Women's Right to Employment and the Press in the Twentieth Century Colonial Tamilnadu

Abstract

The liberal Indian press worked hard to educate the conservative people about the necessity of women employment and induced the love for employment in the minds of educated women. It also suggested various kinds of jobs such as teaching, nursing etc. for women. The efforts of the press resulted in a great awareness on women's employment. Apart from agricultural sector, women put their steps towards employment in industrial and service sectors. After entering into the field of employment, women had to carry a double burden that of the home and the work place. In order to tackle this double burden, the press in Tamilnadu felt that women should be recognized as independent economic entities with the option of work on par with men. It urged that women should be given every convenience to enable them to work. These would comprise of marriage and maternity benefits, creches, nursery and kinder garden schools, as also labour saving gadgets at affordable prices. The efforts of the press along with the feminists resulted in positive changes. Various factors including the press strived hard in changing the conservative condition. At present, women are showing their talents in almost all the fields, particularly the women teachers occupy about eighty percentage of employment in elementary school education in Tamilnadu.