(L-R) Roland Juarez and Katherine P. Sandberg at Hunton Andrews Kurth. Courtesy photo
In March, Sen. Aisha Wahab introduced SB 403, which would ban caste-based discrimination in California. The caste system is a Hindu practice that has been around for thousands of years and is most prevalent in countries with large Hindu populations, primarily in South Asia. It is a fixed social designation that an individual is born into, so a person cannot move up the caste system (which distinguishes it from socioeconomic status).
The caste system imposes restrictions on things such as a person’s occupation, where they live, and who they can marry. There are five castes, in order of highest to lowest: Brahmins (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers); Vaishyas (farmers, traders and merchants); Shudras (laborers); and Dalits (street sweepers, latrine cleaners).
