The story of women’s oppression or liberation has been told in a myriad ways – depending on the story teller. Has there been a steady decline in the status of women or do women have greater opportunities and choices today? Was the pre-Vedic woman relatively better off and did the downslide happen only much later? Or was she also fettered in many ways? These and many other questions still continue to be the centre of many academic and activist debates. Whatever be the “truth”, through the readings of many texts, religious or political, through oral stories of mythology, fables, folk tales, and songs, jokes, proverbs and sayings we know that both women’s subordination and contestation has existed in different forms, at different times, for a long, long while.

While these stories of resistance may reside in many anonymous collective struggles, they were often those personified by many a heroic individual-Razia Sultan, Ahilyabai Holkar, Muktabai (a low caste girl, she dared educate herself fighting both caste and gender hierarchies). Through history women seized opportunities  to break free of typical oppression that they bore. For example women, many belonging to the lower castes, joined the Bhakti movement. Mirabai (Rajasthan), Akkamahadevi (Karnataka) and Janabi (Maharashtra) became leading poetesses.  Much later women participated in trade-union-led struggles of the textile, coir and other workers at the beginning of this century. Names of union leaders like Parvati Krishnan, Aruna Asaf Ali became synonymous with the struggles of railway and textile workers (1).

Similarly women took part in large numbers in the freedom struggle and in the struggles of tribals and peasants in the late sixties and early seventies. The struggles of women developed a distinctiveness after the mid-seventies, as issues of dowry and violence against women, gathered momentum, which by the 80s became known as a “movement”.

The Road to Independence
The initial reforms during the Raj, (which were part of a larger colonial mission of civilising India) were targeted at what the colonialists saw as “the most appalling” injustices perpetrated against women, like Sati, child marriage and the state of widows. The reformers, many of them male (Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Dayanand Saraswati), endeavoured to introduce legislative changes to redeem this situation. Many of the efforts of the reformers, though, stemmed from the fact that their colonial masters were shocked by these “barbaric” customs. So it was the most “obscurantist” practices that were sought to be corrected.
 
The reformers were of different persuasions. The revivalists among them “pressed for women to be honoured by reformed husbands or the enlightened new community of Aryas. The women were therefore in many ways more bound to the old structure and systems.”(2)

However there were many women who stood up to the patriarchy of the colonial administration, like Pandita Ramabai, Anandi Gopal and Savitribai Phule. During this time India also saw women activists like Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya, Kalpana Dutt and Madame Bhikaji Cama, who although coming from elite backgrounds, “had to contend with tremendous social hostility. Their lives represent a long history of struggle at the individual level to establish a different kind of identity for women in the face of intense pressures to adhere to stereotypical images and social codes of behaviour.”(3)

Of course one of the most important personalities during this time was Gandhi. His overpowering voice in the freedom struggle and his views on women influenced their positioning in it. His brand of politics and resistance, which rested largely on principles like Ahimsa, Satyagraha and civil disobedience, allowed women to participate in the political arena. Gandhi was therefore able to mobilise a large number of women, cutting across caste and class lines, to play an active role in the freedom struggle. He firmly believed, though, in gender-specific roles and argued that there were different male and female attributes. Some were critical of this approach as they felt that it strenghtened the forces of conservatism,(4) while patronising womanhood. Others read it as a validation of feminine attributes that form the basis for one stream of feminist politics that challenges modern hyper-masculine rationality. Gandhi’s own position on women evolved over time and he finally urged women to fight   exploitation, whether within the home or in the Congress party.(5)

Post Independence

The period between 1947 and the late sixties was marked by welfare activities by the state and welfare organisations. These activities were aimed at the ‘upliftment’ of women. Formal equality to women was enshrined in the Constitution and there was a general acceptance that women did not really need to struggle anymore. Women were co-opted into the system. It was a “period of organisational and ideological retrogression.”(6)

Politically, Indian women perhaps did not have to struggle in quite the same way for their basic rights like universal franchise as their Western counterparts had to. “Women figured and featured at several levels in the range of strategies adopted by Indians in the long-drawn struggle against imperialism” asserts Indu Agnihotri.(7) There were “petitions galore, on issues ranging from the right to representation, on the right to vote, on the eligibility clause attached to the regulations which evolved out of the various reform acts. Continuing this stream of visibly expanding the form and extent of political representation, (both under colonial rule and in independent India), women used various legislative fora and independent associations to extend their rights.” Issues like women’s rights to property, rights within marriage and family were also taken up.

The second period, i.e. between the mid sixties and 1975, saw general ferment in society, marked by economic crisis and stagnation, inflation, landlessness, and a growing discontent and disillusionment in rural and urban areas alike. Although they didn’t have a platform of their own, “women were (then) mobilised in large numbers and they joined the general struggles of the rural poor, tribals, industrial working-class and other mass movements.

Participation of women in Naxalbari movement, anti-price rise demonstrations, Navnirman Youth Movement in Gujarat and Bihar, rural revolt in Shahada, Dhulia Maharashtra, and the Chipko movement provided a backdrop for the ensuing struggles on women’s issues.”(8)

Shramik Mahila Sanghatana (Working Women’s Organisation) was organised by the CPM in 1971. 1974 saw the founding of the Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) in Hyderabad, and 1975, the Mahila Samata Sainik Dal (League of Women Soldiers for Equality) in Aurangabad.

The post-1975 period witnessed many developments, among them the Emergency (1975-77), which led to a break in most open agitational activities, but intensified theoretical discussions. At the national level, the report of the Commission on the Status of Women in India in 1974 ‘officially’ highlighted the status of women in India and forced policy makers to consider the harsh realities of the lives of women in India - at work, at home, in the courts, in cities, towns and villages. Developments at the international level following the observance of The United Nations International Year (1975) and Decade of Women (1975-85) provided greater legitimacy and visibility for women’s issues.

At the first UN World Conference of Women in Mexico attended by ministers, bureaucrats, and NGOs from all over the world, there was a convergence of feminist activists working on varying issues in differing contexts. Several conferences and meetings were also held on women’s issues, some of them in collaboration with Left parties.

Coming into its Own
These programmes contributed to building awareness about the injustices and oppression of women in India, especially among urban middle class women. However, the dam broke opening the floodgates of protest and positive action with the Mathura Rape case. Mathura, a 14-year old tribal girl was raped in police custody. While the High Court sentenced the policemen for the crime, the Supreme Court reversed this judgement saying that her “character” was “loose”. This lead to a flurry of protest from women’s groups, lawyers’ collectives, and civil rights groups. The Forum Against Rape (FAR) was forged in Bombay. Likewise, numerous joint action committees of feminist groups, socialist and communist party fronts, and students groups co-ordinated the campaign in different parts of the country.

Rallies, petitions, exhibitions, and street plays were witnessed in Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, etc. This, along with unprecedented strong media publicity (both helpful and harmful) forced the Supreme Court to review the issue and reinstate the High Court judgement.

As the struggle against violence continued, there was a virtual tide of issues touching every aspect of social life which were taken up by the women’s movement. They included sati, sex determination tests, coercive sterilisation under FP programmes, unsafe contraceptives, denial of property rights, unsatisfactory and biased personal laws (including divorce and maintenance laws), sexism and obscene representation of women in the media, female infanticide, child marriages and reproductive rights.

Landmarks
There are many, many days that are red-lettered in the women’s movement.

In 1920 the First All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) was held at Pune. Reformers like Annie Besant, Pandita Ramabai, Margaret Cousins had taken up the issue of education for women. Margaret Cousins decided to request women representatives to meet together to discuss the rights of the girl-child to education. The response was quite overwhelming and in 1920 about 2000 women got together to discuss this.

In 1946 at the Tehbhaga Uprising in Bengal, peasants protested against the lack of occupancy rights and women took to guarding their fields and challenging the police. The women who formed these armies were called Nari Bahinis

The following chronology sets out some of the milestones of events, issues, and struggles relating to or affecting the women’s’ movement in the last three decades.

Seventies
 
1970  The drought in Maharashtra meant that prices skyrocketed. Mrinal Gore and Ahilya Rangnekar along with other women formed the United Women’s Anti-Price Front. These women protested in a rather unique way. They took to beating of empty tins or plates with rolling pins. Consumer protection and distribution of essential commodities were the main demands of the Front

1972  Shahada, a Tribal district in Maharashtra saw farmers caught in a trap of debt and drought. The women pressed the government for famine relief. They also launched an anti-liquor stir and even destroyed many liquor dens. The inspirational and revolutionary songs that the women sang continues to be used by some women in the Movement

1972  SEWA. Perhaps, the largest trade union for women set up by Ela Bhatt for women working in the informal sector

1973 The Chipko Movement started led by women of the Garhwal . A unique form of protest of hugging the trees to prevent them from being cut down

1974 Towards Equality - Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India brought out at the request of the United Nations -Sparked debate among academics and activists.
* Spread of the environment movement
* Anti-alcohol movement linked with Chipko
* Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) emerged from  radical students movement in Hyderabad

1975  * International Year of Women
 * World Conference on Women, Mexico
 * Protests against dowry begin

75-85 International Decade for Women

1976  Equal Remuneration Act passed which held that there   should be no discrimination in wages between men and women

75-77 The Emergency. Rights Suspended. Coercive sterilisation and demolition of slums

1978 Rape of Rameeza Bee, Hyderabad – Agitation against rape

74-84  Emergence and proliferation of Autonomous Women’s Groups in India
 Women’s Participation in various Peoples’ Movements, eg. Wynad; Srikakulam Movement; Nav Nirman Movement, Anti-Price Rise Movement; Chipko; Adivasi struggle in Dhulia; Kerala Fishworkers’ struggle; Beediworkers in Nipani; Tamil Nadu Construction Workers’ Union; Chattisgarh; Assam; Maharashtra farmers’ struggle. Total Revolution lead by Jayaprakash Narayan and forming of Mahila Sangharsh Vahini

Eighties
1980 Mathura Verdict; Maya Tyagi raped; Campaign against rape intensifies
 * Forum Against Rape meet
 * First National Conference of Women held in Bombay Nov.1-3
 * II World Conference on Women, Copenhagen
 * Campaign against Dowry heightens

1982: Khiralote struggle by women of the Kumaon tribe against limestone quarrying in the Himalayas.
 Drug Companies were asked to print warning on hormone-based formulations.(Mainly Estrogen Progesterone Drugs)

1983  In Manek Chowk women vegetable vendors protested the proposed relocation of vendors.
 Rape law Amended - Crime Against Women Cell Set Up in Delhi

1984 -  * Indira Gandhi’s Assassination; Anti-Sikh riots;
 * Bhopal Gas Tragedy
 * VHP launches agitation on Babri Masjid at Ayodhya
 * Women’s Development Programme launched in Rajasthan

1985  * Shah Bano Case; Muslim Women’s Bill
 * Second National Conference of Women held in Bombay December 1985
 * III World Conference Nairobi
 * Department of Women and Child set up under Ministry for Human Resource Development. DWCRA (Development of Women and Child in Rural Areas) and ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) launched.

1986 Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghathan formed
Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection formed
Female Infanticide in Usilampatti reported
Dowry Law Amended

1987  Roop Kanwar’s Sati

1988 National Perspective Plan on Women Policy
 Third National Conference of Women in Patna in February
 
1989  Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-Natal Diagnostic
 Techniques Act
 Mahila Samakya: Govt. programme to empower women starts in some states

1989-90 Protest against relocation of market by Maithei women in   Imphal.

Nineties
1990   Fourth National Conference of Women held in December   at Calicut
 World Summit for Children 1990 New York

1991 Liberalisation of the economy in India
 SAARC Year of the Girl Child
 Mandal and Anti-Mandal Agitation
 World Summit on Education 1991 Jomtien.
 
1992  Demolition of Babri Mosque at Ayodhya by Kar Sevaks
73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments - quota for women in Panchayats & Nagarpalikas
National Commission on Women formed on recommendation of the United Nations Commission
Nellore anti-arrack agitation launched
 United Nations Conference on Environment and
 Development Rio de Janerio

1993 Bhanwari Devi raped; campaign
 Tirupati venue of the Fifth National Conference of Women
 World Conference on Human Rights Vienna

92-93  Post Babri-Masjid riots in many parts of the country  (especially Bombay)

1994 Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act Passed.
 National Women’s Conference held in Tirupati in January
 International Conference on Population and    Development (ICPD) Cairo

93-94  Kaveri riots

1995   World Summit on Social Development Copenhagen
 Beijing - IV World Conference of Women

1996  Acquittal of Bhanwari Devi’s rapists; campaign continues
National Policy on Women announced
 Miss World Beauty Pageant in Bangalore
 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
 Habitat  II Istanbul
 World Food Summit Rome

1997  Sixth National Conference of Women held at Ranchi in December
 Supreme courts Judgement on case of sexual harassment (Vishaka Vs. the State of Rajasthan ratifies NGO drafted guidelines)

97-99  Debate around 81st amendment - quota for women in Parliament

1998  BJP lead govt sworn in
  Nuclear Tests in India and Pakistan

1999 Attacks on Christians in Gujurat, Murder of Staines
 Kargil conflict with Pakistan
 Supreme Court holds that mother is also the natural guardian of her minor children
 UN adopts the Optional Protocol to Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which enables anyone to petition the CEDAW Committee on non-enforcement of CEDAW in their home country. (India has ratified the Convention)
 Andhra Pradesh sets up State Commission on Women.
 Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir in the process of
 doing so.

Exploring the Issues in the Struggle
As we journey through the chronology of events, we see that the women’s movement has touched several social, economic and political issues. It has exposed the inherent gender and other biases in all social institutions and challenged existing notions of development and progress. For example - the struggle against forced sterilisation, developed the critique of the health care system, and led to an articulation of reproductive rights as well as the right to safer health care practices. Some women’s groups began working on alternative health care systems.

The movement also engaged itself with all the critical issues of the day, be it communalism, or Mandal, or the New Economic Policy and Globalisation. Women’s groups were also involved in the struggles for basic rights fundamental to life and survival, such as water, housing, employment, poverty, development and so on.

The next few chapters examine some key issues and challenges that the women’s movement has been active with.