A Study Of The Women's Movement In India

The status of women in India deteriorated early in India's ancient period and due to the factors such as long-established socio-religious structure characterized by patriarchy women's subordination and oppression continue to be reified into India's modern period.Meanwhile women in India has been struggling to break these patriarchal barriers and fight for equal rights.Concerning the studies on women in developing countries,there are a lot of research on the status of women as well as analyses on issues such as oppression and abuse suffered by them,while women's efforts and those movements organized to define,defend and establish equal social,economic and political rights and equal opportunities for women have seldom been studied.Women in the developing world have long been considered not agents of their own destiny,but victims.So the illustration and analysis of women's movement in India could help to clarify its development process and major trends as well as highlight the awakened subjective consciousness owned by women in the country.In addition,India and many other developing countries have certain similarities in terms of economic development level,religious belief and socio-cultural custom.Therefore,the experience of women's movement in India has certain reference value and enlightening significance for women in other developing countries to seek rights and improve their status.The research methods involved in this research mainly include literature research,case study and virtual ethnography.As for the structure,this article is first set to clarify the development process of women's movement in India and identify its major trends:in the mid-19^th century,the colonial texts condemned the treatment of women in India.The Indian social reformers responded by speaking out against the social evils such as Sati?widow burning?and offering education to upper-class women in order to create the image of New Women;From the early 20^th century to Indian independence,independent women's organizations began to emerge and Gandhi incorporated women's movement into the Quit India movement.By actively participating in the independence movement,Indian women facilitated the improvement of their social reputation and status;during the post-independence phase,Indian women have been actively uniting forces and organizing campaigns to deal with issues such as rape and dowry violence.They urged the government to introduce and reform laws,invest more public resources to protect women's rights.At the same time,India women actively sought to participate in the mainstream political and economic agenda-setting process.After illustrating the history of India women's movement,this article selects Indian women's organization Feminism in India media network platform as a case to analyze the challenges faced by the current women's movement in India as well as how strategies are formed as responses to these challenges.Finally,based on the above materials,this article seeks to summarize the lessons that can be learned from the experience of women's movement in India.The main points are as follow:at the ideological level,the women's movement needs to further raise women's self-consciousness,encourage self-development and promote feminist solidarity;the women's movement should maintain its independence on the agenda and organization while cooperating with government and integrating itself into other movements and the bigger social environment to seek development opportunities;the women's movement needs to further urge the government to establish a sound legal monitoring mechanism and strengthen the implementation of gender mainstreaming;the local women's movement needs to establish and maintain contact with the international women's movement,learn from each other's experiences and try to build a community of women's destiny.