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Unit 24: WOMEN

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STRUCTURE

24.0 Objectives
24.1 Introduction
24.2 Reforms for women in the 19th and early 20th centuries
24.2.1 Against “Sati”
24.2.2 Widow remarriage
24.2.3 Rehabilitation of the prostitutes
24.2.4 Arya Samaj
24.2.5 Prohibition of Child Marriage

24.3 Education for Women and Women Emerging with Identity

24.3.1 Women in Literature and Literature by women
24.3.2 Women for Rights
24.3.3 Women for Women
24.3.4 Women in Nationalist Struggle
24.3.5 Women for Equality

24.4 Women’s Independent Political Identity

24.4.1 Discrimination against women in politics
24.4.2 Women’s initiatives in politics
24.4.3 Women “terrorists”

24.5 Major Issues confronting women’s unity or united movement

24.5.1 Communalism and Casteism
24.5.2 Daily encounters with oppression
(i) against alcohol
(ii) against dowry
(iii) against sexual abuse
24.5.3 Environment and livelihood

24.6 Women in politics or politics ‘by’ women

24.6.1 Telengana movement
24.6.2 Bodh Gaya movement
24.6.3 Dalit women’s movement
24.6.4 Adivasi women’s movement
24.6.5 Movement through literature, theatre ad other forms of expression

24.7 Key words

24.8 Some useful books
24.9 Answers to check your progress exercises

24.0 OBJECTIVES

The Unit deals with the role and contribution of women in the various social and political
movements in India. After going through this unit, you will be able to know:

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• The historical background of women’s movement in India.

• Major issues confronting women’s unity; and
• Role of the women in Politics.

24.1 INTRODUCTION

It will be easier to understand the role of women in the social and political movements of
India if we divide the study into the following categories

First, we shall try to have a panoramic view of the role of women in the 19th and the 20th
centuries, i.e. in the pre and post- colonial era.

We shall next, look into these movements from two broad angles, viz, (i) “for” women
and (ii) “by” women. (i) The period of reforms and nationalist struggle can be categorised
as “for” women since all the benefits and opportunities for advancement were fought for
and gifted by social reformers who, inevitably, were men. Women had eager and sincere
participation in India’s struggle for freedom, but the leadership was in the hands of men
only. Yet, this period is extremely significant as the “beginning of freedom” for women.

(ii) In the post-independence period women concentrated on their own freedom. The
foundation for this movement had been laid in the anti-British Raj days when women had
started discovering their identity through literature and their activities as “terrorists”.
They slowly became part of the world’s women’s movement and their role in the social
and political movements in their own country started becoming more and more
prominent.

24.2 Reforms for women in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The 19th century could well be called an age for women. Their rights and the wrongs
done to them, as well as their capacities and potentials, used to be the subjects of heated
discussions in Europe and even in the colonies. By the end of the century, feminist ideas
were in the minds of the “radicals” in England, France, Germany and even Russia. In
India, the wrongs against women began to be deplored by social reformers. Such
movement of ‘for’ women, ‘by’ men originated in Bengal and Maharashtra.

24.2.1 Against Sati

The Indian bourgeois class, that was born out of Westernisation, sought to reform the
society by initiating campaigns against caste, polytheism, idolatry, animism, purda, child-
marriage, sati and the like. These, to them, were elements of ‘pre-modern’ or primitive
society. The foreign missionaries had branded these as examples of “Hindu
barbarism” thus creating enough grounds for the colonial powers to rule. Ram Mohan
Roy and Bidyasagar managed to receive the required administrative and legal support
because of this. In 1817, Pandit Mrityunjay Bidyalankar declared that sati had no

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“Shastric” sanction. One year later Governor william Bentinck prohibited Sati in his
province, viz, Bengal. It took 11 years for this prohibition to get extended to other parts
of India as the Sati Prohibition Act of 1929.

24.2.2 Widow Remarriage

In 1850s Pandit Ishwarchandra Bidyasagar, like Pandit Mrityunjay, proved from the
Shastras that the re-marriage of a widow is allowed. His was a long, difficult journey
through debats with orthodox pandits and banter from some of the pillars of then Hindu
society. The Vernacular (Bengali) press got filled with songs and satires both in support
and against. Such verses appeared in the designs of the woven cloths. They created
turmoil in society. Bidyasagar submitted a petition to the Governor General in 1855.

A Widow Remarriage Association had started in Madras in 1871, but was short lived. In
1878, Virasalingam started the Rajamundri Social Reform Association, focusing mainly
on widow re-marriage. In 1892, the Young Madras Party or the Hindu Social Reform
Association was launched. Aryan Brotherhood Conference, of which Ranade and N.M.
Joshi were members, once declared in one of its meetings, “let us no longer live in a
fool’s paradise in the fond belief that because we have managed to survive so long ..
under our present social arrangement, we will be able to survive for ever…”

Forty odd years since the Act was passed, there had been 500 widow re-marriages only,
though social reform organisations, championing the cause, had mushroomed all over
India. The majority of them were child or virgin widows. Widows from the upper caste,
who were not virgins, could not and did not- re-marry.

24.2.3 Rehabilitating of Prostitutes

Other notables, who fought for reforms in anti-woman socio religious customs, were
Jyotiba Phule, Dayanand Saraswati, Karve and women like Pandita Ramabai, Sister
Nibedita and Tagore’s sister Swarnakumari Devi. Bengal had witnessed rebellious spirits
like Madhusdan Datta and Henry Derozio. They both were powerful poets also. They
had invited the wrath of the reformers even by attacking male morality. Madhusdan
organised the prostitutes and inspired them to choose the profession of acting, instead.

According to a report in Amrita Bazar Patrika of 1869, 90% of Calcutta’s prostitutes

were widows, of whom a large number came from Kulin Brahmin families. The
“Kulins” were the most detestable group of Brahmins whose socially sanctioned
livelihood was to go on marrying and collecting dowries. Their day to day living was
also totally free as they kept on visiting their wives’ paternal homes as these ‘mararied’
women had to continue living in their fathers’ house. The number of such ‘wives’ could
very well exceed 100. So, with a single stroke of death (of one husband) at least 100
widows were available in the market as prostitutes.

We must make special note of the fact that Bidyasagar, the first and the greatest
protagonist of widow re marriage felt a moral repugnance towards this scheme of
rehabilitation of the prostitutes and did not think of stopping this abhorrent practice of
polygamy. Strangely, he could not realise that the number of widows will drastically
decline and thus the problem will become much less formidable if polygamy could be
strictly stopped.

24.2.4 Arya Samaj

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Swami Dayanand was rather revolutionary for his time. He disowned the caste system
and prescribed equal treatment to women quoting from the shastras. His Arya Samaj did
not impose any duties or obligations on women, which could not be applied to men
according to the Hindu lawgivers. In his representative book, “Satyartha Prakash”
Dayanand insisted that polygamy, child marriage and the seclusion of women did not
exist in Aryan India. He called for compulsory education for boys and girls both and that
there should be equal stress on tradition and modernity through the compulsory learning
of Sanskrit and English. He raised the age of marriage for girls and boys to 16 and 25,
respectively.

But Arya Samajis like Lala Lajpat Rai and Lal Chand opposed higher education for
women. They believed that if at all, ‘the character of girls’ education should be different,
because ‘the education we give to the girls should not unsex them’ Apart from basic
literacy, Arithmetic and some poetry, Arya Samaj religious literature, sewing,
embroidery, cooking, hygienic, drawing and music were the subjects taught. The Brahma
Samaj that started as a protest against idolatry and the backward pulling norms and rituals
of Brahminical Hindusim, was not free of this stereotype notion about girls and women.
The notion continued till the latter stages of our freedom movement. They only dissident
voice was of Subhas chandra Bose. Herin lies the justification behind dividing the ages
into “for” and “by” women. The women, at that time, had neither the awareness nor the
sensitivity to demand everything that were allowed to or given to men.

24.2.5 Prohibition of Child Marriage

In 1860 an Act was passed fixing the age of consent at 10. Behram Malabari, himself not
a Hindu, (a Parsi) started a campaign in support of this Act towards the end of the
century. He could manage to convince a good number of lawyers, doctors, teachers and
public servants. They believed, which was echoed in the statement by the Jessore Indian
Association, that “early marriage weakens the physical strength of a nation; it stunts its
full growth and development, it affects the courage and energy of the individuals and
brings forth a race of people weak in strength” and determination. In 1891, Tilak had led
an agitation against the Act and a modern visionary like Tagore had opposed in words
and deed!

Reform movements were so strong in the Bombay-Poona cultural belt that a few had the
courage to question even Brahminism the very base of Hinduism G.H. Deshmukh, a
socio-religious reformer for example, had argued in the 1840s that the “Brahmins should
give up their foolish concepts; they must accept that all men are equal and that everybody
has a right to acquire knowledge…”. But in 1871, he succumbed to threat to outcaste
him. As a consequence, he mellowed down.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 1

Note: i) Use the space below for your answers

ii) Check your answers at the end of the unit

1. Why can the 19th century be called the age for women?

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2. What do you know about the various attempts enforce widow re-marriage.?

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3. What was Dayanand Saraswati’s contribution?

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24.3 EDUCATION FOR WOMEN AND WOMEN EMERGING WITH

IDENTITY

24.3.1 Women in Literature and Literature by Women

By the late 19th century, social reform movements were beginning to show effects;
confidence and determination started getting observed in the life and work of some
women. Novelists like Nirupama Devi and Anurupa Devi started getting referred to in
the Bengali literary circles and were even given memberships of literary clubs which
were dominated by men. Tagore’s novels and short stories are full of women characters
who excel their husbands and other male admirers. A few examples are “Gora” and
“Gharey Bairey” by Tagore, “Anandamath” and “Debi Choudhurani” by Bankimchandra
and “Pather Debi” by Sharatchandra. In Tagore’s “Char Adhyay”, a nationalist woman,
seeking identity, is criticised and crushed by male ldadership-typical of politics even
today, which has largely remained a male domain. Almost all women activist were
literary writers also; literature and writings with literary flavour were commonly used as
side weapons with most of the male freedom fighters also. Some of the noted names
among women were Nagendrakala Mustafi, Mankumari Basu and Kamini Roy. Kashibai
Kanitkar was the first woman novelist from Maharashtra. Others were Mary Bhore,
Godavaribai Samaskar, Parvatibai and Rukminibai. In South, Kamala Sathinandan, the
editor of Indian Ladies Magazine, was a writer also. Sarala Debi, Kumudini Mitra and
Madame Cama had made marks in Journalism to promote the cause of revolution.

24.3.2 Women for Rights

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Madame Cama had the honour of unfurling a ‘Bande Mataram’ flag at 1907 Congress of
the Socialist International at Stuttgart, and, in 1913, Kumudini Mitra, more known as a
“terrorist”, was invited to the International Women’s Suffrage Conference at Budapest,
Hungary. Sarojini Naidu waited upon the committee, headed by Montague and Lord
chelmsford to demand a series of reforms in the condition of the Indian women. Sarala
Debi made representations before the committee on behalf of Bharat Stree Mahamandal.
At the sixth National Social conference in 1892, Hardevi Roshanlals, the editor of
“Bharat Bhagini” insisted that this platform was ‘more important’ than Congress, because
the former understood that:

The woman’s cause is man’s

They rise or sink together,
Dwarfed or god-like, bound or free.

Anandibai Joshi was the first woman doctor. She and Kantibai were stoned when they
dared wearing shoes and carrying umbrellas on the streets. These were symbols of male
and caste authority. Was women’s position better than that of the lower castes or the
untouchables? In 1882, Tarabai Shinde’s book, Stree Purush Tulana generated heated
discussions all over. She insisted that the faults, commonly ascribed to women, such as
superstition, suspicion, treachery and insolence, could be as much found in men. She
suggested to the women that, by the strength of their firm will, they remain always well
behaved, pure as fire and unblemished internally and externally. Tarabai also suggested
that men would have to hang their heads down in shame.

Mai Bhagawati, an “upadeshika” of the Arya Samaj had the confidence to speak in a
large public gathering in Haryana. In 1881, Manorama Majumdar, educated at home by
her husband, was appointed dhama pracharika by the Barisal Brahmo Samaj. As
expected, lot of heated debate followed questioning the ‘wisdom’ of carrying the issue of
women’s equality a little too far. Regular participation in the nationalist campaigns and
organisations had generated such a spirit that a group of Brahmo women walked through
the streets of Calcutta singing and speaking against the evils of purdah. These are
indisputable instances of initiatives or movements “by”women. But Indian National
Congress and other political parties were not yet prepared to acknowledge that potential
among women. Though the women delegates were allowed to sit on the dias, they were
not allowed to speak or vote on the resolutions.

24.3.3 Women for Women

Rabindranath Tagore’s sister Swarnakumari Debi launched “Sakhi Samiti” with the aim
of training widows to learn, to teach and thus become the most powerful agents of
spreading education among women. The Samiti organised crafts fairs in order to promote
women-centric cottage industries as a means of developing self-confidence (atmashakti)
and nationalism. Congress discovered great value in this kind of “meals”, but the male
leaders could not think beyond organising a separate women’s section.

Swarnakumari Debi’s daughter, Sarala Debi, was strikingly rebellious. She wanted to
flee the ‘cage’ or ‘prison’ of home and establish her right to an independent livelihood
like men. She started a gymnasium in 1902, where women were trained in the use of
sword and ‘lathi’. She can be called the architect of militant nationalism or even
revolutionary terrorism.

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24.3.4 Women in Nationalist Struggle

The 1905-8 Swadeshi movement in Bengal reflects the beginning of a women’s

participation in nationalist activities on a larger scale. Many of the wives, sisters and
daughters started forming support groups for the movement. Middle class nationalism
inspired women and girls who gave away jewelry as well as money. In the villages,
Handfuls of grains came as contributions. Militancy became such a feature of the
‘samitis’ in which women had active involvement that five such in East Bengal, viz
Swadesh Bandhab, Brati, Dhaka Anushilan, Suhrid and Sadhana, were banned in
January, 1909.

Purani Agyawati, a woman member of Hissar Arya Samaj, toured almost all over Punbaj,
pleading mothers to bring up their sons not for government service but as independent
manuacturers and traders of ‘swadeshi’. She also tried to convince that strict and blind
observance of caste norms prevent the mothers from giving great sons to the nation. In
Delhi, Agyavati opened a '‘Vidhava Ashram" to organise widows not only against
oppression and for their right to education, but also to train them in militant nationalism.
She was described as “a very bold woman” by the government, which was sufficiently
alarmed by her activities.

24.3.5 Women for Equality

Speaking to the Indian Social conference at Calcutta in 1906. Sarojini Naidu said,
“instruction may mean accumulation of knowledge, but education is an immeasurable,
beautiful and indispensable atmosphere in which we live and move and have our being…
How then shall a man dare to deprive a human soul of its immemorial inheritance of
liberty and life? Your fathers, in depriving your mothers of that birthrith, have robbed
you, their sons, of your just inheritance. Therefore, I charge you restore to your women
their … rights… you are, therefore, not the real nation-builders… Educate your women
and the nation will take care of itself…”

That there was a sense of great achievement among women and of new spaces opening
up for them was beautifully put by the Tamil nationalist poet Subramanya Bharati in his
poem, “The Dance of Liberation”, in 1920

Dance! Rejoice!
Those who said
It is evil for women to touch books
Are dead.
The lunatics who Said
They would lock women in their houses,
Cannot show their faces now.

A discourse on equality began to develop, in the late 1910s and 1920s, amongst women.
They used nationalists’ arguments to defend their demands for equal rights. Urmila Devi,
a militant woman, defined ‘swaraj’ as self-rule and ‘Swadhinata’ as the ‘strength and
power to rule over oneself’. Amiya Debi rightly felt that ‘Swadhinata’ cannot be given, it
has to be taken by force…. If it is left to the “well-wishing” men, then women’s adhinata
(dependence) along will get strengthened. The nationalist leaders, who were the first to
call women outside their home and household, believed in complementarity and not
sameness, which the revolutionary women demanded. The reformers and the ‘givers’
believed that women’s rights should be recognised because of women’s socially useful

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role as mothers. Women demanded equal rights because, as human beings, they have the
same needs, the same desires and the same capacities as men.

Prabhavati worked for a group in U.S.A called “Freedom for India and Ireland” and
Renuka Ray was associated with the “League Against British Imperialism” in England.
Pabhavati married M.N. Roy, the pioneer of communist movement in India, and got
equally involved with the revolutionaries and the communists. She joined hands with
Muzaffar Ahmad, poet Nazrul Islam and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar to organise the
scavengers as a member of the Workers and Peasants Party.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 2

Note: i) Use the space below for you answers

ii) Check your answers at the end of the unit

1. Write, in brief, women’s first fight for rights during the colonial period.

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2. What was the role of Purani Agyavati in the nationalist struggle?

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3. How did women define “Swaraj” and “Swadhinata” during freedom struggle?

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24.4 WOMEN’S INDEPENDENT POLITICAL IDENTITY

24.4.1 Discrimination Against Women in Politics

No woman was chosen by Gandhi in his long list of 71 marchers to Dandi. Well-
recognised women, like Khurshid Naoroji and Margaret Cousins, protested strongly. But
the leader remained firm on his decision arguing that he had allocated a “greater role to
women than the mere breaking of salt laws”. But Sarojini Naidu defied and joined the
march at Dandi at the final stage and was the first woman to be arrested in that
movement. Once defiance cleared the path, and thousands of women joined the salt
satyagraha. This is generally remembered as the first time “the masses of Indian women”
got involved in the struggle for independence. Husbands now started getting proud of

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their wives in the jails; but they resented if their wives had not taken prior permission. A
few notable amongst these wives were Kasturba Glandhi, Kamaladebi Chattopadhyay,
Nellie Sengupta, Basanti Debi (Roy), Durgabai Deshmukh and Aruna Asaf Ali.

24.4.2 Women’s Initiatives in Politics

Lilabati Mitra helped Bidyasagar in 1890s to perform widow re-marriages by sheltering

willing grooms. Kamini Roy was active in the Ilbert Bill agitation, organising girls at the
Bethune School to hold meetings and wear badges supporting the Bill. She worked with
Banga Mahila Samiti in their social reform projects. Aghorekamini Nari Samiti mobilised
opinions against the ill-treatment of women workers by the tea planters. Prabhavati
Mirza had got inspired by Aurobindo’s terrorism.. At the age of ten only she fasted in
protest against Khudir am’s hanging and later turned out to be a committed trade uninist
of the 1930s.

24.4.2 Women “Terrorists”

Kumudini Mitra had organised a group of educated Brahmin women who liaised between
the revolutionaries in hiding. Women got increasingly involved with revolutionary
groups, popularly known, feared and revered as “terrorists”. In December, 1931, Shanti
Ghosh and Suniti Chowhhury shot a district Magistrate, Mr. Stevens, who had harassed
women more than the law, perhaps, permitted. Mina Das had atempted to shoot the
Governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson in 1922. They had all acted on their own and the
first two were sentenced to transportation for life. Preetilata Wadedar led a raid on a club
that the Europeans frequented. The bomb killed one and injured four. Preetilatae,
clothed in male attire took cyanide to avoid arrest. A paper stating that the raid was an
“act of war” was recovered from her person. On the same day pamphlets were
distributed exhorting teachers, students and the public to join the campaign against the
British rulers and the Europeans. Sarala Debi and Sister Nibediata were also closely
related to and inspired by the Bengal terrorists.

24.5 MAJOR ISSUES CONFRONTING WOMEN’S UNITY

24.5.1 Communalism and Casteism

The issue of communalism was taken up by All India women’s Conference (AIWC) in
the thirties. In 1932 both their district branches and the annual conference organised
protests against the reservation of separate seats for women in the legislatures applying
communal criteria. The Bombay branch, for example, got involved in riot relief and the
Andhra Pradesh branch started a campaign against religious prayers in the schools. The
organisation was, perhaps, the first to raise demands for uniform civil code so that
women cannot be subdued and tortured by religious dictums and caste obligations. They
demanded exactly the same law for all women of India- whatever may be their caste or
religion.

Unfortunately, by 1940s communal tensions manifested among the members themselves,

as a result of the increasingly hostile relations between the congress and the Muslim
League. By 1944 most of the Muslim women left AIWC. After partition and migration
to Pakistan, they formed All Pakistan Women’s Conference, thus belying the very
purpose of this organisation. The AIWC in India continued to work against

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communilsim, casteism and patriarchal oppression and started getting members from all
religious groups, though the Hindu and the Dalits are many more in number.

Communalism and casteism have taken a horribly violent and ugly form ever since the
carving out of the country on communal lines; Intolerance of the lower castes and of the
religious and racial minorities has increased by leaps and bounds; mobilisation among
women in protest and self-defence has also become stronger and wider. The other modes
of oppressions, related to and born out of patriarchy and the concetration of wealth and
power in the hands of a few, have also motivated the women’s movement in India. The
number of such organisations is so large and the area of their activities is so vast that it is
simply impossible to make individual note of them within the extremely limited scope of
this lesson. The students will have to rely on their general knowledge and daily
newspaper reading.

24.5.2 Daily Encounters with Oppression

i) Against Alcohol

Bhil women were the first known to have raised their voice against the alcohol menance
by breaking liquor pots in 1972. We know of so many such after that, the most sustained
and successful having been The Anti-Arrack Movement in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
Alcoholism is understood by women and the men who fight for women’s cause, as a
major cause behind wife-beating and family violence. Unending or increasing
impoverishment of a family is also mainly because of man’s income being wasted on this
menace. That is why all women’s bodies take up alcohol as a major issue, apart from
dowry and sexual abuse, in fact all anti-liquor movements gradually get involved in all
other problems facing women. Even the movements for environmental protection, e.g
the Chipko movement, the movement for equal land rights, e.g the Bodhgaya, and the
movement for a separate political entity, like. Uttaranchal, could not separate itself from
the age-old day to day problems that have not allowed women, from the socially and
economically backward section particularly, to see the light of freedom.

ii) Against Dowry

Progressive Organisation of women, Hyderabad was the first to organise powerful
movement against dowry in 1975. It used to attract more than 2000 men and women in
their demonstrations and the anger had spread to Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and even to as far as Punjab and Bengal. But the movement took deep
and permanent roots in and around Delhi because the problem was, and is, much more
acute and gruesome in this clutural belt. Mahila Dakshata Samiti was the pioneer body in
Delhi in this regard. Now its scope, like in case of all other similar organisations, has
spread over to all other areas concerning women’s oppression and subjugation.

iii) Against Sexual Abuse Rape and other forms of sexual abuse are the most
common and frequent of crimes against women and yet, the most unreported.
This is the most easily available and ego-satisfying weapon in the hands of male
power not merely to overpower women, but even to overpower men from the
deprived and oppressed communities. Apart from rapes within the family or due
to personal lust or enmity, rapes are quite common occurrence in communal and
caste tensions and in police custody. The agitation against rape, for the first time,
started against police rape. The rape of Ralmmeza Bi in police custody became a
symbol. The movement is ever-increasing in area, support and anger, yet the
upward trend in the number of incidents is not getting checked. Shakti Shalini,

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Sasbala Mahila Sangha, Janvadi Mahila Samiti are some of the striking names in
this field. The last named has been organisaing women in their political battles
also. The latest over-riding issue for women of all categories, of course, has been
the reservation of seats in the highest decision- making bodies of the land.

All forms of male domination, in fact, were based on women’s economic dependence.
The two primary structures of women’s oppression were thus, the sexual division of
labour and the culture and politics that rationalised it. On the other hand, Mahilal Samata
Sainik Dal, like most other women’s bodies, believed that men’s base desire for sexual
pleasure had led them to enslave women. What is fascinating about the movements
against various forms of violence and women’s movements have basically sprung as an
urge to resist and protest is how these have woven together several different kinds of
attitudes towards women: from feminist to anti –patriarchal to anti capitalist to utopian
patriarchalism. The last is held mostly by men who feel it is their duty to protest and care
for their women.

A whole new set of personal relationships developed in the feminist movement of

friendships which cut across class, caste and cultural barriers, even though, to some
extent, these friendships remained unequal. The middle class women, who usually were
the leaders or organisers, acted more out of a sense of duty, and the poor from a position
of helplessness and gratitude. Yet, the growth of a new sense of ‘individuality’ was
clearly visible.

24.5.3 Environment and Livelihood

As explained by Engels, ownership of land and the means of production controls all
categories of human relationships and is, therefore, the basis of patriarchy. Even in the
age of highly advanced science and technology, food and all that a human being needs
come from Nature and environment. We also know that from the day one of human
existence, women have been the food gatherer and food provider; and therefore, women
are the worst affected as a result of environmental degradation and indiscriminate robing
of Nature. That is why, women’s movement has been most powerful with regard to their
and their family’s livelihood and the conservation of Nature. It started with women
breaking forest laws in pre-independence India. Chipko and Narmada Bachao
movements are good examples in this regard. ‘Self-employed Women’s Association
(SEWA)” is the fist known organisation in India and South Asia, which united the
women workers in the unorganised and the home-based sectors. This perhaps, is the
most successful and sustained women’s movement since it got closely tied up with
‘Mahila Kosh’ or women’s co-operative bank. It has inspired many similar movements
in Bangladesh, Nepal and elsewhere in South Asia. The Self-employed Women’s Union
of South Africa has copied the model in totality and these two, to gather, have been able
to influence ILO to enact international laws, giving recognition and protection to the
home-based workers (the majority of whom are women from the most deprived sections
of a economy). The ‘Grameen Bank’ of Bangladesh had become another widely
acknowledged model for women’s economic independence.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 3

Note: i) Use the space below for your answers.

ii) Check your answers at the end of the unit.

1. Write what you know about the activities of a few women terrorists.

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1. Explain why alcoholism has been taken as a major cause for violence against
women.

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2. What do you think is/are the basic reason/s behind violence against women?

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24.6 WOMEN IN POLITICS OR POLITICS ‘BY’ WOMEN

In section 24.4 you have read, in brief about women’s independent political identity or
initiative. In this section you will be able know a few instances where such initiatives
looked more pronounced.

24.6.1 Telengana Movement

Women’s participation was significant in the Telengana movement for land and related
Eco-political rights. Though the leadership was with men, the movement could have died
early if not for the strong and sustained motivation from the women. It started against the
injustices for the British Raj (1941), and continued against the continuation of the
injustices even under their own government (till 1952).

24.6.2 Bodh Gaya Movement

Another landmrk movement for land, i.e., livelighoold, or economic rights “by” women
was the forceful acquisition of the ‘patta’ by the peasant women, who had collected from
in and around Bodh Gaya (Bihar). The men were not putting in enough efforts or
resources into the land due to drinking and other bad habits. The unexpected success
became a terrific inspiration for all united efforts by women. But, the success here was
unique and exceptional; in most other cases success was not in their fate, and Bihar
continues to be one of the top States in social injustice and oppression of women.

24.6.3 Dalit Women’s Movement

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It will not be wrong to say that the Dalit women got first organised by a self-taught Dalit
couple, the Phules, in Maharashtra. They (Phule couples) can also be called one of the
founders of the movement for women’s rigshts in the 19th Century. At present, Janvadi
Mahila Samiti is the strongest supporter of this movement. The Dalit women felt the
need to organise themselves separately, both from their men and the other women,
mainly because of two reasons: (i) Dalit men, however oppressed themselves, do not stop
oppressing their own women; and (ii) The non-Dalit women, however sincere, fail to
comprehend the ‘double’ oppression that a Dalit women invariably suffers.

24.6.4 Adivasi Women’s Movement

In the North Cachhar hills of Nagaland, Gudiallo, affectionately called ‘Rani’, became
famous for her role in the civil disobedience movement. She got involved at a very early
age of 13, inspired by her male cousin Jadonang, who was active in mobilising the
villagers in Manipur. In 1931-32, Gudiallo led a ‘no tax’ campaign, having taken over
the reins of leadership from her cousin brother who was hanged by the Raj. These
villagers stopped paying the compulsory levies on porterage and started refusing to work
as forced labour.

This is one of many such indigenous and spontaneour peoples’ movements which used to
be strongly discouraged and disowned by the ‘mainstream’ nationalist politics. This
trend and the attitude of deciding what is good and what is necessary for the other or
others is the foundation of patriarchy and capitalism (and, of course, imperialism), and
continues to this day even after independence. That is why the adivasis, the dalits and the
women are continuing to fight their battles even after more then half century of India
attaining freedom. At present, the war against environmental degradation is fought
mainly by the adivasis or the sons and daughters of Nature, because robbing of Nature
means robbing of their livelihood and culture. The mainstreem government of
independent India does not realise that our country is, once again, getting colonised by
the world market forces.

24.6.5 Movement through Literature, Theatre and other Forms of Expression

Section 24.3.1 has given us a brief idea about women’s contribution to their own
movement through literature during the pre-independence social reform and political
movement period. There was a bit of a lull in the first few decades after independence.
May be the women took a little time to realise that 1947 did not bring any independence
for them. Lately, with the rising strength in the women’s movement for equality, there
has been a spurt in writings, films and plays by women and on women. Powerful women
writers like Arundhuti Roy, are trudging the ‘women only’ field and taking up the cause
of humanism or universal human rights much more forcefully than men. Women are
making men realise that their good lies in women’s good and that women’s good lies in
the good of the entire humanity.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 4

Note: i) Use the space below for your answers

ii) Check your answers at the end of this unit

1. What is the very special problem faced by a dalit women ?

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24.8 SOME KEY WORDS

Colonial: relating to or characteristic of a colony. A colony is a territory and a people,

occupied and ruled over by an imperialist power or imperialist mentality

Reform: amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt or depraved;

removal or correction of an abuse, wrong or errors.

Feminist ideas: ideas born out of the belief that women are equal to men with
regard to political, economic and social rights.

Gender: the socially established division between man and woman with the
implied belief that women are inferior to men in every aspect of
life.

Radicals: marked by a considerable departure from the usual or traditional; a

political group associated with views, practices and policies of
extreme change.

Bourgeois: one with social behaviour and political views influenced by private
property interests and consumerism.

Westernisation: conversion to or adoption of the traditions and the latest culture of

the highly industrialised countries, generally in the western
hemisphere.

Polygamy: the custom of having more than one wife at the same time.

Suffrage: the right to vote (in political matters or for the formation of a
government).

24.7 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Kumar, Radha, The History of Doing, Kali for women, New Delhi, 1993.
Sanghari, Kumkum and Vaid, Sudesh (eds.), Recasting Women: Essays in colonial
History, Kali for women, New Delhi, 1989.
Liddle, Joanna and Joshi, Rama (eds.), Daughters of Independence: Gender, Cast and
Class, Kali for Women, New D`elhi, 1986.
Gail Omvedt: Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society
Gail Omvedt : We will smash this prison

24.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXECCISES

Check Your Progress Excercise 1

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1) It was called so because attempts to introduce the social reforms for the
improvement of the conditions of the women were made during this period. The
evils which were sought to be eliminated included tradition of sati, child marriage,
ban on the widow-remarriage, purda system, etc.
2) Pandit Ishwarchandra Bidyasagar and Pandit Matrunjay proved that the the
Shastras approved the widow-remarriage; widow-remarriage associations were
formed and the widow re-marriage ruled were made.
3) He founded the Arya Samaj which attempted to fight the caste system, tradition of
polygamy, child marriage, and for the compulsory learning of Sanskrit and
English.

Check Your Progress Excercise 2

1) These instances were: in 1907 Madan Cama unfurled the “Bande Matram” flag at the
Congress of Socialist International at Stuttgart; in 1913 Kumudini Mitra was invited
to the International Women’s Suffrage Conference at Budapest; Sarojini Naidu, Sarla
Debi and Hardevi Roshalal were also among the first women to raise the issues of the
women.
2) As a member of the Arya Samaj she toured almost all over Punjab pleading to the
women not to encourage their sons to join the government jobs but to become the
“swadeshis”.
3) According to them the “swaraj” and “swadhinata” meant self rule , and the “strength
and power to rule over oneself “ respectively.

Check Your Progress Excercise 3

1) They participated in the Indian National Movement by killing the British officers,
and by appealing to students, teachers and public to revolt against the colonial
system.
2) Alcoholism has the adverse impact on the entire family. The women revolted
against it by launching the Ant-Arrack Movements in several parts of the country,
especially Andhra Pradesh and Uttaranchal.
3) The violence against women get expressed in the form of rape, dowry death,
domestic violence, etc. The main reasons for this lie in their vulnerable social,
economic and educational conditions, and the values of the people.

Check Your Progress Excercise 4

1) The dalit women face dual problems of discrimination: they face the general
problems which are faced by the women belonging to all castes, and the problems
which are faced by the dalit women due to their caste status.

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