FEMINISM IN INDIA
Submitted by:
Smily Rana
16103080
B.Tech. CSE 1st
Agenda
What is feminism?
A very brief history
Phases of feminism in India
Some feminist terms
Reactions to feminism
Contemporary womens issues in India
Impact of feminism
Pros and cons of feminism
Feminism
Feminists seek to challenge the unfair
and unequal distribution of power and
wealth in patriarchal society.
A patriarchal society is one based on
male rule and domination.
Feminists are particularly interested in
the contribution made by the media to
societys dominant ideas about gender
roles.
Feminism in India
Set of movements aimed at defining,
establishing, and defending equal political,
economic, and social rights and equal
opportunities for Indian women
Pursuit ofwomens rightswithin the society
of India.
Gender equality, the right to work for equal
wages, the right to equal access to health
and education, and equal political rights.
Vocabulary used in Girl
Toy Commercials
Vocabulary used in Boy
Toy Commercials
Brief Background
For many years, India relied on a Caste
system.
Currently issues of severe poverty coupled
with the extreme wealth.
48% women.
Women make 22% of the labor force.
Women make up 85.5% of agricultural
labor.
Gender Stereotypes
Femininity
Caring
Nurturing
Emotional
Domestic
Sensitive
Passive
Soft
Gentle
Lower
status...poorly
paid work
childcare,
nursing,
teaching
Masculinity
Tough
Providing
Rational
Public/work orientated
Thick skinned
Active
Rough
Hard
Imbalance of power
Higher
status...Influentia
l roles...well paid
jobs...political
leadership
Phases of Indian Feminism
The history of feminism
in India can be divided
into three phases
Phase One
1850-1915
Phase one is marked Britain's colonization of
India.
Conversion from Hinduism to Christianity is a
complex matter, with a lot of gender differences.
Women following men, or women attempting
a reprieve strict gender roles associated with
Hinduism.
Often criticized for being started by British
missionaries and converts.
Worked to Combat Sati, infanticide, property
rights, and education. Also strict gender roles of
Hindi tradition was addressed.
Phase Two
19151947
Phase two is marked by Ghandis
resistance to the British Reign
Ghandi allowed women to participate in
resistance to the British Raj, giving them the
public sphere. Said to be the start of true
feminsim.
Creation of AIWC and NFIW
Franchise and civic rights of women were
introduced.
Education, working class women, very anticolonial.
Five Year Plan
A type of welfare system designed to
empower women through means of
education, health care, employment,
welfare and other aid.
Introduced after India gained
independence in 1947
Became an inclusionary system,
meaning women were included in the
process as participants instead of
recipients.
Paved way for other womens organizations
from there on.
Phase Three
Marked by Indias independence from Britain in
1947 until now.
Focused on fair treatment of women at home
after marriage, in the work force and right to
political parity; Sexual divide in workplace, class
consciousness, patriarchy within religious law,
female infanticide, violence against women.
Challenged the inequalities including unequal
wages for women, relegation of women to
'unskilled' spheres of work, and restricting
women as a reserve army for labour.
Inequalities within power structures such as
caste, tribe, language, religion, region, class etc.
Important Feminist
Terms
Essentialism : biological determinism
Patriarchy: A system (social, political, economic)
dominated and controlled by men, modeled after family
structures in which the father rules the household.
Oppression: inequitable use of authority, law,
or physical force
Objectification (Sexism)
Misogyny
Infantilization
Reactions to feminism
Different groups of people have responded to feminism, and both men and women
have been among its supporters and critics.. The media tends to portray feminism
negatively and feminists "are less often associated with day-to-day work/leisure
activities of regular women.
Pro-feminism
Pro-feminism is the support of feminism without implying that the supporter is a
member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men
who are actively supportive of feminism. The activities of pro-feminist men's
groups include anti-violence work with boys and young men in schools, offering
sexual harassment workshops in workplaces, running community education
campaigns, and counseling male perpetrators of violence. Pro-feminist men also are
involved in men's health, activism against pornography including anti-pornography
legislation, men's studies, and the development of gender equity curricula in
schools. This work is sometimes in collaboration with feminists and women's
services, such as domestic violence and rape crisis centers.
Anti-feminism
Anti-feminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms.
In the nineteenth century, anti-feminism was mainly focused on opposition to
women's suffrage.
Opponents of women's entry into institutions of higher learning argued that
education was too great a physical burden on women.
Anti-feminists opposed
Womens education,
women's entry into the labor force,
their right to join unions,to sit on juries,
to obtain birth control and control of their sexuality.
Herstory
It is history written from a feminist perspective,
emphasizing the role of women, or told from a
woman's point of view. It is a neologism coined in
the late 1960s as part of a feminist critique of
conventional historiography, and refers to history
(reinterpreted as "his story") written from a
feminist perspective, emphasizing the role of
women, or told from a woman's point of view.
The herstory movement has spawned womencentered presses(Virago Press in 1973.
CONTEMPARARY WOMENS ISSUES
OF INDIA
India is also apatriarchalsociety, governed
by a parillineal system.
women have become accustomed to this
lifestyle
Unaware of their constitutional rights
Birth ratio:
the female-male ratio of the population of
India fell from 94.5 girls per 100 boys to 92.7
girls per 100 boys between 1991-2001
Sex selective abortion has become more
persuasive
Ban on sex determination
Marriage:
Married before legal age
Priorities are child bearing and raising children
Son Preferance and Sex-Selective Abortions
Strong patrilineal traditions in some areas of India
have caused men to desire a male child.
Dowry also plays a role.
Women are often seen as a burden.
Sex-Selective abortions are often coerced or forced
by husbands, family members or the community
itself.
If abortion is not the route taken, female children
often become neglected in these types of
circumstances.
Sex ratio has declined.
Sex Trafficking
There isnt an exact number of how many
women are trapped in the sex slave trade in
India, but it is in the upper millions.
Brothels are in a massive scale. Prostitution is not
considered legal in India however, it is often over looked
by authority.
There are still a large number of women and children
enslaved against their will in order to continue brothels
around India
Even though there are multiple large organizations that
fight against sex trafficking, getting women out of the
brothels is extremely difficult.
Most have been involved since birth and often see it as
normal life.
Once out of the brothels, work is impossible or at least
scarce to find due to Dalit status.
Owners of the brothels are often dangerous and know
where to hide women.
IMPACT OF FEMINISM
After independence, The Indian Constitution granted
equality, freedom from discrimination based on gender or
religion, and guaranteed religious freedoms
Five year plans were introduced
Employment:
Indian women contribute nearly 36 percent of total
employment in agriculture and related activities, nearly
19 percent in the service sector, and nearly 12.5 in the
industry sector
High illiteracy rates confine them to lower paying,
unskilled jobs with less job security than men
Globalisation:
Globalisation has led to economic changes that have
raised more social and economical challenges for women
MNCs in India have been seen to exploit the labour of
'young, underpaid and disadvantaged women' in free
trade zones
These women have few labour rights
Education:
girls are needed to assist their mothers at home
Have been raised to believe that a life of domestic work
is their destined occupation
Have illiterate mothers who cannot educate their children
Have an economic dependency on men
Are sometimes subject to child-marriage. Many poor
families marry their daughters off early to get the dowry
money so she is unable to complete her education.
In 1986, the NPE was created in India
Focus- empowerment of women.
Goal- create a learning environment for women to realise their
potential, learn to demand information and find the knowledge to
take charge of their own lives.
By 2001 literacy for women had exceeded 50% of the overall female
population.
Modernisation
Affecting the younger generations in parts of India
Girls are beginning to forgo the more traditional ways of Indian life
and break gender stereotypes.
Some women have landed highly respectable careers, and can be
seen across Bollywood billboards and advertisements
This is not the norm throughout the country; such modernisations
and the women behind them face serious resistance from antiliberalists.
The country is still severely male-dominant and unwelcoming to
such movements that go against sex and gender traditions in India
Indian Feminism
Pros and Cons
Pros
Has sense of collectiveness rather than
individuality.
Importance of motherhood.
Cons
Critiqued for having too much western influence
Critiqued for focusing too much on upper class
womens needs and ignoring lower classes,
generally.
ANY QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU
