WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN INDIA
The status of women has remained low since time immemorial. There is no record history to
explain the answer to how and why women got to receive secondary position in the society.
Indian women are inheritors of a very complex pattern of social models and cultural ideals. Some
of the most acrimonious and emotionally charged debates of the nineteenth century round
precisely those issues which signified women's oppression and their poor position. Inevitably,
the perceived indicators of women's low status like purdah, sati, female infanticide, child
marriage and enforced widowhood, - formed essential items in the agenda of attack of almost all
the major reformers of the ninetieth century India, whether they belong to the Brahmo samaj of
Bengal and eastern India indifferent to the fact that, the Arya samaj of north India or the Prathana
samaj of Maharashtra and western India. The problem of women received the attention of social
reformers right from the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the modern times, some
individuals, organized associations and journals and significantly played remarkable role in
bestirring the Indian society to focus it's attention on this problem and make efforts in the
direction of the general emancipation of Indian women's. The aim of this chapter is to examine
the status of women in society prior to the beginning of the women's movement in India and
chronicle briefly their participation and role during women’s movement from 1880-2000. It also
focuses on revealing the status of women in pre-colonial Indian society and pin points the fact
that there was no change observed in women’s lives and injustice done to them within the
patriarchal society continued even during the British reign. The women's movement in India is a
rich and vibrant movement which has taken different forms in the different parts of the country.
It is important to well recognize the fact that for a country like India’s, change in male-female
relations and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come easy. For
every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression.
And it is this regression that makes space for the exception to occur, this factor that makes
women who can aspire to, and attain, the highest political office in the country, and for women to
continue to have to confront patriarchy within the home, in the workplace, throughout their lives.
Social Movements: women's movements
It is well recognized that women are victim of many domestic crime since ancient time. To
tackle such situation and enhance the position of women, numerous woman movements were
started. It is said that women's movements are among the most important crusade of modern
social movements. Historical records indicated that since nineteenth-century, Canadian women's
suffrage campaigns to recent direct actions for sustainable development in India, wherever
women's movements have been established, national organizations and local grassroots groups
have worked together to support women and girls. Diverse, even conflicting, compassions of
women's interests rise from differences in gender, race, class, cultural, religion, and sexuality, as
well as from global divisions of wealth and power. However, the rifeness of oppression against
,women has resulted in formation of international women's movements with common agendas,
linked to struggles for sovereignty, democracy, and secure livelihoods around the world.
To honour woman, March 8th is celebrated around the world. It is considered as a historical day,
an icon of the struggle waged against mistreatment and oppression by women all over the world,
for over a century. It is a day to express and demonstrate collective strength and to renew
struggle of women for equality and justice.
When apprising the ideologies of women movements, it is specified that within the women's
movement, there have been different understandings of patriarchal oppression and its outcomes
and, therefore, also varied strategies to combat it. Some organizations have small intellectual
groups while there have been some that have had mass support. Some have emerged in support
of certain causes or for the purpose of a focused campaign, while there are some groups that have
existed for years with evolving agendas. The principles vary from radical, liberal, socialist,
Marxist and Gandhian, to the new fundamentalist.
It is documented in many studies that the women's movement has a long history in India. Much
longer than the current 'second wave' movement, or even the 'first wave' of earlier this century.
The Shakti cults go back centuries, and the concept of Shakti, the female power principle was
recognized thousands of years ago. In this form, the women's movement signifies, not merely an
oppositional force powered by anger, a rather negative reaction to oppression, but the
development of a distinctive female culture, a positive creative force inspiring men and women
alike (Liddle et al. 1986). The changes or rather the transitions that have occurred within the
women's movement in India have not followed a chronological or linear pattern, but have at all
stages involved a collage of influences, local, national and international.
The goals and structures of women's movements reveal the commonalities as well as the
differences among women. For example, feminist movements tend to be related with the
aspirations, and the opportunities, of middle-class women. Feminist movements include women's
rights movements focusing on the goals of equal rights under the law and equal access to
education, careers, and political power; women's liberation movements that challenge cultural
patterns of male dominance in the family and personal life through strategies that raise the
awareness of women of their own subjugation, often within the context of women-only groups.
Black feminist movements address racism along with sexism; and socialist feminist movements
look women's empowerment as tied to the role of government, labour, and civil society in
safeguarding the rights of all citizens to equity and social security. The campaigners in feminine
movements tend to be working-class women organizing to address problems of poverty and
sexism and their overwhelming effects on the health and wellbeing of their families. Womanist, a
term invented by the writer Alice Walker, refers to the confidence, strength, and wisdom of
, African-American women based in their cultures and long struggle to support their children and
communities and to end racism and all forms of prejudice.
Religiously diverse, multilingual, and caste-divided India also has one of the most vibrant and
many-stranded women's movements in the world. One of their primacies is challenging
patriarchal religious practices, while at the same time respecting religious differences. Another is
lessening the poverty and insecurity of women and their families.
It is found in reports that the women's upliftment period began in the late nineteenth century, first
among elite Hindu men and women and, later, Muslims. Besides stressing education, they called
for reform of the practices of widow remarriage, polygamy, purdah (the veiling and seclusion of
women), property rights, and sati (the ritual suicide of widows). To curb these sinful acts made
by society's traditional leaders or heads, Women established their own autonomous
organizations, the most important of which was the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) in
1927. In 1934, when AIWC introduced a bill for equality in marriage, divorce, and property
rights, they drew upon the nationalist rights discourse; and after independence in 1947, women
were granted constitutional equality. However, the Hindu, Islamic, and other religious
communities retained jurisdiction over family law (Desai 2001).
In second phase of women empowerment, grass-roots organizations formed and these focused
not only upon gender but also upon caste, class, and culture as roots of women's persecution. The
groups in this movement were associated with grass-roots labour, labourer, and tribal movements
as well as leftist opposition parties. Among their activities were protests by tribal women in the
Toilers' Union in Maharastra against alcohol-related domestic violence and by the Chipko
movement of poor women in the Himalayas to protect their forest resources and highlight
women's unrecognized economic contributions. The Self Employed Women's Association
(SEWA), a union of women working as street vendors and rag-pickers and in home-based
industries, established the first women's bank for poor women (Desai 2001).
Women's participation in movements has been in four major forms:
For social, economic and political rights of specific categories of people like tribal,
peasants and industrial workers.
For improvement in conditions of work and autonomy to women.
For equal remuneration for work.
In general social movements on issues affecting men and children like abortions,
adoption of children, sexual exploitation.
Sustainable, grassroots development as a precedence of Indian women's movement organizations
is demonstrated by the organization Stree Mukti Sangharsh (Women's Liberation Struggle). They
envisaged development that promotes equality between men and women and overcomes the
economic and environmental consequences of the rural areas precipitated by large multinational
The status of women has remained low since time immemorial. There is no record history to
explain the answer to how and why women got to receive secondary position in the society.
Indian women are inheritors of a very complex pattern of social models and cultural ideals. Some
of the most acrimonious and emotionally charged debates of the nineteenth century round
precisely those issues which signified women's oppression and their poor position. Inevitably,
the perceived indicators of women's low status like purdah, sati, female infanticide, child
marriage and enforced widowhood, - formed essential items in the agenda of attack of almost all
the major reformers of the ninetieth century India, whether they belong to the Brahmo samaj of
Bengal and eastern India indifferent to the fact that, the Arya samaj of north India or the Prathana
samaj of Maharashtra and western India. The problem of women received the attention of social
reformers right from the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the modern times, some
individuals, organized associations and journals and significantly played remarkable role in
bestirring the Indian society to focus it's attention on this problem and make efforts in the
direction of the general emancipation of Indian women's. The aim of this chapter is to examine
the status of women in society prior to the beginning of the women's movement in India and
chronicle briefly their participation and role during women’s movement from 1880-2000. It also
focuses on revealing the status of women in pre-colonial Indian society and pin points the fact
that there was no change observed in women’s lives and injustice done to them within the
patriarchal society continued even during the British reign. The women's movement in India is a
rich and vibrant movement which has taken different forms in the different parts of the country.
It is important to well recognize the fact that for a country like India’s, change in male-female
relations and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come easy. For
every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression.
And it is this regression that makes space for the exception to occur, this factor that makes
women who can aspire to, and attain, the highest political office in the country, and for women to
continue to have to confront patriarchy within the home, in the workplace, throughout their lives.
Social Movements: women's movements
It is well recognized that women are victim of many domestic crime since ancient time. To
tackle such situation and enhance the position of women, numerous woman movements were
started. It is said that women's movements are among the most important crusade of modern
social movements. Historical records indicated that since nineteenth-century, Canadian women's
suffrage campaigns to recent direct actions for sustainable development in India, wherever
women's movements have been established, national organizations and local grassroots groups
have worked together to support women and girls. Diverse, even conflicting, compassions of
women's interests rise from differences in gender, race, class, cultural, religion, and sexuality, as
well as from global divisions of wealth and power. However, the rifeness of oppression against
,women has resulted in formation of international women's movements with common agendas,
linked to struggles for sovereignty, democracy, and secure livelihoods around the world.
To honour woman, March 8th is celebrated around the world. It is considered as a historical day,
an icon of the struggle waged against mistreatment and oppression by women all over the world,
for over a century. It is a day to express and demonstrate collective strength and to renew
struggle of women for equality and justice.
When apprising the ideologies of women movements, it is specified that within the women's
movement, there have been different understandings of patriarchal oppression and its outcomes
and, therefore, also varied strategies to combat it. Some organizations have small intellectual
groups while there have been some that have had mass support. Some have emerged in support
of certain causes or for the purpose of a focused campaign, while there are some groups that have
existed for years with evolving agendas. The principles vary from radical, liberal, socialist,
Marxist and Gandhian, to the new fundamentalist.
It is documented in many studies that the women's movement has a long history in India. Much
longer than the current 'second wave' movement, or even the 'first wave' of earlier this century.
The Shakti cults go back centuries, and the concept of Shakti, the female power principle was
recognized thousands of years ago. In this form, the women's movement signifies, not merely an
oppositional force powered by anger, a rather negative reaction to oppression, but the
development of a distinctive female culture, a positive creative force inspiring men and women
alike (Liddle et al. 1986). The changes or rather the transitions that have occurred within the
women's movement in India have not followed a chronological or linear pattern, but have at all
stages involved a collage of influences, local, national and international.
The goals and structures of women's movements reveal the commonalities as well as the
differences among women. For example, feminist movements tend to be related with the
aspirations, and the opportunities, of middle-class women. Feminist movements include women's
rights movements focusing on the goals of equal rights under the law and equal access to
education, careers, and political power; women's liberation movements that challenge cultural
patterns of male dominance in the family and personal life through strategies that raise the
awareness of women of their own subjugation, often within the context of women-only groups.
Black feminist movements address racism along with sexism; and socialist feminist movements
look women's empowerment as tied to the role of government, labour, and civil society in
safeguarding the rights of all citizens to equity and social security. The campaigners in feminine
movements tend to be working-class women organizing to address problems of poverty and
sexism and their overwhelming effects on the health and wellbeing of their families. Womanist, a
term invented by the writer Alice Walker, refers to the confidence, strength, and wisdom of
, African-American women based in their cultures and long struggle to support their children and
communities and to end racism and all forms of prejudice.
Religiously diverse, multilingual, and caste-divided India also has one of the most vibrant and
many-stranded women's movements in the world. One of their primacies is challenging
patriarchal religious practices, while at the same time respecting religious differences. Another is
lessening the poverty and insecurity of women and their families.
It is found in reports that the women's upliftment period began in the late nineteenth century, first
among elite Hindu men and women and, later, Muslims. Besides stressing education, they called
for reform of the practices of widow remarriage, polygamy, purdah (the veiling and seclusion of
women), property rights, and sati (the ritual suicide of widows). To curb these sinful acts made
by society's traditional leaders or heads, Women established their own autonomous
organizations, the most important of which was the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) in
1927. In 1934, when AIWC introduced a bill for equality in marriage, divorce, and property
rights, they drew upon the nationalist rights discourse; and after independence in 1947, women
were granted constitutional equality. However, the Hindu, Islamic, and other religious
communities retained jurisdiction over family law (Desai 2001).
In second phase of women empowerment, grass-roots organizations formed and these focused
not only upon gender but also upon caste, class, and culture as roots of women's persecution. The
groups in this movement were associated with grass-roots labour, labourer, and tribal movements
as well as leftist opposition parties. Among their activities were protests by tribal women in the
Toilers' Union in Maharastra against alcohol-related domestic violence and by the Chipko
movement of poor women in the Himalayas to protect their forest resources and highlight
women's unrecognized economic contributions. The Self Employed Women's Association
(SEWA), a union of women working as street vendors and rag-pickers and in home-based
industries, established the first women's bank for poor women (Desai 2001).
Women's participation in movements has been in four major forms:
For social, economic and political rights of specific categories of people like tribal,
peasants and industrial workers.
For improvement in conditions of work and autonomy to women.
For equal remuneration for work.
In general social movements on issues affecting men and children like abortions,
adoption of children, sexual exploitation.
Sustainable, grassroots development as a precedence of Indian women's movement organizations
is demonstrated by the organization Stree Mukti Sangharsh (Women's Liberation Struggle). They
envisaged development that promotes equality between men and women and overcomes the
economic and environmental consequences of the rural areas precipitated by large multinational
