Women's Movements | Sociology Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Major Aspects of Women's Movements

Like other social groups, women have also participated in collective actions with their own agenda, leadership, ideologies, and organizations to secure their rightful and dignified place in all aspects of life. Women, both individually and as a group, are among the most discriminated sections of the global population. Societies around the world have shown a preference for male children, often leading to female infanticide. This discrimination is legitimized through socio-cultural norms or the need to maintain lineage and material production. Practices such as patrilineality and patrilocality have contributed to the preference for male children and the relegation of women to the "second sex," as described by Simon De Beauvoir.

• As the "second sex," women are often denied political, economic, and cultural rights. They frequently do not have equal access to education, healthcare, or inheritance rights compared to their male counterparts. Women also face the constant threat of male violence, both within and outside the family. Historically, religion, politics, and society have been structured in a way that makes women vulnerable to discriminatory trends. However, protests and revolts by people, including women, have questioned and challenged these arrangements.
• Over the past two centuries, modern times have provided the ideas, space, and principles of organization for people to question and alter these arrangements, either by aligning women's protests with parallel movements to change society or by incorporating modern ideas into women's movements. Nationalist movements in colonial countries, socialist and communist movements, feminist movements worldwide, and the broader trend of democracy have all acted as catalysts for change concerning women's issues.
• The relationship between women and social movements is complex. One question is where and how women fit into the broader context of different social movements. It has been found that women were often merely part of a mobilized section of some movement whose overall objectives were detrimental to women's interests and concerns. For example, fundamentalist movements around the world have tended to limit women's roles to mothers or providers of children for the community. Any move to give women rights of ownership, marriage, etc., has been opposed by fundamentalist groups.
• Another question is whether a social movement allows space for articulating issues and concerns related to women. The Indian national movement, for example, provided such space due to its democratic and secular character. The movement for national liberation in India was based on the principles of equality, justice, and democracy, which were also the premises of the women's movement. The social reform movement that began in the early nineteenth century focused on changing women's conditions and status. By the early twentieth century, this focus had expanded to include equality for women in modern political, social, and cultural realms, and women's role in the developmental process. Although rapid societal, economic, and cultural changes have led to rethinking many issues, social movements in India have largely directed their concerns about women along this core.

Women protesting against rape

The Colonial Context: The Vision of a New Society and the Reform Movements 

In the 18th and 19th centuries, colonialism in India and other colonized countries introduced new economic and political processes. The British and Christian missionaries criticized Indian society, particularly its treatment of women and lower castes. While colonialism exploited and stunted the growth of these countries, it also brought ideas of democracy, equality, and justice.

• In response, 19th-century Hindu, Parsee, and Muslim reformers sought to improve their own societies. Ram Mohan Roy, for example, fought against the practice of Sati and caste inequalities. Later reform efforts focused on women's issues, such as widow remarriage and education. Notable contributors to these efforts included Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Veereshlingam Pontulu, Jyotiaba Phule, Badruddin Tybaji, and Dadabhai Naoroji.
• The debate over whether social or political issues should take priority emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many reformers believed that addressing social inequalities was crucial for creating a modern India, while others were concerned that prioritizing social issues would undermine the unity needed for the national movement.
• In the 1920s, Gandhian movements brought the question of women's rights to the forefront, along with issues of untouchability and Hindu-Muslim relations. This period saw the formation of the All India Women's Association and increasing demands for women's voting rights and political representation. Many women involved in the Gandhian movement went on to lead social movements and institutions throughout the country.
• The success of the Russian Revolution in 1917 inspired many women to join the communist movement in India. These women contributed to both the national movement and the women's movement, continuing their legacy in the post-independence period. The communist movement helped to establish women's issues as central to both political and social questions in India.

The Post-Independence Period: State, Reform and Women 

After gaining independence, the Indian government initiated several reforms that were demanded even before independence. One such demand was to codify and bring into the public domain all customary, religious, and traditional laws that governed the Hindu society, which largely determined the legal status of Hindu women. In 1948, the Hindu Code Bill was introduced in the Constituent Assembly but faced strong opposition, and the idea was dropped. Finally, in 1955-56, the Code Bill was passed in sections such as the Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu Succession Act. Despite strong support from the Congress party under Jawaharlal Nehru's leadership, the government could not address the personal laws of other communities like Muslims, Christians, or Parsees, which continued to determine crucial aspects of their lives.

• The post-independence Indian state aimed to safeguard political democracy through economic democracy, granting women the democratic right to vote and participate in the democratic process. A comprehensive theory of equality, rights, and justice was put in place. However, it was the violence against women in the form of bride burning and rape that mobilized the women's movement led by feminist groups, particularly in the 1970s. The campaign against dowry and rape came to be known as the first campaigns of the contemporary Indian feminist movement.
• As the movement gained momentum, it began to incorporate issues such as caste oppression and violence against women at the grassroots level. However, the theoretical and organizational structures of the parties and the movement did not develop new perspectives on these issues, leading to a rapid disenchantment with the state apparatus. Demands for more women-centric development arose in many parts of the country, with movements like the Chipko movement in the Himalayas calling for development planning sensitive to local needs and resources.
• These criticisms were further fueled by the international feminist criticism of the state-sponsored development process, which began in the 1970s and influenced Indian intellectuals during the UN women's decade. Some critics began to uphold community, tradition, and local bonds as counterpoints to the project of modernity, which they argued was against women. These critiques merged with sections of the feminist movement opposing the globalization process in the 1990s.
• The post-independence Indian state was founded on the idea of equity with justice, with development expected to bring equity closer and the democratic system ensuring that the benefits of development would reach different population segments. Regarding women, the consensus was on women's development. On the equity front, the legal system was found to be unequal, and one of the first major restructuring attempts made by the Constituent Assembly in 1948 was to try and effect a standardized Hindu code that would eliminate many discriminatory personal and customary rules applied to women in different Hindu communities.
• The Shah Bano affair brought several issues related to women to the forefront, revealing the Indian state's attitude towards women in the context of their religious community, the weakness of the women's movement to mobilize its strength for a common civil code, and the inability of progressive sections in society to demand a uniform civil code for all communities. The Indian government's actions weakened the liberals within the Muslim community and the voice of educated women, while emboldening fundamentalist groups in other communities to demand a uniform civil code. As a result, one of the most important issues concerning women's equality became part of the real politics of Indian democracy by the 1980s, with political movements by communal parties gradually affecting the original discourse on women and their legal and political entitlements.

The Left and Women's Movements 

Since the 1950s, communist parties have not only provided women with leadership but have also kept women's issues at the center of political discussions. However, the split in the communist movement in 1964 led to the emergence of new voices within the left movement, which questioned the old assumptions of Marxist parties. New ideas and organizational principles to articulate the demands of communities and groups began to emerge.

• One such movement was the Shahada movement in Dhulia district of Maharashtra, which focused on the exploitation of local Bhil tribal landless laborers by non-tribal local landowners. The movement shifted to cover issues such as higher wages and anti-alcoholism when it was realized that these issues were central to women in the area. This led to more women joining the movement, forming groups, and going from village to village destroying liquor pots.
• In the 1970s, the Maharashtra agitation spread to Gujarat, where women in major cities like Bombay, Poona, and Ahmedabad protested against the government for the worsening economic conditions following the Bangladesh War. However, the issues and concerns of women from lower classes or tribals had not become part of the movement.
• It was through different sets of movements that this section began to voice its concerns. For example, the Shahada movement in Maharashtra brought the issues of landless wage-earning women and the perils of alcoholism, while in Bodh Gaya, the issue of land was involved. The arrival of new classes into the picture meant that the political landscape would become more complex and sharper questions needed to be resolved. Gandhian ideas of femininity and the role of women were now questioned.
• This was also the time when Western feminists began to raise questions about whether the issues they were fighting for really applied to third-world women, who faced double suppression from patriarchy and poverty. The same situation prevailed in India when the issues raised by the women's movement did not necessarily apply to women of different social strata. This was vividly portrayed in the experience of the Shahada movement, which changed its demand and mobilization patterns due to the organizers' realization of the differential issues faced by women.
• The Women's Decade (1975-1985), declared by the United Nations, witnessed women's activism by feminist groups and political parties. However, the state was the promoter of many progressive steps for improving women's conditions. Maharashtra was the hotbed of left-inspired women's activism, with Maoist-inspired women organizing the Purogami Stree Sangathana (Progressive Women's Association) and Stri Mukti Sangathan in Bombay.
• It was also during this time that the Dalit movement and feminism became linked, with the Maoist groups and Dalit organizations providing new arguments that religion and the caste system provided additional legitimacy to the oppression of women and needed to be attacked for any possible women's liberation.
• The new phase also came with a new consciousness about how women should be organized and represented. While movements like Shahada showed that women could be organized in the process of the movement, a self-conscious feminist stream also emerged. Many women's groups that originated during and after the 1970s decided to keep themselves as women-only groups without any party affiliation or traditional organizational structure. By 2000, there were thousands of such groups working in different parts of the country, and the Indian women's movement was characterized more by these groups than by the organizationally structured movement.

Equality or Difference

The social movement in India aimed at improving the status of women has primarily focused on the principle of equality. However, by the 1980s, it became evident that equality alone was not sufficient to protect women from violence committed against them simply because of their gender. This violence often occurred even when the female victim was equal or superior to the male perpetrator in terms of status, education, or other factors. Women were targeted for rape solely because they were biologically different from men. This led to a significant debate within the movement about whether the focus should be on equality or acknowledging the differences between men and women.

• The 1987 rape case of a tribal girl named Mathura, who was assaulted by the police, highlighted the state's insensitivity towards women's issues. Despite a campaign led by prominent legal personalities, the judiciary dismissed the case and declared Mathura a woman of "easy virtue." This incident, along with the prevalence of dowry deaths among affluent middle-class households, shattered the assumption that raising women's status through the development process would enable them to exercise their democratic rights fully. In fact, development was now seen as potentially making life more dangerous for women.
• The 2001 census, which revealed a declining sex ratio in the most developed states of India, further emphasized this phenomenon. It became clear that while the state had pursued a developmental agenda for women's betterment, it was often susceptible to the influences of patriarchy. This understanding led feminists and women activists to recognize the need to strengthen the movement for democratization to support the demand for safer and more equitable daily lives for women. This necessity became even more critical in the age of globalization, where new forms of violence against women emerged.
• Addressing women's rights within a democratic system and the broader issue of overall equality, especially when the state is withdrawing its support, are crucial political challenges that the women's movement must tackle.

New Social Movements 

In the late 1980s, the women's movement in India expanded its focus to address issues related to ecology, environment, and sustainability, as these concerns began to impact the daily lives and survival of people in the face of a globalizing economy. As national politics became more focused on caste and community issues, new social movements emerged from local communities and villages, with women playing a prominent role in their leadership. These movements emphasized survival and dignity, in addition to the existing issues of equality and justice.

• Some key movements where women played a significant role include the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha for the rights of labor and tribals, the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the agitation against authorities in the Bhanwari Devi case, and the agitation for the right to information. These movements aimed to bring about a more democratic and just society by addressing issues of politics and society on a larger scale.
• Women in these movements often questioned the representative nature of Indian democracy and demanded increased participation of women in the electoral system. This occurred at a time when new forces were being unleashed without adequately preparing the population, leaving women to face these challenges without sufficient education and healthcare facilities.
• As women became more involved in these new movements, they encountered powerful patriarchal structures within the state apparatus. In Meghalaya and Kashmir, for example, state legislatures attempted to restrict women's inheritance rights if they married outside their religious or community boundaries. This was an effort to limit women's autonomy and mobility.
• The women's movement also fought against traditional and community structures that impeded gender equality and freedom. This was evident in the campaigns against dowry practices and the infamous Roop Kunwar Sati case, where a young woman was forced to die alongside her husband. These efforts to challenge tradition and community structures led to increased awareness and confrontation between forces supporting gender equality and those opposed to it, ultimately contributing to the ongoing growth and development of the women's movement in India.

In summary, the late 1980s saw the emergence of new social movements in India, characterized by the significant participation of women in their leadership. These movements addressed issues related to survival, dignity, and democracy, in addition to traditional concerns of equality and justice. The involvement of women in these movements led to confrontations with patriarchal structures within the state and traditional community structures, ultimately contributing to the development and growth of the women's movement in India.

Conclusion

The women's movement in India has evolved significantly over the past two centuries, addressing a wide range of issues such as gender equality, social reform, and environmental concerns. Women have played crucial roles in these movements, challenging patriarchal structures and traditional community norms. The movement has adapted to the changing social and political landscape, with a focus on survival, dignity, and democracy in addition to the traditional concerns of equality and justice. As India continues to face challenges related to globalization and development, the women's movement will remain an essential force in promoting gender equality and social progress.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of Women's Movements

What are some of the key aspects of women's movements in India?

The key aspects of women's movements in India include fighting for equal rights, representation and access to resources, addressing gender-based violence, challenging patriarchal norms, and focusing on the principles of equality, justice, and democracy. These movements have evolved alongside broader social movements, such as nationalist, socialist, and communist movements, as well as the global feminist movement.

How has the colonial context influenced women's movements in India?

During the colonial era, British rule and Christian missionaries criticized Indian society for its treatment of women and lower castes. This criticism led to reform movements, with leaders such as Ram Mohan Roy and Jyotiaba Phule working to improve women's conditions and status. These efforts laid the foundation for later women's movements during the nationalist and post-independence periods.

What role have communist parties played in women's movements in India?

Since the 1950s, communist parties have provided women with leadership opportunities and have kept women's issues at the center of political discussions. The split in the communist movement in 1964 led to the emergence of new voices, ideas, and organizational principles, which helped to further advance women's movements and address local concerns, such as land rights and alcoholism.

 What was the significance of the Mathura rape case in the Indian women's movement?

The Mathura rape case highlighted the state's insensitivity towards women's issues and the failure of the legal system to protect women from gender-based violence. This case, along with other incidents of violence against women, led to a significant debate within the women's movement about whether the focus should be on equality or acknowledging the differences between men and women.

How have new social movements in India addressed women's rights and environmental issues?

In the late 1980s, the women's movement in India expanded its focus to address issues related to ecology, environment, and sustainability. New social movements emerged from local communities, with women playing a prominent role in their leadership. These movements emphasized survival, dignity, and environmental justice, in addition to the existing issues of equality and political rights.