ABSTRACT

Caste privilege is invisible in the lives of so-called upper caste, middle-class women. This paper offers critical insight into Brahman women’s lives, mapping evolving gender roles but examining them as sites of caste privilege. Education, marriage and housework are the registers used to map gender roles. The study uses narratives of three generations of Chitpavan Brahman women and individual interviews of Chitpavan women from Pune, a city in western India. The findings confirm that accumulated cultural capital facilitates a smooth educational progression for Chitpavan women. The modernizing impulse of Brahmans necessitates a minimum social norm of educational attainment before marriage for women across generations. There is an increase in women’s agency in marriage negotiations. Brahman women continue to be responsible for domestic management but can choose to identify as pragalbha grihini i.e. cultured housewives. I argue that the pragalbha grihini lies in a contested discursive space, between the tensions of ‘feminist’ and ‘housewife’. It is an important pathway for the socio-cultural reproduction of caste privilege.

摘要

种姓特权在所谓的上等种姓，中产阶级妇女的生活中是看不见的。本文提供了对婆罗门妇女生活的批判性见解，描绘了不断发展的性别角色，但将其视为种姓特权的场所。教育，婚姻和家务劳动是用来描绘性别角色的记录。这项研究使用了三代奇帕万·婆罗门妇女的叙述以及来自印度西部城市浦那的奇帕万妇女的个人访谈。研究结果证实，积累的文化资本促进了吉普瓦妇女的平稳教育发展。婆罗门的现代化冲动需要世代相传的女性在结婚前接受教育的最低社会规范。婚姻谈判中的妇女代理机构有所增加。pragribha grihini，即培养家庭主妇。我认为，pragalbha grihini处于“女权主义者”和“家庭主妇”之间的紧张冲突的辩论空间中。这是种姓特权在社会文化中再生产的重要途径。