Women, Social Reform, and Nationalism in India by Kumari Jayawardena (in, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third Worlds 2016)

Lecture and Explanation, Reading to be covered:

Lecture and Explanation, Reading to be covered:

Jayawardena, Kumari, 2016, Women, Social Reform, and Nationalism in India, in Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third Worlds, London: Verso, Ch. 6

Keywords: Social Reform, British Government, Nationalism, Women, Women's Empowerment, Social Movement

 The University of Delhi, Bachelor of Arts, Sociology of India: Images and Reality

This article is discussing women, social reform and nationalism from various perspectives. The article is not only recording the social movement but also resistance. As we know that all social reform in India had a resistance. This resistance was coming from different sides. This was not only resistance from the patriarchal society but also a caste society. Those who were enjoying the higher status in the society as a caste they were not only against the other lower caste but they were also against the women in general irrespective of the caste. Therefore we can also say that women from lower caste were suffering and still suffering from dual oppression first as a woman and second and a caste.

[1] The issue of women’s emancipation in India under British Colonial rule was closely linked with two important movements: one, a political movement of challenge and resistance to imperialism, and the other, a social movement to reform traditional structures. Both these movements were, however, integrally connected with the concept of a free and modern India.

There author Kumari Jayawardena here emphasises the idea of free and modern India. By free Indian author Kumari Jayawardena not mean only free from British India but also free from the social evils, stigma, dogma, and traditional repressive social structures. Author Kumari Jayawardena also emphasises modern India. In this article by modern Indian, Kumari Jayawardena means modern social values, which are based on liberty and equality. The traditional Indian values were not based on liberty and equality. This is also important that after independence we all citizens have equal rights but everyone is not enjoying equality, because not everyone can effort it.

The Doctrine of Karma and Caste Systems

The article is also emphasises Hindu philosophy and Hindu Doctrine. The Hindu religion has no founder, and no one can say that when it began. There is no historical person or any dine relation are related to it. It has evolved from a variety of cults and beliefs. Hinduism believes in the cycle of birth, life, and decay. However, Brahman lost is prominence as a Hindu devotee after committing a crime against her daughter Saraswati. He raped her daughter. Now, most the Hindu’s are now worshipping either Shiva or Vishnu as their main God. The doctrine of Karma is of central importance in Hinduism. The dharma or the duty in the Hindu religion depends on the caste identity. Therefore, we can see the social organisation of Hindu was/ is based on the four caste structure and they have the duty to perform accordingly: Kshatriya (warrior, aristocrats), Brahman (priests), Vaishya (commerce, agrarian), and the Shudra. Here we can see that the hymen from Rg-veda legitimizes, in a myth, the origins of the hierarchic caste system. Later on, castes were started associated with the particular work and it becomes law, the unwritten law through social force. This was further consolidated by the forbidden inter-caste marriage or the rule of endogamy marriage.

#WRONG-FACT In the third paragraph author Kumari Jayawardena is saying that “Hinduism was basically monotheistic, but it was expressed in a tri-murti or trinity of gods: Brahman who creates the universe, Vishnu who preserve it, and Shiva who destroys it become degenerate and has run its course”. This is contradictory to the second paragraph. For more detail read Hinduism, by M. N. Srinivas, and A. M. Shash, 1968 (in, The International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, Volume 6, pp. 358-366) (You can also read here lecture on that topic:

www.studywithanil.blogspot.com/2021/03/Hinduism-by-MN-Srinivas-and-AM-Shash-in-The-International-Encyclopedia-of-Social-Sciences-1968.html

#WRONG-FACT Dear students the last paragraph of the first page describes four types of castes, which is wrong, they are four types of varna.

#WRONG-FCAT under the Varna-system, Vaisya communities are known for trading, not for agrarian and cultivators. Agrarian and cultivations were Shudra.

[2] Gender Biasness in the Rituals
In the Hindu religion, male children and males were given more importance during the rituals. And women had to practice self-immolation (Sati) after the death of their husbands. Those who didn’t commit Sati she was buried after re-marriage. That means widow remarriage was not allowed.

However, some examples also suggest that women had some rights, like choosing a life partner, for example, Sita chose Rama at a Svayamvara (self-choice ceremony).

Islam in India and Cultural Assimilation
When Islam came to India, it brought some culture to India and also adopted some culture from India. This also led the cultural cross-fertilisation. Because of this, the Muslim women also become like Hindu women, and they become subjects of equal oppression of a patriarchal caste bound society. Therefore in the 19th century, Islamic reformers fought against many of these practices side by side with Hindu reformers.

#KNOW-WHAT-IS CULTURAL ASSIMILATION https://www.britannica.com/topic/assimilation-society  

[3] (I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE AUTHOR WANTED TO SAY)

Growth of Feminism in India
Causes of the growth of feminism in India
Religious and ritual business with Hindu girls/ women
Case and gender biases

After Cultural Assimilation, Muslim girls/ women also become subject to oppression
Both Hindu and Muslim societies started to fight against the gender biases

Women have also participated in the freedom movement

British administrative reform and All Indian Services

English Education by Lord Macaulay

Legal reforms by the British Government, especially lead by Lord Macaulay
European ideas of the Enlightenment

Ideas of European thinkers like James Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Henry Vivian Derozio, etc

French Revolution

Indian social reformer like Raja Rammohan Roy, MK Gandhi, Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar, Neharu, Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, etc

[4] Forms of Resistance
During the British Government, Indians felt imperial domination in the area of social and cultural life. They also felt that the British Government was attempting to impose the alien culture, ideology and religion on India. This creates pressure on both Hindus and Muslims for social and cultural reform in their respective society. Now, social reform also becomes a popular issue among Indian intellectuals, who were either inspired by liberal views of social change or, in the hope of preventing drastic social change, were to launched movements to abolish or correct some of the worst abuses that prevailed in the society of the period. For these social change Indian National Congress, Raja Rammhan Roy, MK Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghosh, and others come forward.

[5] Agitation Against ‘Certain Dreadful Practices’
The status of women in India has varied in different historical periods and in different region of the country and has also been subject to differentiation according to class, religion and ethnicity.

During the 19th-century people are started thinking about the eradication of social evil in general and social evils against women in particular.

[6] (Continued...). These issues were, Sati Pratha, Widow Remarriage, Polygamy, Women’s Property Right, Women’s Education, Child Marriage, Social Dignity, etc

[7] Therefore, the independence movement was not only a political movement but that also contains a movement for social reform. The issue of social reform was addressed equally with the political movement.

Initially, the British administration followed a policy of non-interference, but its attitude changed in 1817 when Mrikyunjaya Vidyalankar (the Chief Pandit of the Supreme Court) announced that Sari had no religious Shastric authority, and other Bengali intellectuals joined in the clamour for legislation against Sati.

Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1933) and Social Reform for Women
Raja Rammohan Roy is known as a pioneer for women’s right. By caste, he was from the Brahmin community. He was from Bengal and influenced by western thinkers and thoughts, like- Locke, Bentham, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, and others. He was also influenced by the French Revolution. He wanted to reform and revitalize Hinduism.

Raja Rammohan Roy worked for four major issues related to women: Sati, Polygamy, Women’s Education, and Women’s Property Right.

In 1818 and 1820 he published pamphlets against Sati. He wrote-
“At marriage, the wife is recognised as half of her husband, but in after-conduct, they are treated worse than inferior animals. For the women is employed to do the work of a slave in the house ...”

Parvati Shiva Ardhnarishwar

# WRONG-TERMINOLOGY in USE, i.e. half of her husband

#CORRECT-TERMINOLOGY is Ardhangini = Half Organ = Half Body

#REMEMBER ARDHNARISHWAR OF SHIVA – PARVATI

[8] Raja Rammohan Roy and the liberals challenged the interpretation of Vedic texts on the question of Sati: they were also eager to counteract the missionary view that Indians were barbarous and uncivilized, and referred to ‘cruel murder, under the clock of religion’ which had led to Indians being regarded with ‘contempt and pity ... by all civilises nations on the surface of the globe’ (Nag and Burman, 1977: 163).

Raja Rammohan Ray and his liberal friend founded the Brahmo Samaj for social reform.

Growth of the Reform Movement
Movement for Widow Remarriage

During the 1850s the social reform campaign was increased. Many social reformers played an important role in society. Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891): he was the most active social reformer in this period from Bangal who worked for the widow remarriage. In 1856 he published a pamphlet, ‘Marriage of Hindu Widows’ and presented a petition to the government on the issue. An activist from the Brahmo Samaj, Debendranath Tagore, was also very active in the movement of widow remarriage. Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883), a North Indian social reformer who founded the Arya Samaj, also led the movement in support of Widow Remarriage. He was wanted to purification and revival of Hinduism. With support from the press and British officials, the agitation led to the Act of 1856, which legally permitted the remarriage of widows. Social custom is very difficult to change through legislation; however, legislation for social reform was also served the purpose.

To understand the problem of widows, please watch the film Water (2005)

Film Water, 2005, Poster

Watch this film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rlRo7BCXW8

Marriage Reform in India
Widow Remarriage
Against Polygamy
Against Child Marriage
Right to Property after Marriage
In 1872, the British Government through “The Marriage Act, 1872” set minimum age limits for marriage, 14 for girls and 18 for men.

[10] In 1874, the British Government comes with the “Right to Property Act, 1874” by which widows women got the right to property after the death of her husband. By this act widow, women got property share in her husband’s property and share equal to that of a son. However, the act did not give a widow the right to own or dispose of this property, and daughters continued to be excluded from the rights of inheritance.

Gail Omvedt has pointed out that the subordination of women is crucial to the general hierarchical organisation of caste society. She has also pointed out the role of Jyotiba Phule and his organisation, Satyashodhak Samaj. Jyotiba Phule has also pointed out several types of exploitation in his book Gulamgiri (Slavery). Gail Omvedt has also pointed out the role of Tilak in social reform, but for him, “there were funds only for male education” (Omvedt: 1975: 46).

#READ-in-DETAIL book – Tilak Nationalism – by Parimala V Rao #FIND-this-BOOK-HERE https://amzn.to/3bY9VCF.

[11] Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) had transformed Santiniketan, founded by his father. into an institute and also opened it for women.

Attack on Bharhamnism
The author is quoting Gail Omvedt that the anti-Brahmanism or anti-Brahmanical movement was not only against the caste system but they were also a supporter of women’s rights (Page 10 of this article).

And can see these movements in Maharashtra, Gujrat, Tamilnadu. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker has to lead the Self-Respect Movement in Tamil Nadu in 1920

Satyajit Ray’s films supported women’s rights. (Give an Example of Film- Anil)

They were also impressed by the European Revolution and Russian Revolution (1917).

[12] Literature and Feminist Movement in India
Many literary people come with new literature which was supporting women’s writing and they come with a new interpretation of the old literature. This older literature was the Hindu Shastra, Veda, Ramayan, Mahabharata, etc

[13] Female Education
Many social reformers come in the support of female education in India.
Iswarchand Vidyasagar – established 40 girls schools in Bangal between 1855-1858
Ramakrishna Paramhans – popularised the worship of the Kali as the supreme mother

Vivekanand – believed that women should not be educated in modern science but should be trained to achieve fulfilment within the family. His thinking on women education was similar to the MK Gandhi, Tilak and others like them

1820 First girl’s school founded in Calcutta by David Hare

1848 First girls school in Bombay by Professor Patterson

1851 J.E.D. Bethune started Bethune Girls School in Calcutta, which was later on converted into FIRST WOMEN’s COLLEGE

[14] 1880 First women university graduation, they were from Bethune School, who further completed her education from Culcutta University in 1883

1901 till this year only 256 women fished her graduation

1921 till this year only 905 women finished her graduation (compeer this figure with after 100 years 2021)

1888 first women doctor – Annie Jagannadhan from Edinburgh School of Medicine

1892 first women house surgeon - Annie Jagannadhan in Bombay Hospital

1895 Rukmabi first women who obtain a medical degree from London University and become a doctor in Women’s Hospital in Rajkot

Agitation by Women
[15-16] Pandita Ramabai wrote a book Stri Dharma Neeti (Women’s Religious Law)
SKIP – This is the repetition of Gail Omvedt’s description of Pandita Ramabai, please see another article available on this website.

Muslim Women and Social Reform
Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898)
Founded Muslim University in 1875 in Aligarh
Publish his journal Tahzibul-Akhlaq
He was devoted to modern education for both Male and Female
He was also against polygamy – for him, this is not permitted under Islam

#THIS-IS-NOT-IN-ARTICLE - Syed Ahmad Khan was a supporter of education but like Tilak. He was too against giving equal rights to the downtrodden Muslim – Pasmanda Muslim.

[17] 3rd Paragraph is Objectionable on Factual grounds
THIS IS A HISTORICALLY TRUE FACT THAT UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MANY MUSLIM LEADERS, INCLUDING MK GANDHI, WAS PART OF THE KHILAFAT MOVEMENT >>> BUT FOR WHAT? >>> FOR RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF KHALIFA RULE >>> WHICH WAS AGAINST DEMOCRATIC ETHOS >>> WAS AGAINST SECULARISM >>> WAS AGAINST SEPARATION OF POWER >>> WAS AGAINST MODERN STATE. >>>> NOW, CAN WE SAY THAT, THAT MOVEMENT WAS IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN IN PARTICULAR >>> AND COMMON CITIZEN IN GENERAL >>> ?????????

NOW I LEFT THIS QUESTION TO YOU >>> IN WHICH STATE WOMEN CAN FEEL FREE OR RELATIVELY FREER??????? >>> UNDER ORTHODOXICAL STATE OR UNDER MODERN DEMOCRATIC STATE ???????

To know more about the facts of the Khilafat Movement, please find a book here: https://amzn.to/2OEsrqG 

I am disagreeing with the author, and my students too have an equal right to disagree with me. This is my duty to respect and encourage the disagreement, to lead critical thinking. Many times I too disagree with my teachers – anil kumar

Women and Nationalist Agitation (continued...)
[18] This section discusses the political participation of women.

Women participated in politics through different organisation including as a member of Indian National Congress.

Women have also participated in the Swadeshi Movement.

Many foreigner women too came to Indian and become part of social reform and the Indian independence movement.

RELATE THIS CURRENT DEBATE ABOUT FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN DOMESTIC POLITICS. Also, go through the history of the anti-apartheid movement in Africa and the role of India

Annie Besant (1847-1933)
Annie Besant (1847-1933) feminist and former Fabian socialist had created a stir in Britain with her campaign for Birth Control and strike for other demands in the 1880s.

Annie Besant came to Indian in 1893 and was active in the Theosophical Movement and movement for Education. She also frm the Home Rule League in India.

Annie Besant becomes the first women president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

Margaret Cousins, an Irish feminist arrived in India in 1915 and participated in many social and education reforms. She also founded the All-India Women’s Conference in 1972.

Many other women also arrived in India and worked for social reform as well as freedom of India.

[19] Gandhi and Women’s Right
Gandhi’s basic ideas on women’s right were equality in some spheres and opportunities for self-development and self-realisation.

Gandhi said, ‘men have not realised this truth in its fullness in their behaviour towards women. They have considered themselves to be lords and masters of women instead f considering them as their friends and co-workers.

However, Gandhi’s view of women’s equality was located within a religious sense of the world and within the patriarchal system, projecting a concept of women’s role as being complementary to that of men and embodying the virtue of sacrifice and suffering.

Women Education and MK Gandhi
Gandhi was all in favour of educating women but the emphasis must be different for man and for women. He said-  

“In framing any scheme of women’s education this cardinal truth must be kept in mind. Man is supreme in the outward activities of a married pair; therefore, it is the fitness of things that he should have a greater knowledge thereof. On the other hand, home life is entirely the sphere of women and, therefore, in the domestic affair, in the upbringing and education of children, women out to have more knowledge.” (Quoted from India of my Dream: MK Gandhi)

[20] Ideal Women for Gandhi: For Gandhi Sita was the ideal women of India, because of her devotion towards her husband Rama.

Women and Political Participation for Gandhi: Gandhi was a supporter of political rights for women. He has said that women should also participate in the political process and activities.

[21] Nehru and Women’s Right
Jawaharlal Nehru’s views on the status of women were more in keeping with those of the enlightened reformers of the time.

Women’s Education and Nehru: Nehru had a more progressive attitude towards women’s education. He did not agree that there was a fixed sphere for women and that education for women should therefore have a different emphasis.

Political Rights of Women and Nehru: Nehru was a supporter of women’s participation in mainstream politics. In 1931 he stated that ‘In a national was, there is no question of either sex or community. Whoever is born in this country ought to be a soldier.

[22] Women in Political Action
Please Notice :: :: All Women Politician Were Coming From English Educated Family Or Western Influenced Family :: :: Without A Single Exception

Sarojani Naidu
Margaret Cousins
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

1918 Indian National Congress supported voting rights for the women

1919 Constitutional Reform allowed provincial legislator to decide voting rights the women

1921 Madras Province under the leadership of the anti-Brahman Justice Party gave the right to vote to the women (COMPARE THIS WITH AFTER 100 YEARS in 2021)

1926 Dr S. Muthulakshmi Reddi first women who contested for Vidhan Sabha Election in Madras in 1926 but defeated by 200 votes

[23-24] Sarojani Naidu
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

[25-26] Women and Revolutionary Nationalism
Bhikaji Cama

[27-28] Women in the Communist Party

[29] Conclusion  

Anil Kumar | Student of Life World
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