Caste matters: perceived discrimination among women in rural India
Authors
Khubchandani, Jasmine A.Soni, Apurv
Fahey, Nisha
Raithatha, Nitin
Prabhakaran, Anusha
Byatt, Nancy
Moore Simas, Tiffany A.
Phatak, Ajay
Rosal, Milagros C.
Nimbalkar, Somashekhar
Allison, Jeroan J.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Prevention Research CenterDepartment of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center
Department of Psychiatry
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
School of Medicine
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2018-04-01Keywords
UMCCTS fundingCaste
India
Perceived discrimination
Rural
Social justice
Socioeconomic status
Health Services Administration
Inequality and Stratification
International Public Health
Women's Health
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship of caste and class with perceived discrimination among pregnant women from rural western India. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 170 pregnant women in rural Gujarat, India, who were enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study. The Everyday Discrimination Scale and the Experiences of Discrimination questionnaires were used to assess perceived discrimination and response to discrimination. Based on self-report caste, women were classified into three categories with increasing historical disadvantage: General, Other Backward Castes (OBC), and Scheduled Caste or Tribes (SC/ST). Socioeconomic class was determined using the standardized Kuppuswamy scale. Regression models for count and binomial data were used to examine association of caste and class with experience of discrimination and response to discrimination. Sixty-eight percent of women experienced discrimination. After adjusting for confounders, there was a consistent trend and association of discrimination with caste but not class. In comparison to General Caste, lower caste (OBC, SC/ST) women were more likely to (1) experience discrimination (OBC OR: 2.2, SC/ST: 4.1; p trend: 0.01); (2) have a greater perceived discrimination score (OBC IRR: 1.3, SC/ST: 1.5; p trend: 0.07); (3) accept discrimination (OBC OR: 6.4, SC/ST: 7.6; p trend: < 0.01); and (4) keep to herself about discrimination (OBC OR: 2.7, SC/ST: 3.6; p trend: 0.04). The differential experience of discrimination by lower caste pregnant women in comparison to upper caste pregnant women and their response to such experiences highlight the importance of studying discrimination to understand the root causes of existing caste-based disparities.Source
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2018 Apr;21(2):163-170. doi: 10.1007/s00737-017-0790-1. Epub 2017 Oct 15. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1007/s00737-017-0790-1Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/29160PubMed ID
29034410Notes
First author Jasmine A. Khubchandani is a medical student at UMass Medical School.
Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s00737-017-0790-1