Socio-Economic Marginalization and Gender Inequality: A Sociological Study of Begging, Rural Women, and Domestic Workers

Abstract

The article addresses the issues of people involved in begging, rural women, and female domestic workers. The study was conducted using a qualitative and descriptive research design. The author-utilized secondary data, reports, and published works of other researchers and literature. The articles and literature were searched in national and international databases. The social exclusion theory, feminist theory, intersectionality, and informal sector were utilized to analyze the problem. The author focuses on explaining the mechanisms and structures that lead to social exclusion, poverty, and gender inequalities. The research provides empirical evidence that social exclusion is multidimensional and cannot be solved by addressing only one specific aspect, for example, the lack of income. It is concluded that limited access to education, gendered division of labor, informal care work, caste, class, and social hierarchy, and insufficient social protection are some of the issues that increases social exclusion of vulnerable groups. . Rural women are often subjected to unpaid domestic duties in addition to engaging in labor-intensive informal activities. Female domestic workers are economically active but remain marginalized and without legal support. Individuals resorting to begging are further exposed to derision, homelessness, disabled status, unemployment, and limited social inclusion. The study recommends social protection programs, rights-based social security, decent jobs, gender-sensitive rural development, unpaid care, quality public services, and retraining schemes for the affected communities.