chapter - I

1.1 Introduction:

One of the most prominent features of the advanced societies of the present age is

the high rate of mobility. Change is inevitable and no human society is immobile.

But the rate of change varies from society to society and from time to time. Social

mobility is a process which involves socio-cultural change due to which there is

structural change in the established social, political, economic and cultural

institutions of a system or a society. Due to these changes the attitudes, opinions,

customs, ways of acting are also broken and people are becoming rational,

secular, modern in thought, in external behavior and are becoming individualistic.

They have starting accepting new forms of socializing and manner of behaving. In

this process individuals move from one social position to another within a social

space often leading to progressive development of society with respect of time.

In the Encyclopedia of sociology “Social mobility has been defined as movement

through “social space” from one status category (the origin) to another status

category (the destination)”.

According to Sorokin (1927), social mobility in its broadest sense is the shifting of

people in social space. In other words social mobility is the transition of people

from one social position to another.

Lipset and Zetterberg (1966:563) point that “social mobility of an individual or

group is determined by the shift and ranking of occupation, consumption, social

power and social class. People’s beliefs, values, norms customs and some of their

emotional expressions are different according to their occupational class”. The rate

of mobility may differ in different dimensions. There is a possibility of having a

higher rate of mobility in one dimension and lower in another. Therefore to get a

more qualified and accurate conclusions about social mobility they have suggested

a conventional operational method of ascertaining mobility by comparing father’s

and offspring’s occupational position

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According to Lipset S.M. and R. Bendix (1967:8) “Social mobility is the study of

the relationship between starting point of a person’s career and the point the

person has reached at the time of analysis. It is the relationships between social

inheritance and the means of mobility. The degree to which, given backgrounds

determine the level of education, acquisition of skills, intelligence and motivation to

seek higher positions. A person who moves up in social hierarchy will tend to

change his/her friends, move to a new neighborhood, perhaps change his/her

religious affiliation and may also change his/her political attitudes. They have also

given following two reasons for existing mobility in every society such as:

1) Changes in demands for performance. 2) Changes in supplies of talent.

Raj Mohini Sethi (1976) states that social mobility brings structural changes in the

attitudes and beliefs of the people. This leads to rationality, universality and secular

ideology which means equality, freedom and independence for everyone.

Sanjay K. J. (1994:6) says that “Social mobilization implies the process in which

major clusters of old, social, economic and psychological commitments are eroded

and broken and people become available for new patterns of socialization and

behavior.

K.L. Sharma (1997:157) stated that “Social mobility refers to the change in the

status of individuals(s) or group(s) in relation to a given system of social

stratification. This change manifests itself in two forms, either as a threat to the

contiguous system and ultimately its displacement by the emergence of a new

criterion of status evaluation (vertical mobility or structural change) or through

changes within the parameters of the system (horizontal mobility or positional

change).

According to Anjali Kurane (1999:12,41) “Social mobility is a long range social

and cultural change often regarded as leading to progressive development of

society with respect to time. Further she says that “Social mobility is the movement

of a person or group from one social position to another with regards to education,

occupation, status, income and power within a social space. It is a change in social

object or values attitudes, beliefs anything that has been created or modified by

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human activity. It is a change in one’s education, occupation, income, economic

change in conditions, prestige, status power and wealth. It changes a person’s

overall position.”

The present study focuses on Social Mobility of Urban Women of Mali community

belonging to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in Pune. The category of other

Backward Castes comprises the non-untouchable lower and intermediate castes

who were traditionally engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts and

functional services. K.L. Sharma (1997), points that the OBCs continue to be

peasant castes and in education, professions and white-collar jobs they lag behind

the upper castes.

In this study social mobility of urban women of Mali community is measured on the

basis of the factors such as premarital and marital status, education, occupation,

the extent of social participation, the extent of social distance between the Mali

women and the upper castes, change in attitudes and beliefs towards institution of

marriage, family, rites and rituals in religion, level of political participation and

utilization of mass media.

For the present research the operational definition for social mobility means a

positional change in the education, occupation, income and status of the individual.

It means not only a change in material position, but it is also concerned with the

participation in decision making and change in the inner state of mind and thought

in each and every aspect of life.

1.2 Factors of Social Mobility:

There are multiple factors contributing to social mobility such as:

1) Status – Every society provides a different status or position to each individual

or a group. Ralph Linton (1958) the eminent anthropologist says that status is the

position occupied by an individual in the total social network with respect to every

other individual with whom he shares a relationship in the network. Therefore a

person’s total status is the sum of his total collection of rights and duties in that

society. Factors such as family, the social groups, the norms and values existing

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in the society determine the status of an individual. These factors are objective and

they are already there before the individual is born. The Anthropologists and Socio-

Psychologists believe that in a modern society the objective factors are becoming

less important and they believe that in achievement oriented society, the process

of socialization and the formation of attitudes in the individual determine the status.

With regard to women status is the combination of positions a woman occupies, as

a daughter, mother, wife, as a worker etc, the power attached to these positions

and the rights and duties she is expected to exercise.

A women’s status has been normally determined by factors such as rituals, age,

marital status, family conditions, etc, but in modern times factors such as

education, job, employment, income, status of husband etc. have affected her

status. Indra Deva and Shrirama (1986) say that status of women depends on

the basic structure of the society itself. Anjali Kurane (1999), K.L Sharma (1997)

state that social mobility is the change in the status of an individual.

2) Education - Education is very important for all round development of an

individual. S.C. Dubey (1976), Bhai (1986), Aruna Goel (2004) state that

education enables the members of a society to perform gainful social roles,

develops basic skills, abilities, and performance. It also promotes mobility on the

thought level in the society conducive to and in support of national development

goals, both long-term and immediate; it determines the aspirations, and vertical

and horizontal mobility. B.S.Cohn (1961) Oomen T.K (1964), Anjali Kurane

(1999) says that education is one of the factors for initiating social change leading

to social mobility. Sunanda Patwardhan (1968) states that mobility in present day

India is determined not only by ascription but also by the level of education one

acquires and higher education is an effective means to upward mobility.

3) Occupation – Occupation is an important indicator to study social mobility.

Occupational mobility acts not only as an indicator of social change but also as a

transmitting agent of new attitudes and behavior. Lipset and Zetterberg (1956)

say that factors such as the growth of service industries, white collar occupation,

rise in the proportion of urban occupations with decline of agricultural work, and

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bureaucracy all provide impetus for greater social mobility. Further they say that

social mobility of an individual or group is determined by the shift and ranking of

occupation.

S.M. Lipset and R. Bendix (1967) say “Social mobility is the study of the

relationship between starting point of a person’s career and the point the person

has reached at the time of analysis. B.S.Cohn (1961) revealed that occupational

opportunities and governmental programs are also responsible to promote mobility

among the scheduled castes. Anjali Kurane (1999) maintains that it is a change

in one’s occupation, income, economic change in conditions, prestige, status,

power and wealth. Latheef, N. and Hazira Ahmad (1964), Sunanda Patwardhan

(1968) indicate that mobility in present day India is determined by industrial and

occupational changes taking place coupled with increase in social mobility. Soran

Singh (1976) observes that external forces such as industrialization, urban contact

and internal forces like hard work, faithful observance of duty are responsible for

mobility in the traditional occupational structure.

4) Change in attitudes and beliefs – To bring a change in society a change has

to occur in the attitudinal level of the individuals of the society leading to behavioral

changes and progressive action. This in turn may lead to further structural change

and social mobility. Lipset and Zetterberg (1966) maintain that occupational

mobility changes people’s beliefs, values, norms, customs and some of their

emotional expressions are different according to their occupational class.

According to Raj Mohini Sethi (1976), Sanjay K. J. (1994), Anjali Kurane (1999)

social mobility brings structural changes in the attitudes and beliefs of the people

were old traditional obligations are broken and people become rational and modern

in thought and behavior. Sunanda Patwardhan (1968) points that mobility in

Modern day India is determined not only by the level of education, type of change

in occupation but also by effectiveness of personal qualities. K.L.Sharma (2007)

maintains that urbanization leads to breakdown of traditional beliefs and influences

people in changing their attitudes, beliefs and world view and leads to individualism

and formalism.

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Earlier the attitudes towards the institutions of marriage, family and rites and rituals

in religion were traditional. Everett Jana Matson (1981), states that the aim of a

woman was that of a perfect dedicated wife and a good mother. Dube (1990),

points that marriage binds women to men and patriarchy. Tarabai Paranjpe

(1960), reports that, a woman’s own desire and aspirations were immaterial, she

was the serving and sacrificing partner, family duties and child bearing was the

most important duty and function of a woman. Altekar (1956) reports that in early

history apart from the periods of menstruation and child-birth women were not

regarded as impure by religion. Her presence and co-operation were necessary in

religious rites and ceremonies. But later on during the age of Brahamanas early

marriage, prohibition of Upanayana with no access to education the position of

women was reduced to the status of ‘Sudras’.

However, today due to the increasing education and employment among women

and also due to urbanization, industrialization the attitudes towards the institutions

of marriage, family and rites and rituals in religion are undergoing a sea-change.

K.L.Sharma (2007) reports that education; employment and socio-cultural

development have weakened the sacred culture of Hindu marriage. He further

states that despite several changes in Indian society the Hindu family continues to

be joint, partly structural and mainly functionally and has not disintegrated into

individual families like the western countries. Altekar (1956), states that women

have understood that their progress depends on the extent of their education and

gaining economic rights and not by following traditional religious ideas and rituals.

5) Extent of social participation – In the traditional past society the women were

confined to domestic affairs and had no social life as such. She was not allowed to

mix in the society. In today’s society due to increasing education and employment

of women the traditional concept of womanhood is undergoing a change. Women

are asserting their freedom and are trying for their emancipation from the home.

Women are stepping out of the traditional restrictions and are beginning to have

their own social life, due to their jobs they are mixing freely with their male

colleagues and are members of different organizations. Sanjay K.J. (1994)

maintains that due to social mobility people accept new patterns of socialization

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and behavior. Anjali Kurane (1999) says that social mobility is a long range socio-

cultural change which leads to a change in the person’s overall position.

6) Extent of social distance – Caste system which is deeply rooted in traditional

Indian society is characterized by non-recognition of personal qualities, rigid caste

hierarchy, caste endogamy and restrictions regarding eating, drinking and social

interaction. Marriot, McKim (1959) maintains that the relative ranking of different

castes in a locality depends on the kinds of interactions they have with other

castes, particularly in the taking and giving of food and water and in their

participation in ritual services.

But in the present age due to the changing attitudes and liberal outlook the

traditional caste hierarchy has weakened. S.M. Lipset and R. Bendix (1967)

report that in the process of social mobility people tend to change his/her friends

and move to a new neighborhood. Suneila Malik (1979) points that; social mobility

brings a change in interpersonal relations. Bogardus (1967) maintains that social

mobility can be seen by the visit of low caste people to the high castes, by practice

of inter dining, by attending ceremonies of the high castes, entry into the kitchen

and inter caste marriages.

7) Level of political participation – The extent of political participation and social

mobility are co-related. According to S.M. Lipset and R. Bendix (1967) a person

who moves up in social hierarchy will tend to change his/her political attitudes.

Previously women had no political status but after independence though there is

an increase in women voters and women representatives, it is seen that the

proposal of 33% reservation for women in legislative bodies is still pending in the

parliament. Jha. K.N (1985) says that a higher degree of political socialization and

political participation suggests a higher degree of modernization. Sunanda

Patwardhan (1968) points that mobility in Modern day India is determined by the

extent and effectiveness of political participation. Hate. C.A (1969), Seema

Salgoankar (2006) point out that equality of sexes has not been achieved in the

political field and there are hardly any women in the bodies which take political

decisions. According to them women still have to fight against traditions for political

rights.

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8) Utilization of mass media – Exposure to and utilization of media of mass

communication is directly related to mobility process. Since the level of literacy in

low in India, the various social problems prevalent are closely associated with

traditional attitudes, beliefs and ignorance among people. Binod C. Agrawal

(2004) writes that media utilization in several ways reflects the end use. People

who utilize more mass media are expected to be more mobile because these

media of mass communication convey new ideas and beliefs to the people and

thus help in achieving mobility. Mass media such as radio and T.V. would prove a

powerful medium in terms of their reach, impact and effectiveness. Agarwal’s

(1977) study showed that women who viewed T.V. gained more than men in areas

like family planning, health and nutrition. Jha. K.N (1985) maintains that a higher

degree of exposure to channels of communication such as newspapers, T.V.

programs, frequency of seeing films are the facts that serve as the indices of

modernization. Sanjay K.J. (1994) states that people who are exposed to mass

media develop a mobile personality that encourages rationality.

According to Sorokin (1927) the factors of social mobility are divided into

A) Primary or general factors B) secondary or local factors.

A) The primary factors are:

1) Demographic factors - Demographic factors mean all forces of differential birth

rate, mortality rate and sterility. In regard to demographic factors, his analysis of

statistics and historical materials led him to the conclusion that the rate of

reproduction of the higher strata is often less than that of the lower one’s. Thus

vacant top positions have to be filled up from people below.

2) Dissimilarity of parents and children - In regard to dissimilarity of parents and

children, it is seen that talented parents beget talented children due to heredity, but

this rule is not universal, there are exceptions. Sometimes children of quiet

average parents are talented and prominent. A common result of this dissimilarity

is the difference between the social position of individuals and their inner and

acquired qualities necessary for a successful performance of the functions, of the

position leading to social mobility.

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3) Change of environment, especially of anthropo-social environmental -

Regarding change of environment, it is being now termed as factors of

technological change or structural factors in which he concludes that social change

facilitates social mobility. The social environment is always changing, any invention

be it in the methods of production, in the means of transportation-in brief change in

any field of social life may be favorable for some and not favorable for others.

4) Defective social distribution of individuals within social layers - With regard

to defective social distribution of individuals within social layers it is seen that

sometimes a mediocre man is placed above a man of ability and an incapable

person giving orders to a more capable one. In brief, one of the permanent defects

of any society is a lag in the distribution of its members according to its qualities.

The secondary factors are: 1) pattern of stratification 2) educational opportunities

3) Urbanization and 4) psychological motivations.

According to Lipset and Zetterberg (1956) the factors responsible for social

mobility are

1) Industrialization – The growth of service industries, white collar occupation and

bureaucracy all provide impetus for greater social mobility. They state that “The

overall pattern of social mobility appears to be much the same in industrial

societies of various western countries”

The argument that industrialization increases upward social mobility in all industrial

countries has come under severe attack as industrialism has an “inner logic” that,

when introduced into countries overshadow the distinctive cultural and social

characteristics of industrial nations.

2) Urbanization - Factors such as rise in the proportion of urban occupations, with

decline of agricultural work, migration from rural to urban areas as the latter offers

better facilities for education and more and better avenues for employment.

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According to Lipset and Bendix (1967) the factors responsible for social mobility

are:

1) Achievement motivation – Achievement motivation is also important factor to

achieve social mobility, they say that if there is room for achievement one should

have the motivation to move up and also the necessary resources such as ability

and “know-how” for reaching the goals. The authors also point out that

achievement motivation of children of the same social class is also related to early

home socialization. They point out that working class parents whose reference

group is middle class are likely to socialize their children in middle class values.

2) Intelligence – They point that intelligence is also a factor in upward mobility, but

the authors mention that the evidence from the study of IQ distributions does not

allow any definite conclusions about the effect of intelligence on social mobility

because of the difficulties of separating in the IQ measure, native intelligence from

the effects of differential class socialization. But still they report that that the kind of

ability that goes into scoring well in an IQ test is a greater asset to upward mobility

as it has been widely shown that the IQ test does not measure intelligence alone

but a good deal of acquired knowledge and skill and special abilities distinct from

intelligence. The high IQ’s of some working class youngsters could be considered

indicators that they have acquired certain skills conducive to advancement.

3) Social class - is also a great determinant of social mobility. Here the authors

say that interclass variation in IQ is greater than interclass variation. They point out

that social class is a greater determinant than IQ of motivation to go to college.

And if working class boys manage to get into college, their educational

achievement does not differ from students from other class backgrounds.

4)Parent’s influence –The authors point that given the same high IQ’s, the

working class boys whose parents have more education are more likely to land up

in college than those who do not. Thus apart from IQ, parent’s influence is an

important factor in securing the additional means of advancement that college

education represents

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5) Size of family - It is seen that better educated and upwardly mobile children of

the lower classes tend to be from small families.

In the last they conclude that with regards to the above subjective factors of social

mobility it is important to bear in mind that usually a number of these factors

operate simultaneously and their effects on a given individual may either cancel

out or reinforce each other. Thus individuals in the same class, given the same

opportunities, still vary considerably in mobility achievement.

According to Joseph H.Fitcher (1971) the conditions that help or hinder the

access to objects that give high status may also be called the factors of social

mobility.

He states that the person who is striving for upward mobility must have access to

objects that give high status. For any individual who has the ability and desire for

upward mobility the following conditioning factors must be considered-

1) The presence or absence of individual competition - as a value in the culture

significantly affects mobility. A competitive society encourages upward mobility.

2) The availability of opportunities - to prepare oneself for the competitive

process is a secondary factor.

3) The pattern of equality and inequality - in a society has much to do with the

chances of social mobility.

According to S.M.Dubey (1975) the factors responsible for social mobility are

1)System of Transportation- The innovative changes taking place in the system

of transportation and communication have shortened the distance of time and

place, resulting in high degree of horizontal mobility in the form of immigration and

shift from one place to another.

2) Growth of population- is another factor producing regional and territorial

mobility.

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According to M.N. Sriniwas (1977) the factors responsible for social mobility are:

1)Sanskritization – Srinivas defines Sanskritization as the process by which a low

caste or tribe or other group takes over the customs, rituals, beliefs, ideology and

style of life of a high and, in particular, a ‘twice-born caste’. Thus the lower caste

people imitate the life ways of the upper castes with a view to improve their status

within the framework of caste. However it did not lead to a structural change.

Although the change is only positional yet it has significant structural

consequences, especially in relation to the orientation of the lower castes towards

the traditional upper castes.

2) Westernization – Westernization refers to changes brought due to contact with

western culture, particularly with the British. According to Srinivas various castes

adopted cultural styles of the British. Besides cultural imitation, many people have

absorbed western science, technology, education, ideology and values.

Westernization created new status cleavages and distinctions and did not do away

with the existing ones.

For the present investigation social mobility of Urban Mali women in Pune

belonging to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) is analyzed on the basis of

the factors such as premarital and marital status, education, occupation, the

extent of social participation, the extent of social distance between the Mali

women and the upper castes, change in attitudes and beliefs towards

institution of marriage, family, rites and rituals in religion, level of political

participation and utilization of mass media.

1.3 Social Mobility in India:

In India, Social Mobility was almost impossible within a caste system before the

British came to India.

The establishment of British rule opened several new avenues of mobility such as

1) Single political power 2) Certain forms of administration like military, railways,

post etc 3) Land could be sold to anyone, even low castes who had money.4) Role

of missionaries.5) Land ceiling resulting in new economic opportunities.6) Building

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of railways, road, canals, and introduction of plantation crops like cotton, tea etc

providing employment to thousands. The new opportunities – educational,

economical and political were open to all irrespective of caste. Thus the low castes

tried to acquire symbols of high status through possession of political power,

education and new economic opportunities.

With the gradual transfer of power from British to Indians, the 20th century

witnessed a great increase in quantum of mobility in caste system and

Sanskritization played an important role by enabling low castes to pass for high

castes.

Sunanda Patwardhan, says (1968; 185-208) “Mobility in present day India is

determined not only by ascription , but also by level of education, type of change in

occupation, the accumulation of wealth, the acquisition of land, by extent and

effectiveness of political participation and personal qualities”. Latheef, N. and

Hazira Ahmad (1964: 236-44) Current research seems to indicate a cause and

effect relationship between industrial, agricultural, occupational and communication

changes that are now taking place in India and an associated increase in social

mobility. Rowe (1968) Silverberg (1969) Sriniwas (1987) observed that studies

on social mobility in India have highlighted positional change in the form of

Sanskritization and Westernization.

Omvedt (1981) states that class rather than caste was basis of social mobility

implying change from agriculture to entrepreneurship and the form of migration

from rural to urban area. The emergence of new business class is not only

because of economic forces, but social, political and cultural processes,

particularly the social and political history of the region and of the dominant land

owning castes have also played an important role.

Thus, the state in India brought about economic and political changes having

consequences for social mobility eliminating some old persisting tensions and of

the emergence of a new system of social stratification.

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1.4 Social Mobility among Women in India:

As the present study deals with social mobility of women it becomes necessary to

understand the mobility process of women from ancient times till today. The

position and status of women has undergone changes from the Vedic to modern

times. During the Vedic period, women enjoyed equal freedom with men in all

matters, social and religious. During the post-Vedic phase women lived a secluded

life and hardly stirred out of the domestic premises. Because of the practice of

child marriage, sati, dowry, ‘purdah’, illiteracy, infanticide, women remained

neglected and confined behind the four walls simply as housewives performing

traditional roles up to the British period. They were exploited and suppressed by

the male dominated patriarchal society.

During the British rule social reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar,

Maharshi Karve Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, and many others made efforts to

improve and create awareness about the socio-economic condition of women. The

second half of the nineteenth century witnessed several reforms regarding the

position of women in Indian society.

After independence, a number of legislations have been passed to improve the

status of women. But these legislations have not proved effective in many cases.

K.L.Sharma (2007:239) states that “identity of woman is generally defined by her

role within the family. She is identified as a daughter, daughter-in-law, mother,

mother-in-law, wife, etc., and not as a person. She has no independent

connections, friends and relatives outside her family. Her only friends, relatives and

connections are those of the men folk of the family, becoming her kith and kin and

friends by implication and not by voluntary choice.

Though women are in the process of acquiring a status, position and role which is

different from the earlier conceptions still women are stationed at the receiving end

as seen in the following:

Marriage: Child marriage is prevalent even today among the rural, illiterate and

poor people. According to Seth Mira (2001) A study sponsored by the Department

of Women And Child Development discovered in 1990 that a large percentage of

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adolescent girls were married, in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar

and Andhra Pradesh, 50 percent girls were married in the age group of 15-19

years and in states like Kerala, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland where

woman’s status in general is higher less than 15 percent girls were married in the

age group of 15-19 years.

Education : The Census reports indicate that there is a continuous rise in the

percentage of literate women over a period of 50 years from 8.86 in 1951 to 54.16

in 2001, but gender disparity can be noticed in regard to male-female literacy rates

in all the periods. The 2001 census shows that male literacy rate was 75.85%

whereas for women it was 54.16%.

Occupation : According to Census of India (1981, 2001) in India though there

has been a slight increase in the female work participation rates from 19.7% in

1981 to 25.7% in 2001, it is still much lower than the male work participation rate in

both urban and rural areas. M.S.Gore (1968), Shashi Jain (1988) report that even

working women do not enjoy independent status, are made to carry the burden of

household work, their income is controlled by their husbands and in-laws.

According to R.P.Mohanty and D.N.Biswal (2007) the representation of women

employees in central, state and local bodies has been increasing steadily over the

years. But still the share of women employees remain as low as 7% in central

government, 18% in state governments and about 26% in local bodies. Also in the

public sector though there is an increasing trend in the representation of women,

the progress is not at all satisfactory.

Health: Life expectancy at birth is an important indicator of women’s health.

According to Seth Mira (2001) the Census Operations show that women had

lesser life expectancy than men up to 1971-81. It is now only that women have a

slight edge over men. But it is seen that the maternal mortality rates of India are

very high compared to the developing countries of the West and East Asia.

Crime: It is seen that crime against women has gone up in recent years. Seth

Mira (2001), reports that the annual reports of the National Crime Bureau confirm

the rise in the incidence of rape of young girls in the age group of 10 to 16 years

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have gone up by 28 per cent between the years 1991 and 1995. Rapes, homicide

for dowry and dowry deaths, molestation, sexual harassment, importation of girls

have become a frequent feature despite the legal provisions.

Sex Ratio: The status of women can also be gauged by the sex ratio of our

population which continues to be adverse for women continuously declining from

972 in 1901 to 927 in 1991. However, it increased to 933 in 2001. The current sex

ratio for Maharashtra is 922 women for every 1000 men. A report in Times of

India (8-2-2008) on analysis of CSR (Child Sex Ratio) based on 2001 census data

conducted by the population research centre of Pune’s Gokhale Institute of Politics

and Economics reveals that Pune district has the tenth worst sex ratio of 902 girls

for 1000 boys.

Political Participation: The status of women can also be seen by their extent of

political participation. Seema Salgoankar (2006) points that, the 73rd and 74th

amendments have enforced 33% reservation for women in local government only

which led to a large number of women leaders coming to power at the grassroots

level. She further reports that though there has been an upward trend in

participation of female voters, the political participation of women in India is very

low, political parties are cautious of agreeing on 33% reservation for women in

legislative bodies and remain underrepresented in Parliament.

Thus it is seen that though there is improvement in the position of women in the

education, employment, health and political fields from the previous periods,

gender inequality is a global phenomenon and it differs from place to place,

country to country depending upon socio-economic indicators. Women hardly have

any choice to adopt an independent path for their up liftment.

Though one can see successful women in all fields in recent years their

percentage is negligible, and they remain the suppressed and the oppressed lot.

K.L.Sharma (2007), points that patriarchy is very strong in India which is still under

the influence of feudalistic lifestyles and values despite several efforts for the

upliftment of women.

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This present study concentrates on social mobility among Urban Mali women

belonging to Other Backward Castes (OBCs). Though women in India belonging to

all castes and classes are backward, the OBC women are still backward due to the

general backwardness of OBC group. By and large the OBCs are traditional,

orthodox and have feudalistic values, so the women have to face different kinds of

social problems. K.L.Sharma, (2007) reports that though some upper OBCs have

made progress in economic and political fields, they are still lagging behind in

social and educational fields. With this kind of background it becomes very difficult

for the women to achieve mobility. But it is increasingly felt that the progress of the

nation is integrally linked with the empowerment of women. It is in this context the

study of mobility of women becomes significant to have an integrated socio-

economic and political development of the country.

1.5 Historical Background of Mali Community:

The word Mali is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Mala’, meaning garland.

According to Risley (1981) the Mali traces their descent from a garland maker of

Raja Kans at Mathura. He states that according to a legend, Krishna once asked

the garland maker to make a garland for himself and on being told to fasten it with

a string, the gardener took off his Brahmanical cord and tied it, on this Krishna

rebuked him and announced that in future he would be ranked among the ‘Sudras’.

Schrader, Crooke (1974) state that, ‘flowers have scarcely a place in the Veda.

Hence the caste cannot be a very ancient one’. According to Ibbetson (1916)

Mali’s are not included among regular cultivators in the village but were a lower

group and seldom occupy a dominant position in any tract of the country. The

cultivation of vegetables is looked upon as degrading by the agricultural classes

because they use night soil as a fertilizer. Further he says that if this would have

been true it seems certain that Brahmins would not take water from their hands as

they do and this privilege has been given to the Mali’s because they grow flowers

required for offerings to the God and sometimes officiate as village priests and

temple servants. But Russel and Hiralal (1975) report that most Mali in the central

Provinces objects to using night soil as a manure. It seems that the gardening

18

castes are not considered as landholders which in India are a status of a member

in the village community.

Mali’s are widely distributed in Maharashtra except the Konkan region and in

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar and

Orissa. According to K.S.Singh (1998) In Maharastra the Mali live in Pune,

Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Prabhani and Nanded. Mali caste constitutes the third

largest cultivator caste of Maharashtra peasant castes after Maratha and Kunbi

caste. Mali’s are 7% of the total population of Maharashtra. Their language is

Marathi and speaks all the dialects of this language like Ahirani, Khandeshi etc.

based on region. In the bordering areas they also speak Gujarati, Kannad, Telugu

and Hindi. Their language, customs, traditions, beliefs, religion, culture and social

status and geographical distribution is same to Kunbi- Maratha castes. Karve and

Dandekar (1951) point that they are below medium in stature, having a round

head with a medium nose and short face.

They are the specialist cultivators involved in the cultivation of flowers, vegetables,

onions, jowar, sugarcane, groundnut, sunflower, cotton, soyabean, rice, mango,

grapes papayas, oranges, bananas, pulses, tamarind, ‘jira’ (cumin), ginger and

‘haldi’ (Turmeric) and also combine the skill of professional gardening. But now a

days all the farming castes of Maharashtra are involved in production of these

agricultural products and Mali’s are also involved with cash crops, as now farming

has changed to more intensive and integrated industry and demand based

products. They raise Killari breed of Cows and Oxen to use them for milk,

ploughing and cart racing.

Depending on the type of specialized cultivation Mali’s are grouped in different sub

castes like ‘Phul’ Mali. Phul Mali’s main occupation was cultivation of flowers and

vegetables, professional gardening, temple services like supply of garlands and

‘mukuts’ (crowns) and maintenance of Palaces and Govt. buildings, This sub caste

was mostly concentrated in and around the cities due to easy market access to

their products. The Elite Phul Mali Families from all over Maharashtra were invited

to settle in and around Pune by Peshwas. The other subcastes are ‘Jire’ Mali-

Cumin cultivation, ‘Halde’ Mali- Turmeric cultivation, ‘Kacchu’ Mali – Cotton

19

cultivation, Saini, Ghase Mali, Kase Mali, Chaukalsa Mali, Panchkalsa Mali etc.

With times these subdivisions have been almost vanished and are only regarded

as surnames. The Mali’s have several totemic clans which are also used as

surnames such as Raut, Inglae, Singhara etc.

Also during the Peshwa and British rule Mali’s were a part of Maratha army

regiments and provided a large no. of recruits to State Police Force and Indian

army as per their Yadu Kshatriya traditions. During British rule Brahmins and

Rajputs lobbyed to exclude them from Maratha regiments of Bombay presidency

but they were failed in doing so due to the combined efforts of Mahatma Phule

and‘Rajas’(Kings) of Kolhapur, Baroda and Indore.

Mali community is follower of Hinduism and follows the Varkari sect and

Vaishnavism. They also follow Lingayat sect in small proportion. Devi is their

principal deity and marriages are performed in front of the deity. Devi is local

incarnation of Maha Kali and represents the dreaded disease of smallpox and

goats are sacrificed to please the Devi. Their dead bodies are cremated. They

have established Sant Sawata Mali temples all over the state. Mali community is

also a part of Gosain/Gosavi sect and Yogi Castes of Nath Sampardaya.

Pandharpur is a sacred place for the community and Abhang kirtana is part of

their spiritual life. They worship their oxen and during Pola celebrations in rainy

season take their bullocks in procession. They perform a dance and song form

based on incarnation of Lord Krishna known as Vasudev particularly in districts of

Jalgaon and Dhule and perform Dindi dance when they join the procession to

temple of Vithal. They celebrate festivals like Holi, Gudhi Padwa, Makar Sakranti,

Rakhi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dushehra Diwali and Gokul Ashtami. Pola is their

harvest festival.

Marriage with one’s father’s sister’s daughter is permissible. They practice

marriage through ‘soyrik’ (negotiation) and ‘ghar jamai’(service) or by ‘satuluta’

(exchange). They do not marry in the same ‘gotra’ (sub-caste) and with first and

second cousins. Earlier girls were married before puberty but not now. They

employ Brahmin priests for marriage ceremony and other Hindu rituals. Divorce

and widow-remarriage is permitted. Property is equally shared by brothers. Social

20

disputes among them are settled by the ‘jati panch’ (caste council) headed by a

methri.

Regarding the education level among the Mali K.S.Singh (1998) states that in

West Bengal literacy level is poor, in Bihar boys generally study up to secondary

level, in Orissa the literacy level is best restricted up to secondary level, the boys of

Andhra Pradesh study up to the secondary or college level and girls up to

secondary level, the level of education in Madhya Pradesh is also very low, in

Gujarat most of them are illiterate, very few of them have higher education and the

level of education among females is very low, also in Uttar Pradesh the boys

study up to secondary and the girls up to primary level.

They are the second largest community of political influence in Vidharba,

Marathwada and Khandesh regions of Maharashtra. They have strong presence in

36 assembly constituencies out of total 288.

During British rule, Mali’s entered into Backward class along with Maratha-Kunbi’s

to gain the profit of reservation of assembly seats for them in Bombay Council as

they fought for British in the First World War and today they fall under Other

Backward Castes (OBCs).

1.6 Role of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule:

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule was born in Pune in the year 1827 in a Mali family which

was considered lowly during that period. His father was a vegetable vendor.

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule occupies a unique position among the social reformers of

Maharashtra in the nineteenth century. He was a symbol of revolt against all

oppressive features of Indian society. He was against Brahman orthodoxy.

Throughout the nineteenth century the Brahmanas virtual monopoly over education

(especially in the Poona region) and professions continued. Kumar (1968:283)

points that in 1884, out of 109 students in the Deccan college of Poona, 107 were

Brahmanas even though the caste constituted only 4 percent of the population in

the region. Omvedt Gail (1976) counts the Brahmanas as a prominent element in

the commercial bourgeoisie and this prominence was confined to the Deccan. She

further says that in the history of caste contestations Mahatama Phule’s

21

conceptualization of caste was a definitive turning point. Mahatma Phule rejected

the process of Sanskritization and this rejection was not confined to the religious

sphere, but was more definitely based on exploiting existing social and economic

relations. He saw caste clearly as an unacceptable for the lower castes. He

focused in particular on caste as a cultural hegemonic system. He alone, among

nineteenth century social reformers was able to stand outside Brahmanical

patriarchy and although gender was not a central factor in his analysis of caste and

the reproduction of inequality, his rejection of the caste system and of Brahmanic

Hinduism allowed him to adopt a more radical approach to gender inequality than

any of his contemporaries. Kheer Dhananjay (1964) notes that Mahatma Phule’s

personal experience and his awareness of others of the routine humiliation heaped

by the Brahmanas on the lower castes enabled him to resist seeking religious

tradition or authority of any kind. The moves adopted by the lower castes to

identify themselves with the upper castes was regarded by Mahatma Phule as

falling into the trap of Brahmanism and ensuring the continuation of the division of

the oppressed among themselves. He pointed to the existence of a fused

community of oppressed which went beyond the division of the laboring groups

into cultivating Kunbis and untouchable Mangs and Mahars. According to him this

oppressed community was, the ‘Bahujan Samaj’, which was held together by their

recognition and rejection of both the social categories of conventional Hindu beliefs

and the religious authority of its guardians.

Mahatma Phule ideal was to raise the educational standard of the depressed

classes’ i.e the ‘Shudras’ and the ‘Atishudras’ including women who were deprived

of all their rights as human beings under the caste system, so that they became

aware of their own condition and aspire to rise. He was only 21 when he opened

the first school for girls on 1st January 1848 in India and that too in Poona which

was a Brahminical fortress during those days. This was the first school in the whole

of India for women started by an Indian. The orthodox people created a lot of

hurdles and saw that no one taught in his school. Mahatma Phule taught his wife

Savitri and she became the first women teacher of India. Mahatma Phule and his

wife 'Krantijyoti' Savitribai Phule were the pioneers of women's education in India

and were real emancipators of women. She was largely opposed by the orthodox

22

people who used to throw stones at her when she went to the school for teaching

but she faced all these assaults peacefully and courageously. They also opened

the first school for the untouchables in 1852. They also established a night school

in 1855 for working illiterate laborers who were being taken advantage of by the

contractors and government officials. According to Keer Dhananjay (1964) by

opening his own educational institutions with a school for girls Mahatma Phule was

making a statement on the lowest among the low in Hindu society: the low caste

woman. In setting it up in Pune, the centre of conservative Brahmanas, Phule

threw an open challenge to them and their views on banning learning for the low

castes and women who had restricted knowledge and made it an instrument of

power. According to Mahatma Phule the failure to educate women was the main

cause for the misery of Indian society. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule appealed to the

Hunter Commission set up by the British Government in 1882 to look into matters

concerning education that primary education be made compulsory for the overall

progress of the indigenous people of India. He was the first person who felt the

need for compulsory primary education for all.

At a time when even the shadow of a person of scheduled caste used to be

shunned, Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule opened the well in their house to

people of all castes and creeds in 1868. There was a custom of shaving off a

widow’s hair. Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule are popularly credited for

spearheading a barber’s strike where they refused to perform the customary

tonsure of widows. Again if a widow fell prey to a passionate person’s desire, she

had to bear the stigma of illegitimate motherhood and she had no other way to

save herself but commit suicide. For this the Phule couple started a home to

prevent such deaths in 1853, were pregnant widows could come for delivery. A

number of orphans lived in this under their care. Mahatma Phule was himself

childless and therefore he adopted an orphan who happened to be from Brahmin

caste.

On 24th September 1873 to propagate his thoughts Mahatma Phule founded an

organization by the name ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj’ (Society of seekers of Truth) and

this marked the beginning of non-Brahmin movement. The leadership of the ‘Satya

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Shodhak samaj’ came from backward classes, namely, the Malis, Telis, Kunbis

and Satis. It was a sort of ‘Cultural Revolution’. Gradually the branches of the

Samaj spread in various parts of Maharashtra. People from various castes and

socio-economic strata became members of the ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj’. All the

members of the ‘Satya Shodak Samaj’ were expected to treat all human beings as

children of one God and worship the creator without the help of any mediator.

According to Mahatma Phule a person’s superiority depends on the stage of his

development and not upon the caste in which he is born. He thought that it was

difficult to create a sense of nationality so long as the restrictions on dining and

marrying outside the caste continued to be observed by people belonging to

different castes.

This social reform movement against the Brahmin supremacy by the lower castes

came to be known as Backward Classes Movement. According to C.N.Shankar

Rao (2004:207) this movement brought pressure on different political parties to

create special opportunities for the lower caste people and thus the Backward

Classes Commissions were established at Central and State levels which

recommended reservation for backward castes/classes.

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule’s work was not only confined to educational field. He

arranged the first widow remarriage in 1864. He started and celebrated the first

“Shiv Jayanti” in Pune on 19th Feb 1870. He was the inspirational source behind

establishing India’s First worker’s union which was called the “Mill-Hand

Association society” and was opened in 1880 in Mumbai. He refused to regard the

Vedas as sacrosanct. According to him caste has been strengthened in India due

to the outdated ‘Dharmashastras’ and the so called sacred texts. He declared that

what contained in the sacred texts was not religion but a conspiracy serving only

vested interests of the few. To him social democracy was more important than

freedom from British rule and to establish social democracy annihilation of caste

was a prerequisite condition. Thus he was a rebel against all kinds of slavery.

Both Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule used to write. He wrote

fearlessly about the problems of people to create an awakening in the minds of the

people. Through his writings Mahatma Phule opened a front against idol worship,

24

priestcraft, ideas regarding reincarnation, casteism, polygamy, addiction to drugs,

excessive expenditure in weddings and death ceremonies and the high

handedness of the arrogant bureaucracy. In his writings he demanded

representation of all classes of the Hindus in all the local bodies, the services and

the institutions. In his controversial book called Slavery, he included a manifesto

which declared that he was willing to dine with all regardless of their caste, creed

or country of origin. Omvedt (1976:111-12) points that Phule in his last work,

Sarvajanik Satyadharma replaced the term ‘manus’ (man) with ‘sarva ekander stri

purush’ (every woman and man) and in the marriage promises of the

‘Satyashodak’ weddings the groom admitted that he could never experience

women’s sufferings, but vowed to give his bride full rights. According to him it was

a sin to discriminate human beings on the basis of sex. He envisaged a society

based on liberty, equality and fraternity. Savitribai herself wrote many poems and

articles. During the 1876 and 1898 famines, Savitribai worked with Mahatma Phule

continuously. During the lifetime of Mahatma Phule, Savitribai fully co-operated

with him in his mission. After Mahatma Phule’s death also she continued with his

work and took over the entire responsibility of his work. Mahatma Phule was not

just a Social Reformer, but was a Social Revolutionary who proved to be the

Founding Father of the Indian Renaissance movement of modern times. Dr.

Babasaheb Ambedkar therefore naturally accepted him as his “Master”- one of the

Gurus.

1.7 Statement of the Problem:

Women constitute almost half of the population in India, in other words half of the

countries resources. No country can achieve the goal of development without

taking into account the gender factor. This was clearly indicated in Human

Development Index (HDI) 1995 that women all over the world are receiving

unequal treatment. Women’s mobility is not only important because they comprise

of almost fifty percent of the population but it needs to be discussed as they have

been defranchised, downtrodden, deprived of all freedom and privileges for

centuries, are the most deprived section in any community due to several reasons

and patriarchy is one of the dominating reasons. She was never independent and

25

without male control in her life. The dependence was not only of economic nature

but extended to all other activities of women. Taking up gainful employment was

thought to disrupt the family life. Majority of them remained illiterate. Social

isolation and illiteracy further held them back from talking part in political activities.

It was only in the nineteenth century that social reformers Raja Ram Mohan Roy,

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule,

Mahadeo Govind Ranade took up the cause of emancipation of women. Equality of

women is needed not just on the grounds of social justice but as a basic condition

for social, economic and political development of the nation

The Indian society is today passing through a phase of transition. Along with the

changes in various aspects of society and culture, there is a change in the position

of women also. The changes that we witness in Indian society today have been

brought about by the ongoing process of modernization, westernization through the

agency of the colonial British rule, due to the different policies and programs

launched in India in the post-independence period. Its traditional framework based

on social inequality is in the process of disintegration; at least social inequality has

been abolished in theory. And it is gradually being replaced by an egalitarian

framework.

Education has had a deep impact on women attitudes and values leading to their

mobility in all aspects, a new concept of womanhood is emerging which is at odds

with the traditional concept of women as dedicated wife restricted to the hearth and

home. The social position of women in India is typical as the position accorded to

them by the law and constitution is different than the position and role imposed on

them by social traditions. Her feelings, values and attitudes which form the basis of

the system are by no means done away with till now. The religious traditions and

social institutions, the patriarchal nature of our society have a deep bearing on the

status and mobility of women. It is seen that changes are surely taking place but

slowly and this slow change can be attributed to the institutional patterns such as

religion and morals. This obstructs parallel changes not only in the position of

women but also in women’s attitudes and self-assessment. They are not getting

the expected momentum required for achieving social mobility.

26

So any assessment of the mobility of women has to start from the social

framework, social structures, cultural patterns and value systems of that society

which influence both the behavior of men and women and determine women’s

position in that society.

Chandrakala Hate (1969) found in her study that most of the unmarried

respondents desired that they would give up their jobs after marriage. William

Goode (1963), states that the active sentiment in favor of freedom of choice in

marriage is still fairly low and the reality of its expression most minimal. Kala Rani

(1976) findings reveal that most of the educated working women of Patna are

dominated by the traditional role orientation.

Though women in India are backward, the women belonging to Other Backward

Castes (OBCs) are still backward. The OBCs women are being exposed to the

same kind of forces of change to which women of other advanced communities are

exposed, but in view of the general backwardness of the OBCs group one may not

expect the same kind of enlightened family and community atmosphere.

K.L.Sharma (2007), reports that the OBCs have remained weak and backward

socially and educationally. The OBCs women have to face different kinds of social

problems such as the attitude of the parents, husbands and in-laws which by and

large are traditional, orthodox and conventional.

K.L.Sharma (2007) points that socio-cultural awakening, education, employment

have weakened the sacred ethos of marriage, but despite these changes religiosity

remains attached to marriage to a large extent, particularly in the villages. It

therefore appears very important to make an assessment of the impact of

changing time has left on society and whether these changes lead to social

mobility with special reference to women belonging to Mali community which

comes under the OBC group.

The purpose of this study is to measure and analyze the social mobility of urban

women of Mali community, by focusing on their socio-economic background, their

premarital and marital status; their educational and occupational mobility. The

study has also tried to understand the attitudinal changes that have occurred in

27

different institutional areas such as marriage, family, rites and rituals in religion. It

is required because the attitude of a person defines his/her role and makes his/her

self-image. It, on the whole, influences his/her social action. The study has also

tried to examine her extent of social participation, the extent of social distance with

the upper castes, the level of political participation and the utilization of mass

media among the Urban Mali women of Pune.

Research Questions:

The following research questions were explored using the concept of social

mobility:

1. What is the socio-economic background of the Mali women?

2. What is the status of Mali women in her premarital family with regards to

awareness of parental care and parental control in day to day activities?

3. What is the status of Mali women in the marital family with regards to decision

making in the family and her opinion towards some traditional customs and

practices in Indian society?

4. What is the Mali women’s attitude towards education and occupation and what

is nature of educational and occupational mobility among the Mali women?

5. What is the Mali women’s extent of social participation?

6. What is the extent of social distance between the Mali women and upper

castes?

7. What is the attitudinal change of Mali women towards the institution of marriage

and family?

8. What are the Mali women’s attitudes towards the rites and rituals in religion?

9. What is the attitude towards politics and the level of political participation among

the Mali women?

28

10. What is the extent and purpose of utilization of mass media among the Mali

women?

1.8 Justification of the problem:

The central problem is that women are not considered as independent persons.

The fact of sex inequality needs to be taken into fuller account in measures and

studies of mobility. If women are seen as independent members, social inequality

becomes quite obvious. Dube Leela, Eleanor Leacock and Shirley Ardener

(1986) observes that women have controlled access to essential domains of life

such as education, mobility, employment, property, income and decision making

and she feels that this happens because the value system perceives women as a

social category inferior to man in all aspects of life and this holds true for all castes

and communities and woman as such derives her status from the position of her

family and her husband. Tinker, Irene (1990) reports compartmentalization of

women persists despite involvement of women in political, developmental

programs and processes and even in the challenge to patriarchy.

In a study of working women living in the chawls and jhopadpattis, Alice Thorner

and Jyoti Ranadive (1985) report that the women pursued an array of

occupations and enjoyed some degree of autonomy, but the lives of these women

seemed to be determined by their husbands and by the position of their

households in the society. Raj Mohini Sethi (1976) arrived at two conclusions

regarding the effects of employment of women, it does not necessarily lead to a

change in the work patterns at home and their contribution to the family finances

does not bring about a change in the persisting status-role nexus and power

relations within the family. Hence in spite of income earning opportunities and

bargaining power within households, a woman continues to be relatively powerless

and marginalized due to their gendered limitations. Despite the metaphor of

reforms and individualization of women, emphasis on chastity, patriarchy, division

of labor, sacredness of marriage, seclusion within the household has persisted.

Today more and more women are entering the work force, university enrolment

figures are increasing, are seeking their identity as persons or members of society

29

equal to male members, are seeking a say in decision making both in family and

society. Women’s identity is being reconstructed in history. Maybe it is slowly

changing, but the old order is under strain and has been showing clearly cracks in

its structure and functioning. Thus, the problem of position of women is very

complex and it is fractured along the structured social inequalities in Indian society.

A number of studies have been made concerning the changing status and mobility

of women in general and also studies have been done on scheduled caste women

but the literature is practically devoid of enough substantive information on the

mobility of Other Backward Caste (OBCs) women and that also on Urban Mali

women in particular. Social mobility of Urban Mali women of Pune belonging to

OBC category remains comparatively an unexplored area. So the proposed study

aims to explore the nature of social mobility in various aspects of the Urban Mali

women in Pune.

The study would examine the social mobility of urban women of Mali community

through focusing on a number of factors of social mobility such as premarital and

marital status, education, occupation, the extent of social participation, the extent

of social distance with the upper castes, the level of political participation, and the

utilization of mass media among the Mali women. The present study will also focus

on the changing attitudes and beliefs towards institutional areas such as marriage,

family, and rites and rituals in religion as these changes have a tremendous

influence on society and its development which in turn affects the mobility of

women.

In this way the study would test the concept of social mobility among Mali women

belonging to the OBC category in Indian society. Such study of mobility of Mali

women in India is necessary and meaningful not only to understand the broad

pattern and process of mobility but also to understand the emerging pattern of

status and mobility of Mali women as a person, as a family member and as a

member of society. Such a study will also reveal the overall structural changes

among Mali women in the Indian society.

30

Therefore, at the theoretical level, the investigation would help us in conceptual

clarification of social mobility among the Mali women in Indian society. At the

practical level the investigation would also help us in understanding the Mali

women’s position and mobility pattern. The study would further help us in

identifying the socio-cultural and behavioral changes among Mali women. An

empirical research in such an area would be good contribution to the discipline of

Socio-Cultural Anthropology particularly Urban Anthropology. The study would also

help administrators and policy makers those who are engaged in women’s

development area and it would also be a contribution to the community.

1.9 Theoretical Perspective:

A number of studies have analyzed social mobility through both single and multiple

approaches. The single approach takes occupation as the sole criterion for

determining one’s social status while the multiple approaches includes all possible

dimensions of status-achievement. Lipset and Zetterberg (1966) have analyzed

social mobility through multiple approach, for them social mobility of an individual is

determined both by its shift and the ranking of multiple dimensions like occupation,

consumption patterns and social power along with the social class. People’s

beliefs, values, customs and sometimes even their emotional expressions, are

different according to the occupational class. The adherents of this theory accept

that there is a possibility of higher rate of mobility in one dimension and lower in

others. Therefore to get an more qualified and accurate conclusions about social

mobility, they have suggested to consider all possible dimensions status

achievement and the conventional operational method of ascertaining mobility by

comparing father’s and son’s occupational positions.

Sorokin (1952) divided social mobility into two principal types-horizontal mobility

and vertical mobility. Horizontal social mobility is the transition of an individual or

social object from one social group to another situated on the same level, no

change in status is found. Vertical social mobility is the transition of an individual or

a social object from one stratum to another which indicates a change in status.

According to the direction of the transition, there are two types of vertical social

mobility, ascending and descending or upward social mobility and downward social

31

mobility. When an offspring acquires a position higher than that of his/her father it

is operationally defined as upward social mobility and when an offspring acquires a

position lower than that of his/her father, it is called the downward social mobility.

In the present study attempts have been made to analyze social mobility among

urban women of Mali community through the multiple approach. The present study

revolves around the concept of social mobility. This concept has been explored in

the context of social mobility acquired by the urban Mali women through multiple

factors such as premarital and marital status, education, occupation, the change in

attitudes and beliefs towards the institutions of marriage, family, rites and rituals in

religion, the extent of social participation, the extent of social distance with the

upper caste, their level of political participation and the utilization of mass media.

For the present study the classification of an area as an urban unit in Census of

India 2001 is based on the following definition:

All places declared by the state government under a statute as a municipality,

corporation, and cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.

All other places which simultaneously satisfy or are expected to satisfy the

following criteria:

a) A minimum population of 5,000;

b) At least 75 per cent of the male working population engaged in non-

agricultural economic pursuits: and

c) A density of population of at least 400 per square kilometer (1,000 per

square mile).

Following are the factors taken in the present study to measure social mobility:

1) Social Mobility and Status

The status of a woman is an important indicator to measure social mobility. Lowie

(1950) points that status means four different things – actual treatment, legal

status, opportunity for social participation and the character and extent of work, all

32

determine, each in a specific sense and manner, the status of women in a society.

All the above four things may not be however found to co-exist anywhere. He

further says that these four determinants are independent of each other and not

casually related. The correlation between them is empirical and not conceptual.

Ralph Linton (1958) the eminent anthropologist says that a person’s total status is

the sum of his total collection of rights and duties in that society. K.L. Sharma

(1997) states that, “Social mobility is the change in the status of an individual or

group in relation to a given system of social stratification.

Regarding the changing status of women, Indra Deva and Shrirama (1986: 148)

observe that “the status a society assigns to a woman largely depends upon the

basis of the structure of that society itself”. In India during the Vedic period as the

family was patriarchal, though male children were preferred, daughters were never

ill-treated. The position of the wife was an honored one. During the later Vedic

period, her position deteriorated, husband was given the status of God. The

reasons for low status of women in the post-Vedic period can be identified by

mentioning Altekar (1962) Chaudhary (1956) Prabhati Mukherjee (1978). They

are 1) imposition of Brahmanical practices on the entire society 2) severe

restrictions forced by the caste system and of the joint family system 3) lack of

educational facilities for women 4) introduction of non-Aryan wife into the Aryan

household 5) foreign invasions.

In Jainism and Buddhism period, the status of women improved a little, though

there was no remarkable change and their political and economic status however

remained unchanged These religious sects may be considered a revolt against the

Brahmanical religion.

Altekar (1956) writes that, “For nearly 2000 years from B.C 200 to 1800 A.D, the

position of women steadily deteriorated though she was fondled by the parents,

loved by the husband and revered by her children. The revival of ‘Sati’, the

prohibition of widow remarriage, the spread of ‘purdah’, the greater prevalence of

polygamy made her position very bad”. K.L.Sharma (1997:133) states that, status

inequality between men and women is an age old phenomenon reinforced through

33

patriarchy and its institutions, gendered division of labor, and social institutions like

marriage, dowry, property and inheritance.

During the British rule the two movements, the Social Reform Movement of the

nineteenth century and the Nationalist Movement of the twentieth century affected

the position of women. The social culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries was molded by the male dominant patriarchal values whose connections

were to be found in the ancient religious and socio-legal writings. The subject of

women and the issues of women’s place in society in the nineteenth century

contributed to a new awareness of gender which gave rise to early social reform

movements. Issues such as system of Sati, ban on widow remarriage, polygamy,

child marriage, denial of property rights and education attracted the attention of the

Social reformers who were predisposed to the broad-minded attitudes and values

of the British rulers.

Due to these reform movements the foreign government took steps in enacting

some laws relating the emancipation of women. Due to the efforts of the Social

Reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Maharishi Karve, Mahatma

Jyotirao Phule etc. the law regulating Sati in 1829, the Hindu Widow’s remarriage

Act in 1856, the Sarda Bill in 1929 to restrict child marriage, the Hindu Women’s

Right to Property Act in 1937 were passed.

Even today woman’s status as a daughter in her premarital family, as a wife and a

mother in her marital family is fixed, her worldview attitudes, beliefs and perception

are clearly defined. The pattern is there, and all they have to do is fit into it. Julia

Leslie (1989) says that the wife’s main purpose was to bear a son for her

husband’s family and therefore her fidelity was essential to ensure male sons as

well as to maintain the purity of the family and caste lineage.

The process of liberation of women which started in 19th century was further

accelerated during the 20th century. C.N.Shankar Rao (2004) says that the type of

status assigned to women in any society reflects the nature of its cultural richness

and the level of its civilization standards and thus the status accorded to women in

society symbolizes its level of progress.

34

The process of industrialization, urbanization, spread of transportation and

communication facilities and higher education, new value system have greatly

affected women’s position. But today due to changed socio-cultural environment,

which is marked by individualism, is also influencing the role of a woman as a

daughter, a wife and a mother which may be different from the traditional status.

But in spite of the changes taking place it is seen that Indian society is still unfair

against women. The position of woman as a daughter in the premarital family, as a

wife and a mother in the marital family is responsible in shaping her attitudes,

opinions, views, beliefs and her aspirations, which directly influence her mobility.

Ahuja’s (1992) study found that women in independent India have many rights but

most of the women are not conscious of these rights. All the efforts by the

government and the non- governmental agencies have been partially successful in

improving the status of women because of the unawareness of the women

themselves. The main barriers in the awareness of rights are: illiteracy, household

constraints (attitudes of husband and in-law’s), excessive involvement in domestic

chores, and economic dependence on males. In spite of having gained importance

at parliamentary, administrative and professional levels it appears that the idea of

what a woman should be has not changed very much. Husbands are happy that

their wives have taken up jobs, but they do not want their women to change their

ideas about their status or to neglect their traditional responsibilities. Women are

not completely free from the hold of customs. Even today women are not identified

as independent individuals but only as daughter’s wives and mothers. K.L.Sharma

(1997:136) says that the status which women derive, from their own achievements

such as education and jobs is not fully recognized and even such individualistic

gains are attributed to the husbands and their families or to the parents. Thus it

means ultimately women only have derived status and patriarchy becomes the

dominant value in shaping such differences. Womanhood has been and still

regarded as a ‘varna’ (caste) with a variety of roles and practices.

Therefore in the present study, premarital and marital status has been selected as

one of the factors to measure social mobility among Urban Mali women.

35

2) Social Mobility and Education

Education is one of the most important avenues for social mobility. In case of

women education helps them to move from the tradition to modernity, in changing

their attitudes and beliefs which in turn promotes upward social mobility.

Jasprit Kaur Soni (2006) points that education is expected to serve as an

indicator of confidence. It helps in development of human personality, social

mobility, occupational change and rise of professional, political and social

awareness. It increases the degree of participation, which is the key for

development. B.S.Cohn (1961) in his study revealed that, education is the primary

factor for social mobility. Sunanda Patwardhan (1973) says education is a status

symbol and higher education is an effective means to upward mobility. Shah .B.V

(1964) says that the interaction between education and social stratification has

direct influence on social mobility. Oommen T.K. (1964) says that education is a

strategic point for initiating social change. S.Vidya Sagar and K.Manuja Devi

(2007) report, that the low status of women is due to low levels of education and

employment. Education is the basic input for bringing about the social and

economic transformation of any community. Further they quote Amartya Sen

“Education enhances a women’s decisional power in the family in many ways.

These include its effect on her social standing, her ability to be independent, her

power to articulate, her knowledge of the outside world and her skill in influencing

group decisions”.

During the Vedic period girls received education as boys and had to pass through

a period of ‘Brahmacharya’. During the later Vedic period there was a gradual

decline in female education due to early marriages. As the period advanced due to

the practice of ‘purdah’, ‘Sati’ and pre-puberty marriages, the status of women was

reduced to that of the ‘Sudras’.

Education of females was unknown at the beginning of the 19th century. R.C.

Majumdar (1965:284) writes “It was regarded as being against the injunctions of

the Hindu scriptures and there was widespread belief that the education of girls

36

leads to their widowhood”. According to Tarabai Paranjpe (1960) many parents

preferred to educate their sons. The main reason to not educate a girl was that she

would pass the crucial age of marriage which was between eight to eleven years. If

she was sent for graduation her age would be 21-22 years and would lose her

charm and looks and then it will be difficult to get her married. Moreover marriage

expenses and dowry were unavoidable for the parents of a girl and the parents

also felt that expectation of an educated girl about the bridegroom, standard of life,

etc., would rise. This shows that education was not given importance and it was

only given till marriage.

During the nineteenth century the Social Reformers and the British Government

made attempts to educate Indian girls. According to Census Report of India

2001, the literacy rates of women increased from 0.60% in 1901 to 7.30% in 1941

to 29.85% in 1981 to 39.29% in 1991 to 54.16% in 2001. Therefore education has

been taken as one of the indicator to measure social mobility of Urban Mali women

in the present study.

3) Social Mobility and occupation

Occupation is the most important indicator of stratification and to measure social

mobility. One of the most important of the modern dimensions of mobility is what is

called the ‘economic dimension’. In the Indian context, studies on social mobility

with occupational index are a recent phenomenon. Jasprit Kaur Soni (2006) in

her study on women empowerment quotes Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru “Freedom

depends on the economic conditions even more than political. If a woman is not

economically free and self-earning, she will have to depend on her husband or

someone else and dependents are never free.”

Lipset and Zetterberg (1966) state that, social mobility of an individual is

determined by the shift and ranking of occupation. People’s beliefs, values are

different according to their occupational class. To get a more qualified and

accurate conclusions about social mobility they have suggested a conventional

operational method of ascertaining mobility by comparing father’s and offspring’s

occupational position

37

Soran Singh (1976:267-73) observes that external forces such as land legislation,

secular ideas regarding social matters, industrialization, urban contact, education

and internal forces like hard work, faithful observance of duty are responsible for

mobility in the traditional occupational structure. Both external and internal forces

are interrelated and operate in a cumulative way. Both the forces at the same time

have psychological and sociological implications. Aspirations for higher

occupational grades, better standard of living and non-manual work may be

considered as psychological, while aspirations for a higher status and adopting and

discarding certain occupations may be regarded as sociological implications.

During the Vedic period women enjoyed freedom even in economic field. Home

was the place of production. During the later Vedic period in the economic field she

was totally denied a share in the husband’s property. Though the women’s status

improved a little during the Jainism and Buddhist period the economic status of

women remained unchanged. In the fifteenth century the ‘Bhakti’ movement

introduced new trends in the social and religious life of women in India, but it did

not bring any change in the economic structure and hence women continued to

hold low status in society. When the British entered India the position of women

reached its lowest ebb. Describing the condition of women, Neera Desai (1957:29)

writes “Ideologically women are considered a completely inferior species, inferior to

the male having no significance, no personality; socially she was kept in a state of

utter subjection, denied any right, suppressed and oppressed…. The patriarchal

joint family, the custom of polygamy, the ‘purdah’ the property structures, early

marriage, self-immolation of the widows (Sati); or a state of permanent widowhood,

all these contributed to the smothering of the free development of the woman.”

Tarabai Paranjpe (1960) writes that women were not allowed to handle money.

They had no voice in financial or money matters or in decision making. She also

states that people believed that if women entered gainful employment she would

become rude, not pay respect to husband and elders and would neglect their

homes.

Seclusion of women’s work is nearly impossibility in a peasant community. This is

true of ‘purdah’ observance in north India. Mandelbaum (1986:1999-2004) writes

38

“A family can properly observe ‘purdah’ only if its members can afford to do so. If

the family cannot afford to forego the earnings of its female members, it has to

ignore the observance of ‘purdah’. As soon as the family’s financial standing

improves it may withdraw its women from paid work and impose socio-cultural

restrictions. He further says that the neo-rich and the middle class in rural India

have opted for enhanced domesticity for women considering it as an indicator of

high status. With a sense of pleasure they often mention that their women do not

work in the fields and they do not depend upon the earnings of their womenfolk.

Mandelbaum calls it as ‘Men’s Honour and Women’s Seclusion’. Women have

been denied employment, any voice in decision making and have been oppressed

through various social moves.

The entry of women in occupation after independence had far reaching effects on

women’s independence. A number of legislative measures have been passed to

safeguard the interests of women. But in spite of all this even women with their

own income are also not identified as independent individuals but only as

daughters, wives and mothers.

K.Padma Latha (2007) states that economic empowerment is absolutely essential

for raising the status of women in society and that women’s employment leads to

better education, health and skill development of the family. Therefore in the

present study occupation has been selected as one of the indicator for measuring

social mobility of Urban Mali women.

4) Social Mobility and Change in Attitudes and beliefs

Attitudes and beliefs are the principal conditioning factors for human action. The

term attitude refers to the individual’s feelings, thoughts and inclination to act

towards some part of his surroundings. An attitude cannot be observed directly but

can be made out by verbal expression or visible behavior. According to

Theodarson and Theodarson (1969:19) “An attitude is an orientation towards

certain objects including persons other than one self or situations”.

Raj Mohini Sethi (1976) points that social mobility brings structural changes in the

attitudes and beliefs of the people leading to rationality, universality and secular

39

ideology. Anjali Kurane (1999) says that social mobility brings a change in values

attitudes, beliefs anything that has been created or modified by human activity.

Urbanization and industrialization have helped in giving different kind of

employment opportunities to women. Urbanization leads to breakdown of

traditional beliefs and has influenced women in changing their attitudes towards

education, occupation, marriage, family, politics and religion. According to

K.L.Sharma (2007) Urbanism refers to the process of change in attitudes, beliefs

and styles of life. It refers to a pattern of life in terms of work situation, food habits,

stress patterns and world view of the people and can be characterized as a system

of beliefs, norms and attitudes towards interpersonal relations in terms of

formalism, individualism and anonymity.

Swati Shirwadkar (1998:31) maintains that when an individual finds that

expression of the old attitudes no longer give satisfaction to the related need-

state, the exposure to new information serves as an important instrument for

change.

Marriage, Family and Religion are the basic institutions of society. Therefore in the

present study the changing attitudes and beliefs of Urban Mali women towards the

institution of marriage, family and rites and rituals in religion have been considered.

The attitude towards the institution of marriage is also an important factor of

social mobility.

Kapadia (1964) points out that Hindu marriage is a sacrament to be completed

only on the performance of the sacred rites, also marriage is considered essential

for women and she is required to perform rites with her husband throughout her

life, it is considered indissoluble and is an institution of life-long compromise and

adjustment.

During the Vedic period child marriages were unknown. Divorce was not allowed,

remarriage of widows was permitted. During the later Vedic period, pre-puberty

marriages came to be practiced. While both the Jainism and Buddhism religions

laid great importance on physical chastity which discouraged widow-remarriage but

40

widowhood was not considered disrespectful. Buddhism never regarded marriage

as an unavoidable thing for women. In Medieval India though the practice of

performing ‘Sati’ willingly was an old practice, importance was laid on performing

‘Sati’ even against the women’s wish on her husband’s death. The story of ill-

health and early death was a common one especially among upper caste Hindu

women throughout the nineteenth century. This was due to pre pubertal marriage,

immediate post pubertal consummation of marriage, early motherhood involving

high infant mortality and possible barrenness, and deteriorating health leading to

early death of women. One form of controlling the woman was to harness her

sexuality to marriage and childbearing and therefore over centuries it became

mandatory to tie the wedding knot before a girl reached her sexual maturity.

During the British rule due to the efforts of the Social Reformers such as Raja Ram

Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Maharishi Karve, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule etc. the foreign

government took steps in enacting some laws relating the emancipation of women

such as the law regulating Sati in 1829, the Hindu Widow’s remarriage Act in 1856,

the Sarda Bill in 1929 to restrict child marriage, the Hindu Women’s Right to

Property Act in 1937 were passed. After independence there were changes in the

features of marriage and Hindu joint family. A no. of legislative measures like the

Hindu marriage Act 1955, the Hindu Succession Act 1956, the Dowry prohibition

Act 1961, the medical termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 etc. are there to

safeguard the interests of women.

Even today women are often rushed into early marriage resulting in early child

bearing with underweight babies resulting in high infant mortality. Poverty coupled

with increasing demands for dowry and low literacy rates are the reasons. Due to

the early marriage she does not get an opportunity to study and develop herself

fully. According to Schaffter (1992) even in the early 90’s, there were about 10

lakh married women below 11 years in India. Also the Sample Registration

System (1995) Fertility and Mortality indicators of 1991, 1992, 1993, show that the

average marriage age of females in India in 1991 was 19.5 years, in 1992 it was

19.5 years, and in 1993 it was 19.6 years.

41

Tarabai Paranjpe (1960) reports that marriages were fixed by parents, sometimes

the girl’s approval was also not asked, and marriages were mostly arranged

among the relations and at a very early age. She further mentions that people even

opposed marriages between different sub castes. The criteria for a bride groom

were that he should have some farm, a house of his own and he should be from a

family of good reputation. Horoscopes were matched before a marriage, dowry

was commonly practiced. Anybody going against the caste rule was socially

censured.

Everett Jana Matson (1981) observes that the aim and fulfillment of a woman’s

existence was equated with the role of a dedicated wife and a good mother. She

further says that this was the idea of complementary sex roles with the woman as

the serving, suffering and self-sacrificing partner.

Dube (1990), Jain (1990) and Shiva (1988) stated that the limited mobility which

women have, isolates, deprives and narrows women’s outlook and aspirations.

Marriage further binds women to men and patriarchy.

K.L.Sharma (2007) maintains that today the situation has undergone a sea-

change due to socio-cultural awakening, education and urban employment, etc.

have weakened the sacred ethos of Hindu marriage, divorce is becoming

acceptable, incidence of widow-remarriage has also increased, even inter-caste

and inter-religious marriages are on the rise, the age of marriage has gone up and

girls themselves want to have a say in the selection of mates.

Therefore attitude towards marriage has been selected as one of the indicator to

measure social mobility of Urban Mali women.

The attitude towards the preference for the type of family also indicates the

level of social mobility. In traditional Indian society joint family was predominant.

The patriarchal joint family system gave unlimited powers to the head of the family

who was always a male, were women were the worst sufferers and had no option

but to follow the dictates of the male members, father, husband or even the son,

without raising any question. Tarabai Paranjpe (1960) in her article reports that it

was generally believed that women are meant to do household work. There were

42

large joint families and all the housework was done by the women. There were

rigorous ideas about receiving guests and looking after them and there were

always some guests in the family. They had no voice in financial or money matters

or in decision making. Moreover child-bearing was one of the most prestigious

duties and functions of a woman. In such cultural atmosphere women never had

any space for themselves. Kapadia K.M, (1966) maintains that the social

background provided by the authoritarian joint family offered no scope for the

recognition of any personal factor, individual interest or aspirations.

But now due to urbanization, industrialization, increasing education and

employment of women the trend is towards the nuclear family. Kaur (1983), Rao

and Rao (1982), Pratima Kumari (1988) found that with the increase in the level

of education of an individual a positive opinion towards nuclear family is formed.

Swati Shirwadkar’s (1998) study on middle class Maharastrian women of

Aurangabad city shows that there is a positive co-relation between higher age at

marriage and individualistic tendencies. Women who got married at an earlier age

prefer joint family to nuclear one. This may be due to fact that when woman gets

married at a younger age she is docile and submissive and accepts a subordinate

position in the family with no chance of asserting her own individuality but with

growing age she is more exposed to new ideological patterns and she forms her

own opinions. The respondents of her study felt that a joint family is full of strains

due to differences among its members, and there is no freedom and personal

development for women. Kaur’s (1983) study on educated middle class Hindu

women in India shows that a large number of the respondents were still in favor of

joint family. Ahuja Ram (1994) points out that Joint ness of family is not

disappearing only the “cutting off” point of “joint ness” is changing; instead of large

joint families we have locally functioning effective small joint families of two

generations or so.

Therefore attitude towards type of family has been selected to measure social

mobility of Urban Mali women.

43

The attitude towards rites and rituals in religion also show the extent of social

mobility.

Religion is one of the most ancient, universal and enduring component of human

existence. It is the core of our culture influencing our thoughts, attitudes, values,

and socio-political and economic structures. It is a vital force that affects both the

individuals and the society. It reinforces faith and hope in life, enables persons to

cope with and reorients it. Geertz (1975:90) states that “Religion is a cultural

universal” All other institutions are integrated and operate around it. Cormack

(1961) says that while religion is in the breath of Hindu life, in its outward form, it

has come to mean a number of beliefs and practices related to supernatural things

like God, Goddesses, spirits etc. Elmers Miller and Charles. Weitz (1979:548)

say “Religion is the system of social interaction consisting of those beliefs and

activities that order human life by relating humans to spiritual beings and powers”.

Weber (1958) reports that religiosity has been the main feature of Indian life and

thoughts and that there was the old belief that every activity in life was religious.

Religious outlook is said to dominate the intellectual, emotional and practical life of

people, he further indicates the possibility of Indian backwardness to its religiosity-

the Hinduism.

The social status of an individual was vitally connected with the place which

religion accorded to him in its rites and rituals. Privileges accorded or denied to

women by religion throw valuable light on their position in society.

According to Hindu philosophy belief in religion and faith in God drives a man to do

the right thing. In all ages men hope that by proper performance of religious

observances they would obtain some specific benefit: health, long life children,

material well-being, success etc. Traditionally a lot of religious rituals are

associated with the women like fasting, visiting temples, making elaborate

preparations for the ‘poojas’ to be performed by the head of the family and so on.

These are mainly followed by the woman of the house which took a lot of her time.

But certain periods of their lives such as the period of menstruation and child-birth

were considered polluting and defiling.

44

During the Vedic age women enjoyed equality with men in religious matters.

Religious ceremonies and sacrifices were performed jointly by the husband and

wife. Right from the Vedic time downwards women have been regarded as impure,

unclean, mainly on account of her periodical menstruation. During the age of

‘Brahamanas’ the volume of Vedic studies became very extensive and it was

believed that if one committed even a minor mistake in the recitation of a Vedic

mantra it would produce disastrous consequences to the reciter. To undertake

Vedic studies one needed to devote about 12 to 16 years, but at this time women

used to be married at about the age of 16 or 17 and could thus give only 7 or 8

years to their Vedic studies. Altekar (1956:203) writes “A theory was started that

the marriage ritual in the case of girls really served the entire purpose of

‘Upanayana’, service of the husband corresponded to the service of the preceptor,

and household duties were a fit substitute for the service of the sacrificial fire”. She

was not allowed to offer sacrifices and prayers, practice penances and undertake

pilgrimages. This produced a disastrous effect on the general position of women in

society; it reduced them to the status of ‘sudras’. A girl was married off soon after

she attained puberty so in such circumstances female education could hardly

prosper. It was believed that a girl taught to read and write might become a widow

after marriage. Female education received a setback due to practice of child

marriage, seclusion, ‘purdah’ and deterioration in religious status of women.

During the Jainism and Buddhist period the position of women improved a little but

there was no remarkable change. These religious sects may be considered a

revolt against the Brahmanical religion. In this period, in the religious field, women

had their own Sangha called Bikshuni Sangha as those of the monks. During

medieval India the first invasion of India by the Muslims and the Brahmanical laws

were the main causes for degradation of women’s position in all fields.

Later on the leaders of the Bhakti and Pauranik schools threw open the doors of

religion to all irrespective of sex. The new religion mostly relied on faith and

devotion and therefore appealed to women immensely. And most of them became

strangers to rationalism. ‘Vratas’ became quite common and women became the

most faithful custodians of religious traditions.

45

Thus the traditional Indian society governed by the patriarchal system accorded

the lowest and inferior position to women in the name of religion by not educating

her, by practicing early marriage, by not practicing widow-remarriage, by

considering widowhood as a sin, by regarding her impure due to her periodic

menstruation and not allowing her to do any religious activities during the

confinement period.

Kosambi Meera (1995a) reports that husband-worship was their only way of

eventual spiritual progress. Motherhood was as important as husband-worship and

was usually identified as the essence of womanhood. Reporting about child-

widows Setu Madhavrao Pagdi (1969) writes that they were uneducated,

completely at the sympathy of the relatives in a joint family, work very hard the

whole day, were not supposed to appear at auspicious and religious functions and

were often victims of the greed of male relatives in the family.

According to Altekar (1956:206), women are by nature more religious and

devotional than men. They can visit temples with greater regularity, perform sacred

rites with higher faith and submit to religious fasts with more alacrity than men”.

She followed all the rites and rituals of religion devotedly with the fear that if she

didn’t follow them some unpleasant event may occur to her family, husband or

children. In this way in the name of religion women were forced to practice the rites

and rituals of religion and her mobility was held back.

But today due to the changing socio-cultural environment, growing modern values

secularization has affected the people’s outlook towards religion. Today women

have realized that their improvement depends mainly upon the spread of education

and the acquisition of economic rights and independence and not by following the

traditional religious notions and the activities attached to it.

Hence the attitudes towards rites and rituals in religion were considered for

measuring the social mobility of Urban Mali women in the present study.

46

5) Social Mobility and Extent of Social Participation

The extent of social participation is one of the important factors through which

social mobility occurs in different groups and persons in a society on the basis of

caste, class, gender, education, occupation, family, polity, and psychological

sphere. Sanjay K. J. (1994) says that in the process of social mobility the old,

social, economic and psychological commitments are broken and people become

available for new patterns of socialization and behavior.

During the Vedic the position of women was fairly satisfactory and in Post-Vedic

period her position deteriorated, due to the prevalence of pre-puberty marriages

she had no social life as such, her life was confined to her family and familial

duties. In medieval India owing to causes such as upsetting of political structures,

economic depression in the country, breakdown of social institutions all these

added to the general depression of social life particularly among women. The

position of women underwent many changes. ‘Purdah’ system became popular

among the Hindu women due to cultural contact with the Muslims. The Manusmriti

had declared women to be inherently evil and therefore she has to be constantly

controlled by a man- the father in childhood, the husband in adult life and the son

in her widowed old age. In traditional families, it was considered below the dignity

of the family to allow women to come out of home.

Vina Mazumdar and Kumud Sharma (1990: 185-97) points out that new forms of

subordination and gender asymmetry have superseded the old, leaving patriarchal

control undisturbed in India. Madhu Krishwar (1990) writes that men decide

whether women will work, where they will work and what kind of wages they will

earn. There is hardly any area of social life in which a woman can independently

enter. Many women in India do not have freedom of speech. In some places it is

considered irrespectable for women to open their mouths in male company. As a

result many women are virtual bonded laborers. According to S.Gokilavani and

S.Gabriel (2008) Parents do not allow the girl children to move alone, to take any

decisions, their freedom is curbed. For many married women, the authority of the

husband is supreme. Some women cannot visit their parental homes without their

husband’s permission.

47

Thus the various sources show that there was no social life as such for women,

her life was severely restricted to the family and family affairs and there too she

had a secondary place, from girlhood to old age it was a story of work,

unhappiness and sacrifice.

But today due to education, urbanization, industrialization, women can decide with

whom to interact, co-education has given a chance for girls and boys to intermix. A

large number of women work with males in offices and develop friendly relations

with them. Dube (1963) points out that the traditional conception regarding the

place and role of women are slowly changing in contemporary Indian society.

Hence extent of social participation was considered for measuring the social

mobility of Urban Mali women in the present study.

6) Social Mobility and Extent of Social Distance

The extent of social distance with the upper castes is another avenue for social

mobility. Earlier membership of a particular caste determined his or her position in

the areas of economic, social and political life. Marriot, McKim (1959) maintains

that the relative ranking of different castes in a locality depends not on the

attributes of their way of life, actual or professed, but on the kinds of interactions

they have with other castes, particularly in the taking and giving of food and water

and in their participation in ritual services. In his view a caste may sanskritize its

way of life without rise in status, if it does not change its interactions with other

castes. On the other hand, a caste may raise its status without changing its

attributes in dress, diet, rites and beliefs if it changes its interaction with other

castes.

But now due to spread of education, employment and changing attitudes among

women the interaction among people is not governed by caste considerations

which lead to social mobility. S.M. Lipset and R. Bendix (1967) report that a

person who moves up in social hierarchy will tend to change his/her friends, move

to a new neighborhood, perhaps change his/her religious affiliation and may also

change his/her political attitudes. Suneila Malik (1979) points that; social mobility

brings a change in interpersonal relations between the scheduled castes and the

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high castes. Bogardus (1967) social distance scale, consists of visits to the high

castes, inter dining, attendance in ceremonies of the high castes, entry into the

kitchen and inter caste marriages. He further points that social mobility can be

measured by the visits of low caste people to high castes houses, by their

attendance in ceremonies of high castes, by their entry into the kitchens of high

castes and their way of inter dining with the high castes. Therefore the extent of

social distance with the upper castes has been selected as one of the factors for

measuring the social mobility of Urban Mali women.

7) Social Mobility and Political Participation

Political participation is an important and modern avenue for social mobility. It is a

global experience that women play a marginal role in politics. Hate. C.A (1969)

reported that in the political field equality of sexes has not been achieved and there

are hardly any women in the bodies which take political decisions. According to her

women still have to fight against traditions for their political rights. Regarding

women in political participation Seema Salgoankar (2006) says that the position of

women can be examined by the level of their political participation, their

representation and share in decision making bodies. She further says that higher

the level of participation more is the possibility of initiation and implementation of

policies in favor of women, thus further raising their status. It is observed that

political participation is dismally low in decision making bodies’ world over.

Women had no political status during the Vedic and Post-Vedic and it remained

unchanged even during the Jainism and Buddhist period. During the British rule,

the social reform movement of the nineteenth century and the Nationalist

Movement of the twentieth century were two powerful forces which helped to

change the attitude towards women particularly during the Gandhian phase. The

active participation of a large no. of even ordinary women in freedom struggle was

one of the forces in awakening the social perception for the liberation of women

and to remove some of their disabilities

According to C.N. Shankar Rao (2004) another feature of this period was the

establishment of women’s organizations such as Arya Mahila Samaj (1887) Bharat

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Mahila Parishad (1904), Women’s Indian Association (1917), All India Women’s

Conference (1947) etc. These organizations and the women’s leaders behind them

had two main purposes i.e. mobilization of women so that they can play a more

positive role in society and to fight for equal rights for men and women. The Social

Legislations enacted by the British to do away with some of the evils had their own

limitations. To execute them was costly inefficient and difficult. Hence legislation

had not been effective in removing the sufferings of women.

After independence the number of women voters and women representatives in

assemblies and parliament has also increased. Article 15 of our constitution lays

that “the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground of sex”. But

the proposal of reserving 33% seats for women in the legislative bodies is still at

the discussion level. The women’s Bill which requires 84th amendment to the

constitution is still pending in the parliament.

According to the Times of India, Pune, 14-11-2007, in the latest gender gap

report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) among the 128 countries

that have been evaluated, India is ranked 114. Only in the realm of political

empowerment India ranks 21st, so the question is why women are so badly off if

they are politically empowered, it is because of the largely feudal and patriarchal

society.

In recent decades due to growth in education of women and a change in the socio-

economic environment a strong opinion is building up in support of increasing

women’s involvement in politics. Mani Shankar Aiyar, minister for Panchayati Raj

says in Sunday Times of India, Pune dated 8-3-2009 “This scale of socio-

politically empowered women cannot be found anywhere. Women have done

much better than we ever envisioned. Public empowerment is leading to family

empowerment and that’s a big social change”. So in the present study political

participation has been selected to measure social mobility among Urban Mali

women.

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8) Social Mobility and Utilization of Mass Media

Mass media plays an important role in bringing about social mobility and is thus

another important avenue for social mobility. Binod C. Agrawal (2004:79) writes

“Media utilization in several ways reflects the end use. It has an action element that

follows after media exposure. It would not be wrong to assure that higher media

utilization helps achieve desired developmental goals. In this respect, media

utilization can be a good indicator for measuring development”. Since the level of

literacy in low in India, the various social problems prevalent are closely associated

with traditional attitudes, beliefs and ignorance among people. Mass media such

as radio and T.V. would prove a powerful medium in terms of their reach, impact

and effectiveness. The media plays significant role in the way women are

perceived in India. It can help in making women aware of their rights and duties, in

changing her attitudes, beliefs without which she cannot achieve mobility. Sanjay

K. J. (1994:162) states that according to Lerner the learned people who are

exposed to mass media develop a mobile personality with a capacity to identify

themselves with new aspects of their environment. A society consisting of such

people may be called a mobile society that encourages rationality.

Since time immemorial woman has been obliged to play a submissive role. In the

Vedic period, the pattern of life was patriarchal. The post-Vedic period was no

better. There was no religious life for women, no female education and no freedom

of movement. With the advent of Muslims, polygamy and ‘purdah’ came into

existence which further put the women at disadvantage. With the advent of British

rule there was some improvement as the social reformers of the 19th century felt

the need to improve the position of women. With independence the government

made a lot of efforts to improve the status of women by passing a number of

legislations but women remain backward educationally, economically and socially.

According to Chandiram and Agrawal (1982) women are the most vulnerable

section and neglected lot in the development approach and it would be essential to

give special attention to this group. Their study indicates that the proportion of

telecast time for women had not been more than 5 percent and the so-called

women related programs were meant for the “urban rich”. Their study indicates that

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television as a medium of communication breaks the barrier of literacy and in

certain social situations can act as a catalyst for the development of women.

Agarwal’s (1977) study showed that women who viewed T.V. gained more than

men in areas like family planning, health and nutrition. Hence utilization of mass

media has been selected to analyze social mobility among Urban Mali women in

the present study.

1.10 Chapter scheme

Chapter 1 presents the theoretical introduction of the thesis, factors of social

mobility, social mobility in India, social mobility among women in India, historical

background of the Mali community, role of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai

Phule, statement of the problem of research, research questions, justification of the

problem, theoretical perspective of social mobility, the various dimensions of this

concept and chapter scheme are introduced.

Chapter 2 concerns with the research methods applied in the present research,

ethnography of Pune city, sample profile, methodology of selection, collection and

interpretation of data. It also provides the socio-economic background of the

respondents.

Chapter 3 deals with the premarital and marital status of Mali women in the family

through various indicators.

Chapter 4 describes the nature of social mobility through educational and

occupational mobility with reference to three generations of the Mali women. It also

deals with their attitude towards education and occupation.

Chapter 5 analyzes the nature of social mobility by examining the Mali women’s

attitudes and beliefs towards the institution of marriage, family and rites and rituals

in religion, through the extent of their social participation and by the extent of social

distance with the upper castes.

Chapter 6 understands the nature of social mobility through the level of political

participation of the Mali women. It also analyzes the utilization of mass media

among the respondents.

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Chapter 7 deals with the case studies

Chapter 8 highlights the summary, some of the major findings of the study and

conclusions.