THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA

RADHIKA KUMAR

The women s movement in India has had a chequered history.

It has evolved over time from being hand-held by men to
finding and devising its own praxis and momentum. The
movement is also layered with multiple narratives, some of
which are dominant and some marginal, some national and
some local, which are, however, not exclusive but also often
speak to each other. This article attempts to make sense of the
multiple meanings and trajectories of the women s movement
in India from various historical, empirical and theoretical
vantage points. It tries to capture the range of issues that the
women s movement in India has been associated with as also
the debates that have animated the activists and commentators.
Finally, it locates the women s movement within the context
of economic libera/isation mapping its responses and use of
various resources to deal with a new political economy and its
concomitant effects.

IN SPEAKING of the women's movement, one is foregrounding gender

as an identity which coalesces women on the basis of a shared experience
ofmarginalisation and exclusion from various spheres of human existence.
The attempt by women to understand, define and project their identity
and agency has taken many forms in the spatial, temporal and ideological
domain. Moreover, in this process of identity formation, the praxis also
shapes women's identity leading to revision and redefinition ofideas, images
and mediums. This manifests most clearly in their engagement with the
state as well as civil society and the market apart from forging synergies
with other social movements and causes. Notwithstanding the diversity and
fluidity which is central to this experience, there is a foundational unity
based on gaining visibility, voice and agency for women in the personal,
social, economic and political sphere which provides the broad contours for
demarcating the nature and trajectory of the women's movement in India.
In defining the women's movement, one is faced with multiple
perspectives. One may try to weave together a singular story of the women's
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movement as it gained salience at the national level aro\md issues perceived

as common to all women relating to the domain of the family, law and
economy or one may also look at innumerable 'women's movements',
sub-national or local in their reach concerning specific issues which have
contributed in raising women's consciousness and can be seen as positioned
in a dialectical relationship with the 'national' movement both in terms
of understanding and providing momentum. Women's participation in a
movement may not make it a women's movement (Sen 2005: 82) as women
are present in all movements, however, foregrounding of women's identity
provides opportunities for the women's question to gain centre stage.
The Three 'Waves' of the Women s Movement
Of the various ways oflooking at the women's movement in India, one
approach (Gandhi and Shah in Khullar 2005) identifies phases or 'waves'
of the women's movement in India. The first phase which is spread over a
century between the 1850s to the 1930s was dominated by social reform
movements. In this phase educated, upper class men were responding to
the impact of colonialism in two ways. Various 'social evils' such as widow
immolation (sati), child marriage, etc. and gave the impression of Indian
society as primitive and backward. Apart from the need to rectify this
impression, the upwardly mobile, educated and professional Indians also felt
the need to educate women so that they may become worthy companions
to their male counterparts and also present an image of a civilised nation.
Change was sought by recourse to legislation. Many organisations such as
the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj played a pivotal role in this apart from the
contributions of many individual reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
Jyotiba Phule, Veeresalingam and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The banning
of the practice of Sati in 1829 and the passage of the Widow Remarriage
Act in 1856 were important milestones in this direction. However, these
changes were not aimed at recognising or improving women's agency.
While many women's organisations made their debut in the first phase
of the women's movement, 1 it is argued that they did not radically depart
from the public perception of women having been viewed primarily as care
givers (Khullar 2005: 5).
The second wave of the women's movement was sparked by the
freedom struggle. The period between the two World Wars (1919~1939)
saw the women's movement take up two issues prominently. One was
that of securing women's suffrage2 and the other was legislative reform
particularly with regard to personal laws (Basu n.d.). Hence women's
organisation engaged in 'petition politics'. Women's participation in the
national movement between 1930 and 1947 provided greater visibility to
women and also a shift from being seen as 'subjects' to 'active agents' of
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RADHIKA KUMAR

change. However, women's role was still perceived as one best suited for
'social work', a role which was now projected in the public sphere while
earlier it was limited to the sphere of the family. Women were seen as
best suited to offer satyagarha as they had typical qualities of endurance
credited to their lived experience of suppression. However, this tended to
further stereotype the image of women confining them to predetermined
social roles. It is argued that Mahatma Gandhi's call to women to take the
lead in offering satyagraha was a way of converting 'liabilities into assets'
(Saxena in Sen 2005: 94). Not only would this forestall violent action
by the state but also lead to widespread condemnation in case women
were brutalised. However, once the movement was withdrawn women's
participation would be seen as purely symbolic while men continued to
dominate the leadership. An attempt to move beyond such stereotypes and
symbolisms was reflected in the recommendations of the sub-committee
on women set up by the National Planning Committee ( 1939-1940) chaired
by Jawaharlal Nehru and appointed by the Indian National Congress. It is
argued that the sub-committee steered clear of the debate between tradition
and modernity. Instead, they focused on women's empowerment through
equal opportunities in the economic and educational sphere and political
rights apart from an enabling legal framework in the form of common civil
code, (ibid: 11) Post-independence, the women's issues were subsumed
under the broader category of social welfare and hence lost its importance.
The revival of the women's movement in the decade of the 1970s can
be credited to many factors. These include the crisis of the Indian state
which was manifested in the imposition of Emergency in 1975 followed by
increased activism of civil rights groups as well as rise of many women's
organisations. The rise of communal and fundamentalist forces in the
1980s and 1990s provided a further challenge to the women's movement
which also needed to deal with increasing economic deprivation of women
on account of economic liberalisation (Agnihotri and Mazumdar 2005:
50). However, the immediate catalyst was the report published by the
Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI), 1974. The report
titled Towards Equality became a blueprint for the women's movement
in India. Apart from highlighting statistics including human development
indices such as disparities in sex ratio and longevity which were skewed
in favour of males, the report also brought to the fore discriminatory
practices in the sphere oflaw , economics, education, as well as retrograde
social norms and practices such as dowry. Most importantly the report
emphasised the varied and widespread violence that women were
subjected to both in the personal and the public sphere. Women's groups-
led agitations resulted in the law against rape being revised apart from
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adoption of anti-dowry legislations in the 1980s. This phase of the women's

movement also bridged the gap between urban activism and the rural arena
as many issues pertaining to rural women such as " .. .livelihood, literacy,
alcoholism, the environment, reservation for women in local government..."
(Ibid: 12) also became salient. 3
It came to be argued that the state while guaranteeing equality through
the provision of fundamental rights continued to allow unequal treatment
of women as personal laws were also protected under the right to religious
freedom. In the sphere of education women were encouraged to study
certain subjects deemed most appropriate for the social roles that they
were expected to play. Therefore, as Khullar (2005: 16) argues, while men
were encouraged to study science, women were encouraged to study home
science. However, while education t~nded to strengthen gender stereotypes
it was also enlightening and empowering, opening up many more choices
for women and hence education for the girl child became a major concern
of the women's movement.
With the women's question gaining salience amongst policy makers,
the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-1985) aimed to address some of these issues
under the chapter on 'Women and Development'. Women's development
was linked to economic independence and health care including family
planning. A memorandum submitted by women's organisations titled
'Women in the Eighties: Development Imperatives' argued in favour of
treating women as the target group in government programmes instead of
the household. Hence, women could be removed from the margins of state
developmental concerns. The memorandwn also advocated registering joint
'pattas' (land titles). In 1985 the Union government set up a department
of women and child development and also set up women's cells in various
other ministries. The state also encouraged and consulted with various
women's organisations when drafting policies and programmes related
to women. 4Another example is that of the Mahila Samakhya Prograrnme 5
which was initiated in different regions in 1989 and included creating
synergies between the government and women's organisations. However,
it is argued that the relationship between the women's movement and the
state has been complex, vacillating between co-operation and confrontation.
The women's movement solicits state support in the arena of appropriate
policy, gender-sensitive laws and funds. However, on the other hand the
collusion between the state and patriarchal institutions/organisations apart
from political violence has often led the women's movement to position
itself against the state (Ibid: 16)
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RADHIKA KUMAR

Ripples in the Waves? The Local and the many other Women s
Movements
The third wave of the women's movement witnessed many women's
organisations 6 revive their activities after a period of hibernation following
the culmination of the freedom struggle. The women's movement moved
out of the shadow of the national movement wherein political independence
superseded all other concerns. The focus of women's organisations was now
on sites of domination and exploitation of women rather than on mobilisation
(Sen 2005: 84). Along with these veteran organisations a number of local
movements also gained ascendency. Some of the movements during the
1970s and 1980s which are often flagged include the Shahada and the
anti-price rise movements in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1972 and 1973
respectively, the anti-alcohol agitation in western India and setting up of the
Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) by Ela Bhatt also in 1972.
The Nav-Nirman agitation, organisation of the first socialist feminists'
conference in Bombay in 1978 and foundation of Stri-Sangharsh in Delhi
in 1979 are other important markers of the women's movement during this
period. These movements did not fit into the mould of 'feminist politics' as
their concerns were diverse but as they unravelled, women's issues came
to be foregrounded.
Shahada was a landless and poor peasant tribal labour movement in
the district ofDhulia in Maharashtra. Faced with a struggle for survival on
account of loss of livelihood, both because of unemployment and forcible
usurpation of land by Gujjar landlords, the labourers organised themselves
into a 'Shramik Sangathan' to raise their demands against the landowners.
The formation of the Sangathan was also a reaction to the rape of two Bhil
women by the landlords. The Shahada agitation was largely carried forward
by women who not only inspired the menfolk but also took the lead in all
aspects of the movement, including mobilisation, strategy and tactics. The
experience of the movement led them to question their own oppression by
men. This resulted in a coordinated anti-liquor protest as well as resistance
to violence against women which it was realised was the primary means
adopted by men to dominate women.
The anti-price rise movement (APRM) which was based on women's
mobilisation in the cities ofBombay and Ahmedabad was not spearheaded
by any one political outfit. 7 Hence, it was structurally flexible involving
'latni morehas ' (rolling-pin marches) in which women participated in large
numbers to protest against high prices and demand consumer rights. Ilina
Sen argues that the APRM represented a single-issue short-term movement
that lost steam as it lacked a stable organisational structure8• Other similar
issue-based struggles include those launched by the women from Vasai-
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Virar in Thane district of Maharashtra for water.

The 'Chipko' movement in Uttarakhand, which was a protest launched
against tree-felling for commercial purposes, began in the early part of
the 1970s. The organisational foundation for Chipko was laid by the anti-
alcohol agitation launched by women in Tehri in 1965 that resulted in
imposition of prohibition in five districts. The Chipko movement in which
women embraced the trees as their protectors, was again about livelihood
issues. As Vandana Shiva (1989: 73) writes, for the hill women the forest
and water sources were the basis of 'food production'. The movement
was carried forward by local women through a 'decentred' organisation
based on 'horizontal' as opposed to 'vertical' ties (Ibid). Shiva argues that
what began as an conservationist/ecological movement developed into a
feminist movement by the late 1970s, perhaps best exemplified in the (;ase
ofBachni Devi of Adwani who led a protest against her husband( who was
also the village headman and a contractor) when he undertook a contract to
fell trees. The chipko activists confronted the forest officials with lighted
lanterns· during daytime, offering Satyagraha and imparting a lesson in the
value of the forest.
The 1973 Navnirman (social reconstruction) movement was a students'
movement against price rise and scarcity of essential commodities apart from
corruption in Gujarat which then spread to Bihar in 1974 where it was called
the 'Total Revolution' movement by Jayaprakash Narayan and lasted till June
1975. In Bihar the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Pari shad (ABVP) which was
the students' wing of the Jan Sangh forged an all-encompassing coalition
called the Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti (BCSS) to lead the struggle.
Leadership to the BCSS was provided by Jayaprakash Narayan 9 and the
movement raised many issues concerning women including violence within
the family and rape, unequal access to resources and biased division of work
(Sen 2005: 86). Particularly noteworthy was the Bodhgaya struggle in which
women's right to land was recognised. Having participated in the movement
to gain control of the land held by the Bodhgaya Math, the women activists
refused to let men become the primary owners of the land titles once the
government decided to redistribute the Math's land. In gaining land rights,
women had to overcome unofficial and official resistance. Hence there was
opposition by both men and activists of the Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini,
which was the organisation that led the Bodhgaya movement as well as
opposition from government officials. 10
Many other such struggles have been highlighted by Ilina Sen (2005).
These include the Kerala Fish Workers' movement which was organised to
resist mechanised fishing leading to reduced fish catch for local fishermen.
These workers formed a union in the 1970s called the Kerala Swatantra
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Matsya Thozilai Federation but women were not a part of it as traditionally

women only market fish but do not catch fish. However, as the movement
spread to other coastal states and women joined in large numbers, they
gained the " ... rights to public transport for vending fish." (Sen 2005: 87).
Thereafter, women attained full membership in the Trivandram unit and even
discussed setting up a separate wing for women-related issues and concerns.
Women's participation in trade union activities, assuming leadership
positions and setting the agenda which included discussions on women's
socio-economic status within the family and the work-place sensitised men
to gender specific issues apart from raising consciousness amongst other
women of the community. Sen argues that women by their sheer numbers
were able to mainstream gender concerns in the trade-union.U The setting
up of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Ahmedabad in
1972 and its subsequent recognition as a trade union is probably the only
instance of an all woman trade union, the demand for which was led and
achieved by and for women. 12
The mosaics of movements that have been highlighted can broadly
be categorised as concerning livelihood issues straddling the sphere of
the household and the market including both the formal and informal
economy. The issue-based campaigns such as APRM have also been known
to re-inforce " .... traditional roles and values of women" (Lingam 2002:
314). However as stated earlier, the experience of the struggle including
fleshing out of issues and organising the movement brought to the fore
women's unequal position within the family and the workplace and instilled
confidence to articulate and prioritise their concerns.
For Women, by Women and of Women
The 1980s saw a spurt in the women's movement as issues typically
'feminist' which challenged patriarchy and its manifestations in the
personal and political sphere came to be identified as the source of women's
domination, oppression and exploitation. This phase also marked the rise
of the autonomous women's movement wherein women's organisations
severed ties with political parties to chart out an independent course. 13
Violence against women became the rallying cry of women's groups
which also gained in number and visibility. The trigger for what one may
call a radicalisation of the women's movement in India were certain cases
which brought together women of diverse ideological leanings to join
forces against what was seen as a common cause to protest all kinds of
gender based violence. While violence became the pivotal concern of the
women's movement, the changing landscape of politics and the economy,
in particular the rise of communal and fundamental ideologies and practices
as well as a shift towards a neo-liberal market economy had consequences
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which were extremely detrimental to the identity and agency of women.

To capture these multiple shifts one may look at the women's movement
from a thematic perspective taking up three major themes which include
violence, communalism and fundamentalism, and, finally, women within
a neo-liberalised economy.
Violence against women did not receive adequate attention from either
the women's movement or women's studies till a number of cases of
violence against women came to be highlighted in the public arena. Also,
apart from men very often women were also implicated in instances of
violence against women, particularly in cases of dowry deaths. Hence taking
a gender-based defence was seen as problematic. A concerted campaign
focusing on violence against women was first launched in 1978 in the case
ofRameeza Bee. Rameeza Bee who had come to the city ofHyderabad with
her rickshaw-puller husband was raped by four policemen (three Muslim
and one Hindu) and her husband, Ahmed Hussain was beaten to death. In
a bid to exonerate the policemen of the crime, the defence declared her a
prostitute as she had been married earlier while her husband was labelled
her pimp. A commission of inquiry set up in Hyderabad held the policemen
guilty of rape, assault and murder. However, when the case was transferred
to Raichur in Karnataka, it led to an acquittal of the policemen as evidence
collected by the commission of enquiry was not admissible in the trial. 14
The catalyst for change in law regarding rape was the much-publicised
Mathura, rape case. Mathura a 16-year-old tribal girl residing in Chandrapur
district of Maharashtra, was raped by two policemen in the Desai Ganj
police station when she went to register a complaint against her brother.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court held the policemen guilty
but the verdict was reversed by the Supreme Court which treated forcible
submission as equivalent to consent. Four lawyers wrote to the Chief Justice
of India opposing this decision which then sparked a wave of protests. The
Mathura case highlighted the utter insensitivity, callousness and brazen
collusion of the state and its various institutions in cases of violence against
women. The protests led to the Law Commission recommending changes
in the law on rape and, as Urvashi Butalia (2005: 330) writes, the protests
symbolised the "politics of the possible" within the women's movement.
However, the gang-rape of a paramedical student on December 16, 2012, in
a moving bus in New Delhi marks the apogee of violence against women.
This was manifest not only in terms of the brutality of the act wherein tbe
victim was raped and mercilessly beaten in a bid to erase evidence leading
to her subsequent death but also in terms of the public outrage and protest
seen in unprecedented massive demonstrations across the capital apart
from extensive media-coverage of the incident. As a response to the public
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RADH/KA KUMAR

outcry, the government set up a committee to suggest amendments to the

criminal law so that cases of violence against women could be fast-tracked
and the quantum of punishment enhanced 15 • The committee observed that' ...
rape and sexual assault are not merely crimes of passion but an expression
of power'. The use of rape to shame and subdue members of lower caste
groups, during communal riots as a part of collective violence and in a
bid to enforce status quo, demanded by familial and social norms are all
reflective of rape as an assertion of power which has been a part of our social
reality, intermittently/selectively projected in the public sphere leading to
citizen mobilisation. Kalpana Kannabiran (20 10: 131) writes that custodial
violence as seen in the Mathura case provided ' ... the bridge between the
women's movement, the civil liberties movement and legal scholarship in
India in the late 1970s ... ' and violence against women including rape was
to be seen within the 'human rights' framework as opposed to the 'women's
rights' framework (Ibid: 13 7).
In looking at rape as an act of physical and mental violence, it is
important to also take note of sexual harassment of women in formal and
informal settings. Sexual harassment of women gained public attention in
the Vishakha case wherein the Supreme Court laid down clear guidelines
in instances of sexual harassment at the workplace (SHW). However the
women's movement highlighted the issue in the early 1980s as seen in the
activities ofthe Forum Against Oppression ofWomen (FAOW) in Mumbai.
The FAOW raised instances of women's harassment in varied work contexts.
In Goa 'Baailancho Saad' (Women's Voice) launched a protest against the
chief minister's alleged harassment ofhis secretary. However, it was the case
ofBhanwari Devi, a 'saathin' (a village level volunteer) who was working
with the government-sponsored women's development programme in
Bhateri village in Rajasthan that spurred women's organisations to demand
legal redressal for sexual harassment. Bhanwari, a dalit woman, while
dispensing her duty of counselling against and preventing child-marriage
in her village angered the upper-caste 'feudal patriarchs' (Patel n.d.) They
then retaliated by gang-raping her so that they could 'teach her a lesson'.
However, when the Rajasthan High Court acquitted all the accused, five non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) associated with women's issues, joined
forces under the collective platform 'Vishakha' and filed a public interest
petition in the Supreme Court resulting in the court's historic judgement in
the matter of SHW. Most of the guidelines have been incorporated in the
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013, but some lacunae remain. 16
The campaign against dowry deaths was spearheaded by women's
organisations in the late 1970s, 17 in particular the Mahila Dakshta Samiti
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and Stree Sangharsh in Delhi. The former organisation published a report on

dowry deaths in 1978 while the latter organised a march against the death
of a young bride Talvinder Kaur in the area where she resided. The initial
impetus encouraged women's organisations in other parts of the country
to protest dowry deaths. A broad platform of women's organisations was
forged called the Dahej Virodhi Chetna Manch (DVCM) which included
ideologically and politically diverse women's organisations. In Ranchi
a Mahila Utpidan Virodhi Manch was set up following the murder of
Nivedita Dutta by her in-laws. The women's organisation played a pivotal
role in compiling data and uncovering the patterns in cases of dowry deaths
including harassment of young brides for dowry followed by their deaths
which were often passed off as an accident. Saheli an organisation that was
set up in 1982 aimed at providing counselling and temporary shelter for
women who were victims of violence or were threatened in their marital
home. Geraldine Forbes (1999: 247) writes that the practice of dowry is
both traditional and modem. It is traditional in so far as it reinforces "the
low valuation of women" and is modem in so far as it is symptomatic of a
consumerist culture which does not shy of using marriage to gain movable
and immovable assets apart from monetary gains. However, persistence of
the menace of dowry has Jed to women activists rethinking the focus of
their campaign. It is argued that apart from highlighting dowry deaths the
practice of dowry must be tackled through awareness raising campaigns.
Often women's organisations would publicly shame such families by holding
demonstrations in the neighbourhood of the victim which was seen as a
more effective way of creating awareness and social change apart from loss
of social standing for the family. However there has been no 'end to dowry'
which remains an elusive goal.
Violence against women in the marital home also includes regular and
prolonged cases of domestic violence apart from marital rape and dowry
deaths. Tilll983, there was no dedicated act to deal with domestic violence.
However, as Agnes (1992: ws-25) argues, domestic violence requires a
special approach as the victim is also dependent on the perpetrator of the
crime and in most cases must continue to reside with him. Moreover, as the
crime happens within the confines of the household, there are no witnesses
which make it difficult to prove the charge of domestic violence beyond
'reasonable doubt'. The usual response of policing agencies in case the
victim files a complaint has been to advise the victim to seek reconciliation
with the husband with many even recommending that the woman apologise
to the spouse for exposing what is viewed as a 'private matter' to public
scrutiny. The Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act
(PWDVA), 2005, hoped to provide relief to victims of domestic violence
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RADHIKA KUMAR

including children as well as partners cohabiting in a live-in relationship. 18

While many of its provisions have been hailed as being gender-sensitive
(Basu 2008) interpretation of the act in various court judgements depict a
rather narrow interpretation of various provisions which have only resulted
in denying relief to the victim. 19
Association of dowry with the marriage of the girl child may also be
posited as one of the root causes for the skewed sex ratios 20 across states
in India. Determination of the sex of the un-born child was made possible
by Amniocentesis, a test developed in the late 1970s which was originally
meant to determine genetic abnormalities in the foetus. However, as Agnes
( 1992: 31) writes ' .. .In India where being born a female is itself treated
as a deformity.. .' soon enough as the tests got more sophisticated it was
possible to determine the sex of child in a non-invasive manner using
ultrasound machines many of which were also mobile and hence could
be carried without being registered or detected. The practice of antenatal
sex determination has become so rampant particularly in North India that
the states of Punjab and Haryana have consistently registered the lowest
sex ratios in the country. A concerted protest was launched in Mumbai
with the setting up of The Forum Against Sex-Determination and Sex-
Selection (FASDSP) in 1985 while the Campaign Against Sex-Selective
Abortion (CASSA) was set up in Tamil Nadu. The FASDSP campaigned for
passage of a new act as opposed to changes in the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 as it would affect the woman's right to abort.
The campaign resulted in the passage of the Maharashtra Regulation of
Use of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1988. Subsequently at the
national level the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Tests (Regulation and Prohibition of
Misuse) Act, 1994 was enacted (Patel 2008: 361 ). However, the declining
child sex ratio in India, pegged as the lowest since independence in the
2011 census reflects the limited success of legal deterrence as the norms
are flouted with impunity. The question of choice can be said to have twin
connotations. In so far as reproductive choice is understood as 'procreative
autonomy' it is representative of the woman's right to say 'no' to coercive
state population policies including forced sterilisations without impacting
in any way welfare benefits that are made available by the state. It would
also include the right to be informed about the nature of contraceptives
made available to women, demand an end to the two child conditionality
which disqualifies women with more than two children from contesting
for various representative posts. However, in the case of sex-selective
abortions procreative autonomy cannot be upheld unless applied in a non-
discriminatory way (Kannabiran 2010: 133-134) Malvika Karlekar (2008:
241-248) has, in fact, argued in favour of a 'life-cycle approach' as opposed
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to con:flating gender based violence with marital violence, in particular the

practice of dowry. Discrimination and violence embedded in practices of
foeticide, infanticide, child sexual abuse as well as neglect in old age reflect
the complex ways in which society views, reacts and relates to women. She
argues that ' .... far from being a refuge from the outside world, the family
is complicit in processes and mechanisms of socialisation, many of which
are oppressive if not extreme in nature' (ibid: 247).
Dowry and the practice of sati share the characteristic of being rooted
in indigenous social practices and Hindu religious tradition respectively.
Sati committed by a young bride Roop Kanwar in Deorala in Rajasthan in
I 987 symbolised a venerated identity of the hindu woman who expresses
her complete dedication to her spouse by immolating herself on his pyre.
Sati is valorised and glorified particularly in the Shekhawati region of
Rajasthan which also has many temples dedicated to 'sati-mata'. It is ironic
that sainthood for a married woman is not to be achieved by living but by
dying and that too for a man who in the case ofRoop Kanwar was barely
known to her as she had been married for only eight months of which she
spent just a month with her spouse. It has been argued that the practice of
widow immolation is the most extreme form of patriarchal violence not
only because of widespread acceptance within society but also because
of the ideological and institutional support system that keeps it alive. 'The
event is mythologised precisely because and in proportion to the intensity
of violence inherent in it' (Sangari and Vaid in Butalia 2005: 334). The
practice of sati brings into sharp relief the extreme binary identities with
which women are endowed. These include deification on the one hand while
on the other they are denied subjectivity and agency, owned and disposed
as convenient as exemplified in the practice of bride-burning for dowry.
The sati of Roop Kanwar attracted widespread protest from civil society,
the media and women's groups. The government reacted by adoption of
the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, I 987, under which abetment and
glorification of sati were both made punishable. However, the Act also made
the woman committing sati culpable of suicide, in case she remains alive,
which clearly defeats the purpose of the legislation. 21
In reviewing these movements, Flavia Agnes (1992: ws!9-ws33) argues
that the 1980s may be viewed as a decade of legislation22 wherein women
turned towards the state as their 'protector', only to realise that the state
was playing a game of 'co-option' with the cause of violence largely left
un-addressed. Most of the amendments made to existing laws concerning
violence against women only enhanced the quantum of punishment while
neglecting lacunae in interpretation and implementation. State institutions
continued to be imbued with a patriarchal mindset which remained ' .... anti-
poor, anti-minority and anti-women' (ibid).
 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA /435
RADHIKA KUMAR

Divided we Fall: the Challenge of Communal and Class Identities

If progressive legislation be viewed as a partial victory of the women's
movement in India, the 1980s also saw the women's movement confounded
by the politics of communalism, fundamentalism and a new political
economy of market-based reforms. The forging of unity on the basis of a
shared experience of violence, skewed division oflabour and discrimination
became shaky in the light of community based identities threatening to
weaken and overshadow gendered consciousness, identity and agency. The
precursor to this crisis was the much publicised Shah Bano23 case in 1985.
The court's ruling that the criminal procedure code could 'transcend' the
'barriers' of personal law and was available as an alternative to or overriding
personal laws with an exhortation to the Muslim community to revise its
personal law was seen as unfairly criticising the minority community without
reference to the need for similar reforms in other personal laws. Hence the
women's question came to be upstaged by the question of community based
reform. Orthodox and opportunistic sections of the Muslim community
proclaimed their 'religion in danger' leading to manifold protests and
demonstrations organised in different parts of the country24 • The passage
of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Bill in February
1986 which kept Muslim women out of the purview of Section 125 of
the Criminal Procedure Code, adding that the husband's obligation of
maintenance ended with the three month 'iddat' period and that thereafter
maintenance should be sought from the local wak£2 5 board led to full-blown
politicisation of the issue.
Response of the women's movement to the Shah Bano case could veer
between whatKumkum Sangari calls 'legal uniformity' and 'legal pluralism'.
The concept of a 'community' identity, religious or otherwise which can be
fixed along temporal and spatial co-ordinates is fallacious as identities are
known to be diverse and fluid. However even if one were to concede such an
identity, the possibility of internal reform and democratisation in favour of
gender justice may actually lead to reinforcing existing patriarchies within
the community. Also all women within the community may not consent to
' religious reformism' and may wish to opt out of the system. She argues that
gender based 'mutual representation' must be considered if the movement
is to forge unities. 'Self-representation' must not be used as an excuse to
stone-wall interrogation of the 'other' religion. Sangari writes, 'The divisions
among women along lines of class, consent and political choices have to
be fought through persuasion and/or political confrontation, not through
a capitulative politics of difference, exclusivism or hyper-particularism'
(2008: 522) The women's movement was already faced with the prospect
of revising symbols that it had adopted such as those ofKali and Durga in a
436/ INDIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
VOL. LXI, NO. 3, JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015

bid to root itself in the indigenous context given accusations that feminists
espoused 'western' causes and orientations. These symbols were now being
appropriated by the Hindu right for its religious revivalist agenda amongst
women as exemplified in the setting up of the VHP's Maitri Mandai and
Durga Vahini and the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mahila Morcha and the
Shiv Sena's Mahila Aghadi. Apart from these organisations which were
set up towards the end of the 1980s, this period also saw a more active
Rashtrasevika Samiti which traced its origin to 1936 but largely remained
dormant. These organisations while espousing a rebellious, militant identity
for wonien, very carefully channelled the same in social work, advocacy
and political representation. In a sense they were inverting the public/private
divide, by firmly superimposing the identity of the community over that of
gender. While women were to emulate goddess Durga in the public domain,
they must also set an example of the 'ideal' wife in the private sphere, hence
be 'dutiful' in every role. Interestingly the recasting of women's image
within the communal and fundamentalist narrative often overlapped with the
positions taken by the women's movement. Flavia Agnes (2008: 50 1-508)
gives the example of 'obscenity'. While women's organisations criticised
'objectification' of women in the media, fundamentalist forces too used
it as an excuse to recommend imposition of appropriate/ acceptable and
non-provocative dress codes on women. Increasing instances of communal
violence and the complicity of women have forced the women's movement
to re-think the existence of an-overarching category of gender united in
their fight against patriarchal domination and violence which could find
common cause with women of other religious persuasions on the grounds
of marriage, divorce, maintenance and inheritance laws. Communalism
changed the discourse within the women's movement. Rather than viewing
women as victims of violence including communal violence there was
a realisation that women do play an active role in inciting and abetting
collective violence. Un-packing this behaviour often led women activists
to argue that the sense of power and purpose that women experienced in
'defending the faith publicly' compensated for the lack of voice and agency
that women experienced in the typical patriarchal set-up of the private
domain. However, such acts could no longer be defended on the basis of
lack of knowledge or coercion of women. Pro-sati women campaigners in
the late 1980s made it evident that a woman's identity which was distinct
from communal/caste identity may not exist.
Economic liberalisation with its concomitant roll back of the state as an
active player in the economy has led to further marginalisation of women
apart from thinning out of the gender based identity that the women's
movement had forged. The culture of consumerism makes particular use
 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA I 437
RADHJKA KUMAR

of women in promoting/marketing products by creating an imagery of an

empowered woman who makes her own choices albeit limited to the kind
and range of products that she consumes. The category of the 'citizen' on
which women had anchored their concept of gender justice has been replaced
by that of a consumer. Class distinctions that are overtly manifest in unequal
patterns of consumption also over-ride a gendered perspective of economic
dependence and deprivation. The impact of liberalisation and the vagaries
of the market which are witnessed in forced migrations for work and farmer
suicides disproportionately impact women who are virtually 'left' behind to
fend for themselves and the family. Increasing contractual and casual nature
of employment with dilution oflabour protection is particularly debilitating
for women as over 90 per cent of the women work in the informal sector.
The women's movement has also been engaged in countering the argument
of'feminisation oflabour' .26 There also exists interconnectedness between
economic liberalisation and the rise of right wing forces. Pandering to the
interests of the upper-caste, upper and middle class as well as corporate
interests, there has been a coalescing of politico-economic forces with the
former backing majoritarian community political outfits both in terms of
electoral support and party and campaign funding. However, with regard to
the women's question right wing organisations have reacted with xenophobia
blaming westernisation for corruption of Indian culture. The impact is
perceived particularly in the arena of women's attitudes and behaviour
which therefore need to be re-moulded in the framework oflndian values,
based on an over-arching system of patriarchal control.
The reaction of the women's movement to the processes of economic
liberalisation has ranged from an outright critique to a qualified support for
the move towards globalisation in particular. Mary John (2008: 194-202)
summarises these positions as follows: The anti-liberalisation positions
when posited in the context of their adverse impact on women tend to be
ideologically committed to a 'pre-capitalist', 'pre-imperialist' formation.
This is true of eco-feminists too whose focus is on indigenous/ local
knowledge systems situated in a pre-modern visualisation of production
relations based on conservation rather than exploitation. Hence, the
alternative that activists working within Marxist, eco-feminist schools of
thought privilege is based on working with the past rather than the present
dispensation. While such a perspective may have also dominated the initial
response of the women's movement to the process of liberalisation, there
has been a shift from anti-globalisation to a counter-globalisation position
with attempts to delineate the variegated kinds of globalisation processes and
their impact instead of a blanket opposition to the new economic policies.
Hence, the qualified support to the process ofliberalisation and globalisation
438/ INDIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
VOL. LXI. NO.3, JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015

by women activists and those engaged in women's studies are also varied.
It is argued that liberalisation may put an end to state centric discourses
on development and women's empowerment which were not only alien on
account of their western orientation but implemented through centralised
bureaucracies stifling innovation and entrepreneurship. Globalisation is
also expected to help women forge linkages with the international labour
movement and other women's organisation thereby transcending national
barriers and enhancing women's mobility and opportunities. Yet another
position attributed to Gail Omvedt is one wherein globalisation is seen as
economically beneficial to the small farmer in so far as it does away with
capitalist monopolies and middle men, thereby freeing the market for
fairer terms of trade and production. However given the marginal position
that women, dalit, backward castes and minorities inhabit it may be near
impossible for them to access these many opportunities let alone utilise
them for empowerment. A fourth position that Mary John refers to is that
taken by founders of the SEWA movement namely Ela Bhatt and Renana
Jhabvala. Their approach which she terms 'pragmatic' is one of organising
and consolidating the many self-employed and home-based women workers
who are seen as the worst affected by withdrawal of state benefits. SEWA
mainstreams the marginalised by creating an alternative system of support
through child-care facilities, health and insurance benefits that the state
declares itself incapable of providing. The way forward lies in exposing
the multiple sites and kinds of deprivation and disparity. The question she
poses is "If poverty is bad for women, could prosperity be worse?" (Ibid:
201 ). The question is posed in the context of declining equality between the
sexes also referred to as the 'paradox' of the 'prosperity effect'.
CONCLUSION
The women's movement in India has evolved over the past century
and more from a tentative foray into the political sphere, hand held by men
closely associated with the struggle for independence to asserting its voice
in plural settings, 'breaking the silence' and articulating the 'politics of
the possible'. It was at its vocal and militant best in the 1980s as the local
got catapulted at the national level while the national and urban sought to
engage with the local, conjoined on the common platform of patriarchal
violence and subordination manifest in the spheres of the family, community
and state. The decade of the 1990s posed new challenges to the women's
movement including the escalation of identity politics based on caste and
community. While responses of women activists to adoption of economic
liberalisation are varied, ranging from pessimism to guarded optimism,
there is no denying the increasing uncertainty that typifies the market
 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA I 439
RADHIKA KUMAR

mechanism and pervades daily struggles for survival, disproportionately

impacting women apart from other marginalised sections of society. From
dealing with individual issues, the women's movement has come to adopt
a holistic approach. Yet violence against women remains entrenched within
society. Beginning with violence in the womb to trafficking and child sexual
abuse, violence in the matrimonial home and communal and caste-based
rape and violence, the violence of development, the cycle of violence
refuses to abate. The women's movement would need to step up its efforts
and actively work towards creating a gender-sensitive and gender-just
culture/ counter-socialisation that begins with childhood and continues in
adolescence and adulthood.
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Economic and Political Weekly, April25, wsl9-ws33, (online], available: http://www.
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Agnihotri, lndu and Mazumdar, Vina 2005, 'Changing Tenns ofPolitical Discourse: Women's
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Badarinath, Pooja 20ll, 'The Challenge of Subjectivity within Courts: Interpreting the
Domestic Violence Act', Economic and Political Weekly, 46(12), March 19, p.l5-18.'
Banerjee, Ninnala 2008, 'How Real is the Bogey of Feminisation?' in Women :S Studies in
India: A Reader (ed.) by Mary E. John, Navi Mumbai: Penguin.
Basu, Aparna n.d. 'Indian Women's Movement', Foundation Course on Human Rights,
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Khullar, Mala 2005,' Introduction: Writing the Women's Movement' in Writing the Women s
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Footnotes
I. These included Sakhi Samaj in Bengal set up in 1882 by Swarna Kumari Devi who
was Rabindranath Tagore's sister, another organization set up in the same year was
the Arya Mahila Samaj established by Pandita Ramabai Saraswati in 1882 as also the
Sharda Sadan which aimed at rehabilitating young widows by providing education
and employment. Swarna Kumari Devi's daughter Sarladevi Chaudhurani set up the
first all-India women's organization in 1901 called Bharat Stri Mahamandal. In 1916
the Begum of Bhopal set up the All-India Muslim Women's Conference with a focus
on education and condemning practices such as polygamy within the community.
Also the Women's Indian Association (WIA) was set up in Madras in 1917 by Annie
Besant, Margaret Cousins and Dorothy Jinarajadasa. All three had been a part of the
Irish Suffragette Movement. The National Council ofWomen with an affiliation to the
International Council of Women was set up in 1925 By Lady Tata and Lady Aberdeen.
Margaret Cousins also set up the All-India Women's Conference in 1927 which then
became a part of the Women's Indian Association in the 1930s.The first conference on
educational reform for women was organized in January 1927 in Poona and thereafter
held annually. Together these various initiatives have been labeled as a rudimentary
form of the women's movement in India.(Basu and Ray 1990 in Khullar 2005, 4)
2. The princely state ofTravancore-Cochin was the first to give women the right to vote
in 1920 followed by the provincial legislatures of Bombay and Madras in 1921 and
 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA /441
RADHIKA KUMAR

thereafter by other states. However, women's franchise was limited by the conditions
of marriage, education and property. These qualifications were reduced following the
Government of India Act of 1935 and women above the age of 21 with property and
education got the right to vote (Basu n.d.)
3. In the international arena the decade 1975-1985 was declared as the International Decade
of the Woman by the United Nations and a world conference on women was· held in
Mexico. The 'World Plan of Action' which was adopted at the conference stressed on
the need to interrogate the nature and causes of persisting gender ba~ed inequalities
across nations.
4. For instance, The National Commission on Self-Employed Women (NCSEW) which
brought out a report 'Shramshakti' in 1988 included inputs of various national and
sub-national women's organizations (Khullar 2005: 15). As the government actively
promoted the cause of self-employed and home-based women workers, the women's
movement was faced with the dilemma of either going along with the government for
the small measures that it had taken or to push for greater inclusion of such workers
within the formal economy. In fact the women's movement was later accused of not
having done enough to promote gender equality within the sphere of labour rights
(Agnihotri and Mazumdar 2005: 71).
5. The Mahila Samakhya programme which means education for women's equality was
launched by the Indian government in the three states-Uttar Pradesh, Kamataka and
Gujarat in 1989. The aim of the programme was to promote education for women
and was seen as particularly successful in taking up the case of .school dropouts and
educating them by collaborating with the local community. The programme is functional
in nine states and is funded by the UNICEF (United Nations International Children's
Education Fund) and the World Bank apart from other organizations, [online], Available:
http://www.uniccf.org/india/media_2650.htm [29/05/2014]. This programme has
been criticised as it did not provide any regular salary or job security and safety to the
women volunteers. Rather it was an act of co-option by the government wherein an
honorarium which was Jess than the minimum wage was offered to women workers
thereby diluting the 'militancy' of the women's movement. See Kalpana Mehta 2008,
Women's Movements in India, Seminar, (online) available: http://www.india-seminaf.
com/2008/583/583_ kalpanajnehta.htrn [1/06/20 14].
6. These included the All India Women's Conference (AIWC), The Young Women's
Christian Association fYWCA) and the National Federation oflndian Women (NFIW)
(Sen 2005: 84)
7. The movement was also associated with left leaning leadership provided by Mrinal
Gore of the Socialist party and Ahilya Rangnekar ofthe CPI (M) (Basu n.d.)
8. For more on the APRM see Nandita Gandhi. 1996. When the Rolling Pins Hit the
Streets: Women in the Anti-Price Rise Movement in Maharashtra, New Delhi: Kali for
Women.
9. Ghanshyarn Shah argues that the Navnirman and Total Revolution movement was
essentially an urban- middle class movement such that 'Adivasis, Harijans and Muslims
as well as poor peasants, landless labourers, industrial workers and casual labourers
tended to remain indifferent to the agitations in both the states'. (Shah 2002: 351 ). He
argues elsewhere that Navnirman provided an opportunity for 'reactionary forces' to
gain ascendance (Shah 2007)
10. In an interesting anecdote from the movement Nripendra Shrivastav writes that the
officials asked the women about who would cultivate the land and who would plough
it? To this the women responded by saying that they may have to use hoes instead of
ploughs but the land must be registered in the woman's name. Tlie slogan they used
442 I INDIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
VOL. LXI, NO.3, JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015

was 'Barabar ki Bhagidar, Barabar ki Larai'. It is argued that as women were involved
in all cultivation related activities they knew that they could manage the land on their
own. An important feature was that while earlier the close relation that women shared
with nature was recognized, now women's ownership of nature and natural resources
was asserted (Shrivastav n.d.)
11. Other examples include that of the Nipani bidi workers, Tamil Nadu construction
workers and Rajnandgaon textile workers. In the case of the Nipani Bidi workers the
trade union organization was constituted essentially of women who were employed in
various bidi factories. Through organizational work, not only did they achieve better
working conditions and benefits in the factories but also started a multipurpose women's
co-operative to provide essential commodities at subsidized rates, a creche to take care
of children while women were working in the factories as well as a transitional home
to 'rehabilitate' Devadasis. It is argued that these activities point to the fact that the
trade union now acquired the character of a women's organization exposing patriarchal
practices as well undertaking practical measures-to ameliorate the condition of women
(Datar 1995:234-235)
12. SEWA was registered as a trade union in 2007. However it is both a trade union and a
co-operative addressing both economic and social security concerns of informal women
workers from across the country.
13. Many women activists who were earlier associated with left organisations found it
difficult to raise women's issues within the parent organisation. The instance of the
Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) that was set up in Hyderabad in 1974 is
instructive here. Members of the women's group initially mulled over setting up a
separate organisation and even consulted male members from the left groups. However
the response was that setting up a separate women's organisation would be divisive
of the struggle apart from being 'anti-Marxist' as women do not constitute a separate
class. Once economic classes were eliminated women's emancipation would also be
achieved. The sphere of the private included the economic base of production but
stopped short of interrogating the relations of power that existed within the 'private'
family. While this spurred the activists to set up a separate organisation namely POW
in September 1974, it is ironic that they faced persecution during the Emergency in
1975 precisely for supporting left groups (Lalita 2008: 32-41 ).
14. The case was transferred as it was alleged that a serving Judge of the Andhra Pradesh
constituting the one- man enquiry commission would adversely impact the ability of
the lower judiciary to act impartially. A review petition was filed by a women's group
• Vimochana' in Bangalore but the appeal was not entertained. Kalpana Kannabiran
(2008: 229-234) writing about Rameeza's predicament argues that she had to prove
that she was not a prostitute or a woman of loose character because she had married
earlier,- that she was legally married to Ahmed Hussain and that she was also a devout
muslim. The reality of rape and violence was lost in the rhetoric of morality, minority
identity and the aggression of the state manifest through the police force.
15. The committee was chaired by Justice J.S. Verma, a former chiefjustice of the Supreme
Court and submitted its report within a month. Some of the main recommendations
included clearly defining the offence of rape which must include all cases of non-
consensual penetration of a sexual nature and therefore marital rape must also be
recognized as a crime. The definition of sexual assault must also be widened to include
all instances of non-consensual, non-penetrative touching of a sexual nature. The
committee also made recommendations for acid-attack victims, cases of child-sexual
abuse, and offences against women in conflict areas and also verbal sexual assault which
would be punishable with one year of imprisonment or a fine or both. For details see
 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN INDIA /443
RADHIKA KUMAR

PRS Legislative Research n.d., Justice Venna Committee Report Summary, [online],
available: http:/Avwvv.prsindia.orglparliamenttrack. '~'report-suiTimaries/iustice­
verma-cornrnittee-report-surnrnarv-262 8/[ 13/06/20 14]
16. The J.S. Verma Committee also recommended changes to the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal} Bill, 2012. It was said
that the bill mus.t include within its ambit domestic workers. Further the bill requires
the complainant and respondent to first attempt reconciliation which the committee held
was contrary to the Supreme Court guidelines in the Vishakha case. Also the employer
must pay monetary compensation to the victim. The committee also suggested that
instead of setting up an internal complaint committee, an Employment Tribunal must
be constituted to deal with complaints relating to sexual harrassment. The bill regarding
sexual harassment became an act in 2013.
17. The giving and taking of dowry was prohibited by the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961
which has been successively amended. However the act was largely in-effective as
till!982 i.e. over a period of 21 years only one conviction had taken place under the
act (Agnihotri and Mazurndar 2005: 56). In 1986 the law was amended such that
the punishment for demanding dowry was enhanced and in cases where the woman
died an un-natural death her property would be inherited either by her children or her
parents. Also the onus now lay on the accused to prove his innocence and dowry was
made a non-bailable offence. However, dowry related incidents are on the rise going
up from 400 a year in the 1980s to 5,800 a year in the 1990s. See Monobina Gupta
2009, Marching Together: Resisting Dowry in India, Jagori, [online] available: httD://
jagori.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dovvry_Jnfop_aclsi .df{l 5/06/20 14]
18. The Act recognises physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse. Domestic
relationships include sisters, widows, mothers, daughters and others. The act also
provides the woman with a right to reside in the shared household while the case is
being decided in court. Also the act provided a civil remedy as opposed to criminal
prosecution which would have included -conviction and prosecution of the offender.
It also recognises need for emergency relief in the form of shelter, maintenance and
compensation to the abused woman.
19. A case in point is the S.R. Batra vs Taruna Batra (2007) case in which the court
interpreted 'shared household' as only that which was related to the husband, while
self-acquired property of the in-laws was excluded from this definition. Hence the wife
could not get a right of residence in her mother-in-law's house (Badarinatb20 11: 16).
20. Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in the total population.
In the 2011 census the overall sex ratio increased by 7 points from 933 (2001 census)
to 940 females per 1000 males. However what was alarming was that the child sex
ratio (between 0-6 years) stood at 914 girls per 1000 boys while in the 2001 census
child sex ratio stood at 927. In Haryana the sex ratio was 897 while in Punjab it was
895 according to the 2011 census.
21. The woman who commits sati is liable for imprisonment from one to five years and a
fine ofRs 5000 toRs 20,000. For details see Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act 1987,
Ministry of Woman and Child Development, Government oflndia [online] available:
http://wcd.nic.inlcornrnissionot'satiprevention.htm [16/06/2014]. It is interesting to
note that in 2007, 20 years after the passage of the act, the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government at the centre sought to make changes to the act, adding more stringent
punishments for those abetting sati and turning it into a non-bailable offence. However,
following opposition from the then minister of mines Sis Ram Ola who hailed from
Jhunjhunu -district in the Shekhawati region ofRajasthan, the amendments to the original
··act we·re'cft<ippld. Ola objected to older sati temples, the ones that were in existence
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VOL. LXI. NO. 3, JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015

before the Roop Kanwar incident being razed to the ground as stipulated under the anti-
sari law. The issue in fact perplexed lawmakers because they were expected to reconcile
a regressive practice with proposed progressive amendments to the act, which meant
"Upholding sati temples in anti-sati law". See IANS 2007, Upholding sati temples in
anti-sati law!, DNA, 21 September, [online], available: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/
report-up]iQldLn£:MHeinjj.e[ l· \ f/• ,,, ,]
22. Other legislation enacted during this period include, The Indecent Representation of
Women Act ( 1986). However Agnes writes that the act confuses indecent representation
of women with morality. This had twin effects. One was that the state was handed over
excessive powers of intervention and secondly it gave a license to conservative forces
for moral policing such as laying down behavioural modes including dress codes which
were socially acceptable and deemed most appropriate for 'decent' women.
23 . Shah Banoja divorced 75-year old womarypetitioned the court for maintenance from
her husband Mohammad Ahmed Khan. In 1985 the case was decided in the Supreme
court by a five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud who
ruled that Shah Bano was entitled to maintenance under section 125 of the Criminal
Procedure Code (CrPC) as well as under Muslim personal law as cited by Shah Bano's
counsel Daniel Latifi . The court also held that section 125 'cut across the barriers of
religion' and was critical of the subordinate status accorded to women under various
personal laws (Kumar 2008 : 496)
24. One must note that the political atmosphere in the country at that time was communally
charged as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had spearheaded an agitation for building
a Ram temple at the site where the Babri Masjid stood in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The
VHP claimed that the site was sacred to Hindus as it was the birthplace of Lord Ram
and mobilised around 2,00,000 volunteers across the country for this cause. A judgement
of the District Magistrate in 1986 allowing Hindus to worship within the shrine led the
VHP to celebrate the decision with 'victory processions' while the Muslim community
held 'mourning processions'. The Shah Bano and the Ram j anam-bhoomi judgement
placed the minority community on the defensive that in tum formed the Babri Masjid
Action Committee with a view to defend the faith and interests of Muslims. Radha
Kumar notes that it was during the Shah Bano agitations that the initial demand for
legalising the practice of sati was made(2008: 499-500) .
25. Wakfboards administer communally owned lands
26. The later position first put forth by Guy Standing of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) claims that since the 1960s, the proportion of women employed
in the work-force has risen considerably across both developed and developing
countries (Banerjee 2008: 202). However 'feminisation oflabour' may be countered
by 'feminisation of poverty' which argues that-the worst affected by policies of
liberalisation would be women.