Gender and Nationalism in India

International Perspectives on Gender

Week 11

Structure of lecture Introduction and Context History: From Trade to Colony to

Nationalism to Independence Colonialism, Nationalism and the

‘Woman Question’ Women’s Participation in Indian

Nationalism Conclusions

3 million square kms 1.15 billion people(2010) 1947 - independence Biggest ever colony 1947: Partition: Indiaand Pakistan 1971: independencefor Bangladesh

Introduction

Context Multi-faith society Hinduism >50% Hindu caste system: a form of social stratificationwith castes hierarchically organized and separatedfrom each other by rulesof ritualpurity.

Brief history: from trade to colony Concentrate on colonial and post-colonial periods

How did India become a British colony? How did Indians organise for independence? How did Indian women’s legal status change How did Indian women’s movement emerge?

1600 Elizabeth I granted Charter to East India Company 1700s Company bribing Indian Princes to secure trading Mid 1700s: militarization begins Late 1700s: Influence transformed into territory Cross-cultural mixing common 1773 First Governor-General appointed by Britain

1813: 78% duty imposed on Indian

muslins imported into Britain (against 3.5%) 1829: Abolition of sati following

campaign led by Indian Raja Ram Mohan

Roy (1774-1833) 1856: Act permitting Hindu widows to remarry 1857: Anglo-Indian War – large and unsuccessful rising

against British. End of inter-cultural mixing. 1858: India became British Crown Colony De-industrialization, famine, disease

(1850: 55% depend on agriculture, 1921:73%) 1877: Queen Victoria: Empress of India

Rise of Nationalism and Women’s Movement

1885: Indian National Congress founded 1891: Age of Consent Bill 1904: First Indian Women’s Conference 1906: Muslim League founded 1907: Mass picketing, boycotts 1914-1918: First World War – 47,000 Indianskilled in service, 65,000 wounded 1915 Mahatma Gandhi entered Indian politics 1916: First Women’s University established 1917: Women’s Indian Association founded 1919: Government of India Act implemented very limited

reforms: 3% of Indian adults given voting rights for Provincial Assembly

1919: Amritsar Massacre – 1,500 demonstrators shot dead by British troops

1920-22: Non-cooperation campaign led by Ghandi 1922: Ghandi suspended campaign. Tried that same

year and sentenced to 6 years in prison by British 1925: National Council of Women in India founded 1927: Simon Commission on ‘reforms’ boycotted by

Congress

1928: Congress publishes report on self-government 1930-1935: Satyagraha campaign, Salt March, Gandhi

arrested again 1931: Ghandi released and suspended campaign to

attend 2nd Round Table Conference to discuss dominion status

What was Satyagraha? Campaign of non-violent civil disobedience Boycotting of imported goods Self-reliance: hand-weaving cloth Khadi a symbol of nationalism Non-payment of taxes Marches and demonstrations Translates as ‘Truth-Force’

Ongoing Struggles 1932: Civil disobedience resumed 1934: All India Women’s Conference demanded reform of

Hindu personal law 1935: Government of India Act condemned by Congress

and women’s organisations 1939-1945: Second World War, 2.5 million Indians fought,

24,000 killed Ghandhi split with Nehru

and led 3rd non-violence

campaign

Towards Religious Divide

P from PunjabA from AfghaniaK from KashmirIS from SindTan from Baluchistan (plus Bengal & Assam)AN

1940: Muslim League under Jinnah

calls for separate Muslim state in

Lahore Resolution

Independence & Partition 1942: India offered, and refuses, dominion status ‘Quit India’ movement 1946: New Labour Government in Britain starts preparing

India for independence 1946-7: Increasing inter-religious violence 1947: Mountbatten appointed as last Viceroy, independence

planned for June 1948 Independence brought forward to August 1947 37 days to decide line of partition 7.5 million Muslims moved from India to Pakistan 5.5 million Hindus moved from Pakistan to India

Nehru and Mountbatten atIndian independence, 1947

Mass MigrationCelebrating Indian Independence Day

Partition: Before and After

British India India following Partition andindependence of Bangladesh

Colonialism, Nationalism and the ‘Woman Question’

British Policies on Gender EqualityEmphasise Indian women’s subordination to portray India as backward and unfit for self-rulePresent British rule as essential to save Indian womenActual British record suggests full gender equality never envisaged – matrilineal family undermined; judicial system sought to impose moral constraints of upper-caste women on all Indian womenHighlighting gender inequality was about legitimating continued colonial rule more than about helping women

Indian Policies on Gender EqualityOnly when India governed itself could women’s position be improvedProblem was state structures, not male powerEarly campaigns for women led by Indian menBy early 20th century Indian women organising and linking cause to nationalism (reduced opposition)Women’s movement led by MC and took up MC issues – not representing all Indian womenSupporting women’s suffrage was way for nationalists to claim moral high groundFull gender equality in family never envisaged by male nationalists

Women’s Participation in Indian Nationalism Indian women played important roles in nationalist

movement, both in domestic and public spheres Nationalist movement constructed women in particular

ways Nurturers of nation: raising patriotic children, doing

without men, weaving cloth, representing the ‘new woman’ but focussed on home and family, some hiding weapons and pamphlets

Saviours of nation: Stepping into men’s shoes, demonstrating, boycotting, guerilla warfare for a few

Many women entered the public sphere for the first time

Women in the Quit India Movement

Conclusions British influence began with East India Company in the

1600s and shifted from trade to direct colonial rule Colonization brought under-development and resistance British response was to concede as little as possible and

try to crush resistance The ‘Woman Question’ was central: notwithstanding well

established Indian women’s movement from 19th century British claimed only they could save Indian women; nationalists claimed only independence would help but didn’t envisage full equality for ‘New Woman’

Women were central to Gandhi’s Satyagraha campaign, domestic sphere was politicized and some accessed public sphere, but often with limits

Independence in 1947 brought Partition – what did it bring for Indian women?