The essentials
Organised women's activism in India began in the early twentieth century, with bodies such as the Women's India Association (1917) and the All India Women's Conference (1926). Women participated widely in the national movement and peasant and tribal struggles, such as the Tebhaga and Telangana movements.
After independence, there was a lull, as many believed that constitutional equality had solved women's problems. The report Towards Equality (1974) showed this was not so. From the mid-1970s a new phase of the women's movement began. It was more autonomous, meaning independent of political parties, and raised new issues: violence against women, dowry deaths, rape, unequal wages, women's health, property rights and the representation of women in media.
The Mathura rape case, in which a young tribal woman was raped by policemen and the accused were acquitted by the Supreme Court, sparked nationwide protests. These led to changes in the law on rape in 1983. Campaigns against dowry deaths led to amendments in dowry laws. Grassroots struggles also grew: women joined the Chipko movement to protect forests, tribal women joined the Shahada movement in Maharashtra, and women in Andhra Pradesh campaigned against the sale of arrack (liquor) in the 1990s. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), founded by Ela Bhatt in 1972, organised women in the informal sector.
Key points
- The later women's movement emphasised autonomy and new issues of violence and the body.
- The slogan "the personal is political" reflected attention to family and domestic violence.
- Middle-class and grassroots women's struggles both shaped the movement.
- Laws changed as a result of campaigns, though enforcement remains a challenge.
Common mistakes
Do not say the women's movement began only after 1970; it has earlier roots, though the issues changed.