JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY,

NEW DELHI

Feminist approach
A feminism in India; Then & Now

Assignment Paper

Supervisor

Prof. Pradeep Shinde,

Assistance Professor,
Center for Informal Sector & Labour Studies,
School of Social Science,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

By
Bhumika Shivhare
Registration number: 19/6F/HD/010
M.A. in Development and Labour Studies,
Semester 3
 Abstract
Women being one of the victims of social exclusion, structural hierarchies, threatened by
societal institutions, deprived of opportunities and usually analyzed by “male gaze 1”
perspectives has its own history of struggle in India. The taboo of society limits the basic rights
of women and the patriarchal mindset conformed its implementation. India with a low literacy
rate, lack of awareness and most importantly the acceptance of injustice by women witness the
worst form of deprivation and harassment. In this paper we will try to analysis the feminist
approach from the perspective of Indian society and will understand the feminism during post-
independence and in contemporary India. To reveal the sociological aspect behind feminism we
will take the arguments given by Maitrayee Chaudhuri in her paper “Feminisms and
sociologies: Locations and intersections in a global context” and to inspect the caste angle we
will call the reasoning presented by Sharmila Rage in her brilliant work “Dalit Women Talk
Differently”. To present the contemporary picture on feminism we will open up the points given
by Radha Kumar and to support the argument we will report the women's participation in “the
shaheen Bagh” protest and ongoing “Farmers Protest” in India. The purpose of the study is to
stake out the feminist perspective and evaluate its contemporary implementation.

Feminist Approach

Feminist approach may be defined as the tool and more precisely the legitimate option through
which women could claim their basic rights, ask for freedom and equal opportunities, terminate
exclusivity, encourage inclusion in social, political, economic & cultural environment and
encourage equality along with equity among all. It could be seen as the strategy to challenge the
social structure and transformation from “more muscaline to equally feminine” society. From the
sociological aspect this approach questioned the system of family, kinship, caste, religion, gender
hierarchy, modern dualities and the foundation of diversity & disparity. Indeed the concept
emerged from the western countries but struggle, causes and consequences are not similar to
them. The dominating patriarchy and complex caste institution changes the struggle, suffering
and even the oppression. The West have often been organized into different phases of feminist
scholarship transforming traditional sociology, usually in the following steps: first, to
understand the absence of women in the cognitive structure of the discipline; second, to focus on
sex roles and gender inequalities in society; third, to move towards the conceptualization of
gender as a social structure; and fourth, to understand the intrinsic linkages between gender

1 In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts
and in literature, from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as
sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer (Male gaze, 2021) En.wikipedia.org.
2021. Male Gaze. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze> .
and other structural inequalities2 (Chaudhuri, 2016) and the similar phases cannot distinguished
in Indian feminist struggle. After the colonial rule, India adopted pseudo-modernism and
pretended to be a liberal in some context actually problematized the problem as women could
now think about their involvement in various social institutions as an equal stakeholder but could
not perform or participate. The sociological and anthropological point of view also address the
gender based division of Labour3 as the basis of discrimination and feminist scholarship also
discard this idea of “sexual division of Labour”.

Feminism in India

It is strange to admit that feminist movement in India was firstly initiated by men (Maitrayee
Chaudhuri) as they came into the frame to uproot the “sati system”, uphold the “widow
marriage”, forbid the “child marriage” and even encouraged the “girl’s education”. Little later
the feminist history marks the participation of women and the whole struggle can be classified
as;

1) Colonial venture, enlightenment and modernity (from 1848-1915)

2) Nationalism and feminism (From 1915-1947)
3) Feminism in free India (1947-2000)
4) Contemporary feminism (2000- present).

When western world was on the path of enlightenment, India witnessed colonial rule and some
realm of modern thoughts as the advent. The milestone in Maharashtra was put forth by
Savitribai Phule when she started the first school for girls in India in 1848. As education could
be the light brear in the path of any struggle, India spectators the same. The second milestone of
this period was the text written by the feminist activist Tarabai Shinde named “Stri Purush
Tulna” (A comparison between Men and Women) in 1882. This text was the direct attract on the
existing discrimination between men and women. Now the concept of rights, freedom,
modernism and democracy were common, now people realized the meaning and intensity of
these concepts. With the increasing status of women, nationalistic idea started growing in the
mind of people and persisting feminism helped improvising unity as now not only men but
women were also capable to resist the oppression against British government.

The persisting idea of nationalism along with feminism allows women to show the Indian
womanhood for the first time in this period. As mentioned by (Kumar, 1989) the participation of
women in post independent India and even during the freedom struggle dispersed the new

2 Chaudhuri, M., 2016. Feminisms and sociologies. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 50(3), pp.343-367.
3 The gender division of Labour, in which men tend to specialize more in paid work within the market, and
women tend to specialize more in unpaid work within the home, is a feature common to modern Western
society (Elizabeth Washbrook, September 2007).
environment of equal participation all over the country. Mahatma Gandhi (Doley, 2020)
encouraged the women's participation during this time immensely. The participation of women
in the Civil Disobedience Movement, the participation of peasantry women in rural mobilization
mark the history and Gandhi himself encouraged the feminine nature of self-abnegation, sacrifice
and tolerance. The women’s organization and Union in the form of All India Women Conference
(AIWC) and National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) emerged. The lens of society
towards women changes from here. The women’s participation in protest and political
involvement, decision making and leadership in several movements have proved their
capabilities of equal participation. The norm of sexual division of Labour starts breaking from
here.

The independent India has its own wind to blow. Now the people had the power to frame the
social structure of the country which in turn compliments its economic, political and cultural
aspect. This phase redefined the extent of women’s power and approach; several discussions
went on freedom and rights of women in free and independent India. Several powers were given
to women now they can raise their voice against oppression. As a result the feminist ideology,
the women in the country has challenged the persisting inequalities in 1970. They challenges the
inequalities at workplace, wage discrimination, and reserve army of unskilled women Labour.
The emergence of the concept of the “unpaid Labour” by women was also the product of this
feministic analysis. The position of women as a useful and dignified member of society has been
marked from here as they have power to decide their own lives and power of self-determinism.

Although feminism brings lots of misconceptions with it and society interprets that as the
consequences of feminism in India but every coin has two sides and we cannot ignore the plenty
of encouragements due to few discouragements. The female Labour force participation rate and
in increasing involvement of women in almost every sector interpret the success of feminism in
India.

Contemporary feminism has its own evidence to reflect its footprints. The struggle of women of
course shifted from realizing their importance to society to having equal participation and equal
opportunities. The feminist of present India has its very strong voice to raise and even stagnant
the whole system. The protest as the form of decent is now the strong weapon of women and the
great protest of “Shaheen Bagh'' represented not only the voice of women but the majority efforts
of minority caste women (i.e. Muslim is considered as minority in India but shaheen Bagh mark
the majority involvement of these minority caste women). The feminist women of India now not
only processing the dual responsibility of “dual reproduction”, managing household,
empowering not only themselves but also the household worker by giving them job in household
(as maid, Gardner, nanny etc.) on one hand and fighting for the basic rights and freedom on the
other hand. The sociological study of Shaheen Bagh protest and participation of women in
ongoing Farmer’s Protest could reveal the direction of feminist movement in India.
 Conclusion

Feminism in India was not an easy journey; it was very harsh and has its very dark side which
could show how the patriarchy and the dominating caste system restricted the participation of
women. The angle of caste and flavor of colonial, post-colonial rule along with various persisting
cultures in Indian subcontinent made the struggle very struggling. The women of lower caste still
have the same dilemma and restriction even in the 21st century. The education enrollment of
women is still very low and the Female Labour Force participation rate is experiencing the
downward slope. Still parents and family restrict women to do night shift jobs and expect women
to leave their career after marriage. Still girls have very limited years for education with a
commitment to have marriage at a certain age. Still women are told not to have divorce even if
the husband commits domestic violence and treating her as a sexual object still the society does
not happily accept the widow or divorced women. Still the concept of a single mother is very
difficult in India and still women need more rights and freedom.
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