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

by Radha Kumar

Using old photographs, old and new documents, excerpts from letters, books and informal writings, the author documents the growing involvement of women and the formation of the early Indian women's organizations; she examines the foregrounding of the 'women's issue' during the reform and nationalist movements and its subsequent disappearance from the agenda of public debate until the post independence period of the Sixties and Seventies when it surfaces again. Key questions are raised regarding the nature of the contemporary movement, the kinds of issues it has taken up, its directions and perspectives, its differences from western movements, the role of autonomous women's organizations and their relationship with political parties, especially those of the left.

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

580 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1993

Reviews

[Sudarshana Mukhopadhyay · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative.

[N.sathish]

I hope it will good