California lawmaker introduces bill to ban caste discrimination in state
Send a link to a friend
[March 23, 2023]
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to ban caste discrimination was introduced
in the California Senate on Wednesday by a Democratic lawmaker, which,
if passed, could make California the first U.S. state to outlaw the
practice, a problem for the state's substantial South Asian diaspora. |
![](../images/032323PIX/news_s18.jpg)
A view shows the downtown skyline of San
Francisco, California, U.S., June, 29, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria |
The
bill was introduced and authored by state Senator Aisha Wahab,
an Afghan American Democrat, and comes weeks after Seattle
became the first U.S. city to outlaw caste discrimination after
a city council vote and Toronto's school board became the first
in Canada to recognize that caste discrimination existed in the
city's schools.
The issue is particularly important to Americans of Indian
descent and Hindus. India's caste system is among the world's
oldest forms of rigid social stratification.
The caste system dates back thousands of years and allows many
privileges to upper castes but represses lower castes. The Dalit
community is on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system;
members have been treated as "untouchables."
India outlawed caste discrimination over 70 years ago, yet
several studies in recent years show that bias persists. One
study found people from lower castes were underrepresented in
higher-paying jobs.
Dalits still face widespread abuse across India, where their
attempts at upward social mobility have at times been violently
put down.
Debate over the caste system in India and abroad is contentious
and intertwined with religion. Some people say discrimination is
now rare, especially outside India. Indian government policies
reserving seats for lower-caste students at top Indian
universities have helped many land tech jobs in the West in
recent years.
Activists opposing caste discrimination say it is no different
from other forms of discrimination like racism and hence should
be outlawed. U.S. discrimination laws ban ancestry
discrimination but do not explicitly ban casteism.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by David
Gregorio)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](../../22/NEWS/column_spacer.png)
|
|
|