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Building Resilience Among

Vulnerable Communities
Chapter 1

LGBT Community
Introduction:
The term “LGBT” technically stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender. It includes both sexual orientation (LGB) and gender identity
(T). But it is sometimes used as an umbrella term for anyone who does not
identify as straight (heterosexual) or cisgender, so it is important to know
other sexual and gender identities the term covers. Below, we break down
a few basic terms and concepts. These are just some of the many terms
that are used to define sexual orientation, as well as gender identity and
expression. A word of caution: We should be careful not to impose any of
these terms onto others. Let others identify themselves in ways that make
them feel safe and authentic to their true selves.

History & Resilience of LGBT community in the World:

Social movements, organizing around the acceptance and rights of
persons who might today identify as LGBT or queer, began as responses
to centuries of persecution by church, state, and medical authorities.
Where homosexual activity or deviance from established gender
roles/dress was banned by law or traditional custom, such condemnation
might be communicated through sensational public trials, exile, medical
warnings, and language from the pulpit. These paths of persecution
entrenched homophobia for centuries but also alerted entire populations
to the existence of difference.

Whether an individual recognized they, too, shared this identity and were
at risk, or dared to speak out for tolerance and change, there were few
organizations or resources before the scientific and political revolutions of
the 18th and 19th centuries. Gradually, the growth of a public media and
ideals of human rights drew together activists from all levels of society,
who drew courage from sympathetic medical studies, banned literature,
emerging sex research, and a climate of greater democracy.

By the 20th century, a movement in recognition of gays and lesbians was

underway, abetted by the social climate of feminism and new
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anthropologies of difference. However, throughout 150 years of

homosexual social movements (from the 1870s to today), leaders and
organizers struggled to address the vastly different concerns and identity
issues of gay men, women identifying as lesbians, and others identifying
as gender variant or nonbinary. White, male, and Western activists whose
groups and theories gained leverage against homophobia did not
necessarily represent the range of racial, class, and national identities
complicating a broader LGBT agenda. Women were often left out
altogether.

What is the prehistory of LGBT activism? Most historians agree that there
is evidence of homosexual activity and same-sex love, whether such
relationships were accepted or persecuted, in every documented culture.
We know that homosexuality existed in ancient Israel simply because it is
prohibited in the Bible, whereas it flourished between both men and
women in Ancient Greece. Substantial evidence also exists for individuals
who lived at least part of their lives as a different gender than assigned at
birth. From the lyrics of same-sex desire inscribed by Sappho in the
seventh century BCE to youths raised as the opposite sex in cultures
ranging from Albania to Afghanistan; from the “female husbands” of
Kenya to the Native American “Two-Spirit,” alternatives to the Western
male-female and heterosexual binaries thrived across millennia and
culture.

These realities gradually became known to the West via travellers’ diaries,
the church records of missionaries, diplomats’ journals, and in reports by
medical anthropologists. Such eyewitness accounts in the era before other
media were of course riddled with the biases of the (often) Western or
White observer, and added to beliefs that homosexual practices were
other, foreign, savage, a medical issue, or evidence of a lower racial
hierarchy. The peaceful flowering of early trans or bisexual acceptance in
different Indigenous civilizations met with opposition from European and
Christian colonizers.

In the age of European exploration and empire-building, Native American,

North African, and Pacific Islander cultures accepting of “Two-Spirit”
people or same-sex love shocked European invaders who objected to any
deviation from a limited understanding of “masculine” and “feminine”
roles. The European powers enforced their own criminal codes against
what was called sodomy in the Americas: the first known case of
homosexual activity receiving a death sentence in North America occurred
in 1566, when the Spanish executed a Frenchman in Florida.

Against the emerging backdrop of national power and Christian faith, what
might have been learned about same-sex love or gender identity was
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buried in scandal. Ironically, both wartime conflict between emerging

nations and the departure or deaths of male soldiers left women behind to
live together and fostered strong alliances between men as well. Same-
sex companionship thrived where it was frowned upon for unmarried,
unrelated males and females to mingle or socialize freely. Women’s
relationships in particular escaped scrutiny since there was no threat of
pregnancy. Nonetheless, in much of the world, female sexual activity and
sensation were curtailed wherever genital circumcision practices made
clitoridectomy an ongoing custom.

Where European dress, missionaries enforced a clear marker of gender,

we find another complicated history of both gender identity and
resistance. Biblical interpretation made it illegal for a woman to wear
pants or a man to adopt female dress, and sensationalized public trials
warned against “deviants” but also made such martyrs and heroes
popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chilling origins of the word
“faggot” include a stick of wood used in public burnings of gay men.

Despite the risks of defying severe legal codes, cross-dressing flourished

in early modern Europe and America. Women and girls, economically
oppressed by the sexism which kept them from jobs and
economic/education opportunities designated for men only, might pass as
male in order to gain access to coveted experiences or income. This was a
choice made by many women who were not necessarily transgender in
identity. Women “disguised” themselves as men, sometimes for extended
periods of years, to fight in the military (Deborah Sampson), to work as
pirates (Mary Read and Anne Bonney), attend medical school, etc. Both
men and women who lived as a different gender were often only
discovered after their deaths, as the extreme differences in male vs.
female clothing and grooming in much of Western culture made “passing”
surprisingly easy in certain environments.

Moreover, roles in the arts where women were banned from working
required that men be recruited to play female roles, often creating a high-
status, competitive market for those we might today identify as trans
women, in venues from Shakespeare’s theatre to Japanese Kabuki to the
Chinese opera. This acceptance of performance artists, and the popularity
of “drag” humour cross-culturally, did not necessarily mark the start of
transgender advocacy, but made the arts an often-accepting sanctuary for
LGBT individuals who built theatrical careers based around disguise and
illusion.

Early efforts to understand the range of human sexual behaviour came

from European doctors and scientists including Carl von Westphal (1869),
Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1882) and Havelock Ellis (1897). Their writings
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were sympathetic to the concept of a homosexual or bisexual orientation

occurring naturally in an identifiable segment of humankind, but the
writings of Krafft-Ebing and Ellis also labelled a “third sex” degenerate and
abnormal. Sigmund Freud, writing in the same era, did not consider
homosexuality an illness or a crime and believed bisexuality to be an
innate aspect beginning with undetermined gender development in the
womb. Yet Freud also felt that lesbian desires were an immaturity women
could overcome through heterosexual marriage and male dominance.

These writings gradually trickled down to a curious public through

magazines and presentations, reaching people desperate to learn more
about those like themselves, including some like English writer Radclyffe
Hall who willingly accepted the idea of being a “congenital invert.”
German researcher Magnus Hirschfeld went on to gather a broader range
of information by founding Berlin’s Institute for Sexual Science, Europe’s
best library archive of materials on gay cultural history. His efforts, and
Germany’s more liberal laws and thriving gay bar scene between the two
World Wars, contrasted with the backlash, in England, against gay and
lesbian writers such as Oscar Wilde and Radclyffe Hall. With the rise of
Hitler’s Third Reich, however, the former tolerance demonstrated by
Germany’s Scientific Humanitarian Committee vanished. Hirschfeld’s
great library was destroyed and the books burnt by Nazis on May 10,
1933.

In the United States, there were few attempts to create advocacy groups
supporting gay and lesbian relationships until after World War II. However,
prewar gay life flourished in urban centres such as New York’s Greenwich
Village and Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. The
blues music of African American women highlighted varieties of lesbian
desire, struggle, and humour; these performances, along with male and
female drag stars, introduced a gay underworld to straight patrons during
Prohibition’s defiance of race and sex codes in speakeasy clubs.

The disruptions of World War II allowed formerly isolated gay men and
women to meet as soldiers and war workers; and other volunteers were
uprooted from small towns and posted worldwide. Many minds were
opened by wartime, during which LGBT people were both tolerated in
military service and officially sentenced to death camps in the Holocaust.
This increasing awareness of an existing and vulnerable population,
coupled with Senator Joseph McCarthy’s investigation of homosexuals
holding government jobs during the early 1950s outraged writers and
federal employees whose own lives were shown to be second-class under
the law, including Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, Allen Ginsberg, and
Harry Hay.
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Awareness of a burgeoning civil rights movement (Martin Luther King’s

key organizer Bayard Rustin was a gay man) led to the first American-
based political demands for fair treatment of gays and lesbians in mental
health, public policy, and employment. Studies such as Alfred Kinsey’s
1947 Kinsey Report suggested a far greater range of homosexual
identities and behaviours than previously understood, with Kinsey creating
a “scale” or spectrum ranging from complete heterosexual to complete
homosexual.

The primary organization for gay men as an oppressed cultural minority

was the Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 by Harry Hay and Chuck
Rowland. Other important homophile organizations on the West Coast
included One, Inc., founded in 1952, and the first lesbian support network
Daughters of Bilitis, founded in 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin.
Through meetings and publications, these groups offered information and
outreach to thousands.

These first organizations soon found support from prominent sociologists

and psychologists. In 1951, Donald Webster Cory published “The
Homosexual in America,” asserting that gay men and lesbians were a
legitimate minority group, and in 1953 Evelyn Hooker, PhD, won a grant
from the National Institute of Mental Health to study gay men. Her
groundbreaking paper, presented in 1956, demonstrated that gay men
were as well-adjusted as heterosexual men, often more so.

But it would not be until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association
removed homosexuality as an “illness” classification in its diagnostic
manual. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, gay men and lesbians continued
to be at risk for psychiatric lockup as well as jail, losing jobs, and/or child
custody when courts and clinics defined gay love as sick, criminal, or
immoral.

In 1965, as the civil rights movement won new legislation outlawing racial
discrimination, the first gay rights demonstrations took place in
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., led by longtime activists Frank Kameny
and Barbara Gittings. The turning point for gay liberation came on June
28, 1969, when patrons of the popular Stonewall Inn in New York’s
Greenwich Village fought back against ongoing police raids of their
neighbourhood bar. Stonewall is still considered a watershed moment of
gay pride and has been commemorated since the 1970s with “pride
marches” held every June across the United States. Recent scholarship
has called for better acknowledgment of the roles that drag performers,
people of colour, bisexuals, and transgender patrons played in the
Stonewall Riots.
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The gay liberation movement of the 1970s saw myriad political

organizations spring up, often at odds with one another. Frustrated with
the male leadership of most gay liberation groups, lesbians influenced by
the feminist movement of the 1970s formed their own collectives, record
labels, music festivals, newspapers, bookstores, and publishing houses,
and called for lesbian rights in mainstream feminist groups like the
National Organization for Women. Gatherings such as women’s music
concerts, bookstore readings, and lesbian festivals well beyond the United
States were extraordinarily successful in organizing women to become
activists; the feminist movement against domestic violence also assisted
women to leave abusive marriages, while retaining custody of children
became a paramount issue for lesbian mothers.

Expanding religious acceptance for gay men and women of faith, the first
out gay minister was ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1972.
Other gay and lesbian church and synagogue congregations soon
followed. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), formed in
1972, offered family members greater support roles in the gay rights
movement. And political action exploded through the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the election of openly
gay and lesbian representatives like Elaine Noble and Barney Frank, and,
in 1979, the first march on Washington for gay rights.

The increasing expansion of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a

setback during the 1980s, as the gay male community was decimated by
the Aids epidemic, demands for compassion and medical funding led to
renewed coalitions between men and women as well as angry street
theatre by groups like Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer
Nation. Enormous marches on Washington drew as many as one million
gay rights supporters in 1987 and again in 1993. Right-wing religious
movements, spurred on by beliefs that Aids was God’s punishment,
expanded via direct mail. A New Right coalition of political lobby groups
competed with national LGBT organizations in Washington, seeking to
create religious exemptions from any new LGBT rights protections.

In the same era, one wing of the political gay movement called for an end
to military expulsion of gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers, with the high-
profile case of Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer publicized through a
made-for-television movie, “Serving in Silence.” Despite the patriotism
and service of gay men and lesbians in uniform, the uncomfortable and
unjust compromise “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” emerged as an alternative to
decades of military witch hunts and dishonourable discharges. Yet more
service members ended up being discharged under do not ask, do not tell.
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During the last decade of the 20th century, millions of Americans watched
as actress Ellen DeGeneres came out on national television in April 1997,
heralding a new era of gay celebrity power and media visibility, although
not without risks. Celebrity performers, both gay and heterosexual,
continued to be among the most vocal activists calling for tolerance and
equal rights. With greater media attention to gay and lesbian civil rights in
the 1990s, trans and intersex voices began to gain space through works
such as Kate Boernstein’s “Gender Outlaw” (1994) and “My Gender
Workbook” (1998), Ann Fausto-Sterling’s “Myths of Gender” (1992) and
Leslie Feinberg’s “Transgender Warriors” (1998), enhancing shifts in
women’s and gender studies to become more inclusive of transgender
and nonbinary identities.

As a result of challenging work by countless organizations and individuals,

helped by internet and direct-mail campaign networking, the 21st century
heralded new legal gains for gay and lesbian couples. Same-sex civil
unions were recognized under Vermont law in 2000, and Massachusetts
became the first state to perform same-sex marriages in 2004; with the
end of state sodomy laws (Lawrence v. Texas, 2003), gay and lesbian
Americans were finally free from criminal classification. Gay marriage was
first legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada; but the
recognition of gay marriage by church and state continued to divide
opinion worldwide. After the impressive gains for LGBT rights in post-
apartheid South Africa, conservative evangelicals in the U.S. began
providing support and funding for homophobic campaigns overseas.
Uganda’s dramatic death penalty for gays and lesbians was the most
severe in Africa.

The first part of the 21st century saw new emphasis on transgender
activism and the increasing usage of terminology that questioned binary
gender identification. Images of trans women became more prevalent in
film and television, as did programming with same-sex couples raising
children. Transphobia, cissexism, and other language (such as “hir” and
“them”) became standardized, and film and television programming
featured more openly trans youth and adult characters. Tensions between
lesbian and trans activists, however, remained, with the long-running
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival boycotted by national LGBT groups over
the issue of trans inclusion; like many woman-only events with a primarily
lesbian base, Mich fest had supported an ideal of ingathering women and
girls born female. The festival ended after its 40th anniversary in August
2015.

Internet activism burgeoned, while many of the public, physical gathering

spaces that once defined LGBT activism (bars, bookstores, women’s music
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festivals) began to vanish, and the usage of “queer” replaced lesbian

identification for many younger women activists. Attention shifted to
global activism as U.S. gains were not matched by similar equal rights
laws in the 75 other countries where homosexuality remained illegal. As of
2016, LGBT identification and activism was still punishable by death in 10
countries: Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Uganda, and Yemen; the plight of the LGBT community in Russia
received intense focus during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, to which
President Obama sent a contingent of out LGBT athletes. Supportive
remarks from the new Pope Francis (“Who am I to judge?”) gave hope to
LGBT Catholics worldwide.

Perhaps the greatest changes in the U.S. occurred between spring 2015
and spring 2016: in late spring 2015 Alison Bechdel’s lesbian-themed
Broadway production Fun Home won several Tony awards, former Olympic
champion Bruce Jenner transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner, and then in June of
2015, the Supreme Court decision recognized same-sex marriage
(Obergefell v. Hodges). By spring 2016 the Academy Awards recognized
films with both lesbian and transgender themes: Carol and The Danish
Girl. And the Supreme Court had avowed that a lesbian family adoption in
one state had to be recognized in all states.

However, the United States also saw intense racial profiling confrontations
and tragedies in this same period, turning LGBT activism to
“intersectionality,” or recognition of intersections issues of race, class,
gender identity, and sexism. With the June 12, 2016, attacks on the Pulse
nightclub in Orlando, that intersectionality was made plain as straight
allies held vigils grieving the loss of young Latino drag queens and
lesbians of colour; with unanswered questions about the killer’s possible
identification with ISIS terrorism, other voices now call for alliances
between the LGBT and Muslim communities, and the greater recognition
of perspectives from those who are both Muslim and LGBT in the U.S. and
beyond. The possible repression of identity which may have played a role
in the killer’s choice of target has generated new attention to the price of
homophobia—internalized or culturally expressed—in and beyond the
United States.

Current state of LGBT community in the World

Despite major changes in laws and norms surrounding the issue of same-
sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public
opinion on the acceptance of homosexuality in society remains sharply
divided by country, region, and economic development.
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As it was in 2013, when the question was last asked, attitudes on the
acceptance of homosexuality are shaped by the country in which people
live. Those in Western Europe and the Americas are more accepting of
homosexuality than are those in Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, the
Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. And publics in the Asia-Pacific region
are split. This is a function not only of economic development of nations,
but also religious and political attitudes.

But even with these sharp divides, views are changing in many of the
countries that have been surveyed since 2002, when Pew Research Centre
first began asking this question. In many nations, there has been an
increasing acceptance of homosexuality, including in the United States,
where 72% say it should be accepted, compared with just 49% as recently
as 2007.

Many of the countries surveyed in 2002 and 2019 have seen a double-
digit increase in acceptance of same-gender relationships. This includes a
21-point increase since 2002 in South Africa and a 19-point increase in
South Korea over the same period. India also saw a 22-point increase
since 2014, the first time the question was asked of a nationally
representative sample there.

There also have been large shifts in acceptance of same-gender

relationships over the past 17 years in two vastly different places: Mexico
and Japan. In both countries, just over half said they accepted same-
gender relationships in 2002, but now closer to seven-in-ten say this.

In Kenya, only 1 in 100 said same-gender relationships should be

accepted in 2002, compared with 14% who say this now.

In many of the countries surveyed, there also are differences on

acceptance of same-gender relationships by age, education, income and,
in some instances, gender – and in several cases, these differences are
substantial. In addition, religion, and its importance in people’s lives shape
opinions in many countries. For example, in some countries, those who
are affiliated with a religious group tend to be less accepting of
homosexuality than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometimes
referred to as religious “nones”).

Political ideology also plays a role in acceptance of same-gender

relationships. In many countries, those on the political right are less
accepting of same-gender relationships than those on the left. And
supporters of several right-wing populist parties in Europe are also less
likely to see same-gender relationships as acceptable.

Attitudes on this issue are strongly correlated with a country’s wealth. In

general, people in wealthier and more developed economies are more
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accepting of same-gender relationships than are those in less wealthy and

developed economies.

For example, in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have
a per-capita gross domestic product over $50,000, acceptance of same-
gender relationships are among the highest measured across the 34
countries surveyed. By contrast, in Nigeria, Kenya and Ukraine, where per-
capita GDP is under $10,000, less than two-in-ten say that same-gender
relationships should be accepted by society.

History & Resilience of LGBT Community in

India
We all have taken immense pride in India’s rich cultural history. The
traditions have been modified without taking away their essence and we
have welcomed these changes with changing times. The queer
community has played a huge part in shaping India’s culture and we as
Indians should together celebrate this beautiful heritage, not because
they were a part of it too but because they deserve as much love and
respect as any other community.

The queer community forms 8% of our population, and we have slowly

started opening ourselves to this “new” outlook of practice tolerance and
treat other individuals with respect, irrespective of the differences. But if
we look at our history, this idea is not as new as we think. Love has been
celebrated in India in every form.

Ancient India was about acceptance and celebration of all forms of love.
This can be seen in Indian religious books which contained homosexual
characters and themes in their texts which were neutral to the idea of
homosexuality.

The Rigveda contains the phrase Vikriti Evam Prakriti meaning what
seems unnatural is also natural. Kamasutra mentions that lesbians were
called “Swarinis,” who often married each other and raised children
together. Another very visual example is the Khajuraho temple of Madhya
Pradesh, built in the 12th century, known for their overt erotic sculptures
highlighting the existence of sexual fluidity between gay people.

During the medieval times, there was some disproval for same-gender
relationships, but LGBT people were not ostracized. Society was tolerant
towards them, and nobody was hounded for having a different sexual
orientation.
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Mubarak, son of Alauddin Khalji who ruled The Delhi Sultanate between
1296 and 1316, was known to be in a relationship with one of the
nobilities in his court. Babur, who founded the Mughal Dynasty, wrote
about his love for a boy named Baburi and his writing faced no
disapproval during his time or after it. There were many such incidents in
which noble class Mughals engaged in same-gender relationships.

In 1861, after the arrival of Britishers, sexual activities “against the order
of nature” including all homosexual activities were criminalized under
section 377 of the Indian Penal Court. This was majorly influenced by the
Catholic Church’s belief that a sexual act not related to procreation was
sinful.

In 1977, Shakuntala Devi published the first study of same-gender

relationships in India, called “The World of Homosexuals”. It called for “full
and complete acceptance and not tolerance and sympathy.”

Soon after in 1981, the first All-India Hijra Conference was called in Agra
and 50,000 members from the community all over the country attended
it.

In 1994, Hijras were legally granted voting rights as a third sex. The first
petition challenging section 377 was filed by the AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi
Andolan in 1994; however, it was eventually dismissed.

In 2001, a PIL was filed by Naz Foundation to challenge section 377 in the
Delhi High Court. In 2009, Delhi High Court found section 377 in direct
violation of the fundamental rights of life, liberty, privacy, and equality
provided by the Constitution of India. This meant that gay sex was not a
crime anymore, but it was still not legal. However, the critics, including
Suresh Kumar Koushal, a Delhi-based astrologer, challenged the Delhi high
court’s decision in the Supreme Court. This still was a huge landmark in
the LGBT struggle for freedom.

In 2014, the Supreme Court dismissed the review petition filed by the
Centre and several other organizations against its previous verdict on
section 377, explaining that the LGBTQ community constituted a
“miniscule fraction” of the country’s population, and it was unsustainable
legally.

In April 2014, the Supreme Court of India ruled that transgender people
should be treated as the third category of gender.

On 24th August 2017, the Supreme court gave the country’s LGBT
community the freedom to safely express their sexual orientation. An
individual’s sexual orientation was protected by the Right to Privacy law.
By this time, the LGBT people had the right to express their sexual
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orientation, but homosexual acts remained criminalized. Finally, on 6

September 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the part of section 377
which criminalized consensual homosexual activities.

On November 26th, 2019, the Parliament passed the Transgender Persons

(Protection of Rights) Bill. This bill defined a transperson as someone
whose gender does not match the one assigned at birth. It prohibited
discrimination against them in employment, education, healthcare, and
other services. However, it was rejected by the queer communities in
India as it made mandatory for each person to be recognized as
transgender based on a certificate of identity issued by the district
magistrate after a proof of sex reassignment surgery is provided. There
was little emphasis on intersex, gender queer and transgender, and it
majorly focused on hijras or transwomen. In the year 2020, the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment passed the revised Transgender Persons
(Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020. Under this, the government will provide
access to the costly sex reassignment surgeries free of cost at state run
hospitals. Along with this, the government will also bear the cost of
schooling and accommodation for the transgender community.

We have come a long way from where we started, but we need to know
that no law can change our mindsets, and it can only come from the
realization that everyone is unique and it is not right to judge someone’s
worth on the basis of what we expect them to be.

Chapter 2

Women and Feminism

Introduction
Feminism, a belief in the political, economic, and cultural equality of
women, has roots in the earliest eras of human civilization. It is typically
separated into three waves: first wave feminism, dealing with property
rights and the right to vote; second wave feminism, focusing on equality
and anti-discrimination, and third wave feminism, which started in the
1990s as a backlash to the second wave’s perceived privileging of white,
straight women.

From Ancient Greece to the fight for women’s suffrage to women’s

marches and the #MeToo movement on social media, the history of
feminism is as long as it is fascinating.
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History of Feminism & Resilience of Women in the West

There have been many extraordinary women who have played a key role
in local or world history, but not all of these have necessarily been
advocates of women’s issues. The women’s movement is made up of
women and men who work and fight to achieve gender equality and to
improve the lives of women as a social group. In most societies, women
were traditionally confined to the home as daughters, wives, and mothers,
and we are often only aware of women in history because of their relation
to famous men. Of course, many women throughout history did in fact
play a significant role in cultural and political life, but they tend to be
invisible. An organized women’s movement only really started in the 19th
century, even though women activists and the struggle for equality have
always been part of all human societies.

One of the early pioneers, who thought and wrote about women as a
group, is the Italian writer Christine de Pizan, who published a book about
women’s position in society as early as 1495. Christine de Pizan wrote
about books she had read by famous men, who authored books about the
sins and weaknesses of girls and women and questioned whether women
were human beings at all, or whether they were more like animals.
Christine de Pizan’s work offers a good example of the initial stages of the
struggle for women’s equality. However, she was very unusual in being
able to read and write, which was not at all common for women of that
time.

In later history, women took part in the French revolution from the very
beginning: the demonstrations that led to the revolution started with a
large group of working women marching to Versailles to demand not only
food to feed their families, but also political change. However, the French
Revolution did not lead to proper recognition of women’s rights. For that
reason, in September 1791, Olympe de Gouges wrote the Declaration of
the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, in response to the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and with the intention
of exposing the failure of the French Revolution to recognize gender
equality. As a result of her writings de Gouges was accused, tried, and
convicted of treason, resulting in her immediate execution.

The women’s movement began to develop in North America, mainly

because women there were allowed to go to school earlier than in Europe
- and women who can read and write, and who are encouraged to think for
themselves, usually start to question how society works. The first activists
travelled around North America and fought for the end of both slavery and
women’s oppression. They organized the ‘First Women’s Rights
Convention’ in 1848 and continued to campaign to improve the social
 P a g e | 14

position of all women. The movement also began in Europe with the same
broad aims: activists collected signatures demanding that working women
should receive their own wages and not their husbands,’ that women
should be able to own a house and have custody of their children.

First wave of feminism

The fight for women’s right to vote in elections is known as the
‘suffragette movement.’ By the end of the 19th century, this had become
a worldwide movement, and the words ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist
movement’ started to be used from that point on.

This first wave of feminism activism included mass demonstrations, the

publishing of newspapers, organized debates, and the establishment of
international women’s organizations. By the 1920s, women had won the
right to vote in most European countries and in North America. At around
the same time, women became more active in communist, socialist and
social democratic parties because increasing numbers of women began to
work outside the home in factories and offices. Women were first allowed
to go to university in the early 20th century, having both a career and a
family. In certain countries, when fascist parties gained power the feminist
movement was banned.

Women started organizing again after the end of the Second World War,
and they soon gained equal political rights in most European countries,
with women’s emancipation becoming an important aim and most women
being allowed to take on full-time jobs, divorce their husbands and go to
university.

Second wave of feminism

In Western Europe and the USA, the feminist movement was resurgent by
the 1970s. Although this second wave of feminism aimed to achieve
‘women’s liberation,’ diverse groups had different ideas about how this
should be done. Liberal feminists wanted better equality laws and reform
of institutions such as schools, churches, and the media. Radical feminists
argued that the root cause of women’s inequality is patriarchy: men, as a
group, oppress women. They also focused on violence against women by
men and started to talk about violence in the family, and rape. Socialist
feminists argued that it is a combination of patriarchy and capitalism that
causes women’s oppression.

The second wave of feminism also resulted in new areas of science:

women’s studies became a discipline to be studied at university, and
books began to be published about women’s achievements in literature,
music, and science, and recording women’s previously unwritten history.
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Finally, the women’s movement played a vital role in the drafting of

international documents about women’s rights, such as the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Third wave of feminism and the resilience of women today

The third wave of feminism refers to the American movement in the 1990s
and was a reaction to the backlash of conservative media and politicians
announcing the end of feminism or referring to ‘post-feminism’. The term
‘backlash’ was popularized by Susan Faludi in her book Backlash. The
Undeclared War against Women, published in 1991, and describing the
negative reaction of the patriarchal system towards women’s liberation.
This was hardly a new phenomenon: women’s movements had always
been met with antagonism. However, in the 1980s, institutionalized forms
of attacks on women’s rights grew stronger. The third wave of feminism
can be characterised by an increased awareness of overlapping
categories, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation. More emphasis
was also placed on racial issues, including the status of women in other
parts of the world (global feminism). This was also a moment when a
number of feminist non-governmental organisations were established, but
focusing on specific feminist issues, rather than claiming to represent
general feminist ideas.

Third wave feminism actively uses media and pop culture to promote its
ideas and to run activities, for example by publishing blogs or e-
magazines. It focuses on bringing feminism closer to the people’s daily
lives. The key issues that third wave feminists are concerned about
include: sexual harassment, domestic violence, the pay gap between men
and women, eating disorders and body image, sexual and reproductive
rights, honour crimes and female genital mutilation.

History of Feminism & Resilience of Women in India

Feminism in India is a crucial movement aimed at addressing deep-rooted
gender inequalities and social injustices that persist in the country. It is
essential because it seeks to challenge traditional norms, empower
women, and promote gender equality in various spheres of life, including
education, employment, politics, and social interactions. India's unique
context gives its feminism a distinctive character. It contends not only
with global feminist issues but also grapples with intricate cultural norms,
caste hierarchies, and socio-economic disparities. The fight for women's
rights in India intersects with struggles against dowry-related violence,
female infanticide, and unequal access to resources. While the core
principles of feminism remain universal, India's movement is intricately
woven with its diverse cultural tapestry, making it a dynamic and
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multifaceted endeavour that resonates deeply within the nation's social

fabric. Feminism in India has traversed a complex journey through three
distinct phases, each marked by evolving ideologies, challenges, and the
tireless efforts of feminist pioneers.

The First Phase of Indian Feminism

The first phase of Indian feminism emerged during the late 19th and early
20th centuries, a period characterized by British colonial rule and socio-
cultural conservatism. Pioneers like Savitribai Phule and Pandita Ramabai
played instrumental roles in challenging entrenched patriarchy and
advocating for women's education. Savitribai Phule, often referred to as
the "mother of Indian feminism," relentlessly fought for women's
education and empowerment, establishing schools for girls in the face of
societal resistance.

The Second Phase of Indian Feminism

The second phase, spanning the 1960s to the 1980s, witnessed a broader
feminist awakening with an emphasis on legal reforms and social
awareness. Prominent figures like Kamla Bhasin and Sharmila Rege
ardently championed women's rights, confronting issues such as dowry,
domestic violence, and gender-based discrimination. Kamla Bhasin's
efforts extended to creating awareness about gender-based violence and
promoting women's empowerment through education and economic
independence.

The Third Phase of Indian Feminism

he third phase, from the 1990s to the present, marked a significant shift
towards intersectional feminism, acknowledging the intertwined
complexities of gender, caste, class, and sexuality. Activists such as Kavita
Krishnan and V. Geetha emerged as prominent voices, addressing issues
specific to different social contexts. Kavita Krishnan's activism
encompassed a wide range of concerns, from anti-sexual harassment
campaigns to advocating for the rights of marginalized women in conflict-
ridden areas like Kashmir.

Feminism in India Today

Feminism in India today encompasses a diverse and multifaceted
movement that seeks to dismantle deeply ingrained gender inequalities
and challenge societal norms that perpetuate discrimination. It recognizes
the interconnectedness of gender with other aspects of identity such as
caste, class, sexuality, and ethnicity. Contemporary Indian feminism
focuses on a wide range of issues, including workplace equality,
reproductive rights, sexual harassment, LGBTQ+ rights, and violence
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against women. For instance, the "Me Too" movement gained momentum
in India, with survivors of sexual harassment and assault bravely sharing
their experiences and demanding accountability. Apart from that,
initiatives like the "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao'' campaign strive to address
the skewed sex ratio and promote the education and empowerment of
girls. Modern Indian feminists, both online and offline, continue to
challenge stereotypes and advocate for a more inclusive and just society,
emphasizing the importance of intersectionality in understanding and
addressing gender-related challenges.