Book Review : Indian Feminism: Individual and Collective Journeys edited by Poonam Kathuria

and Abha Bhaiya

Feminism is equality which recognise the history of female oppression. Feminism ranges from
equality between siblings within home to equality at parliament and judiciary, this is what
"Individual and collective Journey" is about.
The book "Indian Feminisms" is a non-fiction that talks about feminism in Indian cultural and
political context. It gives a rich account of case studies which help understand struggles and
success of female activists.
When I read a book, I don't borrow opinions. I analyze the text and background to form my
opinion and a new thing which I learnt from this book was the fact that illiterate doesn't
necessarily mean uneducated. The need is to educate women about equality and facilitate the
courage they have to oppose the oppression.
The book clearly indicates how law and lawmakers need to define equality out of patriarchy. It
includes lgbtq+ people and cultural minorities. I suggest you to go for the book if you have
tolerance for political realities and ability to critically analyze opposing views, without questions
the text is informative. The topics are largely controversial and everyone may have a different
experience of reading because of cultural and political biases.
While feminism can't be imagined without religion and community, dividing it on basis of
community is something which I believe needs to be avoided in this book. This text is a great
addition to Indian feminist literature which awaits such work to build an equal world.