[m2c] Women’s movements in India

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Women’s movements in India

Seminar Magazine
March 2008

By KALPANA MEHTA

I write this as I complete thirty years as part of the women’s
movement, a journey which has been both enriching and frustrating at
the same time, but one which has been an integral part of my
existence. Autonomous, as opposed to party affiliated, women’s
organizations started making an appearance following the International
Women’s Year in 1975. This was also the time that party affiliated
organizations like All India Democratic Women’s Association (CPM), an
All India Mahilla Dakshata Samiti (Janata Dal), came into being.
Existing organizations like the All India Women’s Conference, National
Federation of Indian Women too were stirring into action. Autonomy
from political parties produced organizations of all shades, including
the liberal, which situated women’s emancipation within existing
society as well as those who did not wish to be limited just by
socialism.

The cutting edge of this movement was provided by a socialist feminist
stream which redefined and extended the very definition of politics
with its slogan of ‘personal is political’ and situated itself in a
struggle against capitalist patriarchy. The family was brought into
the public arena with issues of dowry, female foeticide, wife
battering, incest and the rights of women in the society as well as
within the family without losing sight of the goal of a society free
of exploitation and discrimination.

In a society such as ours where survival itself is an issue for 80% of
the women who live on the border of or below the poverty line, it is
difficult for the liberal feminists to provide leadership to the
women’s movement. While the organized left struggles for equality, its
base comprises of male comrades, and by and large it is not easy for
it to take up issues of women’s rights if they adversely affect the
interests of its active male membership. Trade unions have time and
again compromised the interests of women workers when such a conflict
has arisen. A recent example is the bill on sexual harassment at the
workplace. The left expressed its doubts claiming that this would be
used to harass union leaders with false complaints. How ironic that
today the Left Front government is supporting national and foreign
capital over the rights of the peasants and even theoretically
justifying it.

The situation has changed tremendously since the 1970s. The society
has been fragmented and Hindu fundamentalism is on the rise. Economic
disparities have widened. The state has withdrawn its services in the
public distribution system (PDS) and the social sector. Vast spaces
have been privatized and the public sector is gradually being sold
off. Opposition of the affected people is being tackled brutally and
most states have curtailed civil liberties by enactment of laws
overtly and through the use of private armies. Through special
economic zones (SEZ) vast spaces are being usurped where the
sovereignty of the country and the rights of its citizens are being
compromised to serve the interests of domestic and foreign capital.

The Bhopal gas tragedy and the carnage against the Sikh community
following the assassination of Indira Gandhi are two instances where I
remember our organization stepping out of the strictly women-centred
issues to intervene in a broader arena while focusing on crimes
against women and the impact of the gas leak on the reproductive
health of women. The situation gradually worsened through the eighties
when communalism started dictating the agenda for women’s rights as
Muslim fundamentalists acted to deny Muslim women the right to
maintenance, the Akalis encouraged Sikh widows to marry their
husband’s younger brother, and the Hindu revivalists wanted to glorify
Sati and communalize the long standing demand of the women’s movement
to bring an end to discrimination in family laws.

We had barely emerged out of this when moves towards privatization,
deregulation and the new economic policies, the Dunkel draft,
structural adjustment with an attendant shrinking of the social sector
confronted us. An onslaught of hazardous contraceptives and coercive
population control roughly made the scene complete. It was clear that
the new economic policies were leaving the dispossessed to their own
devices and that women were going to be the worst sufferers in this
process. All these changes were being reflected in the work of the
women’s movement also.

While the vision broadened, the practice was not so rosy. Various
factors contributed to it. First and foremost we may consider the role
of the U.N. itself. Till the mid eighties it was the women’s decade
and the very agency which had catalyzed the women’s movement into
action, became the cause for the movement to be co-opted. Throughout
this period, large amounts of funding was made available to carry out
women related activities. One estimate puts the number of NGOs at
50,000 – those that came up to use these funds. This meant that the
funders’ agenda started to dominate the scene. This also resulted in a
larger number of women joining NGOs, as opposed to the movement, as
they believed that they could follow their politics, reach out to
large numbers of women as also make a living in the process.

While it was possible for the priorities of the funding agencies to
match that of organizations, say with an occasional study or a travel
grant, this was an exception rather than the rule. Largely, grants
only served to dissipate energy. A case in point is of micro credit
projects that have mushroomed all over the country, where women are
engaged in small savings from their BPL households to create income
for themselves. The grants are too small to engage in even a cottage
industry. The subsidy provided to these self-help groups is a mockery
compared to what is being doled out to big industrial houses.

Funding for women also had a perverse agenda. Take the logic of
population control agencies that are hell-bent on reducing family
size. Realizing that women want fewer children and can be more in
control if educated, and will have a shorter fertile span if married
late, they became the advocates of empowerment of women. This was
notwithstanding the technologies which took away the power of control
from women, burdened them with myriad medical problems and policy
initiatives which made the number of children they had a criteria for
eligibility to contest elections, hold a job or to get maternity
benefits.

Even the so-called women’s development programmes initiated by the
government, such as education for equality, did not provide a salary
for women workers but only an honorarium far below the minimum wage,
job security or safe working conditions for women who were expected to
empower other women. Unfortunately, many activists did not see the
contradictions and enthusiastically involved themselves in such
initiatives, thereby diluting the militancy of the women’s movement.
The other end of the spectrum comprised of consulting feminists who
were paid over Rs 8000 per day to give training in women’s
empowerment.

Money alone has not been the method of co-option. The token presence
of women on various committees has been used by national and
international agencies to legitimize their own anti-people and
anti-women policies. They legitimized their actions by holding
consultations with women’s organizations over many years, even if it
meant propping up and promoting organizations for this very purpose.

Collective functioning has been one of the key elements of the
autonomous women’s organizations. Rather than describe my
understanding of the evolution of the thought and stands within the
movement, it is worth reproducing the call letter of the 2006 national
conference of the women’s movements which lays down the canvas of the
collective vision.


TOWARDS A POLITICS OF JUSTICE: AFFIRMING DIVERSITIES;
RESISTING DIVISIVENESS
(CALL LETTER OF KOLKATA CONFERENCE 2006):

‘We are women from different women’s groups and various streams of
life, coming from different states, having different feminist
political persuasions, belonging to various cultures and religions,
(with some of us refusing religious persuasions), as well as from
different class, caste, sexuality, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds,
who work in diverse ways to challenge oppressive and patriarchal
structures in society. We remain committed to recognising and
respecting these "diversities", even as we seek justice for the
inequities that result from those very diversities.

This Declaration is a shared expression of our politics, perspectives,
and commitment to the women’s movement. First drafted in 1998 by the
National Coordination Committee of the conference, it has, over the
years, changed and grown to reflect our varied journeys and concerns.
The conference is open to all those who abide by this Declaration.

The Indian women’s movement has many streams and hues, and we do not
claim to be representative of all of them. The National Conference
brings together women and organisations who are "autonomous" – i.e.
non-government, non-electoral, non-political party, nonviolent and not
underground groups or funding agencies. These are groups, both formal
and informal, that form a distinct political stream united by a broad
critique of society and patriarchal institutions, and of the
intersections of caste, gender, class, religion and sexuality.

As the autonomous women’s movement, we share a broad common
understanding of women’s oppression and liberation, but differ in our
emphasis and practices. Yet our beliefs and ideologies have evolved
into another collective way of looking at the world, of weaving theory
with practice. In strategising for change, we all attempt to
personalise politics and politicise the personal. This has meant
confronting patriarchy and social values such as authoritarianism,
aggression, competition and hierarchy in the family and society, and
the oppression and exploitation imposed by dominant class, caste and
patriarchal rule.

The last few decades have witnessed substantial economic and political
changes in India. Yet women remain controlled by families,
communities, the state and increasing corporate power. Our labour is
controlled through strict sexual division of labour at home and the
workplace; our fertility is regulated by a glorified emphasis on
motherhood and purity; our sexuality is repressed by a double standard
of morality and compulsory heterosexuality; our bodies, while
youthful, are commercialised and commodified; our lives when ageing,
are often forgotten. Religions and cultures depend on us, yet
circumscribe us and violate our rights. These controls and power
relations operate subtly as well as overtly, at the ideological and
material levels, to reinforce each other through various relationships
and institutions, including the family, the market, the media,
education, religion, customs and the law… All, while the state, grants
itself increasing powers of censorship to silence voices of dissent,
while at the same time, steadily withdrawing from providing essential
services to its citizens, particularly the marginalised and the poor.

At an international level, we resist the coming together of global
capital, imperial power and military might to threaten the sovereignty
of regions and the will of people over their own political destinies.
State sponsored "wars on terror" in the name of protecting and
promoting human rights, democracy, peace, justice, national security,
in fact only breed militarisation, heightened conflict, increased
cultural nationalisms, racism and xenophobia.

The National Conference has a vision of an alternative society based
on equality, social justice and equitable development. A society that
is free from violence and that believes in women’s rights, human
rights, democratic processes, diversity, dignity and peace. We condemn
the forces of fundamentalism and communalism that are sweeping the
country, and oppose nuclearisation, militarisation and war. In doing
so, we seek to find ways to create a world of peace, equality, rights
and a politics of justice.

Challenging Violence Against Women: Violence against women, ranging
from the visible to the invisible – from battery to sexual atrocities
like molestation and rape, dowry tortures and murders, trafficking and
female infanticide – continues to be perpetrated by families,
communities and the state. Abortion of female foetuses is still
rampant in spite of a law banning it. Violence against women and girls
within the family, both parental and marital continues, as does sexual
harassment at the workplace. Community-based honour killings are still
common, and casteist and communal power struggles take recourse to
chilling forms of sexual violence against women. Aggressive
masculinity leading to rape and murder of women, including minors and
adolescents, are other heinous examples. Women who desire women,
including those who identify as lesbian and bisexual, as well as those
who do not conform to the binaries of "men" and "women", such as
transgender women including hijras, as well as women in
prostitution/sex work are becoming victims of increasingly repressive
norms of normality and abnormality. Norms bolstered by law that
criminalises alternate sexualities perceived to threaten patriarchy
and compulsory heterosexuality. Such laws urgently need to be
repealed, and many others on sexual violence, etc need immediate
reform.

Today, state and societal recognition of the problem is increasing,
and legal aid, crisis intervention and support mechanisms are more
easily available to women, yet violence against women also continues
to rise. Despite substantial achievements in legal reform, we
recognise that laws passed to protect or empower women are still
confronted by societal and institutional patriarchy in implementation.
The road ahead is long, but we continue to challenge violence against
women in all its forms.

Challenging Increasing Communalisms, Fundamentalisms and Conservatism:
As rising nationalisms, religious fundamentalisms and fascist
pressures sweep the world, they pervade political space and civil
society, and have become entrenched in institutions such as education,
the law, and the media. Instances of virtual genocide against people
from the minority communities and increasing attacks on dalits and
other marginalised castes, often with state complicity, have resulted
in deaths, mutilation, widespread fear, insecurity and the aggressive
displacement of thousands from their homes, even as economic and
social boycotts make their lives more vulnerable. And the system of
justice has failed them time and again.

The increasing hold of communal forces on society and polity always
have an adverse impact on women, with an increased control of family
and community on women’s lives, freedoms and mobility. Even more
disturbing has been the centrality of sexual violence against women
during times of conflict. Alongside, have been rising waves of
conservatism, moral policing and control over women through anti-women
personal and customary laws as well as extra-judicial bodies like
caste and community panchayats. So much so that both, within and
across communities, women’s space to express dissent, debate and
discuss change, and negotiate is shrinking by the day. We believe that
the secular, multicultural fabric of the country must be preserved,
and all politics of hate, and the forces propagating it, challenged.

Challenging Globalisation and its Impact on "Development": More than a
decade of economic "liberalisation" has resulted in the withdrawal of
the state from many essential sectors like health care, power and
water. As they get privatised, the inequalities between the rich and
poor are getting starker, large sections of the people are losing
access to them, especially women and girls. Education is becoming
dispensable for girls and women are becoming more migrant and homeless
than ever before. Simultaneously, natural resources are being overused
and polluted, forests degraded, rivers disrupted by cost-intensive and
unviable mega-developmental projects, including tourism, and
consequently, hundreds of thousands of people are being violently
displaced by the state – destroying lives, livelihoods, and whole
communities. The control and governance of forest-based resources and
commons are being increasingly centralized in the hands of the state
and subsequently set up for private commercial interests, displacing
the existing subsistence use. Even within projects of urbanisation and
industrialisation, it is the women who bear the brunt. The dismantling
of labour laws and the growth of unorganised sector where large
numbers of women work, has only increased women’s economic
vulnerability manifold.

We oppose economic policies which adversely affect the poor and
marginalised, especially women. We hold the government liable to
initiate policies to ensure food security, clothing, shelter, health
and education for all, and to decrease defence spending. We oppose
policies that fail to protect the environment; we hold liable
corporations, both national and multi-national, towards the
environment, communities and society. We are committed to economic
systems that guarantee peoples’ right to livelihood, allow for the
participation of all sections of society in economic activity and
policy making, and ensure the equitable sharing of benefits among all.

Challenging Coercive Population Policies: We resist the view that
women are reproductive beings alone, to be targeted for achieving
population control goals through the manipulation and coercion of
state-controlled and eugenic population policies. We strongly oppose
the population control programme of the "government-donor
agencies-pharmaceutical companies" combine, which continues to promote
hazardous contraceptives in its programmes and through the market,
with little or no regard for women’s health.

We oppose coercive population policies like the two-child norm,
imposed on members of panchayati raj institutions or in several states
on the people at large, even denying access to irrigation facilities,
as undemocratic and unacceptable measures that mainly penalise women,
the poor and the traditionally oppressed castes. Such laws also impede
women’s right to compete in the system as equals, give impetus to
sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. We stand firm against
the unethical use of Indian women as research subjects for Indian and
foreign companies, private and government research agencies. We assert
the need for better health care and safe birth control choices for
women.

Challenging State Aggression and Manipulation: Over the last few
decades, the Indian state – a powerful conglomeration of upper class,
upper caste, patriarchal and large capital interests – has been
compelled to respond to the demands of the women’s movement in many
ways. Yet in failing to implement many of these completely it has
managed to maintain the status quo, even as it has co-opted our ideas
and language to acquire legitimacy. "Empowering" women, through
special development programmes and granting reservations in local
self-government, have not been matched by changes for women, either at
grassroots or at various levels of the political system, such as the
government and the political parties. We challenge the state’s
projection of self-help groups as a panacea for women’s empowerment
and poverty reduction, since they fail to address the root of women’s
subordination and place the onus of poverty redressal on the poor,
especially women.

On the other hand, arms of the state meant to protect citizens, have
routinely used rape and sexual assault in order to intimidate,
terrorise and control populations. Mass rapes by the army during the
anti-insurgency operations in the North East or Kashmir, or of Muslim
women by Hindu nationalists during the state-sponsored violence
against the minority community in Gujarat, are just a few cases in
point. We condemn such state violence and repression on both men and
women, irrespective of whether the pretext is internal peace, national
security, or the global war against terrorism. Today, the state is
resorting to more and more violence to suppress people’s struggles,
censoring differing points of view and silencing voices of dissent,
instead of finding democratic solutions. We strongly oppose draconian
legislations like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the
Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
etc., that only strengthen the abusive powers of the state, the
military and the paramilitary forces, leaving behind a terrible trail
of human rights abuses. Such legislations should be repealed
immediately.

Challenging Divisiveness, Affirming Diversities: We believe that as
women, we share common interests and goals, and hence come together in
our collective struggles. But caste, nation, class, religion,
ethnicity, sexuality, ability or disability are deeply rooted social
constructs which create multiple identities for many of us.
Consequently, the politics of identity throws up several
contradictions, yet we remain committed to recognizing and respecting
these ‘diversities’ even as we seek justice for the inequities that
result from them. In particular, we seek support for the struggles of
women who are made further vulnerable by specific facets of their
identities – as adivasis, dalits, poor and working class, religious
minorities, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, sex workers, disabled,
and women of other socially marginalised groups.

We believe as women we must have the right to make choices about our
lives, our bodies, our sexuality and our relationships. We also
recognise that these choices are not unchanging. We commit to creating
the space for different choices to be recognised and evolving the
supportive structures that can make all of these choices a meaningful
reality. We reiterate our commitment to continue our efforts to
realise these expressions of our politics and struggle, and to support
the struggles of all who seek justice, with a vision that remains
autonomous of the discourse of dominant powers and politics.

The National Conference calls on all women who fight against
oppression, struggle for equality, justice and for the liberation of
all; to affirm our diversities, to resist the divisions that social
reality confronts us with; To come together for a vision of greater
justice and peace.’

In the last decade a number of things have changed. The print media is
bordering on the frivolous with style, page three and foreign
collaborations. The visual media is running amok with the vamp and
breaking news and there is little attention to serious issues. The
space for demonstrations has been confined to the deserted back lane
of Jantar Mantar. E-activism and on-line petitioning are the order of
the day. The protest is just a click away, but it means that activists
are limited to those who are computer savvy, English speaking and
upper class. The jhola has been replaced by the laptop. Conferences
and meetings which took place in dharmashalas are now addressed in
airconditioned halls with power point presentations. There is
definitely a need to question all this. Computerization has some
positives but excludes potential activists and imposes limitations on
where we can go, and a rethink is in order.

The women’s movement is constantly criticized for not being able to
achieve anything for its constituency. Before we look at the direct
impact of the women’s movement we should note that it has played a big
role in catalyzing the formation of women’s lobbies in parties and
mass organizations alike. In its short history the movement has been
instrumental in improving legislation for women. While a lot needs to
be done with regard to implementation, the fact is that this
legislation has hurt patriarchal interests. The latest is the hue and
cry being created by men over the domestic violence legislation –
suggesting that women do not even have the right to a life free of
violence, nor the right to residence in such cases.

One should judge the women’s movement only in relation to other
movements, such as the trade union movement and the civil rights
movements. With all the legislation the women’s movement comes out a
winner while the trade union movement has lost territory to SEZs where
labour laws may not apply. In this period workers’ wages have shrunk
because of inflation and super profits. Civil rights have been
abridged in the face of black laws and military presence which
surround a large number of states. But to be the first in a lame race
is no cause for jubilation – actually it is a warning sign of worse
times to come. And we need to be prepared for that.

Disappointed with the left and the NGOs, the women’s movement has to
broaden its own base. The opportunities are plenty. Lakhs of women
have been enrolled in panchayati raj institutions as elected
representatives on reserved seats, another lot is women of self-help
groups. In other words it is probably time to wrest back the co-option
benefits being enjoyed by the state in the name of women’s
empowerment.

It is also important to intensify our participation in the mass
struggles now that we are accepted as equal partners with thirty years
of history behind us. It is vital to fight the forces of communalism
and to get the right to protest which is threatening to undermine our
strength in times to come.

-- 
"Until all of us are free, the few who think they are remain tainted 
with enslavement." Lee Maracle
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