women in india
The Conflict of Women in 20th Century IndiaThroughout recorded history, women the world over have been held to different standards than men. They have been consistently oppressed in nearly all aspects of life, from political to personal, public to private. In the 20th century, great strides have been taken to end this oppression and level the playing field. In India however, a number of deeply rooted traditions have made this effort particularly difficult, and as a result, women's triumphs over oppression in India are all the more intriguing. To understand the position women found themselves in at the dawn of the 20th century, one must have a general understanding of the numerous historical women's conflicts unique to the Subcontinent. It took the overwhelming success of Gandhi's nonviolent revolution to unite women politically and create the an atmosphere whereby women, empowered by the times, could take a stand for their equality. The 1970's saw the beginning of a highly organized modern women's movement in India. Violence against women was one of the main focuses of the movement. Harassment, wife-beating, rape, and "dowry deaths" were all too com
They actively and enthusiastically sought after redistribution of land and wages. 1974 was a pivotal year for the movement. From a traditional western perspective this is a very repressive requirement. Not only did it see the founding of POW (the Progressive Organization of Women), but it was the year that the official Status of Women Commission published their report, Towards Equality, on women's low and ever decreasing status in Indian society. The effectiveness of this work foreshadowed the influence women could have on politics when working together, and paved the way for the modern women's movement that began in the 1970's. In the 19th century only the wealthiest of families sought after any sort of formal education for their female children, and there was no movement in the government to change this. Some of the common issues included; the division of housework, party politics, rape, and "dowry deaths". Although feminist sentiments existed throughout, it took active female inclusion in the political world by Gandhi's independence movement to give their voices strength and to eventually have them heard. "A survey of Madras found over 5000 girls enrolled in Indian language schools, as against 179,000 boys"(Stein p. She, like Ranade, was a member of the Brahman caste. The population base of this movement was the rural and the toiling. Although Ranade challenged some of traditions that prevented the liberation of women, he was seen by many as a hypocrite, himself taking on a child bride after the death of his wife. He began a much more interventionist policy that included the an increase in transportation facilities, industrialized cloth production (which displaced the ancient commercial structure) and he abolished the ancient tradition of sati (female infanticide was also outlawed by the British).
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