Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947

Abstract

Ferninism incorporates a doctrine of equal rights for women, an organ- ized movement to attain these rights, and an ideology of social trans- formation aimed at creating a world for women beyond simple social equality. It is broadly the ideology of women's liberation, since intrinsic to it is the belief that women suffer injustice because of their gender. In recent years the definition of feminism has gone beyond simply meaning move- ments for equality and emancipation which agitate for equal rights and legal reforms to redress the prevailing discrimination against women. The word has now been expanded to mean an awareness of women's oppres- sion and exploitation within the family, at work, and in society, and conscious action by women to change this. However, in the first phase of feminism in India (1917-1947) with which this essay deals, the women's movement was primarily concerned with demanding equal political, social, and economic rights and for the removal of all forms of discrimina- tory procedures against women Although feminism was a middle-class ideology, it presupposed the idea of women as a distinct group, who despite their differences of class, caste, religion, and ethnicity, shared certain common physical and psychological characteristics and mani- fested certain common problems. Nationalism is a broad concept which includes many values but is basically a belief that a group of people sharing a common territory, culture, and history, and often, also a common language and religion, possess a common national identity and therefore are entitled to a nation state. This claim did not negate the fact that there were indigenous differ- ences of class, caste, and gender; but people were able to launch struggles which blurred these divisions and stressed the commonality of a national identity against the foreign enemy. A national movement in India can be said to have begun with the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The process of nation- building and the creation of a national identity was paralleled, in fact, preceded by the growth of social reform movements focusing on women's issues. Since the status of women in society was the popular barometer of civilization, many reformers had agitated for legislation that would improve their situation. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, social reformers began deploring the condition of women. Under British rule, with its new agrarian and commercial relations and the introduction of English educa- tion, law courts, and an expanding administrative structure, an urban