The Saga of Feminism - Anjali Kulkarni

Every year, March 8th is celebrated globally as International Women's Day. It is a day to honor the myriad achievements women have secured through their long fight for their rights. Simultaneously, it serves as a day to raise awareness about the secondary status that women continue to hold in society and within the family. But what exactly is feminism? And why is Women's Day celebrated specifically on March 8th? Many of us do not know the answers to these questions. The feminist movement has reached a pivotal point today, bringing about monumental changes in the lives of women. From science and technology to space exploration and even driving tractors, women are at the forefront of every field. The credit for this transformation belongs entirely to the feminist movement, which has a rich history of opposing female subjugation, stretching all the way back to the French Revolution. It is a history that must be understood.

What is Feminism?

Many grapple with the question: What exactly does feminism mean? At its core, feminist ideology has a distinct political direction. In simple terms, feminism is the awareness of the oppression women face on private, social, economic, and political levels, and the readiness to struggle against this oppression. This principle has expanded over time. For instance, the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing delivered a powerful message: "Look at the world, at life, through the eyes of women." If we trace the origins of women's issues and suffering, we find that from childhood through various stages of life, women weave dreams and aspirations for their future. However, the patriarchal society has entirely different expectations of them. This dominant social structure has always expected women to be beautiful, humble, modest, virtuous, kind, hardworking, servile, and tolerant. The vast, life-threatening chasm that formed between women's dreams and society's expectations is the very crucible where female suffering and feminist issues were born. Therefore, if we view these issues from a woman's perspective—understanding her dreams, desires, and ambitions—only then can women, and by extension all of society, live in peace and happiness. After all, women constitute half the world. Feminism, in its broad scope, is the resolve and action taken to identify one's own issues, dreams, and goals, and to fight against the system that obstructs them. Women have the right to shape and blossom their lives according to their own will, but the movement had to wage a long and arduous struggle to win this right. This is the thrilling and inspiring story of that struggle.

The Dawn of the Movement: The West

This saga commences during the French Revolution, in which women were active participants. Enraged by severe food shortages and famine, nearly 13,000 women laid siege to the royal palace, chanting "We want bread!" and imprisoning Louis XVI in Paris. Empowered by this struggle, women later launched several movements for the right to vote, such as the Suffragette movement. This was the genesis of feminism. It was during this period that topics like property rights, reforms in marriage laws, and sexual freedom first entered public discourse. In England, Mary Wollstonecraft's was the first powerful articulation of gender equality. The Human Rights Bill passed in France in 1789 and the Bill of Rights in America granted equal rights to all men. Citing these, Mary raised profound questions: "Why are these rights not for women? Are women not 'human'?" The renowned philosopher John Stuart Mill and his wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, explicitly argued in their writings that women must have the right to education, to vote, to participate in public life, and to sexual freedom. Their seminal works on this subject include Mill's , Taylor's , and their collaborative work, . In America, Margaret Brent first demanded the right for women to vote in the Maryland Assembly in 1674. Later, in 1848, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Martha Wright organized the first women's convention at Seneca Falls, New York. This convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments, proclaiming that "all men and women are created equal" and demanding that the historical injustices against women be rectified. The declaration called for women's right to education, to earn money, to vote, to contest elections, and even to become religious preachers. In 1890, The National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed, but its work was marred by racial prejudice, leading to opposition from Black people and working-class women. In 1907, under the leadership of communist activist Clara Zetkin, the first International Socialist Women's Conference was held in Stuttgart, where she championed the cause of universal suffrage. The turning point came on March 8, 1908, in New York City, where thousands of female textile workers gathered in Rutgers Square for a massive demonstration. They demanded a ten-hour workday, safety in the workplace, and the right to vote for all men and women, irrespective of race, class, or education. This monumental protest became historic. In recognition of this event, at the second International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen in 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed that March 8th be celebrated annually as International Women's Day. The suggestion was met with overwhelming enthusiasm, and since then, March 8th has been observed worldwide. Through relentless struggle, women gradually won the right to vote across various American states. This first phase of feminism brought the issues of suffrage and equal opportunity to the forefront.

The Second Wave and a New Consciousness

In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking book, , was published. Her assertion, "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," became legendary. De Beauvoir was the first to underscore that a woman is not seen as a human being or an individual within the family and society, but rather as an object of pleasure and a tool for service. This very point became the foundational principle for all subsequent feminist movements. The period after 1960 was characterised by more aggressive, radical feminist activism. In 1968, American feminists vehemently protested the Miss America pageant. Chanting slogans like "No More Miss America" and "The Personal is Political," they stormed the event, crowned a sheep "Miss America," and threw away bras, girdles, and cosmetics. They were protesting against sexism, the exploitation of women in a patriarchal system, and the compulsion to be beautiful. Thinkers like linguist and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva exposed the hypocrisy of a male-dominated culture that on one hand worships women as goddesses and mothers, while on the other treats them as slaves and servants, branding them as sinners and sluts. In this way, women began to reject the false narratives created about them by the patriarchy and demanded to be seen for what they are: human beings. In 1972, the United Nations conducted a global survey on the status of women, examining factors like education, health, economic independence, and participation in decision-making. The findings were shocking and disheartening. In response, the UN urged nations to take measures to improve the condition of women, declaring 1975 as International Women's Year and 1975–1985 as the International Women's Decade.  

The Feminist Movement in India

The winds of Europe's 17th and 18th-century Enlightenment and transformation reached India via the British, who ruled the country for 150 years. One positive outcome of this was the introduction of English education. The first generations of educated Indians were exposed to world history, revolutions, and the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. They learned about the women's movements in America and Europe, which made them acutely aware of the deplorable treatment of women in their own country. They recognised that women's lives were shackled by pernicious customs like the Sati (widow immolation), Keshavapan (ritualistic shaving of a widow's head), child marriage, the ban on widow remarriage, and the denial of education. This new awareness changed their perspective, and social leaders began efforts to reform the condition of women. The issue of women's reform was intrinsically linked to broader social reform. Visionaries from Raja Ram Mohan Roy onwards undertook the task of women's upliftment. The legal battle for women's rights began with the Sati Prohibition Act of 1829, passed by Lord William Bentinck. A crucial milestone was the Age of Consent Act of 1891. Prior to this, children were married off in their cradles. Young girls, aged eight or ten, were often married to much older men, sometimes widowers marrying for the second or third time. These young girls, whose bodies and minds were unprepared for marital relations, often died. The passing of this act was aided by the case of Dr Rakhmabai Raut, who courageously fought her own child marriage. Married in her infancy without her knowledge, Rakhmabai continued to live with her parents and, encouraged by her father, pursued her education to become a doctor. She then wrote letters to declaring her rejection of the marriage performed in her "ignorant childhood." The letters caused a stir. Her husband, Dadaji, filed a lawsuit. Initially, the court ruled in Rakhmabai's favor, but intense social backlash led to the decision being overturned on appeal. The court ordered her to live with her husband. However, Dr Rakhmabai famously declared, "I would rather go to prison than live with a husband I did not choose," and she stood by her word. Her defiance ignited a wave of self-awareness in society, paving the way for the Age of Consent Act, which set the minimum age of marriage for girls at twelve. Later, with the rise of Gandhiji, the Child Marriage Restraint Act (or Sarda Act) of 1929 raised this age to 14. Gradually, it was increased to 18. The landmark Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 further stipulated the minimum age as 15 for girls and 18 for boys, and also granted women the right to divorce, alimony, and adoption. Simultaneously, the movement for women's education began in Maharashtra, with the contributions of Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Savitribai Phile being truly monumental. Jyotirao had a precise and clear understanding of women's issues. He realized that the most oppressed sections of society—the Shudras, Ati-Shudras, and women—must be educated. He opened schools for them and organized a barbers' strike to boycott the custom of . The couple also established a "Home for the Prevention of Infanticide" to provide shelter and care for pregnant widows—victims of rape or consensual relationships—and their children. Savitribai cared for these women like an older sister and raised their children as her own. The work of Pandita Ramabai was also crucial. She founded 'Sharda Sadan,' an educational institution primarily for child widows. However, because Ramabai had converted to Christianity, her sincere efforts were always viewed with suspicion of proselytisation, and despite initial support, she was gradually isolated. She continued her work with her daughter Manorama in Kedgaon. During this era, the relentless efforts of Justice M.G. Ranade, Ramabai Ranade, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, and others ensured that the cause of women's education continued to advance. This 19th-century movement, focused on women's upliftment, welfare, and reform, smoothed the path for the feminist movement that followed.

The Movement Gains Momentum

The declaration of 1975 as International Women's Year unleashed a massive wave of women's liberation across the globe, which powerfully swept through India and Maharashtra. Urban, educated, middle-class women, awakened to a new self-awareness, began to organise. They raised issues of patriarchy, body politics, gender construction, and sexual politics, echoing the sentiment that "the personal is political." The movement fiercely condemned the patriarchal system that denied women the right to live as individuals. Women's organizations demanded an end to exploitation within the family, atrocities against women, domestic violence, dowry deaths, and superstitions. They fought for economic rights like equal pay for equal work, safety and dignity at the workplace, and facilities like creches. They also undertook consciousness-raising work on women's health and legal rights. The movement's work on the triple fronts of struggle, constructive action, and awareness was truly significant. In the 1980s, a shocking incident in Pune captured Maharashtra's attention. The murder of Manjushree Sarda, a woman from an educated, affluent, upper-caste family, by her husband became a subject of statewide debate. This was followed by the Shaila Latkar murder case. These two incidents shattered the prevailing myth that atrocities against women only occurred in rural, uneducated, and so-called "lower-caste" families. Women's organisations pursued these cases vigorously, bringing the issues of domestic violence and dowry deaths into the public eye. They demanded changes to laws that were biased towards men and played a crucial role in legally defining "dowry" and "violence." These organisations worked on multiple levels: explaining the importance of laws to women and society, raising awareness, providing legal aid to victims, and helping them rebuild their lives through employment. They conducted workshops to foster gender sensitivity among police, lawyers, journalists, and activists. They emphasised that women must empower themselves through education and economic independence, and not see themselves as helpless. These organisations also powerfully drove a movement for women's political empowerment. They demanded reservations for women from local self-governing bodies to the Parliament. Often, elected women in local bodies were mere figureheads, with their husbands, brothers, or fathers running the show. This was due to their lack of knowledge about their roles, rights, and the functioning of these institutions. Women's organisations understood this and began organising training workshops for elected female Sarpanchs, Deputy Sarpanchs, and MLAs. These were bold steps towards women's empowerment and enablement. Numerous organisations, including Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Nari Samata Manch, Stree Mukti Andolan Sampark Samiti, and Stree Aadhar Kendra, began working with a feminist consciousness. Their reach gradually extended to rural areas. Notably, it was the less-educated, working-class women from poor rural households who threw themselves into the movement without fear of the consequences. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these women kept the embers of the movement glowing for years. From 1960 to 1990, women were at the forefront of not only feminist issues but also movements for Dalits, Adivasis, nomadic tribes, Muslims, labourers, small farmers, and the landless. They actively participated in struggles concerning education, water, health, addiction, employment, the environment, and sustainable development, as well as in constructive movements like cooperatives and self-help groups. They fought against all forms of inequality—be it based on caste, religion, class, language, region, or gender.

New Challenges in a New Era

After four decades of relentless struggle, one would expect women's problems to be solved. But that did not happen. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, four decades is a short time compared to thousands of years of oppression. Secondly, the movement sometimes became single-minded, with organisations working in isolated silos on different issues, leading to a lack of a holistic approach. Furthermore, the 1990s brought a global transformation. The advent of globalisation changed the face of the world, leading to the computerisation, mechanisation, and marketisation of human life. Money became the central focus, and social movements were fragmented and subdued. The concept of the "social activist" faded, replaced by NGOs. While NGOs did work on various issues, many, with some exceptions, became dependent on foreign funding and worked on external agendas. In a way, NGOs diluted the fighting spirit of the movements and ended the era of the grassroots activist. Unfortunately, during this period, the commodification of women accelerated. Society's attitude towards women regressed. Religious rituals and ostentation made a comeback. In the 80s, simple registered marriages had gained respectability; now, lavish weddings are the norm again, reflecting a societal trend of flaunting wealth. Modernity has also brought new challenges. Sexual harassment at the workplace, women's safety, and human trafficking have become grave issues. Incidents like the 'Nirbhaya' case are happening everywhere, every day. The misuse of modern technology—taking and morphing photos of girls, recording videos to blackmail or defame them—is on the rise. Despite all this, women's organisations continue to work with all their might. Recent movements like #MeToo and the Right to Pee campaign, alongside struggles for women's entry into temples and mosques and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, are still ongoing. While some of these fights have achieved legal success, a great deal of work remains at the implementation level. In this blazing history of struggle, women have gained much, but much is yet to be won. The struggle is far from over, and it will, and must, continue. - Anjali Kulkarni  Renowned Author 9922072158 (This article is the translated version of the original article कहाणी स्त्रीवादाची  written by Anjali Kulkarni published in the Sahitya Chaprak Diwali Ank 2025 )

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