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Conclusion: Approaching Sītā

Heidi R. M. Pauwels

in The Goddess as Role Model: Sita and Radha in Scripture and on Screen

The conclusion first discusses the Indian Women's Movement's engagement with the goddess as role model and calls for a nuanced understanding before activist appropriation. Then, it brings together ... More

The conclusion first discusses the Indian Women's Movement's engagement with the goddess as role model and calls for a nuanced understanding before activist appropriation. Then, it brings together what insights can be drawn from this study for the construction of traditional South Asian “womanhood,” and how that construction has developed over time. It looks first at the devotional construction and then at the modern one. The latter is influenced by the rise of Hindutva in politics and by a consumerist context, not unlike Soap Serials. As Radha has come to resemble Sita, women who subordinate themselves to patriarchy are shown to be rewarded. Is this oppressive or catering to what women want? A test case is presented, studying recent attitudes toward dowry. Finally, suggestions are made for further investigation that might complicate these conclusions, but on the whole it seems that we can speak of a victory of dharma over love‐ at least for now.Less

The Case of the Honest Prostitute: Sex, Work, and Freedom in the Indian Constitution

Rohit De

in A People's Constitution

This chapter studies the new laws against prostitution, enacted to enforce Article 23 of the Constitution, which sought to end the trafficking of women. For nationalists and leaders of the Indian ... More

This chapter studies the new laws against prostitution, enacted to enforce Article 23 of the Constitution, which sought to end the trafficking of women. For nationalists and leaders of the Indian women's movement, independence meant the achievement of constitutional and legal equality and the emergence of the republican female citizen as a moral, productive member of society. However, legislators and social workers were confronted by a different conception of freedom when sex workers began to file constitutional challenges to the anti-trafficking laws. They asserted their constitutional right to a trade or a profession and to freedom of movement around the country, and they challenged the procedural irregularities in the new statutes. The chapter then demonstrates that despite the sex workers' minimal success in the courts, this litigation prompted mobilization and associational politics outside the court and brought rights language into the everyday life of the sex trade.Less

Marriage and its Dissolution

Flavia Agnes

in Family Law Volume 2: Marriage, Divorce, and Matrimonial Litigation

This chapter introduces the material and historical basis of ‘marriage’ as an indissoluble and sacrosanct unit and its gradual progression towards divorce. It also demonstrates the connection between ... More

This chapter introduces the material and historical basis of ‘marriage’ as an indissoluble and sacrosanct unit and its gradual progression towards divorce. It also demonstrates the connection between economic developments and the changing nature of marriage. The grounds for the annulment include bigamy, force/coercion, fraud/misrepresentation, impotency, insanity/mental disorder, pre-marriage pregnancy and marriage of minors. The basic premise of the breakdown theory is that if a marriage has broken down without any possibility of repair (or irretrievably), it should be dissolved without determining the ‘fault’ of either party. Some examples of economic settlements are discussed. The Special Marriage Act and the Indian Christian Marriage Act were the first enactments which provided for the registration of marriages. The humiliation and violence within marriage has been a major concern for Indian women down the ages. It is shown that traditional personal laws, customary laws as well as statutory law function from a patriarchal base.Less

Involvement and Resistance of Women

RUMINA SETHI

in Myths of the Nation: National Identity and Literary Representation

This chapter discusses the involvement of the women of Kanthapura in the freedom movement to provide a fuller realization of Rao's model of cultural identity. The issue of women's participation is ... More

This chapter discusses the involvement of the women of Kanthapura in the freedom movement to provide a fuller realization of Rao's model of cultural identity. The issue of women's participation is here seen in terms of the wider theme of muted peasant unrest dealt with in Chapter 3. In the context of the novel, the contradiction between women's desires and their permitted sphere of participation is revealed by textual inconsistencies which allows us to see how they are marginalized in the essentialist representations of nationalist discourse. Gandhi's involvement of women in India's struggle for independence invites comparisons and contrasts with the participation of Rao's fictional heroines who join the satyagraha in response to Gandhi's call. We see in the novel a reworking of Gandhi's esteem of women in combination with their role in the freedom movement.Less

Hardship and Opportunity: The Fortunes of Emma, Vicey, and Wash

Claudio Saunt

in Black, White, and Indian: Race and the Unmaking of an American Family

In the 1880s, Creek Indians sought to rebuild their nation. Some Creeks, such as G. W. Grayson, profited greatly by pursuing cattle ranching. But black Indians, including G. W.'s own relatives, did ... More

In the 1880s, Creek Indians sought to rebuild their nation. Some Creeks, such as G. W. Grayson, profited greatly by pursuing cattle ranching. But black Indians, including G. W.'s own relatives, did not fare as well. Indian women also struggled, finding it difficult to thrive in an increasingly patriarchal society.Less

Women as Victims and Participants

Michael Fellman

in Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War

This chapter includes the participation of women as fighters as well as in the family, home, and womanhood. The guerrilla war culture explained in the previous chapter was also applied to women, not ... More

This chapter includes the participation of women as fighters as well as in the family, home, and womanhood. The guerrilla war culture explained in the previous chapter was also applied to women, not only as victims but also as participants. Women were involved as informers and suppliers. Some were even involved in the war itself as fighters. The women were regarded as the exalted shrine before the warriors laid the sacrificed bodies of their male enemies. There was nearly a total absence of rape and murder of white women; on the other hand, there was increased violence towards black and Indian women. The roles of women and their behavior became expanded which tested what was allowable and what was forbidden. The war also engendered desperate efforts to shore up loving between men and women.Less

Families: It Is (Not Always) Difficult Once You Have a Family Work, Life, and Balance

Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen

in Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility among India's Professional Elite

This chapter traces the role of families and life course in determining the unlikely gender outcomes found in large law firms. The advantage of the legal profession is that the career trajectory ... More

This chapter traces the role of families and life course in determining the unlikely gender outcomes found in large law firms. The advantage of the legal profession is that the career trajectory allows for a more progressive work–family balance. In particular, women in elite law firms typically start their careers in their early twenties and are in a position to become partner in their early thirties — this timeline for promotion allows women to be in positions of power while they negotiate childcare and maternity leave, whereas women in other elite professions tend to be junior colleagues when they make agentic life-course choices and are penalized accordingly. Yet, the fact remains that the structural career trajectory in these law firms was not introduced to make women more competitive candidates for partnership, but instead, emerged as a response to a concentrated, high-growth legal services market. The chapter then highlights the ways in which this unprecedented success for Indian middle-class women in the workforce depends on two existing inequalities in the grander Indian system: a ready, caste-dependent labor force that supplies affordable housework support and childcare; and a penultimate generation of close female family members who are not in the workforce and are available to provide free and ready household support systems.Less

. Entangled Love: Marriage, Consent, and National Belonging in Works by E. Pauline Johnson and John M. Oskison

Beth H. Piatote

in Domestic Subjects

This chapter examines the mechanisms by which marriage law disrupts indigenous domesticities under the rubric of consent in which Native literature seeks to confront and suspend the force of law. It ... More

This chapter examines the mechanisms by which marriage law disrupts indigenous domesticities under the rubric of consent in which Native literature seeks to confront and suspend the force of law. It explores the concept of entwined consent, the situation whereby Indian women who consented to marry will also consent to the abolition of their indigenous rights, and uses short stories written by E. Pauline Johnson and John M. Oskinson, in which figure the stakes of two forms of marriage: interracial and polygamous.Less

The Princess and the Squaw: The Construction of Native American Women in the Pictorial Press

John M. Coward

in Indians Illustrated: The Image of Native Americans in the Pictorial Press

This chapter examines the representation of Indian women—also overlooked in most previous studies of the pictorial press—contrasting the romantic “Indian princess” stereotype with a harsher set of ... More

This chapter examines the representation of Indian women—also overlooked in most previous studies of the pictorial press—contrasting the romantic “Indian princess” stereotype with a harsher set of qualities often associated with Indian women in the pictorial press. Many Indian women in the pictorial press were placed in one of two culturally constructed categories: princesses or squaws. Either way, Indian women were marked as different from whites, a safe and controlled “cultural other.” Young, beautiful Indian women and mothers could be cast as “princesses,” while old, poor, and “uncivilized” Indian women were depicted as “squaws.” Both Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly employed these categories routinely, though there were differences between these papers. Harper's emphasized the poverty and hardship of Indian women, often suffering at the hands of Indian men, while Leslie's sometimes ridiculed Indian women for their silliness or grooming habits.Less

Discrimination and disadvantage in local labour markets: issues affecting Black and minority ethnic women

Sue Yeandle and Lisa Buckner

in Policy for a change: Local labour market analysis and gender equality

This chapter addresses the labour-market situation and labour-force participation of ethnic-minority women, focusing on the local labour market situation of Indian women in Birmingham and Leicester; ... More

This chapter addresses the labour-market situation and labour-force participation of ethnic-minority women, focusing on the local labour market situation of Indian women in Birmingham and Leicester; the position of two much smaller ethnic-minority groups (Pakistani and Bangladeshi women), again in two specific local labour markets; and the relationship between changing levels of qualification, different family circumstances, and labour-market participation among Black Caribbean women. Indian women, in Birmingham and Leicester, experience clustering in the manufacturing sector, and disadvantage in terms of job level within it. Although many young Bangladeshi women had succeeded in accessing educational opportunities, mature women in this group were living lives very different from those of White British female residents. The experience of women of differing ethnicities indicates that living in the UK when young and educational achievement within the UK system both raise economic activity and employment rates.Less

Indian Brides of Christ

in Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico

This chapter examines the surprising and unexpected admission of Indian women into nunneries in colonial Mexico following the foundation of Corpus Christi in 1724. It suggests that the admission of ... More

This chapter examines the surprising and unexpected admission of Indian women into nunneries in colonial Mexico following the foundation of Corpus Christi in 1724. It suggests that the admission of Indian nuns to conventual life marked a watershed in the history of women as well as in ecclesiastical and social history and argues that viceregal support for the first Indian nunnery indicates the opening of some minds to change in social perceptions. This chapter also discusses the experiences of Indian nuns and considers the debate about the appropriateness of Indian women for the religious state.Less

The Agrarian Village World of Indian Women in the Ohio River Valley

Susan Sleeper-Smith

in Women in Early America

Susan Sleeper-Smith explores the environmentally distinctive nature of the Ohio River Valley in this chapter to show how Indian women’s work created a stable village world during the colonial era. ... More

Susan Sleeper-Smith explores the environmentally distinctive nature of the Ohio River Valley in this chapter to show how Indian women’s work created a stable village world during the colonial era. Women’s work led to demographically stable agrarian villages, where Indians were not nomadic. When Indians refused to cede their lands, President George Washington arranged for the kidnapping and imprisonment of women from several villages along the Wabash River, until Indians came to the treaty table to cede their lands.Less

Out of Place in the Domestic Space: H4 Indian Ladies Negotiating Belonging

Madhavi Mallapragada

in Virtual Homelands: Indian Immigrants and Online Cultures in the United States

This chapter examines the textual, discursive, and networking politics of Indian immigrant women residing in the United States on the H-4 temporary visa, through a close reading of the discussion ... More

This chapter examines the textual, discursive, and networking politics of Indian immigrant women residing in the United States on the H-4 temporary visa, through a close reading of the discussion forum by and about these women on the community website, indusladies.com. It argues that the politics of household and networking evidenced through the discussion cultures and online practices of forum participants exemplifies the repurposing of the virtual network to foreground a particular immigrant formation articulated along relations of gender and visa-defined immigrant class. H-4 women make visible their diverse and embodied experiences of feeling like outsiders in the immigrant space. They narrate their histories of migration from India and relocation in the United States, culminating in their becoming out of place in the nonresident Indian (NRI) household. In turn, their testimonials unsettle idealized discourses of gendered NRI belonging, which mostly by absence of representation assume that the H-4 wives of H-1B professionals are happily ensconced in domestic bliss as NRI householders.Less

The Agrarian Village World of the Ohio Valley Indians

Susan Sleeper-Smith

in Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792

Explores Indian women’s involvement in environmentally shaping the agrarian landscape of the almost-thousand-mile-long Ohio River valley. Women planted their crops in riverway bottomlands and ... More

Explores Indian women’s involvement in environmentally shaping the agrarian landscape of the almost-thousand-mile-long Ohio River valley. Women planted their crops in riverway bottomlands and produced a surplus food supply that encouraged trade with nearby and distant villages. An extensive trading network preceded European arrival. Extensive cornfields, bountiful vegetable gardens, and fruit orchards characterized Indian villages along the Ohio’s tributary rivers. Indigenous women developed a stable, continuous cropping system that maintained the organic matter in the soils by not plowing, and this provided long-range village stability. Environmental abundance in the Ohio River valley sustained high population levels. Rivers and streams teemed with more than a hundred varieties of fish; lakes abounded with wildlife and 250 species of mussels. Villages were strategically located within landscape niches that ensured sedentism and increased village size. These niches, or openings, provided access to adjacent, fertile fields, rich wetlands with nutritional plants, and forests that supplied meat and furs. Numerous bison, elk, and deer herds populated the region. Wetlands food sources were breadbaskets, and even small wetland patches produced high yields of food resources.Less

Women’s and Gender History in Modern India: Researching the Past, Reflecting on the Present

Mytheli Sreenivas

in Making Women's Histories: Beyond National Perspectives

This chapter examines the gendered nature of modernity in the case of India by tracing the trajectory of Indian women's historiography in the late twentieth century. More specifically, it explores ... More

This chapter examines the gendered nature of modernity in the case of India by tracing the trajectory of Indian women's historiography in the late twentieth century. More specifically, it explores the complex relationship between historical pasts and contemporary contexts and its implications for women's and gender history in modern India. It begins with a discussion of how the writing of Indian women's history has been intertwined with both British colonialism and anticolonial nationalism. It then considers the consequences of nationalism and national liberation movements for the field of women's history and how colonial and anticolonial forces took up the “woman question.” It also looks at the historiography of women and gender in modern India as a means to address women's oppression as well as colonial and postcolonial modernity.Less

Regenerating Feminism: Sarojini Naidu’s Eugenic Feminist Renaissance

Asha Nadkarni

in Eugenic Feminism: Reproductive Nationalism in the United States and India

This chapter discusses nationalist feminist poet Sarojini Naidu’s speeches and nationalist poetry from the first part of the twentieth century up to Indian independence in 1947. In her work, Naidu ... More

This chapter discusses nationalist feminist poet Sarojini Naidu’s speeches and nationalist poetry from the first part of the twentieth century up to Indian independence in 1947. In her work, Naidu challenged both patriarchal national and imperial feminist discourses by insisting that nationalist regeneration can only happen through the agency of Indian women. She posited the new bourgeois Indian woman as the model for a feminist modernity. Naidu sought to oppose in her political speeches that resurfaces in her pastoral poems a Romantic nostalgia that insists subalternity cannot be a part of the modernizing nation.Less

Sarala and Rokeya: Women's Issues

Bharathi Ray

in Early Feminists of Colonial India: Sarala Devi Chaudhurani and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

This chapter explores how Sarala Devi Chaudhurani and Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain looked at the abject position of women in society and what their prescriptions for improvement were. Sarala’s ... More

This chapter explores how Sarala Devi Chaudhurani and Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain looked at the abject position of women in society and what their prescriptions for improvement were. Sarala’s mission was to assist women to become aware of their potential and be confident of their power. In tune with current nationalist thought, Sarala valorized select qualities of women from the past, and believed that her contemporaries should emulate their lofty spirit and the worthy moral qualities. Rokeya’s words reflect not just courage but also a mind far ahead of its time. She believed in two principal premises: that women were used by men and were willing collaborators in their own oppression; and that men and women constituted two equal parts of society. If one was weak, the other could not thrive. The author describes how both Sarala and Rokeya believed that, to effect sustainable change, the problem of education needed to be addressed immediately. Yet here too their approaches differed. Sarala’s prescription for women’s education was mediated by nationalist consciousness. On the other hand, Rokeya’s emphasis was on making women self-respecting individuals at home and ideal Muslims in society. If Sarala upheld the home as a central place for educated woman, Rokeya reminded her readers that, in India, a majority of women did not possess a home which they might call their own. She also talked of women’s rights to paid employment, thus making a case for the economic independence of women. In asking for gender equality with men, Rokeya occupies a unique place amongst the women of her generation.Less

Creek Beginnings

Steven C. Hahn

in The Life and Times of Mary Musgrove

This chapter uses ethnohistorical evidence to reconstruct the context for Mary's childhood. First, it establishes the context for her childhood home of Coweta and its rise to power and introduces ... More

This chapter uses ethnohistorical evidence to reconstruct the context for Mary's childhood. First, it establishes the context for her childhood home of Coweta and its rise to power and introduces readers to Mary's English father. It also posits that Mary's early influences included her Creek mother and female clan-kin, whose work routines constituted Mary's first lessons in Creek culture. Additionally, the chapter explores how warfare affected Mary and her people, finding striking continuities between her childhood and adulthood.Less

Migration and the City

Tanya Hart

in Health in the City: Race, Poverty, and the Negotiation of Women's Health in New York City, 1915-1930

This chapter discusses the sociological, literary and cultural aspects of life that African American, British West Indian, and Southern Italian women encountered and created after coming to New York ... More

This chapter discusses the sociological, literary and cultural aspects of life that African American, British West Indian, and Southern Italian women encountered and created after coming to New York City. These women often had parallel and overlapping reasons for their migrations and competed for housing, services, and even prospective sexual mates. In addition, the chapter reconstructs how these poor and working-class women dealt with the vagaries of daily urban living—abandonment, poor health, caring for their children, work, and abandonment—by using census and sociological data from the 1910s and 1920s and Community Organization Society social work interviews of women who lived in Columbus Hill and the Mulberry District.Less