A Work- analysis by Sanchit Raj, Master’s from University of Delhi.

Traditional histories of nationalism have largely been written from a male perspective. However, the trajectory of women in colonial india shows that their first historical account date mainly from the period of social reforms in the nineteenth century. Although, women’s participation in the nationalist movement & Gandhian struggles, and economic institutional issues have not been given much space in the history writing at point of time. Noted historian James Mill argued that the status of women indicated a society’s rung on the ladder of civilization and India featured way below on this front according to him. In contemporary to this , many feminist historians have tried to provide certain historiographical debates and connections between gender , caste , social reforms, communalism and nationalism.

Social reforms emerged as a truly liberating force, leading to the abolition of sati, encouraging female education & widow remarriages , rise in the age of consent, eradication of purdah ( veil), and end to obscene representation of women in the field of literature and art. The ancient past during Rig Vedic period was depicted as a golden age where women were valued and occupied positions of high status parallel to men.  As GAIL Pearson has remarked , women’s participation provided in some sense the basis for universalising the national movement as a whole.

A group of later historians, broadly leftist, along with early feminist historians pointed to the uneven nature of development and it’s various contradictions. They also examined regional variations and studied women’s participation at various levels, in terms of consciousness, perceptions and actions. GERALDINE FORBES remarked that women’s issues that did not threaten patriarchal society could comfortably co-exist with the nationalist movement. ASHIS NANDY’S work hinted that gender histories would be incomplete without examining masculinity, which is as vital for gender analysis as ruling classes are for class analysis. CHARU GUPTA’S essay complicates discourses around masculinity by linking it to debate around homo-sexuality and same sex love and desire in colonial India.

PARTHA CHATTERJEE argues that with the growth of the national movement in the early 20th century, the women’s questions was co-opted to the larger political project and put ‘ on hold ‘, pending achievement of other objectives. SUBALTERN HISTORIANS, particularly in their search for non- elite perspectives for understanding historical processes, have also left their mark on gender historiography of colonial India. They too argue that the central question regarding women in 19th century was not what women want but rather how to modernise them, and this came with its own coercive package. Simultaneously, MULTI ETHENIC AND INTER- RACIAL families, which formed a constitutive part of the Anglo – Indian colonial society in its formative areas , provided new dimensions to representations of gender and social hierarchies. It has also been pointed out that the liberation of India from British colonial rule actually did not do much for women’s freedom.

Feminist scholars also pointed out that reforms and nationalism told us little about women’s desire and emotions, their health and work, and economic questions largely remained untouched. A significant study has recently argued that modern nationalist and liberal feminist historiographies of colonial India have largely been Hindu centric, and have discursively and materially rendered muslim women as invisible, oppressed , and backward, even while they were exercising all kinds of agencies. Reforms also revealed almost no concerns for women working in factories, the problem faced by tribal women due to encroachment of a modern market economy, or what commercialization of agriculture had done to peasant women. Feminist scholars have recognised the potential and possibilities of these endeavours, who operated against various orthodoxies and conservativism. After all, this was also a period when caste hierarchies and patriarchies were interrogated and qualified to an extent.

Alongside, the spread of education among women , increasing visibility through print and political participation in the public domain , and reinterpretation of pleasures, created a sense of dispute and increased patriarchal insecurities. Many social reforms activities were initiated by Brahmo samaj, prarthana samaj, Arya samaj, Aligarh movement and Singh sabha. ANDREA MAJOR’S argued that the ideas of the British on sati were not monolithic but a combination of revulsion and admiration.

Extensive debate took place on conjugal rights, particularly on the age of consent bill of 1891, which again revealed the tensions within reforms. The controversy fore- grounded the issues of infant marriage. A series of tragedies occured in Bengal, including the death of 10 years old Phulmoni due to rape by her 35 years old husband, Hari Mohan Maity, campaigners like Behramji Malabari renewed their efforts to raise the age of consent. In 1891, under pressure from such reformist, the government raised the age of consent for having sex with a wife from 10 years to 12 years. The paradoxical relationship between colonialism, reforms and gender is also revealed in the case of female infanticide. The changing economy of the colonial period, the demands that the states made for timely revenue payments, the fixing of land in patriarchal hands, increasing dowry demands, combined with parents wishing to have more sons to work on the land or join the army, led to the firm establishment of son- preferences, transforming daughters into ‘unwanted burdens’.

Brahmanical patriarchy in early colonial Maharashtra, in order to establish its control, constructed widowhood as social death. It enforced permanent widowhood on women, and stringently alienated the widow from her own sexuality and reproduction. During social reforms & national movements, it paralled other attempts to control and isolate women and at the same time to support reforms in order to appear civilized. J. DEVIKA shows how in early 20th century, there were sharp differences between the kind of education advocated for Malayala Brahmin women and men. Women received an education that was to equip them for modern domesticity and prepare them to be efficient housewives and good companions to modern educated husbands. Some upper caste widows of Banaras used education to reject stereotypes of widows and to manipulate the ascetic model to carve out a space for themselves. Women’s journal like stribodh( 1857) and Amar Jiban (1876) created  endless opportunities for women to argue for a voice of their own in family and educational life. GAIL MINAULT shows in her essay that how many elite muslim women like Azizunnissa, Begams of Bhopal, Bi Amman and Bibi Ashraf of North India educated themselves against all odds.In spite of various limitations, there emerged a number of dynamic women like PANDITA RAMABAI, MATAJI TAPASWINI, BEGAM ROKEYA HUSSEIN, SISTER SUBBALAKSHMI, ANNIE BESANT , who benefited from the spread of women’s education in the period. RAMABAI was one of the 19th century figures. She blamed Manu, the Hindu progenitor of man, for the current societal wrongs against women. She was a pioneer in women’s education and a rebel champion of women’s rights.

ANUPAMA RAO’S expansive essay brings out the contradictory effects of social reforms of gender by caste radicals. She shows how how jyotirao phule and satyashodak samaj used the same vocabulary to equate the plight of women with that of lower castes, as both were defined regulation. B.R. AMBEDKAR and E.V. RAMASWAMY( Periyar) launched significant critiques of caste and gender from outside Indian nationalism’s discursive frame. There are some gaps in historiography. For example, women’s participation in the nationalist movement and Gandhian struggles and economic institutional issues have not been given much space. Therefore, combining vernacular and official , oral and print , memories and myths , these writings have aimed at providing certain historiographical debates and connections between gender, caste, social reforms, communalism and nationalism.

Thank you my learner fraternity

Author: SANCHIT RAJ