Education As Means of Women Liberation: Myth or Reality? a Sociological Study of Dalits Women at Sambalpur University (India).

Education as means of women liberation: myth or reality?

This paper explores the sociological aspects of educational inequality in India and based on qualitative data which I have collected from the field of the study. In India, education is perceived as a mechanism for the social and economic advancement of the deprived sections of the society through social mobility and guarantees equality to everyone. It is considered as a means of ‘liberation’ (Velaskar 1998) from the shackles of caste, gender, and class. However, in reality, it has become, ‘an instrument for reproducing social stratification and for maintaining the hegemony of the dominant sections’ (Chanana 2000). Inequalities and discrimination (based on caste, gender, class, and region) still persist in the educational system over the years with its changed forms. The Dalits, since decades, are being ‘discriminated, marginalized and are educationally pushed back’ by the upper castes (Krishna 2012). The paper “Education as means of women liberation: myth or reality? A sociological study of Dalits women at Sambalpur University (India)” is qualitative in nature. This paper has made an attempt to understand the experience Dalit women in Sambalpur University in India and the views of key informants, such as Dalit women and teachers. It gives various arguments on the above concept from the point of view of Dalit women. This paper tries to understand the role of caste and gender in the lives of Dalit women and their personal experiences of discrimination and humiliation. It examines the Dalit women’s views about caste and gender, and how they perceive through school to University culture, which plays a role to represent the social issues, particularly through education.

Key words: Education, Dalits women, Inequality, Caste, Gender