Since coming back from the US, I was always intrigued at what Indians thought of the concept of privilege. I had thought a lot about the kind of privileges I had inherited in India and what privileges I was afforded in the US. It made me realize how lucky I am; I have always felt guilty about my privileges since then.
After I came back to India, I had a conversation with a coworker (also a good friend) at my last company. I specifically talked about how we both were privileged by Indian standards simply by being born biologically male. I explained how families treat sons and daughters differently. In India, they usually do.
Friend said he did not have privilege just for being male; his sister was treated equally. Perhaps it’s a strategy I should have thought out beforehand. If he had talked to other women about the problems they face, he would have understood that he was looking at his privilege through rose-tinted glasses.
Gender Privilege
Male privilege is very real.
In India, some women are never allowed to go out with friends, have a social life, have any kind of experiences beyond what is considered training for marital life; it depends on families. Male children have different curfews compared to female children. Women aren’t allowed to take part in religious and (sometimes) cultural occasions if they’re menstruating. They aren’t allowed to enter temples when they are on their period.
Even if your family treats kids equally, society sure as hell doesn’t. You are forgiven a lot of things as a man. I live in Mumbai and all our house helps have had a history of their husbands being drunk, unemployed, and violent. The wives slave away while most men contribute nothing to their households.
Female feticide and infanticide is remarkably common in India, though it’s definitely reduced. Did you know there are 200 million fewer women in India?
You are harassed much less as man. I remember reading a report about a large percentage of women being groped, catcalled, touched inappropriately when asked about it in a survey. Don’t forget the numerous reported rapes in India. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, literally. Most rapes in India go unreported.
Forget harassment, I was inspired to write this article by our house help who remarked “You do quite a bit of housework”. Knowing how much my Mom does compared to whatever little I do around the house, is the expectation from men to do housework THAT low? I’ve seen a lot of Indian men I know do exceptionally little to help around the house (other than earn for the family. My Mom earned for the family AND did a lot of the housework). And all this is unpaid labor that women are just expected to do.
Financial/Social Privilege
Pivoting to other kinds of privilege. Recently, my Mom could not get out of bed due to a disc prolapse (she’s fine now but I’ve never seen her in this much pain). Since my Dad and I are handy around the house, we did most chores except cooking full meals. We had multiple choices: asking our house help to cook for us, ordering in, or kind friends and family giving us food. We could afford eating out every day if we wanted. We got a lot of food from family and friends. Essentially, our social and financial privilege could help us out.
Compare that to our house help’s brother. He’s going through a similar back problem as my Mom but he has lesser access to the privilege we have. Because he cannot work, they have a financial crunch that our house help has to resolve. I could also talk about healthcare privilege here but that would be moot.
Our house help has issues of her own. When she married her husband, her mother-in-law did not disclose that her husband was prone to seizures. Because of this, he’s never worked in a job for too long and has had drinking problems. She works at at least 10 houses, trying to give her son a better life. She alone has to manage feeding a house of 4 people. She takes a few days off in a month but she doesn’t have assured holidays, almost no long holidays.
Compare that to my Mom. She had to privilege to take sabbaticals twice when she was working: once when I was ill and when she underwent treatment for breast cancer. Yes, I am comparing the organized sector versus the unorganized sector. I’ll come to that in my educational privilege section.
What family you are born in can dictate the kind of privilege you have. Yes, your grandfather/father/whatever-ancestor worked hard to give you the social/financial privilege you have. You inherited it. And from inheritance, I pivot to a very unfortunate (but perpetuated) privilege in India – caste privilege.
Caste Privilege
Privilege is a heady, addictive drug. Anyone who says the caste system doesn’t exist now or society is against “upper castes” is literally showing their privilege. You aren’t affected by the caste system because you have been benefiting from the caste system for generations. Yes, you missed out on a dream college seat because of the quota system. Guess what? People from so-called “lower castes” have been missing out on stuff for centuries.
A lot of people bitch about the quota system (for Americans, this is Affirmative Action in India). Just a thought for those who bitch about the quotas: how many centuries have upper caste people benefited from the system that kept taking away from the very castes you say are now benefiting? Unless your upper-caste ancestors actively worked to bring down the caste system, you have no say in this. You speak from a position of privilege.
You say the caste system doesn’t exist? Here’s an eye-opener, a Bloomberg article about people keeping the caste system alive in Silicon Valley, of all places. My ex-roommate, a guy from Kanpur, talks about how insidious the caste system is in Uttar Pradesh. He mentioned a caste called Musahars, a name that literally means “rat-eater”.
Of course, caste comes in when you’re talking about Hindus. But what about if you are any other religion in India?
Religious Privilege
There has been a rising intolerance to other religions in India since… you know when. I won’t get into a political battle because it’s honestly not worth it.
Being Hindu in India is an easy benefit. Hell, even being an atheist in India is easier than being a Muslim, I’d say.
Muslims in India find it harder to rent flats because they are considered “antisocial” elements. Christians are called “rice-bags” as an insult.
I could go on and on but this is just scratching the surface. I’d be doing my non-Hindu citizens a disservice by talking about issues I have absolutely no idea about. So if you want to tell me all the shit you’ve gone through, I’m here for you.
I know I’m expounding privilege on a blog, so my words might not reach a huge percentage of India’s population. That’s where educational privilege comes in.
Educational Privilege
The fact that you can read this and make sense of it means you are luckier than a huge chunk of India’s population. India says 77.7% of its population is able to read what I’m writing right now.
Would they want to? I’m sitting in the comfort of my parents’ home, educated but working freelance jobs right now because I can afford to. Educational privilege doesn’t just mean the ability to read and write; it means the ability to have a comfortable life for yourself, even if it’s through inheritance.
Educated people tend to get better jobs and thus enable privilege for themselves. And that’s another argument for the quota system, it gives people who have forever been downtrodden, a level footing.
Anyone who is lucky enough to read this has educational privilege. The fact that you can also speak and understand English means you are luckier than a lot of Indians.
I finally get to two more privileges, both apply to the US as well as India: Location privileges and skin color privileges.
Skin Color Privileges (Racial Privilege in the US)
The fairer your skin tone is, the easier life is. Do I need to elaborate on this?
White privilege is a real thing in the US (as much as conservatives refuse to admit it). If you are white, you automatically benefit in jobs, education, dating, almost everything.
Being fair-skinned in India gives you advantages in the job market when you interview, people are just nicer to you in general? Almost every single marriage ad in Indian newspapers mentions skin tone, as if you’re marrying someone’s skin.
Oh, have I mentioned white people are LOVED in India. But maybe that’s just because they are a good source of money when they travel? Not sure.
Anyone have any more examples?
Location Privileges
Born in a developed country? Welcome to every other country as a tourist without the need to go through a tedious visa process.
Born in an underdeveloped/developing country? Go through an expensive and tedious visa process to go literally anywhere.
Even within countries, being born in a city gives you a lot of benefits (pollution can be an issue though). Like if you’re born to a family in a city like Mumbai/New York who own real estate, you can benefit from saving on rent, essentially pocketing most of what you make from your job.
Finally, I am adding what I call Indian Privilege Bingo here. Evaluate how privileged you are and understand that privilege. Make sure you help people who don’t have that privilege; the world is a happier place if everyone is happy.
| Male | Hindu | Upper caste | Educated | Can speak English |
| Came from middle class family | Has a home | Can wear clothes you choose | Heterosexual | Healthy |
| Lives in a city | Has friends | Human (Free Space) | Did not skip meal involuntarily | Fair skin tone (compared to standard) |
| Didn’t have to work till graduation | Able-bodied | Not disabled | Lives in a peaceful country | No criminal record |
| You can afford to be “apolitical” | Can legally marry the person you love | Can afford to say “everything should be privatized” | Doesn’t depend on public healthcare | Can afford to buy a car |
The Song Remains The Same 