Feminism- A Perspective Study

Dr. P. D. NIMSARKAR
Associate Professor
Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University
Nagpur
&
K.Dasaradhi
Research Scholar
Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University
Nagpur

Abstract
Feminism in India is a set of movements aimed at defining, establishing and defending
equal political, economic independence, social rights and equal opportunities for Indian
women. It is the pursuit of women's rights within the society of India. Like their feminist
counterparts all over the world, feminists in India seek gender equality: the right to work for
equal wages, the right to equal access to health, education and equal political rights. Indian
feminists also have fought against culture-specific issues within India's patriarchal society such
as inheritance laws and the practice of widow immolation known as „Sati‟. The history of
feminism in India can be divided into three phases: the first phase, beginning in the mid-
nineteenth century, initiated when male European colonists began to speak out against the
social evils of Sati; the second phase, from 1915 to Indian independence, when Gandhiji
incorporated women's movements into the Quit India movement and independent women's
organisations began to emerge; and finally, the third phase, post-independence, which has
focused on fair treatment of women at home after marriage, in the work force and right to
political parity. Despite the progress made by Indian feminist movements, women living in
modern India still face many issues of discrimination. India's patriarchal culture has made the
process of gaining land-ownership rights and access to education challenging. In the past two
decades, there has also emerged a disturbing trend of sex-selective abortion. Feminism has
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altered predominant perspectives in a wide range of areas within our country ranging from
culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal rights (rights of contract,
property rights, voting rights); for women's right to bodily integrity and autonomy, for
protection of women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape; for
workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; against misogyny; against other
forms of gender-specific discrimination against women.

Key Words: discrimination, feminism, male, patriarchy, rights, society, women.

Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral

philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially
socially, politically and economically. As a social movement, feminism largely focuses on
limiting or eradicating gender inequality, promoting women's rights, interests, and other related
issues of women in society.
In India we have a dualistic situation. For nearly five thousand years there has been a
celebration of the feminine force. In the Rig Veda (circa.1500 BC) there are verses singing the
praise of many Goddesses. Aditi is the Mother of the Gods–free, unbounded, upholder of the
cosmic order. There is Prithivi-the Earth Goddess, generous and the equivalent of Gaia, the
Greek Earth Mother. Saraswati is the mother of the Vedas, Goddess of wisdom, learning,
science and music. Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth, prosperity, love and good harvest. We
also have the powerful concept of Devi–womanhood, feminine mystique and power, best
symbolized by the Goddess Durga. She was created with the strength of all the Gods and she
exudes the force of the purest form of energy.
Against this backdrop of worshipping the feminine force, we had a sage named Manu
who composed an exhaustive thesis on society and how best to run it. His views on women are
chauvinistic in today‟s world. Manu dictated that a woman should be in the care and protection
of her father in childhood, of her husband in adulthood and of her son in old age. The dualism
of the status of Indian women was clearly established. It is a powerful legacy which holds us
captive even today.
Since 1969 there has been explosion of feminist writings unparalleled in the previous
history of critical innovation as it displays urgency and excitement of a religious awakening.
However, there is no unitary theory of procedures in US, England and France and other

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countries. There is a lot of variety like psychoanalytic, Marxist and diverse post-structuralist
with intense debate within them. Various feminism share assumptions and concepts that
constitute common ground for the diverse ways that individual critics explore the factor of
sexual differences and privilege in the production, the form and content, the reception and
critical analysis and evaluation of works of literature.
The number of published women authors was greater in the nineteenth century than in
any preceding century. Women's access to higher education increased exponentially during the
century, providing them with skills that they could use to develop their art. The growth of
market economies, cities and life expectancies changed many women in our country and they
were expected to conform to new societal pressures and made many women more conscious of
their imposed social, legal and political inequality. Finally, the many social reform movements
led by nineteenth-century women, such as religious revivalism, abolitionism, temperance and
suffrage gave women writers a context, an audience and a forum in which they could express
their views. While most scholars agree that many women writers expressly or tacitly accepted
the separate sphere of domesticity that the age assumed of them, they also argue that as the
century progressed, an increasing number of women began to express, in their writing, their
dissatisfaction with gender relations and the plight of women in general.
Concept of Feminism
The word „Feminism‟ seems to refer to an intense awareness of identity as a woman
and interest in feminine problems. The subjugation of woman is a central fact of history and it
is the main cause of all psychological disorders in society.
Recent form of feminism that came to existence after 1960s has become an evolving
socio-political movement. It is a theoretical project, which aims at understanding the power
structures in the society, male domination, social practices and social institutions which are
instrumental in assigning a marginalized position to women. Feminist theory also devises the
strategies to transform the social structures which can help in the emancipation. In 1980s,
„Feminism‟ concentrated on transforming the individual fields and in 1990s began a major role
in directing academic focus on the concern of the so-called „otherness‟, differences and
questions of marginality. Margaret Homans has rightly pointed out that the concept of
feminism raises fundamental queries about reading, writing and the teaching of literature. It
operates as an interdisciplinary tool for social and cultural analysis and as a political practice
also. Feminism has transformed the precision of life and literature.

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 The agonistic definition, feminism is seen as the struggle against all forms of
patriarchal and sexiest aggression, such oppositional definition projects feminism as the
necessary resistance to the patriarchal power, logically then the aim of feminism as a theory of
imagination becomes abolition of itself along with its opponents.
Women were not recognized as individuals or autonomous beings. Women had to face
many obstacles in the academic circuit, which symbolizes the effects of an educational culture
that radically restricts the scope of women‟s intellectual exposure.
The Feminist thought and the feminist movements in the west had some influence on
the woman's movement in developing countries like India. Yet, feminism as it exists today in
India has gone beyond its western counterparts. As Uma Narayan Rightly puts it,
“Third world feminism is not a mindless mimicking of Western Agenda in one clear
and simple sense. Indian Feminist is clearly a response to the issues related to Indian
women.”
Feminists have recognized that politics is not something which has to do with
ideologies of some political parties but that feminist politics aims at bringing women‟s
experiences into the political arena. It is such small but collective ventures, as consciousness-
raising groups, protest against beauty contest; against dowry deaths and institutions like
Women‟s Aid, which inform and shape the feminist politics and feminist writing.
Feminism in Indian Context
To understand and sympathize the sensibility of feminism it is important to observe that
Indian feminist present altogether different picture sequence. The long and painful suffering of
women, the bitter struggle for the exception of the idea of equal pay for equal work, the
continuing battles on behalf of woman‟s right to abortion and to practice of birth control are
some of the visible marks of the gender inequality that has persisted and that woman had to
fight for inspire of the commitments they were made under circumstances. Feminist situation
in India possess a dissimilar dispensation. Indian society has always been highly hierarchical.
the several hierarchy within the family concreting age, sex and ordinal position, congenial and
fine relationship or within the community referring to the caste lineage, learning, occupation
and relationship with ruling power have been maintained very strictly.
Describing the reaction to the feminist movement in India, Suma Chitnis writes, “The
most distinctive features of this movement is that it was initiated by man. It was only towards
the end of the century the women joined the fray”. The list of personalities who champion the

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cause of women is long–Raja Ram Manohar Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidya Sagar, Keshav
Chandra Sen, Matahari, Phule, Agarkar, Ranade, Karve to mention a few. The record of the
reform they undertook to achieve is impressive. It reveals that their efforts spanned action to
abolish the practice of Sati, the custom of child marriage, custom of distinguishing widows, the
ban on remarriage of the upper caste Hindu widows and many other civil practices that affected
women.
The feminist thought and feminist movement in the west have some influence on the
woman‟s movement in the developing country like India. Yet, feminism as it exists today in
India has gone beyond its western counter parts. Uma Narayan rightly puts it “third world
feminism is not mindless mimicking of western agenda in one clear and simple sense”. Due to
historical and cultural specifications of the region in India has to think in terms of its agenda
and strategies. In the Indian context several feminists have realized that the subject of women‟s
invasion in India should not be reduced to contradiction between men and women. The woman
in order to literate herself and advance needs to empower herself to confess different
institutional structures and cultural practices that subject herself to patriarchal domination and
comfort.
Due to historical and cultural specifications of the region, the feminist movement in
India had to think in terms of its Agenda and strategies. In the Indian context several feminists
have realized that the subject of women's invasion in India should not be reduced to the
contradictions between men and women. The woman in order to literate herself and advance
needs to empower herself to confess different institutional structures and cultural practices that
subject herself to patriarchal domination and comfort.
Indian writing in English is now gaining ground rapidly. In the realm of fiction, it has
heralded a new era has earned many laurels both at home and abroad. Indian woman writers
have started questioning the prominent old patriarchal domination. Today, the works of Kamla
Markandaya, Nayan Tara Sahgal, Anita Desai, Geetha Hariharan, Shashi Deshpande, Kiran
Desai and Manju Kapur and many more have left an indelible imprint on the readers of Indian
fiction in English.
A major development in modern Indian fiction is the growth of a feminist or women
centered approach, that seeks to project and interpret experience, from the point of a feminine
consciousness and sensibility. As Patricia Meyer Specks remarks:
“There seems to be something that we call a women’s point of view on outlook

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sufficiently distinct to be recognizable through the countries.
Many Indian women novelists have explored female subjectivity in order to establish
an identity, which is imposed as a patriarchal society. Santha Rama Rau‟s „Remember for the
House,‟ 1956, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala”s first novel „To Whom She Will,‟ 1955 and her later
novel „Heart and Dust’ 1975, Kamla Markandya‟s „Two Virgins’ 1994, Rama Mehta‟s „Inside
the Haveli’ 1977, and Geetha Hariharan „The Thousand Faces of Night’ 1992, in all these, the
theme is from childhood to woman-hood- developed society respecting women in general.
Feminism in its literary sense is the physical and psychic emancipation of women from
the cruel traditional clutches of man. Since time immemorial in the world, particularly in Asian
countries and in India the social custom and creeds have overall control of man. Shashi
Deshpande has earnestly been accepted as a significant literary figure on the contemporary
literary scene.
Shashi Deshpande‟s novels represent the contemporary modern women‟s struggle to
define and attain an autonomous selfhood. Her female protagonists are at great pains to free
themselves from stultifying, traditional constraints. The social and cultural change in the post-
Independence India has made women conscious of the need to define themselves, their place in
society and their surroundings.
Female quest for identity has been at pet theme for many a woman‟s novelist. Shashi
Deshpande has also been one of such writers and she makes an earnest effort to understand the
inner dimension of the female characters. For the portrayal of the predicament of middleclass
educated Indian women, their inner conflict and quest for identity, issues pertaining to parent-
child relationship, marriage and sex and their exploitation were taken into account.
Shobha De, a supermodel, celebrity journalist and the well-known author stands as a
pioneer in the field of popular fiction and ranks among the first to explore the world of the
urban woman in India. With her extraordinary ability, she presents very sensitive aspect of
human life. Her way of narrating every aspect of human relationships is wonderful. Really, she
is frank in narrating the incidents and situations with a touch of open heartedness. The most
famous Indian woman novelists along with De are Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Bharti
Mukherjee, and Shashi Deshpande. Among these women writers, De is entirely different. She
has given importance to women‟s issues and they are dealt with psychology in her style of
intimate understanding. Her novels indicate the arrival of a new Indian woman, eager to defy
rebelliously against the well-entrenched moral orthodoxy of the patriarchal social system.Eager

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to find their identity in their own way, her female characters break all shackles of customs and
traditions that tie them in the predicaments and rein in their freedoms and rights. They are not
against the entire social system and values but are not ready to accept them as they are. Her
female characters are modern, strong and take bold decisions to survive in society. This secures
her position in literature as a feminist novelist.
Manju Kapur describes through her protagonist (Astha):
“A woman should be aware, self-control, strong will, self-reliant and rational,
having faith in the inner strength of womanhood. A meaningful change can be
brought only from within by being free in the deeper psychic sense.”
In her writings, Manju Kapur has emphasized on the issues of patriarchy, inter-religious
marriage,and family bond, and male-female bond, co-existence of past and present. She has
narrated her women protagonist as a victim of biology, gender, domestic violence, and
circumstances. Kapur says
“There is a man within every woman and a woman in every man, when manhood is
Questioned and womanhood is fragile.”
A major pre-occupation in recent Indian women‟s writings has been a delineation of
inner life and subtle relationships. In a culture where, individualism and protest have often
remained alien ideas and marital bliss and the women‟s role at home is a central focus. It is
interesting to see the emergence of not just an essential Indian sensibility but an expression of
cultural diversion.
Celebration of femininity by the practical culture is actually a subjugation of female
autonomy. In order to destroy the supremacy of patriarchal culture, human beings should be
identified as male and female based on their sex and not as men and women.
The term „woman‟ connotes the quality of woman, which the society attributes to a
female. She should be obedient, patient and servile in her behavior towards others. The
moment a woman does something different than the society would call her either a bad woman
or lunatic. Human beings are not products, which come out of a factory to be alike. It is high
time that the patriarchal culture ceased to exist for the all-round development of women.
Arundhati Roy says,
“We truly do live in the Age of Irony, in an age when satire has become meaningless
because real life is more satirical than satire can ever.”
Now, women in India have started questioning the age-old patriarchal domination.

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They are no longer puppets in hands of man. They have shown their worth in the field of
literature both qualitatively and quantitatively and are showing it them today without any
hurdle. Today the works of Kamla Markandaya, Nayan Tara Sahgal, Shashi Deshpande, Anita
Desai, Shobha De and many more have left an indelible imprint on the readers of Indian fiction
in English.
A major development in modern Indian fiction has been the growth of a feminist or
women centered approach, an approach that seeks to project and interpret experience form the
viewpoint of a feminine consciousness and sensibility. Feminism assumes that women
experience the world differently from men and write out of their different perspectives.

Feminism in Indian fiction has not developed suddenly but it has developed slowly and
steadily. Some of the features towards by Bankimchandra Chatterji and Rabindranath Tagore
in Bengali, Jitendra kumar in Hindi, Saratchandra Chatterji who created perhaps the
remarkable portraits of women in Indian literature was something of a feminist by centurion. In
Urdu language, Ismat Chustai had scandalized many by her outspoken themes. Rashid Iqlam,
1930's written stories of „Angare‟ and 'Aurat' (The Woman) had dealt with the problem of
woman.
In Marathi, Vasumati Dharkar published a number of stories from the 1930's to 1950's
in which she has depicted the strong woman's characters of their time. The major themes of
these women writers were oppression and exploitation of woman in what is often called a
patriarchal society has been a present theme in Indian fiction.
Markandaya, Sahgal, Desai and Deshpande are among the urban intelligentsia, and they
write fiction rather than feminist analysis as such. Their perspectives, however, can offer
valuable insights into the dynamics and complexities of human relationships, and their feminist
concerns can be placed within historical and theoretical frameworks. Indeed, the problem of
violence against women was the initial focus of feminist campaigns in India during the 1970s.
Campaigns against rape, domestic violence and dowry deaths escalated during the 1980s,
attracting considerable support from men as well as women. Among the incidents that played
catalytic roles were the Mathura rape case of 1978 and the Maya Tyagi rape case of 1980. Both
were cases of custodial rape by the police which led to nationwide protests and the formation
of the Forum Against Rape, which eventually grew into the Forum Against Oppression of
Women. Rape, a major theme in Deshpande‟s novels, is also featured in Desai‟s Fire on the

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Mountain (1977). Markandaya‟s Two Virgins (1973) draws attention to the sense of sexual
threat that pervades the lives of young girls in India, and this widespread problem of sexual
harassment (or „eve-teasing‟, as it is called in India) is identified by a number of academics
(Chacko 2001; Nabar 1995; Puri 1999) who argue that it impedes women‟s freedom, mobility
and sense of security. Domestic violence is fictionalised by all four novelists: Markandaya in
A Handful of Rice (1966), Sahgal in Storm in Chandigarh (1969), Deshpande in That Long
Silence (1988) and Desai in Fasting, Feasting (1999).
Shashi Deshpande in one of her Interviews expressed her inner thinking about feminist
movement as,
"If others see something feminist in my writing, I must say that it is not consciously
done, it is because the world for women is like that and I am mirroring the world.”
A major preoccupation in recent Indian Woman's writing has been a delineation of
inner life and subtle interpersonal relationships. In a culture where individualism and protest
have often remained alien ideas and marital bliss and the woman's role at home is a central
focus. It is interesting to see the emergence of not just an essential Indian sensibility but an
expression of cultural displacement. Women of the present are more assertive, more liberated
in their view and more articulate in their expression than the women of the past
Some Indian Women Novelists like Geetha Hariharan, Arundhati Roy, Manju Kapur
and Shashi Deshpande tried with sincerity and honesty to deal with the physical, psychological
and emotional stress syndrome of women.
Recent studies have shown that works that often appear to conform to the established
assumptions contain under the surface contrary current suggesting simmering notes of
discontent expressed obliquely. This has been demonstrated to be the case with Jane Austen
and Bronte sisters whose female characters are portrayed as more self-possessed and capable
than most of the man-dominating scene.
The subtle have now started speaking and the margin has occupied the center. Their
writing have to some extent changed the mentality of males; the result is that many seminars
and symposia are being organized on woman literature. Feminism is a political perception
based on the fundamental previews (1) that gender difference is the foundation of a structural
inequality between woman and men, injustice and (2) that the inequality between the sexes is
not the result of the biological necessity but is produced by the cultural contradiction of gender
differences.

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 The authenticity of feminine sensibility and feminine experiences would demand a brief
scrutiny of the changing position of women in India. The study of the Indian feminine psyche
evolves a change from tradition to modernity. Critics have proposed various methods to define
these patterns of change. Shri K.S. Iyanger divides the history of Indian writing in English in
three general periods: 1875 to 1900-„the new flowering of the creative Indian genius’, 1990 to
1947-„the Gandhian Era’ and 1947 onwards- „the post-Independence period’.
Towards the end of the century, nineteenth-century women writers expanded their
subject matter, moving beyond highlighting the lives and hardships suffered by women locked
in domestic prisons. Instead, they increasingly expressed their individualism and demanded
more equal partner-ships-in marriage, public life, law, and politics-with men.
The challenges that the feminist movement now faces stem from the vast diversities
within India. Feminism within India is divided along class, caste, sexuality and disability, and
as parts of India develop at a faster rate, increased social and economic inequality is giving rise
to new problems like sexual harassment at the workplace and in public transport.
“While changes are taking place in economic parameters, social parameters are not
keeping pace with these transformations,” said Indu Agnihotri, director for the Center for
Women‟s Development Studies.
“Feminists in India are fighting for issues of immediate critical urgency – violence,
equal wages, life with dignity,” said Annie Zaidi the co-author of “The Bad Boy’s Guide to the
Good Indian Girl” and the author of “Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and other True
Tales.”
As it deals with the new problems, Indian feminism is still battling with many of the old
problems. The most recent government ordinance introduced some positive measures, like
making stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks punishable under criminal law, but it failed to
account for marital rape and acts of rape by armed forces personnel. Alhough the New Delhi
gang rape has brought renewed attention to sex crimes, prosecutions of those cases still move
at a glacier pace. India‟s law minister, Ashwani Kumar,said there are currently 24,000 cases
related to rape and sexual harassment pending in India‟s Supreme Court and various high
courts.
“In a sense, the demands of Indian feminism haven’t changed radically – and this is
because there hasn’t been any marked change in the law,” said Nivedita Menon, author of
“Seeing Like a Feminist.”

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 However, over the years, women‟s rights activists have become savvier about how to
marshal their forces. Flavia Agnes, a women‟s rights lawyer who has worked on gender issues
and legal reform since the Mathura rape case, said that the implementation of punishments are
poor in our country with lot of postponements and involvement of politicians to subside the
case. Another lawyer added that “people living in Arab countries fear to do an offence because
of the prevailing strict punishments which will be implemented without any delay or political
interference”.
It is sad to note that some of the distinguished woman personalities who were in
supreme power in politics and courts are paying a deaf-ear and responding „nil‟ during the
incidents of acid-attacks on women, kidnap of school-going girls, cases of molesty, cool-
planned murders of house-wives, house-arrest of women, suppression of their rights, female-
abusing in public, thrashing and threatening of girls in schools and hostels, physical and
mental toruture by any of her family members etc., As Gandhiji wished- Indian woman can go
safe, be safe and live safe only when all the Women in the country irrespective of economical
class, caste, creed, religion and state be United always in a supportive-way to one another.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the study shows feminism is a struggle for equality of women, an
effort to make women become like men. The agonistic definition of feminism sees it as the
struggle against all forms of patriarchal and sexiest aggression. This study reveals the growth
of Indian Feminism and its development. Indian women writers have placed the problems of
Indian women in general and they have proved their place in the international literature. The
most difficult tasks for feminists can‟t be accomplished in a courtroom or in a mass protest:
that is, changing men‟s underlying attitudes toward women, which many advocates say is
necessary for a permanent end to the violence, abuse and persecution that women in India
experience. “Nonce jingoism and sloganeering are seductive but frothy,” said Vrinda Nabar,
former chairwoman of English at Mumbai University and author of “Caste as Woman.”
Mindsets need to change at every level, and all of us need to recognize the inherited prejudices
of our collective consciousness once the protesters and their placards have vacated the streets.
In a holy country like India, women are to be safeguarded and respected at every rook and
corner.

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 References:
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Mukherjee, Tutun. Girish Karnad’s Plays: Performance and Critical Perspectives.
Pencraft International, New Delhi, 2006 Print
2. Mookerji, Radha Mukund: Women in Ancient India, in Women of India, Indian Book
House, New Delhi, 1957 Print
3. Krishanamayi, Redefining the Insurgent Female Psyche in an Androcentric Milieu,

The Indian Journal of English Studies. Vol. XLI, 2003-04.

4. Miriam Shiner, ‘Feminism: The Essential writings’, Vintage Books, 1994 print.

5. Nayantara Uma, Indian Women writer’s at the Cross Roads, Pen crafts,
New Delhi, 1996 print
6. Kapur Manju, A Married Woman, Penguin Publications, New Delhi, 2002 print.
7. Deshpande Shashi, Roots and Shadows-A Feminist Study, Swroop Books,
New Delhi, 2009 print.
8. Elizabeth Jackson, Feminism and Contemporary Indian Women’s Writing, Palgrave
Macmillan, New York, 2010 print.

Web Reference:
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explain-tje-political-demand/federalism/5466890
 http://www.ijmra.us/project%20doc/IJPSS_MARCH2012/IJMRA-PSS924.pdf
 http://www.meritnation.com/ask-answer/question/what-was-the-feminist-movement-
explain-tje-political-demand/federalism/5466890
 https://pediaview.com/openpedia/Feminism_in_India
 http://www.academia.edu/7032161/Feminism
 http://literaryvista.blogspot.in/2013/05/feminism-in-indian-context.html#!
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/6880/8/08_chapter%203.pdf

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