Competing inequalities, inclusion and intersectionality: the role of gender, culture and marginal groups for leadership positions

The present chapter looks into the question of caste and gender in contemporary Indian business to develop our knowledge about diversity in management studies. Sociologists, political scientists, and historians have extensively analysed the pertinent questions but comprehensive investigation from involvement of marginalised groups is still at a nascent stage from a corporate governance perspective. This chapter examines the ways in which caste, class and gender intersect with the market and the implications these different processes hold for entrepreneurial prospects of dalit women. It focuses on intersectionality in order to understand diversity beyond gender in business as intersectional discrimination is paramount to understanding the experience of dalit women. There is a paucity of literature in the area and this research will help to set an agenda for a new wave of diversity research. The chapter will investigate the following questions: Are social caste hierarchies being replaced by competing equalities? What has been the experience of dalit women as entrepreneurs? What happens when there are overlapping identities? Why is it important to understand diversity in the context of different identities? The study is based on the literature review and few in-depth interviews of the dalit women entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that studying overlapping identities helps to understand the concept of diversity in a better way