The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990

by Radha Kumar

This history of the women‘s movement in India covers the period from the 19th century to the present day. Kumar raises key questions about the nature of the movement, the kind of issues it has taken up (such as rape, dowries, health and environment),its directions and perspectives, its differences from western movements and the relationship of autonomous women‘s organizations with political parties. Kumar also considers the effects of wider policies, such as population control and caste transformation, on the women of India. This book should be of interest to both students and general readers.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, History, India, Gender Studies

212 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

Reviews

[Sudarshana Mukhopadhyay]

Edit: I've reduced one star from my rating of this book today, January 3, 2022. It is still a remarkable and extremely valuable book. But as I grew aware of my blindspots as a reader, I cannot ignore the fact that Radha Kumar's book doesn't mention Savitribai Phule even once. Kumar writes about Jyotirao Phule (aka Jytoiba Phule), yet fails to mention Joytiba's wife, Savitribai, a pioneer of women's education and worthy of every praise and accolade in her own right.

In this thematic history of women's movements, Radha Kumar touches upon a plethora of subjects - from women's role in the pre-independence reform movements to the rise of contemporary feminism in India; from constructing the idea of "Bharat Mata" by the likes of Bankimchandra to the fierce advocate of women's rights and education like Jotiba Phule to reconstructing the somewhat derogatory image of feminists in the post-independence India. Kumar writes about the women activists, often overlooked by history, hailing from all strata of the society, from urban middle class to rural, tribal, underprivileged sections. Kumar writes about the origin of different laws and constitutional rights for women and the marginalized, stemming from continuous agitation by women's rights advocates. She discusses, albeit hastily, the questions and conflicts among the Indian feminists and their relation to Western feminism. This book, published in 1993, doesn't talk about the effects of globalization and, most recently, social media on the feminist discourse. But in an attempt to understand contemporary intersectional feminism, it's an essential read for whoever is even trying to call themself a feminist in today's day and age.

[Sagarika]

Great book but really bad job assigning it for class because that means I couldn’t read it for fun and had to read it for work!!!!! Unhinged!!!!

[split zalv]

Informative.

[N.sathish]

I hope it will good