Many small groups such as poor peasants, marginal farmers, educated Dalits, tribal people started expressing themselves with the radicalization of Indian Politics in the 60s.
The middle class started the Navnirman movement against corruption, price rise, unemployment, hoarding, and black-marketing in 1974. In Bihar, the same movement took place.It worked as proof that their collective efforts would not go unheeded.
In Maharashtra, women activists formed a front called the Anti-price rise movement. They raised their voice against the culprits who created an artificial scarcity of essential goods. This committee organized a conference in Pune on a large scale which highlighted their demands.
The Stree Mukti Sangathan in Bombay and Progressive Organisation of Women in Hyderabad were formed in 1974. These women were independent, self-determining democrats. These movements raised several diverse issues- land rights, wages, employment, security at the workplace, oppression, and exploitation of Dalits and the working masses.
The Status of the Women’s Committee released a voluminous report in 1974. It manifested in a declining sex ratio, a very high rate of female mortality and morbidity, marginalization of women in the economy, and discriminatory personal laws.
The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) made a policy to provide financial support to scholars committed to the cause. Their collective wisdom and strength provided the main backbone to the movement.
Women’s Studies and Movements
People felt that it was the need of the hour to break the silence of women. We have been saying the women's voices have to be heard but if they do not speak for themselves, a climate of equality will not be generated.
The first National Conference of Women’s Studies in April 1981 established a new trend in which women activists were invited as resource persons and participants to academic seminars. During the International decade of women declared by the United Nations (1975-1985), research on women and action on women were moving parallel.
After the eighties, women's research started getting funds. Simultaneously, with the growth of grassroots work and autonomous women’s groups organizing campaigns and lobbying for political action, a necessity to study the problem with a participatory perspective arose.
We saw that women started articulating their experiences in terms of oppression which showed that society was changing. Now, the time was to take action so that these atrocities could stop. As a result of the collective endeavour of women’s studies scholars and women activists, two documents came into existence that provided insights into the enormity of Indian women’s problems. They are
Shram Shakti Report
It focused on poor self-employed women and women in the unorganized sector. National Perspective Plan for Women - These documents provided political agendas for the mainstream political bodies and women’s organizations.
Methods of Functioning of the New Women’s Groups
Most women were clear in their approach that they would encourage everyone to articulate thoughts on the collective decision-making processes. This method proved effective in creating a new sense of intellectual enlightenment in women.
Such groups in Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bombay, Pune, and Delhi brought out documents, manifestoes, pamphlets, and reproduced much content for the women’s liberation. They believed that these issues were to be taken into consideration every day to diminish the patriarchal power.
They simultaneously started engaging in support work for individual women. But, at the same time, they were committed to maintaining their political autonomy and organizational identity.
Political-Social-Economic Agenda
The nationwide anti-rape campaign in 1980 resulted in the emergence of many autonomous women’s organizations in several cities and towns of India. The groups such as Forum Against Oppression of Women (Mumbai), Saheli (Delhi), Stree Shakti Sangathan (Hyderabad), Vimochana (Bangalore) managed to get tremendous publicity.
They began to work against the series of rape cases, domestic violence, and dowry harassment. They realized that to keep going, they need to evolve institutional structures for supporting women victims of violence based on feminist principles of solidarity.
The condition of women in the remand homes and the Nari Niketan was so repugnant and barbaric that they could not be trusted for women’s rehabilitation. Many women who had been the victim of these assaults, started approaching these groups.
The women activists had to deal with victim-baiting and double standards of sexual morality, sexist remarks, and sick humor from the police. These incidents resulted in a confrontation between the women’s groups and the established institutions.
Spreading awareness among the people became necessary. Later on, professional bodies and educational institutions were approaching these groups to understand the women’s question.
Issues Taken up by the New Women’s Groups
Fight Against Unjust Family Laws
The main problems faced by the women from their families are forcible marriage, murderous attacks in cases of inter-caste, inter-class and inter-religious marriages, property disputes, incest and from their husbands and in-laws have been adultery, bigamy, polygamy, divorce, custody of child/children, property, incest, etc.
These issues are interconnected with religious identities. Hence, the secular women’s movement had to face tremendous hostility from the elites of the different communities and the parliamentary parties. Individual women were now questioning discrimination in the customary laws.
Legislative Reforms
Thirty years of campaigning demanding the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence resulted in an Act in 2005. Domestic Violence (DV) Act (2005) came into force. The Domestic Violence Act has broadened the meaning of domestic violence to include violence against senior citizens, incest, and rape, forcing women and girls into prostitution.
The features of the Act are recognition of the right to residence, provision for the appointment of Protection Officers and the provision of service providers, training for Protection Officers, awareness creation, budgetary allocation for legal, and other support services.
Similarly, the struggle against the pre-birth elimination of girls resulted in the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act (2002). Public Interest Litigations to deal with sexual harassment at the workplace filed by the Non-governmental organizations resulted in the Supreme Court Directive for Prevention of Sexual Harassment At the workplace, 1997. If women are empowered by the community, the balance in the favour of gender justice can be tilted.
Reproductive Rights of Women
In India, the reproductive rights of women have been exploited repeatedly in the name of family planning programs. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (1998) and World Health Organization (WHO) have drawn guidelines about the reproductive rights of women. In the interior parts of India, women are the targets of abusive sterilization operations and unsafe injectable and oral contraceptives.
Anti Arrack/Alcohol Movement
Since the 70s, tribal women all over the country have been fighting against alcohol sales among men. Alcohol addiction resulted in the devastation of families and domestic violence against women and children.
More than 40,000 women coming together and blocking the arrack auction in Andhra was a historic moment. In Maharashtra, the elected women representatives in Panchayati Raj forced the state government to declare their village, alcohol-free zone.
The Development Agenda
During the 1970s and 1980, the women’s movement highlighted the marginalization of women from the economy. In the 1990s, the movement started growing. They demanded its place in the mainstream where they can have their agenda. The most difficulty has been in providing educational opportunities for the poverty groups, Dalit and tribal women.
For the development agenda, providing low-cost housing, environmental and occupational safety, were very troublesome. Development funding for the school construction, community centers, libraries, reading rooms, low-cost hospitals, and housing for the impoverished groups was hard to gather. Gender Budgeting is used as a tool by elected women representatives to promote gender equality.
Social Movements And Mainstream Political Processes
Women's movement and the state were at times in collaboration with each other and else in conflict. With matters about legal reforms, gender budgeting, and providing institutional support to women survivors of violence, they supported each other. But with matters regarding discriminatory family laws and people's movements-struggles for a safe environment, atrocities against minorities they conflicted.
The slogan ‘Personal is Political’ appealed to many city-based women groups who realized how individual violence cases against women were not merely personal problems. They were an outcome of the societal realities in which Indian women had to survive. After the anti-rape movement in 1980, the importance of raising a voice for the protection of women was seen in politics.
Conclusion
From 1970, new social movements started highlighting the problems of rural and urban poor, industrial working class, tribal people, and minorities. We still need to make more efforts to emphasize that violence against women is a manifestation of unequal power relations between men and women.
New kind of women decision-makers who had the combined strength of street-fighting, formal education, and strategic thinking started raising their voices loud and clear. In the last two decades, women coming from different spheres of life did so much positive work. They inspired many women with that and continue to inspire them.
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