A Quest for Inclusion: Understanding the Marginalization of Dalit Quilt Women Workers (Case Study of Chandigarh)

The situation of dalits and their voice for betterment needs to be heeded considering the teeming numbers of oppressed – the dalits, who are perpetual victims of exclusion constituting about 16.23 per cent of India’s population, (according to the 2011 Census,) they have for thousands of years remained neglected and ignored in the social milieu. Indian society is a marginalised society consisting of diverse groups of dalits, backward classes and women who have different socioeconomic characteristics and problems. Dalit women are placed at the absolute bottom of the social hierarchy as they face systemic and structural discrimination threefold: as Dalits, as poor, and as women.

The present paper attempts to explore the socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions of the problems of dalit women working as quilt stitchers in the city beautiful, ‘Chandigarh.’ The study was carried out in the city on quilt makers engaged in stitching quilt and mattresses. The paper is divided into three parts; first section of the paper gives the introduction of the study, socio-economic profile of the women workers, second section present the vulnerabilities faced by the women workers at their place of work from various state authorities and the type of marginalisation encountered by them and the last part deals with the policies that would be helpful for including them in the main stream.