Feminism in India

While Indian feminists have the same ultimate goal as their Western counterparts, their version of feminism can differ in many ways in order to tackle the kind of issues and circumstances they face in the modern-day patriarchal society of India.

As a result, she decided to start a vigilant group known as the 'Gulabi Gang' who track down abusers and beat them with bamboo sticks until it is believed that they have repented and victims have been sufficiently avenged.

It should, however, be noted that several communities in India, such as the Nairs of Kerala, Shettys of Mangalore, certain Marathi clans, and Bengali families, exhibit matriarchal tendencies.

"[12] Acknowledging sexism in daily life and attempting to challenge and eliminate it through deconstructing mutually exclusive notions of femininity and masculinity as biologically determined categories opens the way towards an equitable society for both men and women.

[10][17] The rise of liberal feminism in the West in the 1970s focused deeply on demands for equal opportunities in education and employment, as well as ending violence against women.

These called for education and equal rights but also adapted their appeals to local issues and concerns, such as dowry-related violence against women, Sati, sex-selective abortion, and custodial rape.

[10] Feminism as an initiative started independently in Maharashtra by the pioneer of women's rights and education: Savitribai Phule, who started the first school for girls in India (1848);[18][19] Tarabai Shinde, who wrote India's first feminist text Stri Purush Tulana (A Comparison Between Women and Men) in 1882; and Pandita Ramabai, who criticized patriarchy and caste-system in Hinduism, married outside her caste and converted to Christianity (1880s).

However, by the late 19th century they were joined in their efforts by their wives, sisters, daughters, protegees and other individuals directly affected by campaigns such as those carried out for women's education.

This first phase of feminism in India was initiated by men to uproot the social evils,[21] to allow remarriage of widows, to forbid child marriage, and to reduce illiteracy.

[4] However, efforts for improving the status of women in Indian society were somewhat thwarted by the late nineteenth century, as nationalist movements emerged in India.

Gandhi legitimized and expanded Indian women's public activities by initiating them into the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj.

This also posed as a challenge for feminists while shaping their overreaching campaigns as there had to be a focus within efforts to ensure that fulfilling the demands of one group would not create further inequalities for another.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 introduced changes to the Indian Penal Code, making sexual harassment an expressed offence under Section 354 A, which is punishable up to three years of imprisonment and or with fine.

[39] The new law has made it mandatory for all government and privately run hospitals in India to give free first aid and medical treatment to victims of rape.

[39] In May 2013, the Supreme Court of India held that the two-finger test on a rape victim violates her right to privacy, and asked the Delhi government to provide better medical procedures to confirm sexual assault.

[43] In 2016 a judgment of the Delhi high court was made public in which it was ruled that the eldest female member of a Hindu Undivided Family can be its "Karta".

[48] India is also a patriarchal society, which, by definition, describes cultures in which males as fathers or husbands are assumed to be in charge and the official heads of households.

A patrilineal system governs the society, where descent and inheritance are traced through the male line and men are generally in control of the distribution of family resources.

Females have a ten percent higher drop-out rate than males from middle and primary schools, as well as lower levels of literacy than men.

[5][2] The Gulabi Gang in India wear pink saris and carry lathis (bamboo staves) for protection against physical attack, and punish abusive husbands, publicly shaming and sometimes beating them.

Both Hindu women and men wear bindis on their foreheads, and it was traditionally available in myriad hues of red, and sandalwood paste, or saffron: it could be round in shape, a streak, a line, or in more decorative forms; it is now worn in other colours too.

Liberation, or the possession of higher and more meaningful inclinations, and a turning of the mind towards the sublime—such as the intended achievement of a metaphysical/mystical union with the Infinite, the beyond, and the ever expanding frontiers of both the universe and human consciousness—is what is signified by women wearing a bindi.

In the end, an individual can be anything from an atheist to a faith-based follower, change the object of worship depending on life stage and preferences, in short find ways of living “manusher dharma” i.e. striving to become more human/e.

The case of Shah Bano begun in 1985 was one such example of Rajiv Gandhi attempting to make "concessions" for the Muslim community to in turn secure support for the Congress.

Shah Bano challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in her favour and ordered her husband to pay her a monthly maintenance allowance.

Personal Law serves a purpose in maintaining the democratic right to freedom of religion and preserving traditions which have been a part of India for many centuries.

Maintaining Muslim traditions in India serves as a means of achieving religious equality as well preserving their respective community under the Indian Nation State.

The Sikh faith condemns the practices of female infanticide,[56] widow burning,[57] dowry,[58] and treatment of menstruating women as impure,[59] and also discourages seclusion and face veil.

[65] The judges of the Supreme Court of India stated that the ban on women makeup artist members had no "rationale nexus" to the cause sought to be achieved and was "unacceptable, impermissible and inconsistent" with the constitutional rights guaranteed to the citizens.

In 1986, the National Policy on Education (NPE) was created in India, and the government launched the program called Mahila Samakhya, whose focus was on the empowerment of women.