Caste system a UK reality

Will the Equality Act 2010 make caste a thing of the past?  Asks Ashley Chisholm, founder of the mixed race charity MixTogether.

December 2010 saw the publication of a study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, entitled ‘Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain’.

Authored by the respected researchers Hilary Metcalf and Heather Rolfe, the report states that caste discrimination does exist in the UK among people of Indian origin across religions, who comprise 5% of the population. It provides a convincing case for the inclusion of caste as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, alongside other characteristics such as race, sex, age and disability.

Home Secretary Theresa May will take the final decision this year on whether to include caste in the Act. In doing so she would be taking a positive step to discourage the range of discriminatory treatment described by lower caste people in the study:

‘Until very recently, X had a voluntary post, as a presenter at a Punjabi community radio station… She used to give a Ravidassia [lower caste] greeting on air… The owner, a Jatt [higher caste], said she could not use a Ravidassia greeting because the station is for high castes and some people who donated to the station were complaining that lower castes were working there... She refused to stop and was dismissed. Another Ravidassia was also sacked.’ [Case Study 6]

Caste is one of several facets of Asian culture currently being subjected to constructive criticism by voluntary organisations. Forced marriage campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera, in her book Shame, recounts the story of fleeing a forced marriage with her first boyfriend who was of low caste. His status was used by her family as further grounds for disowning her.

At MixTogether we have always included mixed caste in our remit, and we have helped a number of young mixed caste couples. I have personally been affected by caste prejudice: although a white male, I was asked by the Hindu father of a former girlfriend what my caste was. As I was unable to answer the question, he reached the conclusion that I was the ‘wrong’ caste.  She was sent to Australia and now has a husband and baby son of the ‘right’ caste.

Alongside issues like forced marriage, honour based violence and hostility to mixed race relationships, caste discrimination is starting to be viewed as antithetical to the high standards of equality and human rights we have fought so hard to establish in the UK. Prejudice and discrimination based on skin tone or shade also sits in this area. These are issues where reluctance to express judgements about aspects of minority cultures can actually lead to negative outcomes for the most vulnerable members of those groups.

Friends of Operation Black Vote have an important role to play in legitimising discourses aimed at protecting equality and human rights within BME groups. As we know, achieving fairness and equality in society often needs a push in the right direction. It is instructive to note that the findings of the NIESR study are opposed by some Asian groups- primarily those representing higher caste memberships.

Those who opposed legislating against caste discrimination in the study were careful to express a public distaste for caste prejudice and to hope that it would be eradicated. Since that is the case, it is safe to say that those people have nothing to fear from any move designed to combat caste discrimination. The inclusion of caste as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 is something we should all applaud.

Ashley Chisholm