Gender Feminism and PostColonial India International Perspectives on

Gender, Feminism and Post-Colonial India International Perspectives on Gender Week 12

Structure of lecture n n n n Introduction and Context Gender and Nation-building Why Full Equality was not Realised Sex Ratios and the Missing Girl Child Indian feminisms Slut. Walks and Pink Chaddis Disowning Dependence Conclusions

Introduction and Context Nehru’s ‘tryst with destiny’ n Constitution of 1950 established a secular, democratic Republic n Feminism had been subordinated to Nationalism n Women were central to Indian independence n What was women’s destiny following independence? n

Gender and Nation-Building Important new legal rights for women post-independence, including to vote and to education n Reform of personal laws re marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, BUT resisted and Islamic Personal Law retained n First 5 Year Plans failed to recognise women as workers n Instead of economic rights women got welfarism n Content of women’s emancipation was contested n Banerjee: ‘challenging the patriarchal ethos of our society had never been on the agenda of the Indian state’ (1998, p. 4) n

n n n Report of National Planning Committee ignored (based on 1940 data, published 1947) One third of Indian women did productive work, for poorer wages than men Proposed policies to treat women as economic actors in own right; improve working conditions rather than banning women; ‘wages’ for housework; husbands to share in housework Ignored by Nehru’s government Report resurrected in 1995 by Maitreyi Krishnaraj Why were dreams of full equality for Indian women not realised?

Why full equality not realised 1. Immediate chaos of Partition 2. Dominant economic model of modernization, privileging economic growth over social justice 3. Women’s contradictory roles in nationalist project and vision - to signify both modernity and to safeguard tradition - to enter the public sphere and yet remain tied to the family ‘The discourse of equality – of women as the same as men and entitled to the same treatment – ran into a head on collision with the dominant ideological construction of women as wives and mothers…’ (Kapur, 2012, p. 5) 4. Maintenance of class privilege by elite feminists 5. Fragmentation of women’s movement

You peacocks of high caste preening your plumes in the Narmada Valley your call echoes and rouses each corner of the world but my sister’s struggle to dam the swollen streams of arrack* choking them their hoarse voices will lie buried in Teluga earth (Sasi Nirmala, ‘Muttugudda Kapputunna’) * Andra Pradesh women’s movement against sale of alcohol

Why speak of the other? Another woman wants to buy me She wants me as the gold lace to her upper caste new sari. She wants me as the crimson on her lips. (Sasi Nirmala, ‘Dalituralu’) Source: Rani, Challapalli Swaroopa (1998) ‘Dalit Women’s Writing in Telugu’, Economic and Political Weekly, April 25

6. Rights on paper are not the same as rights in practice: do women know they have them? do women know how to claim them? do they have legitimacy? is there redress if women are denied their rights? do women ‘choose’ not to claim? eg. poor women in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh don’t claim their rights to inherit under the hard-won Hindu Succession Act 1956 (see Berry) Towards Equality report in 1974 shattered myths of Indian women’s full emancipation n

Indian Sex Ratios Year 1901 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 Females per 1000 males (total population) 972 946 941 930 934 927 933 940 Source: http: //www. censusindia. gov. in/2011 -provresults/data_files/india/Final_PPT_2011_chapter 5. pdf

The Missing Girl Child Year Girls per 1000 boys (under 6 years) 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 976 964 962 945 927 914 Poster at a Delhi Hospital http: //www. censusindia. gov. in/2011 -provresults/data_files/india/Final_PPT_2011_chapter 5. pdf

Action Aid Campaign http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=y. P 22 l. CP 3 c 5 w n n n How is sex-selective abortion explained? What policy responses are identified to combat it? What consequences are there of so many missing women?

Indian Feminisms Long and vibrant history n Communist women in 1950 s and 1960 s criticized welfarism n 1974 Towards Equality report galvanized autonomous women’s movement n Innumerable grassroots campaigns n Much legislative success, but ongoing problems of implementation n History of direct action and innovative tactics n Emphasis on women’s strength and agency, not just her suffering n

1980 National Federation of Indian Women March December 2012, Bangalore Demonstration

Slut. Walks and Pink Chaddis Pink Chaddhi Campaign Kolkata, 2012

Feminism-Lite? n n n n A bold, disruptive reclaiming by women consumer-citizens asserting their sexuality? Or a narcissistic stunt to attract the media that reproduces, rather than challenges, a derogatory term? Assert women’s right to a social life, to choose what to wear and to freedom from sexual violence Vs claims that women (and their family) must police their clothing and use of public space to avoid rape Refuse to divide women into those deserving freedom from sexual violence and those not, who ‘ask for it’ Assert rape as a crime the rapist is responsible for Refuse ‘dominance feminism’

Disowning Dependence n n n ENSS: new social movement of single women Imagine new space outside patriarchal family Create new family forms pooling labour and resources Successfully claimed social, economic rights and legal rights Claims to land not yet met: too threatening to heteropatriarchy Land rights constitute and are constituted by gender, kinship and heteronormativity; socially and culturally embedded

Conclusions n n n n n Women gained important rights in public sphere but limited by on-going construction as dependants in family State initially failed to recognise women as workers Many elite women acted in own class interests De jure rights for women have not meant de facto rights Fragmented women’s movement resurged in 1970 s Sharp contrast between women holding highest offices and low status of women seeing millions not born Indian women keep fighting for full equality, especially freedom from sexual violence for all women Is this a key moment in Indian women’s assertion as independent citizens choosing how to live? The religious right is threatened by women’s independence and the struggle is ongoing