Sociology Optional (Paper 2 Section B) (Social Changes in India) by Smriti Rao 

Model Answer

Question #1. Women’s movement in India lack uniformity and are not privy to the disadvantaged lower class women.

Solution:      

India has witnessed since the 1980s women-centered movements highlighting issues faced by India in women. Be it Jessica Lal, Aarushi Talwar murder case, Temple entry movement in Gujarat among many others. These have largely voiced injustice in socio-economic issues like Equal Remuneration, Recognition for their Work, Leadership roles Sexual Harassment at Workplace, Right to Privacy and live-in relationships, Dowry Related violence, IPC section 497. These are largely aspirational choices of Upper and upper middle class women

Women at lower strata face wide and serious issues which don’t get highlighted barring few, hence the lack of momentum in making it a successful social movement . Some of them are –greater rate of abandonment by husbands, Child marriage, lack of choice in marital relationships, Trafficking, Prostitution(ex: devadasi in Karnataka) alcoholism and resulting violence by husbands, high maternal mortality, poor life expectancy, rigid caste system with low level of literacy and greater control on their sexuality, denial of right to work, visit parental home, creamation.

Women in poor households have to work the entire day collecting firewood, using unhealthy chulha, fetching water from far away wells, living in unhygienic habitats without electricity, and nourishing child- in-laws all by herself. Subjected to marital rape, being treated only as sexual toys of their men is considered as their only service.

Reasons for this are varied:

Corporate and money centric media don’t bring these issue to limelight since they don’t attract much TRPs

Lack of women leaders from lower strata despite grass-roots panchayats. Men take up roles of their wives to exercise power in Panchayats. Once they raise their social status, they voice concerns of the new social group than their older counterparts.

Lack of recognition for their leadership in small industrial units (MSMEs), Modern Scientific Education, skills of social empowerment like confidence, soft-skills, #Metoo campaign highlighted Sexual harassment at workplace

Lack of job opportunities and socio-economic infrastructure in Rural areas. Upward social mobility through migration is more among men while women are restricted to low-paying agricultural jobs, informal sector jobs like Beedi-making lacking awareness of their rights

Strong control on women’s life through Caste panchayats, patriarchy through honor killings, Kangaroo courts, moral policing .Customary morality are too much internalized by women that they tend to perceive exploitation as normal, right.

Poverty breeds more children, put burden on women who cannot afford time for their individual self expression Legislative measures like Dowry Prohibition Act, Child Marriage (Prohibition) Act, Hindu Marriage Act,

The Special Marriage Act and many others have not percolated deep into poor women’s lifestyles. Current news: Perumal Murugan’s a dalit writer from Tamil Nadu was recently attacked for his book Mathorubhagan (translated into English as One Part Woman) highlighting problems of lower caste women.

Off late reformative initiatives like Ban on Triple talaq, Niqah halala, Polygamy, IPC 377 nullity purdah (issues of lower strata) have begun to make public space with greater intervention of the Supreme Court. The political leadership should refrain from appeasement policies as in amendment to Shah Bano verdict, Civil Society and media should actively work on developing consensus on Uniform Civil Code, women leaders from elite sections should highlight, train next generation leaders from lower strata, Women oriented movies like Gulaab gang, Bandit Queen should get more media space help deepen democracy in general and new women movement in particular.

Women’s movements have addressed the issues writ large, however a more defined outlay would be beneficial for all social classes.

Question #2. Child labour is a malady, the roots of which lie in sociological understanding. Comment.

Child labour can be understood as involvement of children in work that is mentally, physically, socially, and morally harmful. A recent report by the UNICEF resurfaces the contentious issue, stating that a staggering 160 million children are engaged in child labour worldwide.

Child labour points to a socially disadvantaged and deprived youngest cohort of the population. The incidence is corroborated in India, as the 2011 census points to 43.53 lakh children engaged in labour. The Covid 19 pandemic has further exacerbated the sociological issue, as closure of schools, food insecurity, lack of guardian protection has pushed more children into forceful work. Child labourers work in hazardous and dangerous industries such as glass making, beedi making and carpet weaving. They are also seen participating in agricultural activities that demand physical exertion. Informal economy employs children in unfavourable work such as rag pickers, vendors, tea stall boys, sex workers. Furthermore a latent form of child labour that is often overseen is domestic child laborer.

Sociological Causes for existence of Child labour

• Social conditions increase susceptibility of disadvantaged groups such as children of the HIV patients, prostitutes, war torn families, covid orphans who are entrapped in abnormal working conditions for survival. Additionally, child trafficking could also lead to child labour.
• In his work on The Division of Labour, Durkheim acknowledged the pathological division of labour which deviant, exceptional and strains social solidarity. Child labour can thus be understood as a form of pathological of labour. 
• Oscar Lewis propounded the concept of ‘Culture of Poverty’ which refers to the cultural norms, customs, habits which are internalized by people. He states that children who are born in poor families could ingrain the poverty mindset. This causes lead to perpetuation and reinforcement of intergenerational cycles of poverty leading to entrenched social stratification.  
• Conflict perspective highlights the role of institutions and social processes in creation of hostile environments. Capitalist Mode of Production which heightened with Industrialization ushered a demand for cheap labour and easy exploitation, employing even children in factories.
• Furthermore, Paul Willis’ work on ‘Learning to Labour’ exposes how school culture plays a role in disciplining working class students into obedient workers, accepting low wage positions, thereby reproducing social class.
• Feminist perspective as espoused by Diana Pearce highlights the incidence of ‘feminization of poverty’ which refers to increasing inequality between genders. It has been observed that the girl child is more deprived. In India, gender roles define the norm of domestic and household work to be the mainstay of the girl child. The factsheet of the Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Advocacy Foundation on girl child labour notes that about out of 186 million workers, 49% are girls. However gender discrimination is so rampant that the domestic labour is hardly taken into account.

Way Forward

• The issue of child rights is caught between legal and policy commitments to children. Therefore there needs to be effective implementation of labour laws, Enactment of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Ammendment Act 2016 – prohibited employment of children below 14 years in all employment.
• Multi stakeholder action. NGOs such as Kailash Satyarthi Foundation, Navajeevan Bala Bhavan, SOS Children’s Villages, and Free the Children Organization need to gain institutional support from the government for a more streamlined action plan.
• Education as an agent of social change. Schools need to act as a space for creative visualization, skill development, and productive growth for children. It is inevitable to ensure accessibility, affordability, and availability of formal schooling for children belonging to susceptible social classes.
• Awareness generation. At a society level, gender norm deconstruction, change in attitudes, provision of institutional means to rational ends can help alleviate the issue of child labour.

As the UNICEF points out child labour is a form of modern day slavery. Through concerted action, and elaborate layout plan it can be effectively tackled.