Gendered political participation and grassroots activism in Hyderabad, India

Abstract

Statistics have shown a lack of women’s representation in politics in India at the Parliament level. In post-colonial India, the role and place of women has been consigned to the domestic sphere, as they are conferred the responsibility of upholding the virtues of Indian civilization to nurture their families. This may account for the infrequent participation among women in formal political activities of the public sphere. However, this does not mean that women are not participating in political activism. In this article, I explore, among the working-class community in Hyderabad, how political activism is corporealized through both male and female bodies within social discourses of Indian nationalism, situated in public and private spheres respectively. To understand political participation, discourses of political activism have to be considered beyond the public sphere, and explored in relation to the pervasiveness of nationalist discourses and political activism located within domestic, private spheres.