Sanskritization Constraint on Female Economic Emancipation
Observational StudyReview
Lower-caste women traditionally experience higher economic autonomy out of financial necessity, but economic modernization risks inducing lower social classes to emulate upper-caste gender restrictions [14, 15]. If rising wealth leads lower-caste households to adopt upper-caste female seclusion practices, broader economic growth will fail to expand female labor participation [14, 15].
Picture this
Imagine a social ladder where lower rungs have full physical freedom out of necessity, while top rungs wear heavy ornate robes that limit movement as a badge of high status. When families on the lower rungs gain money, instead of keeping their comfortable work clothes and freedom, they buy the heavy ornate robes of the top rungs to show off their new wealth, voluntarily restricting their own mobility to signal status.
What the evidence says
Upper-caste Hindu women face 50% more social restrictions than Scheduled Caste women (index score 0.75 vs 0.48), whereas lower-caste Scheduled Caste women exhibit higher baseline business ownership (31% vs 27%) and higher financial autonomy due to necessity-driven earnings [12, 14, 16].
- Who was studied
- N = 597 women categorized into upper-caste Hindus (346), scheduled-caste Hindus (70), and Muslims (181) in western India [5, 16].
- How
- Cross-sectional caste comparison using a 5-point social restriction index measuring norms around veiling, direct speech to elders, mobility outside the home/neighborhood, socializing alone, and remarriage [5, 17].
What to do
Monitor social restriction indicators among upwardly mobile lower-caste populations and couple economic development programs with gender norm campaigns to prevent sanskritization-driven declines in female labor supply.
From the source
"If, instead, modernization heightens sanskritization - the desire of lower castes to emulate upper castes and SCs increasingly adopt the gender norms of UCs, then economic growth may fail to emancipate women to the same extent." [15]
Field Entrepreneurs - 103.pdf