4 51

CHAPTER IX

THE IMPACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

The social and political movements. associated with and

subsequent to civil disobedience did not result in any ;

fundamental questioning of woman's role in society. They

enabled the further development of the extended female space

but had little impact on the nature of social reform promoted

by the female mediators from that space. The greater

institutionalization of the associational network through

its utilization of public political activities gave it greater

legitimacy and more bargaining power with the male world of

affairs. Demands from the female world had now been under-

written by the usefulness that the male would have found in

civil disobedience participation. This enabled certain

elements within the female intelligentsia to transform

themselves into a female elite which still depended on the

role of mediator from the separate female space but who now

made demands for the creation of a common space,which were

resisted by both the old guard and younger male nationalists.

Social Reform

Throughout the civil disobedience period, associations

of middle class women concerned with social work continued

to function. Organizations like the Mahila Seva Mandal

continued to run its industrial school at Parel and to hold 1

prize distribution ceremonies,-'-

1 . B.C. F c b rua ry 2 3 , 19 31 , p. 9.

the Bombay Presidency Women's

452

2 Council continued to hold its 'At Homes', the Bombay

3 Presidency Women Graduates' Union to hold lectures, and

organizations like the Y.W.C.A. to6k new organizational

initiatives for sections of women. 4 These organizations did

not share the nationalist ideology and had no reason to

divert their activities to other areas. Prior to the

initiation of civil disobedience women such as Jaishree Raijee,

who was a vice Chairman, Urmilla Mehta, Hansa Mehta and

Ratanben Mehta were all still members of the Womerls Council. 5

However by 1931 organizations such as the Bhagini Samaj, the

Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai and the Vanita Vishram which

fully supported the civil disobedience programme had withdrawn

their a ffil ia tion from the Women's Counci 1. 6 Referring to

the political climate of 1930 the Chairman of the Bombay

Presidency Women's Council Mrs. Salima Faiz Tyabji who was

later to be a Muslim League candidate for election wrote that

The year . . . has been one of great anxiety and trouble to us all in Bombay. It has been noticeable for the great intensity of political feeling and activities. We have been fortunate in having been able to hold the Council together.? .

The nationalist press was highly critical of what it termed

the needless and self imposed boycott of politics by the

Women's Co unci 1. In practice, it argued, this seemed to allow

2. For instance - B.C. July 9, 1930, p.S; B.C. August 28, 1930, p.S; B.C. July 27, 1931, p.S; B.C. September 21, 1931, p.S.

3. B.C. September 17, 1932, p.7.

4. The Y.W.C.A. organized a club for Indian Nurses. B.C. October 10, 1931, p.7.

5. See the member~;hip list. B.P.W.C. 11·/;h Annual Repo:r•t 1928-29, p.40f.

6. B.P.W.C. 13th Annual Report 1931, p.26.

7. B.P.W.C. 12th Annual Report 1929-30, p.B.

4 l""' ,) .)

the politics of one kind as inthe agit~tion for franchise and

legislation in women's interests and eschew politics of

another kind such as anti-government propaganda and be able

to persuade itself that it leaves politics alone. 8

The Women's Indian Association held itself together by

recognizing four classes of members with differing political

allegiances. 9 It was those members who felt sympathy with

the Parsi woman leader who writing of the constitutional

reforms made it clear that

. . . if our demands are not accepted there is no need for us to join the Congress ... I feel that our agreeing with the view of the Congress on the Franchise question (and no reservation) does not at all mean that we become congressities and accept all their views and their creed,10

who stood aside from civil disobedience and continued with

the society's social work activities.

During the civil disobedience period the Bombay Women's

Association continued its concern with the legal status of

women. The question of Muslim women's right to divorce was

d . d 11 lSCUSSC ; at the annual conferences of the Bombay Women's

Association in 1931 and 1932 resolutions were passed on the

need to create public opinion in favour of the Sarda Act and

in support of the proposed bill regarding Hindu Widows'

Inheritance. 12 At the All India Women's Conference in 1931,

8. B.C. editorial January 29, 1937, p.6.

9. See Chapter VI.

1 0 • ~~. I. A • R c p or t. 1 .9 3 2- 3 3 , p . 2 i .

11. Mrs. Shareefa Hamid Ali sent Note to members of the A.I.W.C. on Muslim women's right to divorce. B.C. September 6, 1930, p.S.

12. B.C. December 7, 1931, p.8; B.C. November 3, 1932, p.S; B.C. Novc;mbcr 7,1932, p.11.

454

1932 and 1933 resolutions had been pass~d regarding the legal

disabilities of women particularly with the regard to securing

""h . 1 f . h . f ] 3 '- e r 1g 1t o·· 1n cr1 tance or women. · When the Bombay branch

met prior to the Conference at Karachi it again moved such

resolutions to be taken to the All India Conference. 14

In 1930 the Servants of India Society took a middle of

the road path and opposed both the civil disobedience movement

of the Congress and the "executive excesses"of the

government. 15 This had little influence among the women of

the Bhagini Samaj who supported the nationalist upsurge. The

ordinary work of the Samaj of lectures and publications

dealing with health and education continued but other projects

were abandoned. The classes which had been held in the Fort

for sixteen years were closed down for want of workers and

funds. A scheme for adult education among women in the poor

quarters of Bombay which was to be worked by lady volunteers

under the direction of Hansa Mehta was abandoned. 16 Social

welfare projects of the Pathare Prabhu Mahila Samaj also 1'7 closed in 1930.

13. Indian Annual Register 1931, Vol. II, p.284; ibid., 1932, p.358; ibid., 1933, Vol.II, p.278.

14. The Bombay branch passed various resolutions regarding educational reform and also that as the Child Marriage Restraint Act was not effective it should be amended and that Ministry of Social Service should be formed in each province in which women have an adequate share. B.C. November 5, 1934, p.S. See also ~ndian·Annual Register 1934, Vol.II, p.339.

15. s.r.s. 1928-30, p.lo.

16. Ibid.

17. Pathare Prabhu Mahila Samaj Golden Jubilee Report 1915-65 Bombay, 1965 (Marnthi).

45S

In 1932 on the recommendation of Karsondas Chitalia a

new management committee for the Bhagini Samaj was appointed. 18

It had taken the upheaval of civil disobedience to elect womeri

office bearers, a measure Gandhi had suggested as early as

1918. 19 Although women themselves were now the chief

executives, under the new committee 20 the work of the Bhagini

Samaj c·ontinued as before. It continued its social work,

running educational and industrial classes and, as once again

an affiliate of the Bombay Presidency Women's Council and the

All India Women's Conference, added its support to progressive

legislation on social matters. It supported bills dealing

. J h b"l" 21 w1t1 untouc a 1 1ty . , .. h . 22 d h . w1aow 1n er1tance an t e protection

f . 1 23 o. young gn· s.

18. Bhagini Scmaj l?th Annual Report 1932-33, p.6. This may have occurred in response to a letter from an Unknown Woman addressed to Gandhi via Karsondas Chitalia dated 29/11/1915 but appears to be written after 1931. This correspondent 1vas a brahman from Saurashtra who abandoned the M.B.B.S. in the final year to work for the civil disobedience movement. She says that in the Bhagini Samaj the men give the orders and the women do the work of collecting money. She says that women should take over the management and that the men should give way to women. Bhagini Samaj papers.

19. M.K. Gandhi Speech at Bhagini Samaj, Bombay February 20, 1918 C.W. Vol.XIV, p.203.

20. The new committee consisted of President, Jaishree Raijee; Secretary Lilavati Banker; Joint Secretary Chanchalben Ghia; Treasure~ Shardaben Desai; Members Hansa Mehta, Urmila Mehta, Mangala V. Mehta, Jayaben Knuga, Moghiben Shah, Vimlaben Damania, Sakaben Shah, Bachuben Lotewala. Bhagini Samaj 17th Annual Report 19.32-33

21. Bhagini Samaj 1?th Annual Report 1932-33, p.8; Bhagini Samaj 18th Annual Report 1933-31, p.13; Bhagini Samaj 19th Annual Report 1935 1 p.lS.

22. Bhagini Samaj 18th Annual Report 1933-34, p.14; Bhagini Samaj 19th Annual Repo~t 1935, p.lS.

23. Bhag~ni Samaj 19!h Annual Report 1935t p.lS Bhagini SamaJ 22nd Annua~ Report 1938-39, p.2~

4 56

Those ladies who had already been involved with social

welfare continued their usual activities but with a broader

base. For instance, in 1919 few women had gone to Kathiawad

to help with famine work. In 1935 the relief fund for the

Quetta earthquake was subscribed to by the usual associations

such as the Women's Indian Association but also by smaller

associations which set up relief funds such as the Muslim-

Khwatin-e-Bomba-i-Quetta Zalzala Imdad Committee and the

Bhatia Stri Mandai Quetta Relief Fund. 24

Certainly an increase in the interest among Gujarati

women in organized activity and public association, corresponded

with the peri6d of upsurge in political activity and

. 1" . 25 nat1ona 1st sent1ment. The alliance between the nationalist

women and the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai Has such that the

Gandhi Seva Sena agreed to conduct a Hindi class for the

women of the Manda1. 26

24. B.C. June 10, 1935, p.S; B.C. June 11, 1935, p.5; B.C. August 26, 1935, p.3.

25. Membership of the G.H.S.M. increased slowly during the 1920's until the end of the decade and early 1930'' s when numbers increased rapidly then declined slowly.

Year

1917

1919

1921

1923

Membership Figures for the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai 1917-1938*

Members

57 5

782

629

654

Year Members

1925 687

1927 919

1929 1,875

1931 2,130

Year Members

1933 3,789

1935 3,148

1936 2,407

1938 2,444

*based on biennial reports of the Gujarati Hindu Strce Mandai (Gujarati).

26. The Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandal~ Bombay~ a Short Account Bombay, 1936, p.14.

457

The civi.'l disobedience movement had a coroLlary in

constructive work for the nation. The constructive programme

differed little from the social welfare work in which women

had long been engaged. It too stressed education and social

service. The swadeshi ideology overlay what was already

happening within the women's associations in efforts to

create a homecrafts industry for housewives in need of an

additional income.

The stress on constructive work as a means of

participation in the anti-imperialist struggle envisaged by

Gandhi as a struggle also for limited social recon~truction,

provided an impetus to more active social welfare measures.

Throughout the course of the civil disobedience movement

various organizatjons to promote a social_ change among women

made their appearance. The nineteenth century social reform

movement had fostered the first generation of women's

organizations and the social upsurge of the civil

disobedience movement created the opportunity for more women

to move into the orbit of organized social welfare activities.

When the Rashtriya Stree Sabha was declared illegal in

1930 some of its members started the Indian Women's Unity

Club to promote unity and understanding among women of all

communities and

. so that women who had the slightest urge for service in any form should have some place to meet and by interchange of ideas

develop that vision for service and sacrifice which is a stepping stone for all to their higher selves,27

lt ;, 15

This was not its first attempt at ·sponsoring such an

organization. Earlier the Gujarat Ladies' Social Club had

been set up as a non-political front. 28 Later, in 1932

anothet group called the Swadeshi League made its appearance~ 9

This impetus to nationalist social welfare also had an

impact among more moderate women. In September 1930 Mrs.

Nalinibai Dalvi, the wife of V.G. Dalvi principal of the Law

College30 and Mrs. Ranade daughter-in-law of Ramabai and

Justice M.G. Ranade set up the Stree Seva Samaj to combine

swadeshism with the betterment of the economic condition of

helpless women belonging to poor middle class families. 31

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

The Rashtriya Stree Sabha's Report of the Desh Sevika Sangh., Bombay 1930-31 Bombay 1931, p.16. Mrs. Kulsum Sayani was Secretary. "Kulsum Sayani - data" typescri"Qt. It had the usual programme of classes and lectures ana a branch was started at Dadar where women met for bhajan and prabhat pheries. Ibid.~ B.C. May 29, 1931, p.3; B.C. June 22, 1931, p.S; B.C. November 9, 1937 ,p.4.

It was patronized by such women as Ratanben Mehta B.C. April 4, 1930, p.S; Interview with Indrajit Mehta June 24, 1976.

Women such as Shardaben Mehta, Hansa Mehta and Sunderabai Sirur from the Bhagini Samaj and Arya Mahila Samaj were associated with it. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5031/H/3717 September 10, 1932, C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5054/H/3717 September 13, 1932.

Nalinibai Dalvi was active in the All India Women's Conference as a member of the Munici~alities Education Committee was particularly interestea in educational questions. At a conference of the Bombay Women's Association in December 1931 she joined with Mrs. G.L. Bahadurji in putting forward a re~olution on the necessity of a hostel for women under graduates of the university. B.C. December 7, 1931, p.8. The Samaj recognized that many small industries without costly machinery could be set up for women and through a free stall at the swadcshi bazaar was able to put on the market articles such as ink, soap, condiments ancl spices made Ly_ women in their afternoon leisure hours. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 4937/H/4717 September 17, 1930, B.C. February 26, 1931, p.9.

The events and personalities of the civil disobedience

movement provided an opportunity to organize meetings of

women many of whom would rarely, if ever, gather together.

For instance, nationalist women addressed a meeting of the

Stree Vibhag of the Shri Lohana Snatak Manda1. 32 These

459

meetings provided the opportunity for women to denounce what

they considered the disastrous traditions which confined

women to their houses like prisoners. 33 Such meetings

sometimes resulted in the creation of organizations for

women's welfare in communities where no such organizations

had previously existed. One such occasion was the organization

of women of the Lad Bania community. Nagindas Master, who

was prominent in Congress affairs and other prominent

reformers of the Lad community, who were members of the Shri

Lad Yuvak Mandai, Bhaidas Muganlal, Hiralal Munim, Narsilal

Jai and Jugmohandas Parekh held a meeting for women at

Zaveribag Hall in Kalbadevi at which the Lad Mahila Samaj was

formed. It started with about 200 members including Kantaben

Khandwalla, the daughter of Nagindas Master and her sister-in-

law Motiben Chunilal Master who became secretary of the

Mandai. Although some members, such as Kantaben, did take

an active part in the civil disobedience movement, most took

an interest rather than participated. The object of the Mandai

was to provide for women's welfare through sewing classes,

32. Lilavati Munshi, Bachiben Lotewala and Dahiben Desai spoke on the life of Vithalbhai Patel B.C. November 26, 1933, p.3.

33. For instance speech of Tehmina Joshi worker with Parsi Rajkiya Sabha at meeting to congratulate women in jail at Vanita Vishram B.C. July 12, 1930, p.7.

lectures and the celebration of relig~ous festivals such as

Na.vratri. 34

An organization with similar objects of bringing needy

women out from their households, providing them with work

and encouraging their education was set up among the

Bhatias. 35 A number of Bhatia women participated in the

civil disobedience movement providing alternate role models

th f } . 36 to e women o· t1e commun1ty. However, it was only

indirectly a result of the social movement associated with

civil disobedience that the Bhatia Stree Mandai was set up

in November 1930 by women encouraged by their husbands who

460

were members of the Bhatia Mitra Mandai, a male organization

long established for charitable purposes. 37

This groundswell among women concerned with their own social

welfare, and the substantialization process of the creation of

34. Interview with Kantaben Khandwalla May 3, 1976. B.C. May 8, 1930, p.3.

35. The Bhatias were a traditional co~~unity originally from Jaisalmer which still married their girls at an early age from 9-14. Ramabai Kamdar for instance was married at 13. Although Public Funds had been set up for Bhatia widows and or~hans and a girls school run by a Bhatia lady to give free education, no organization for social welfare among women had previously been set up in the city. Enthoven R.E. The Tribes and Castes of Bombay fir~t pub. 1926 reprinted Cosmo Pub. Delhi 1975, p.133 f. Interview with Mrs. Rupa Kamdar June 21, 1976. Dadachanji, F.K. List of Hindu Charities in Bombay Girgaum, 1919, pp.l, 18, 84.

36. Ramabai Kamdar, who had long been a member of the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandal became a Congress war di~tator and her sister Gangaben Ashev also took an active part. Another lady, Lilavati Asher was left a child w1dow and was taken to Gandhi by her brother. She then trained for national service in the Ashram at Wardha and later became a doctor.

37. Two members of this association encouraged their wives Mrs. Jayawantiben Kalyanji and Mrs. Manibai Vagji Shroff along with Mrs. Bachubai Dharamsey Thakkar and Jamnabai Govindji to organize the Bhatia Stree Mandal in November 1930. For a photograph of ladies of the Bhatia Stree Mandai see B.C. April 13, 1932, p.7. Interview with Mrs. Kokila Sampat, June 21, 1976.

461

small communally based associations contiJ1.ued:i.nto the 1930's with

the setting up of the Audichya. Mahila Samaj 38 of Gujarati

Brahmans, the first conference of women of the Bhavsa.r

Kshatriya community, 39 an All India Marwari Women's

Conference40 a conference of Patidar women at which Gangaben

Patel called for social reform in the ~ommunity, 41 and new

organizations among Muslim ladies 42 which brought further

new groups of women within an organized structure.

Constructive work had been envisaged as a means to

involve women who were not prepared to volunteer or go to

jail for the nationalist struggle. As it became clearer

civil disobedience was failing the enthusiasm for jail going

among volunteers flagged.

. . . it is pretty obvious that there are people who are not willing to go to prison whatever the merits of their reasons may be The only point is whether something should be done with them or not.43 ·

Kamladevi wrote to Nehru. She suggested study groups that

would keep intact the original groups of girls she had

38. B.C. June 13, 1936, p.S.

39. This was held in May 1934 in connection with the lOth All India Bhavsar Kshatriya conference. The president was Shrimati Sunnaben Kapurchand Jariwalla. B.C. May 29, 1934, p.S; B.C. May 30, 1934, p.S.

40. This was held in Calcutta. Jankibai Bajaj presided. B.C. October 29, 1933, p.8.

41. B.C. December 18, 1931, p.S.

42. These included the Khojah Women's Association, a committee to celebrate the prophets day, B.C. April 6, 1936, p.S; B.C. May 26, 1936, p.S; B.C. May 26, 1937, p.S; and a ladies section of the All India Muslim League H.C. October 21, 1937, p.13.

43. Kam1adevi Chattopadhyaya to Jawaharlal Nehru September 18, 1933. J.N. papers.

462

organized, provide them with an ideolo.gical perspective and

. bl bl h . d h . . fl 44 poss1 y ena _e t em to Wl en t c1r 1n· uence.

This was not the course followed by most Congress workers

who no longer wished to offer individual resistance. To some

extent the women Congress workers provided the lead in

creating an alternative for male workers in what had been

considered primarily a female area of work. In various

districts of the city under the initiative 6f nationalist

women new organizations were set up to do constructive work

and promote khaddar. 45

The Desh Sevika Sangh had earlier taken refuge in the

addition of the anti-untouchability campaign to the

constructive programme. The question of untouchability had

44. For her central group of girls see Kamladevi to Umabai Kundapur dated 28/11/33 with C.I.D. File No. 3950/H/1937.

45. In August 1933 a meeting of about fifty persons was held under the presidentship of Dahiben Jaikishondas Desai, a lieutenant ~f Gangaben Patel and co-founder of the branch of the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai at Santa Cruz. It was decided to form a Sasti Seva Sangh for the district with the object of spreading the use of khaddar and swadeshi articles. At Dadar in March an organization called the National Association was formed to promote khaddar and swadeshi and to support the cause of labour and tenants and the removal of untouchability. Shantabai Vengaskar was the Vice­President of thi.s organization. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 1214/H/3717, March 9, 1934. In 'D' ward it was decided to form a party called 'The Young Nationalist League' to work on the lines of the National Association at Dadar. Sitabai Pabidri was connected with it. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 1932/H/3717, April 20, 1934. B.A. 1933J para 1069(5).

I been taken up before by the Congress. 46 However, it was not

until September 1932 when Gandhi announced his fast against

the proposed Communal Award which coincided with a period of

reluctance for jail going that the middle class through

their loyalty to Gandhi took up this question in a big way. 47

This provided the opportunity for the Desh Sevika Sangh to

transform itself into the Gandhi Seva Sena and adopt the

guise of social welfare work.

At the initiative of Goshiben Captain and Vijayaben

Parikh a meeting of about 200 ladies had been held where it

was decided to form the Gandhi Seva Sena to bring about a

change of heart among caste Hindus and to explain to

untouchables that their interests would be served by

. . . . h. h H. d f ld 48 rema1n1ning wit In t e In u o . The association had

46. The question of untouchability had been taken up before by the Congress. As early as 1923 women had been addressed on their duty in this respect. In 1929 Malaviya and Jamnalal Bajaj published an appeal for temple entry reforms on behalf of the anti-untouchability committee of the Congress and towards the end of the year convened an informal Untouchability Conference at Congress House. In Bombay a temple entry satyagraha committee had been appointed. The question had been taken up again in 1931 by the B.P.C.C. B.C. February 9, 1923, p.5; S.A. 1923 para 578(13); S.A. 1929 para 1065, para 2271; October 25, 1929, p.5. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5873/H/3717 November 23, 1931.

47. The Rashtriya Stree Sabha had earlier taken a limited interest in the question addressing themselves to the Depressed Classes and Ratanben Mehta and Gangaben Patel had been particularly concerned. B.A. April 6, 1929, p.7; B.C. 1929 para 787 (2). About 200 middle class women participated in the formation of the All India Anti­Untouchability League in Bombay. F.R. 2nd half Sept. 1932, 18/12/32. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5440/H/3717 Oct. 1, 1932. In the earlier satyagraha struggles for temple entry at Nasik in Maharashtra and at the Bhulcshwar Temple in Bombay Harijan women themselves had participated in the struggle. B.C. March 25, 1930, p.12; B.C. March 13, 1930, p.S .

. 48. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5136/H/3717, Sept.17, 1932.

404

about 100 members practically all of them jail returned

members of the Dcsh Sevika Sangh. 49 Gandhi's emphasis on

women's part in the erradication of untouchability 50 was

particularly apt in· ~iew of the deep seated conservatism among

women on the question. It was asking ~ne of the lynchpins of

the caste system to take the first step in destroying it.

Even the colonial government was acutely aware of the caste

woman's sensibility on the question. It had witnessed the

withdrawal of many women from the D~ndi march when Gandhi

. . d . d . h bl 51 d . . ff 1ns1ste on 1ntro uc1ng untouc a es an 1n 1ts e orts to

break the power of the Homen pickete~s had considered using .?-,

untouchable women to deal with the picketers - a measure to

'~hich Congress could hardly raise objJU;,tions. 52 The Gandhi . :''·~·.

Seva Sena presented this form of social ser~ice as a means

to emancipation for women. 53

' The Gandhi Seva Sena set about addressing meetings of

49. C.I.D. D.I.G., (Intelligence)15/INC/36.,

50. Gandhi believed women would overcome their religious blindness to achieve this. B.C. June 16, 1934, p.l.

51. Telegram Home Special Bombay to Secy. of State and Govt. of India dated March 23, 1930, M.S.A. Home Special 750 (39) 1930.

52. Copy of a secret express letter No.37/C Home, from the Chief Commissioner, Delhi to the Government of India, Home Department dated January 14, 1932. M.S.A. Home Special 800 (48) 1932.

53. Aim No.2 of the Gandhi Seva Sena "Emancipating the women of the country by their oHn service and sacrifice for humanity, by their adherence to the moral code of giving more than receiving and emancipating themselves from many of the non moral traditions of the past." C. I. D. D. I.G. (Intelligence) 15/INC/36.

54 . 1 . f l C 1 A d 5 S women, p1ccet1ng con:ercnces on t1c ommuna war.,··

56 holding ballots in temples and even succeeding in having . 57

one temple thrown open to untouchables.

Despite the possibility of Gandhi's death this issue

did not capture the imagination of any more women than those

alread~ within the orbit of the Desh Sevika Sangh. 58

Nevertheless, the news of the Poena Pact was celebrated by a

54. At one such meeting Kamla Nehru addressed an audience of about 400 women. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5162/H/3717 September 19, 1932; B.C. September 19, 1932, p.1.

55. At the Conference at the India Merchants' Chamber Hall where leading caste Hindus met under the Presidentship of Malaviya to debate how to make the British Premier change the Communal Award as desired by Gandhi about fifty women of the Gandhi Seva Sena stood at the door with posters to impress on members the necessity of an early settlement. "Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena 11

,

A.I.C.C. 33/1934. C.I.D. Police to G6vt. 5243/H/3717 September 22, 1932.

56. To gauge public opinion on the matter the women of the Gandhi Seva Sena decided to take a referendum. Three or four women remained in charge of two ballot boxes at various temples. One was for those in favour of the temple entry and·the other for those against it. People were requested to drop beetle nuts which were kept ready into either of the boxes. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5190/H/3717 September 20, 1932. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5221/H/3717 September 21, 1932. For a table of voting in the'se boxes see 11Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena,. 6p. ait., Appendix 17, or C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5268/H/3717 September 23, 1932.

57. As a result of the efforts of Bachuben Wagle and Ratanben Mehta the old Vithoba Temple at Mahim was thrown open to untouchables. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5162/H/3717 Sept. 19, 1932. "Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena", op. cit.

58, At a meeting under the Presidentship of Lady Laxmibai Jugmohandas at which it was decided to send telegrams to the P.M. Viceroy and Lady Willingdon appealing to save the life of Gandhi by holding the Communal Award in abeyance until an agreement \~i th the depressed classes was reached only ahout one hundred were present. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 5296/H/3717, September 24, 1932.

meeting held under the auspices of many women's . . 59 assoc1at1ons.

It was only in November when Gandhi threatened to fast

again over the Guruvayur Temple Entry Question and over the

Madras Temple Entry Bill that the old guard Desh Sevikas

were joined by the old guard social welfare workers and a

committee with a progranune for action chaired by Lady

Chimanlal Setalvad was set up. 60 By 1934 women of

4 (>6 -

different alliances, including the Hindustan Seva Dal and the

Bhagini Samaj had come together in the Gandhi Seva Sena. 61

The

included

homes of

programme for etadication of untouchability

invitation of harijan women and children into

caste Hindus 62 persuasion of landlords to

the

acconmwda te Harij ans 63 and lobbying the Viceroy to sanction

the introduction of the Temple Entry Bill. 64 During Gandhi 1 s

59. The Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandal and its Santa Cruz branch, the Jain Mahila Samaj, the Surti Dasha Porwad Bhagini Mandai, the Vaida Stree Samaj, the Bhatia Stree Mandai, the Mahila Mandai; the Hindu Stree Sangathan, the Halai Lohana Sakhari Mandai and the Khadayta Stree Mandai. B.C. September 30, 1932, p.S.

60. The committee included Lady Premila Thakersey, Lady Taragauri Mehta Avantikabai Gokhale and a number of ladies associated with the Bhagini Samaj. "Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena", op. cit.

61. For a list of names of forty women at a meeting with Gandhi in June 1934 see C.I.D. Police to Govt.2921/H/3717 June 14, 1934.

62. This was regarded as one of the most significant steps taken for the erradication of untouc;hab1lity. "Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena" . op, c~t. Dec. 19, 1932, p.1; photo and list of women involved B,C, Dec. 20, 1932, p.7.

63. This was organized by Jamnaben Purshottam and Vijayaben Parikh. B.C. November 24, 1932, p.7.

64. A resolution for such was sent from a women's meeting to the Viceroy. B.C. December 26, 1932, p.l. "Report of the Gandbi Seva Sena", op. c1:t.

fasts in May and August 1933 the Gandhi Scva Sena continued

their prayers for his welfare, and agitation for the removal

of untouchability. 65 They continued their social work by

467

.opening a school for Harijan women. 66 Further ballots were

held.and as a result of this about a dpzen small temples were

thrown open, but the largest and richest temples such as.

Madhav Bag, Babulnath and Bhuleshwar continued to shut their

doors to untouchables. 67

This was the first issue around which nationalist and

moderate women had come together after the first initiation

of civil disobedience. But in fact there had been no wide

breach in the field of associational activity. Kamaladevi

Chattopadhyaya who resigned as secretary of the All India

Women's Conference in 1930 68 was one of the few women to

make such a break, to work fulltime for the Congress. In

Bombay the work of the Bombay Women's Association re~ained

in the hands of moderate women like Or. (Mrs.) Sukthankar and

Miss G.L. Bahadurji and Mrs. Khadija Shuffi Tyabji who had

disavowed buying illegal salt, and Mrs. Faiz Tyabji who had

come to the B.W.A. from the B.P.W.c. 69 But at the first

meeting of delegates to the All Asian Women's Conference at

65. During Gandhi's May fast processions of 25 to 30 women were taken out daily in various wards. F.R. 2nd half May 1933, 18/6/33."Report of the Gandhi Seva Sena", op. cit; C.I.D. Police to Govt. 4208/H/3717 August 23, 1933 (List of names).

66. B.C. October 8, 1933, p.12; B,C, June 15, 1934, p.1. 67. M.S.A. Home Special 800 (40)H A.A. Pt.II.

68. B.C. April 3, 1930, p.l. 69. At the Fifth Conference of the Bombay Women's Committee

on Educational Social Reform, Mrs. Tyahji President of the B.P.W.C. was selected President. B.C. November 14, 1930: p.lO.

468

Lahore which had been organized by the All India Women's

Conference a certain solidarity between women was expressed

when Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, lodged in Yeravada Jail at the time,

was elected President. 70 A similar link of loyalty on a

personal level was expressed when Hansa Mehta through her

relationship with Lady Mehribai Tata agreed to accept the

general secretaryship of the National Council of Women in

India and remain so despite finding herself "caught in the

net thrown country wide by Mahatma Gandhi to rope in women

f t . 1 . 1171 or na 1ona serv1ce. That such co-operation could exist

and continue to exist through the upheaval of civil

disobedience attests to the limited nature of the social

movement associated with bourgeois nationalism fostered by

notions of unity among women.

V This limited spread of social and political consciousness

in the taking up of new issues and the creation of new

organizations can be seen in the informal changes in social

attitudes. The experience of orthodox women who accepted

food from Muslims and Christians in jaiL or of women who had

never left their homes before coping with street life during

civil disobedienc~ was commented upon. 72 Marwari women

70. B.C. January 20, 1931, p.S, for an account of the All India Women's Conference see Indian Annual Register 1931, p.373. Sarojini Naidu also agreed to preside at a public meeting of the B.P.W.C. to protest proposals to repeal or relax the prohibition against early marriages and to support a Bill for the protection of minor girls. B.C. November 30, 1933, p.3.

71. "My Association with the National Council of Women in India". H.M. Papers File No.79.

72. B.C. April 24, 1931, p.12; The Rashtriya Stree Sabha's Report ... 19.30-31, op. cit., p.4.

469

discussed the deleterious effects of their love of ornamcnts~3 74 Muslim women gave interviews on purdah, a prominent lady

refused to give a caste dinner on the death of her husband

which would exclude outcastes, 75 some groups outlined their

history of intercaste marriages, 76 and a Jain women's

conference advocated freedom of remarriage for young widows? 7

Not all public discussion was directed to liberal social

change. The movies, attendance or acting by women

constituted a threat to some communities; 78 · and a section of

P . 1 d d . . 79 arsis strong y con emne Intermarriage.

However, no attempt was made by the female leadership to

interpret these changes. The women leaders merely responded

\d th a call for "seriousness" as resolutions were not enough~O

73. B.C. October 29, 1933, p.8.

74. B.C. June 30, 1934, p.7.

75. Lady Laxmibai Jugmohandas for the Kapol Banias. B.C. June 3, 1934, p.1.

76. The Bhavsar Kshatriya Samaj with the Namdev Shimpi Samaj B.C. December 31, 1935, p.l3.

77. This was such a revolutionary move according to the orthodox women among the Jains of Bombay that some of them held a meeting to express their disapproval of it. B.C. May 10, 1934l p.8; B.C. June 3, 1934, p.1.

78. The Dawoodi Bohra Volunteer Corps picketed a cinema to prevent women of the community attending. C. I. D. Police to Govt. 4125/H/3717, August 24, 1931, A section of Parsis agitated against a movie - Jawani-ki-Hawa -in which a Parsi girl had a minor part. F.R. 1st half September 1935, 18/9/35.

79. A public meeting was held to discuss the threat to the continued existence of the community through inter­marriage. B.C. July 17, 1933, p.l.

80. At a meeting under the auspices of the B.P.W.C. Sarojini Naidu declared herself glad that the B.P.W.C. had ~merged from the charming platitudes about reforming society and become serious. A couple of months later at a meeting under the auspices of the Bombay lvomen' s Committee on Educational and Social Reforms she repeated the same sentiment declaring that resolutions were not enough. B.C. December 8, 1933, p.7. B.q. February 20, 1934, p.3.

470

The universalization of the participation of some women in

civil disobedience afforded substance to long propagated

notions of a regenerated spirit among women. The participation

by a small group of women in a political movement lent weight

to the arguments for social change among diverse groups of

women. This provided a base and gave confidence to many

groups· of women to express their opinions more forcefully.

_/ The very participation of women in civil disobedience

had posed the question of the status of women in the society

but the interpretation of that participation and its

consequences offered no understanding of the fundamental

orderi~g of the society through segregation of roles.

The tension between segregation and desegregation had

been played out within the civil disobedience movement. Women '

leaders had participated in a public space with male leaders.

However,when ordinary women had attended large public

meetings or joined in activities with male volunteers they

usually did so within the confines of a segregated public

space reserved for females alone. 81 Few women attempted to/'

transcend these barriers. The conflict between those who

attempted to and those who wished to preserve the separate

space was played out in the rivalry between the two nationalist

81. On the evening of the largest meeting of the salt satyagraha a large number of women remained after dark and were accommodated on a platform especially reserved for them. B.C. April 14, 1930, p.l; When women joined male volunteers in raids on the WadaJa salt works they participated in separate batches. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2656/II/3717, .June 2,1930.

471

organizations for women in BomhDy, the separatist Rashtriya

Stree Sabha and the common spacist ladies platoon of the

Hindustan Seva Dal. During the course of civil disobedience

several women had called for desegregation. However, this

was in the context of drawing greater ?umbers of Muslim

82 women from the household into the extended female space.

It did not constitute a challenge to the structure of the

society built on separate spaces for men and women. The

female intelligentsia could now articulate the oppression of

women within the prisonlike household but they did not extend

this analysis to encompass the wider spaces of female

existence. The substance afforded by the social movement

associated with civil disobedience, was to demands from the

extended female space.that women's status within her

traditional role of wife and mother should be safeguarded and

that her individual well being, though circumscribed by her

role,be protected.

Civil disobedience as a social movement had never really

dislodged notions of the legal framework ordering change in

I • · 83 women s pos1t1on. As the politics of the national movement

shifted again to constitutional forms and the legislatures

the focus of change in women's position rested again on

tampering with the colonial legal structure.

82, At a meeting to congratulate jailed women Jankibai Bajaj called on Muslim women to follow Mrs. Lukmani's example and throw off purdah. B.C. July 12, 1930, p.7. At a meeting when Sofia Somji appealed to Muslims to send their women to the Hindustan Seva Dal Training Camp she told them "Don't think of a free India .so long as you lock up your women in your houses." The P1~ee Press JournaZ November 24, 1931.

83. Throughout Civil Disobedience A.I.W.C. & B.P.W.C. continued to pass resolutions re legal change. See first pages.

4 '1 2

If the social movement of the early thirties had done

anything it was to provide a firmer base for the assertion of

the individual personality of women. No more were social

institutions to be based on "notions that women are a species

of a property for the benefit of man" it was declared. 84

" . women should realize that they were not merely adjuncts

of men'and as free and independent human beings claim full

scope for the development of their personality." 85 The social

movement had provided the basis to argue that the ideal for

womanhood had to change from one of meekness and submission.J

to one of self reliance.

Previously the argument had been that legal change was

t d t · 1 change. 86 Th t necessary o raw ou soc1a e new argumen was

that it was now necessary to force the law to respond to an

1 d h . . 87 a rea y c ang1ng soc1ety. Woman's social role in the

84. Mrs. Faiz Tyabji at the fourth biennial conference of the National Council of Women held in Bombay. B.C. March 14, 1934, p.S.

85. Maharani of Baroda Presidential Address fourth biennial conference of the National Council of Women. Ibid.

86. See arguments concerning Age of Consent Act and Child Marriage Restraint (Sarda) Act. Chapter III.

87. "The process adopted by the commentators on the Smritis to bring the law in harmony with the changing usages and environments of society had ceased to function and the British Courts of law are bound to impose archaic rules of law, irrespective of their suitability to modern conditions of life. The awakened consciousness of both the sexes and the resultant determination to remove the legal disabilities of women and to raise their social status are responsible for the efforts made both in the legislatures and outside to emancipate the lvomen from the thraldom of custom and to bring about changes in the law in harmony with the changed conditions and environments of society." The lion. S.S. Patkar ex­Judge of the Bombay High Court presiding at public meeting for All India Women's Day Blavatsky Lodge Bombay, November 24, 1934. B.C. November 25, 1934, p .1.

473

household might not be challenged but it was for the assertion

of her individual personality that it was how argued that the

law should be changed with regard to woman's right to

property and inheritance. Previous legal changes had dealt

with.her protection in marriage now it was hoped to ensure

her individual freedoms within marriage.

Although it was not successful, the call for a Commission

of Enquiry into the plight of women and for the removal of

disabilities under which they suffered, was a precursor of

later attempts to codify women's legal status. The move for

a commission had first been mooted at the All India Women's

Conference at Madras in January, 1932 when a resolution was

passed urging the Government of India to appoint an All India

Enquiry Committee with strong representation of women to

enquire into the legal disabilities of Hindu women in matters

f 1 d · h 88 A t. f ,B b o- persona an property r1g ts. t a mee 1ng o om ay

citizens under the auspices of the Bombay Women's Association

to celebrate All India Women's Day in November 1934, a

Commission of Enquiry was again demanded. The question was

not one which aroused a lot of interest as evidenced in the

only 150 persons present but such old stalwarts on the

question of women's rights such as M.R. Jayakar and Sir

Manubhai Mehta were present. Sarojini Naidu spoke to the

major resolution advocating that the personnel of the

Commission should include an adequate number of women and

that it consider ways and means for the early removal of the

legal disabilities of women as regards inheritance, marriage

88. Indian AnnuaZ Register 1931, Vol.II, p.84.

and guardianship of children and that it recommend such

amendments to the existing laws as will make them just and

. . 1 89 equ1to.o e.

At the annual All India Women's Conference at Karachi

ft74

at the beginning of 1935 the need for a Commission to

investigate the legal disabilities of women was reiterated. 90

In the event no such Commission was appointed and at the

next conference of the Bombay Women's Association a

resolution was passed expressing disappointment at the refusal

of the Government of India to appoint such a Commission. 91

The demand for a Commission was again unsuccessful even after

the Congress ministeries were formed when a memorandum was

prepared by the parliamentary sub-committee of the Bombay

Presidency Women's Council and submitted to the Government

of India. 92 A resolution was introduced into the Central

Assembly suggesting the appointment of a co~~ittee to

investigate and report on the present position of women under

Hindu Law with special reference to rights and disabilities

with regard to ownership and disposal of property and right

of guardianship over children, right to maintenance, right

in respect of joint family property, and right of inheritance

d . 93 an success1on.

89. S.A. 1934 para 1143 (4); B.C. November 25, 1934, p.1; B.C. November 26, 1934, p.11.

90. Indian Annual Register 1934, Vol.II, p.357.

91 • B. C • October 1 5 , 19 3 S •

92. The B.P.W.C. outlined the lines that should be adopted for the purpose of legislation regarding Marriage, Divorce, Guardianship, and Inheritance. B.C. August 27, 1938, p.l3.

93. B.C. August 1, 1938, p.4.

4 7 5

The movement among women for legislative change came up

against the same problem that had moved women fighting for

franchise rights. There were no women in the legislatures. 94

The women's associations could protest or give support to

bills as earlier but could not initiate bills. There is no

doubt that Bombay women lobbied hard on bills affecting their

intere~ts. When H.R. Desai introduced a bill into the Bombay

Legislative Council withdrawing the right of adoption for

women this was rigorously opposed by organized women who

attended the Council halls in mute protest and circulated an

appeal to reject the bill. 95 Although the bill was rejected

on administrative grounds this lvas hailed as a victory for

women. 96

The women were not unanimous in their support of

measures for change. The Bombay Women's Association gave

conditional support to Dr. Bhagwandas' bill in the Central

Assembly to provide that no marriage among Hindus should be

invalid by reason of the parties not belonging to the same

97 caste. While Gujarati ladies petitioned Vallabhbhai Patel

that Congress members in the legislatures must block the

94. That is after the 1934 elections.

95. It was opposed particularly by the B.P.W.C. and the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai. The appeal was signed by 1,500 women. B.C. October 10, 1935, p.l; B.C. October 15, 1935, p.5; B.C. January 24, 1936, p.7. G.H.S.M. 1933-35, p.22. .

96. A letter to the editor suggested that it was unquestionably the \vomen 's protest that had led Mr. Desai to withdraw his bill. B.C. letter to ed. July 17, 1935, p.10.

97. There were various difficulties with the bill such as whether offspring of such a marriage could inherit. B.C. July 21s 1936s p.7; B.C. August 7, 1935, pp.6, 9; B.C. August 28, 1935, ~.6.

47()

the bill, 98 Dr. G.V. Deshmukh's bill for inheritance rights

for ,-,~omen '"'i thin the Hindu family had widespread support, 99

and in the event Deshmukh's bill was passed and Bhagwandas'

bill squashed. 100

Numbers had not been an important aspect of the

prominence given to women in civil disobedience but they played

an important role in constitutional politics. It was

important to count heads and numbers of organizations for

election and in support of policies. The women were aware

of this and tried unsuccessfully to use the tactics of

political bargaining for social reform ends. In March, before

the Lucknow Congress Hansa Mehta and others, members of the

A.I.W.C. and the Bhagini Samaj, had sent a memorandum to

Rajendra Prasad to place before the Working Committee

regarding the selection of Congress candidates for the '

forthcoming elections. They wanted an assurance that the

reactionary forces in the Congress camp would abide by the

resolution at the Karachi Congress regarding equal rights

for women, and that those candidates elected would use their

power for the removal of women's disabilities. The women made

a veiled threat pointing out that although the All India

98. B.C. July 17, 1936, p.7.

99. It was supported by the Bombay Presidency Social Reform Association, the Bombay Women's Association, the Bhagini Samaj, the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai and by women students in city colleges who organized. a meeting in its support. B.C. July 21, 1936, p.7; B.C. July 26, 1936, pp. 8, 14; B.C. July 31, 1936, p.S. The Mandai thought the bill incomplete but acknowledged it would result in some improvement to women's position. G.H.S.M. 1935-3?, p.32.

10d. B.C. February 5, 1937, p.7.

47'7

Women's Conference and other organizations of women did not

accept the principle on which tho special qualifications for

women were base~ they had recommended the enrolment of women

on the electoral rolls with a view to making women's vote as

potent a factor as possible and that the women would be asked

by their organizations to exercise their vote in favour of

those ~andidates who would fight for the abolition of legal,

social and economic disabilities faced by women. 101

The demand that candidates should support measures of

. 1 f . d b l . d lOZ Th socia re orm was reiterate y tie organize women. e

male nationalists regarded the issue of woman's condition

and social reform as of little consequence and took refuge

in the view that independence should come before social change

and would guarantee it. Nehru took the manifesto of the All

India Women's Conference so seriously that it took two letters '

to elicit a reply which then pointed out that the women's

101. Hansa Mehta to Rajendra Prasad dated 2/3/36. A.I.C.C. 6, 1936. This notion was supported by Bombay Chronicle B.C. editorial July 10, 1936, p.6.

102. The A.I.W.C. issued a manifesto to candidates for the coming elections. The women stated that they wanted active support to ensure equal opportunities for all on the basis of both caste and sex. They wanted social reforms in the areas of purdah, early marriage, immoral traffic in women and protection from drunkeness as well as reforms in education, unemployment, communal unity, and protection of civil liberties. ".Manifesto issued on behalf of the A.I.W.C. to candidates for the coming elections. Waltair July 26, 1936'', enclosed with Ammu SHaminadhan to Ja~Vaharlal Nehru dated July 26, 1936 and August 22, 1936, A.I.C.C. G 48 1936. The Bombay Presidency Women's Council which had always stood aloof from Congress issued its own memorandum calling on candidates to support measures for free compulsory education especially for girls, enforcement of the Sarda Act and legislation to remove women's disabilities, ensure their economic independence and to improve the condition of the labouring classes. B.C. December 10, 1936, p.3.

478

demands had long been part of the Congress programme and

that the essential pre-requisite was political freedom to give

full effect to the social and economic freedom of lvomen. 103

Despite the formation of the Congress governments in 1937, and

the election of women candidates there was no change on the

perspective of the law and social reform. Even such

respected lavnnakers as Sir Harisingh Gour had pointed out

that what was needed was a systematic overhaul of the whole

t f H. d L h h . 1 f l 04 b h sys ·em o 1n u a'v rat er t an p1ecemea. re orm, ut t e

priorities of the new Congress governments did not include

such social reconstruction and legislative change continued

to be piecemeal with the addition that now some bills were

. d d b 105 1ntro uce y women.

The lobbying role of the women's assocations remained

unchanged. The standing committee of the A.I.W.C. drew up

a comprehensive legislative progranune· encompassing facilities

for marketing goods to the position of women working in mines,

which was to be submitted to the provincial chief ministers

d 1 . 1 b b h b"ll 106 an women eg1s ators to e roug t up as 1 s.

103. Jawaharlal Nehru to Ammu Swaminadhan dated September 2, 1936. A.I.C.C. G 48 1936.

104. Sir Hari Singh Goua 'Inter-Caste Marriages' B.C. August 7, 1935, p.6.

105. In the Central Assembly Mrs. Radhabai Subbarayan introduced a bill to prevent bigamous marriages. Lilavati Munshi introduced a similar bill in the Bombay LegisJative Council along with one to prevent unequal marriages of great age gap. B.C. July 30, 1938, p.S; B.C. August 1, 1938, p.9; B.C. August 5, 1938, p.7.

106. B.C. August 23, 1937, p.5.

479

In Bombay, various meetings were held under the auspices

of the Bombay Presidency Women's Council; the Bombay Women's

Association, the Bombay branch of the Women's Indian

Association and the National League of women voters to support

the principles of the different bills regarding women's

rights concerning divorce and monogamy before the . . 107

leg1slatures.

Two issues received the particular support of Bombay

women. A bill in the Central Assembly to amend the Child

Marriage Ac~ by providing for a penalty for those connected

with violating the Act and by providing that a child wife

should live separately from her husband who lvas responsible

for her maintenance, was supported by holding public meetings

both before and after the passing of the bill. 108

The other issue concerned property rights. A bill was

passed in the Central Assembly regarding the right of Muslim

109 women to share property. Under the auspices of the Stree

Zarthosti Manda~ a public meeting of Parsi women was held to

appeal to the Conference of Parsi Mandals and members of the

Central Legislature to amend the Parsi Intestate Successor

Law as introduced in the Council of State to remove sex 110 discrimination against Parsi women inheriting property.

107. B.C. August S, 1938, p.7.

108. B.C. editorial July 29, 1937, p.6; B.C. July 5, 1938, p.S; B.C. March 12, 1938, p.20. G.H.S.M. 1937-39, p.ZS.

109. B.C. September 17, 1937, p. 7; B. c. editorial September 20, 1937, p.6.

110. B.C. January 4, 1938, p.S.

480

Despite all these efforts at improving the position of women

through legislative means, the legislative changes did not

even provide a comprehensive protection for the status of

women in the household. Hansa Mehta herself pointed for

instance to the increase in bigamous marriages among the so­

called educated classes. 111 She again appealed for a

comprehensive law of marriage "instead of these tinkerings"~ 12

Yet although she recognized the invidious discrimination

against women in social life, as opposed to the little

political freedom in the country which women enjoyed equally

with men, she could prescribe no radical formula for changing

this. The fate of women's status was to remain encapsulated

in the legislatures. Women, said Hansa Mehta at an address

to the Nagpada Neighbourhood House, should make a united

effort to change the law and exercise the vote in her true

interest. The goal of social change should be acquired '

through universal education and an intelligent use of the

f h . 113 ranc lSe.

Women on the streets had little impact on the content

and methods of the social reform message. It did however

provide a wider audience and accelerate the process by

which women were drawn into the associational network of

the extended female space to foster change in their own

communities and support the lobbying tactics of the more

secular organi.zations.

111. B.C. November 8, 1939, p.9.

112. Ibid.

113. B.C. November 29, 1938, p.S.

Political Partjcipation

It has long been taken as a c6mmonplace that the

participation of women in the national struggle ensured their

participation in other aspects of political life. In fact,

the principle of women's participation in decision making

bodies·as mediators in a segregated society had long been

accepted. The quest for constitutional representation lay

in the hands of both moderate and nationalist women long

.before the social movement of the 1930's. Women had

participated at sessions of the Indian National Congress

114 since the nineteenth century and for over a decade had

been represented in areas such as municipal politics.

This principle of the right to participation was formally . 115

accepted by the nationalists. At the Karachi Congress

a resolution that had been lobbied by the women of Bombay was

passed. It was put forward by a number of women who had

supported and participated in the civil disobedience movement

and drew together the strands linking the agitational and

constitutional aspects of nationalism and the question of the

role of women in the new nation. The Bombay women wired

114.For figures on number of women delegates and women in A.I.C.C. see Gopal Krishna ''Development of Indian National Congress as a Mass Organization 1918-23'' J.A.S. xxv, 3, May 1966,pp.421, 422.

11~ A number of women attended the Karachi Congress. There were 23 delegates from the B.P.C.C. including Perin Captain and Ramabai Kamdar. A.I.C.C. File No.65, 1931. Others included Ha11sa Mehta, Snehalata Hazrat, Ratanben Mel1ta, Kantaben Khandwalla, Mrs. A.P. Kothare, Goshiben Cpatain, Kisan Dhumatkar, Kamladevi Chattopadltyaya, Lilavati Munshj and Mrs. Abid Ali Jafferbhai. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 1578/H/3717 March 23, 1931.

482

Gandhi and other Congress leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru,

Vallabhbhai Patel and Mrs. Naidu that the following resolution

should be passed.

That in view of the important part played by the women of India on the political as well as the social side of the National Movement and the unconditional services rendered by them in the cause of non-violence, the heavy and unparalleled sacrifices undergone by them in the cause of the c6untry, this Congress urges that the Indian women be enfranchised on the same terms as men and that as the enfranchisement is consequent on the women possessing property in their own right all possible efforts should be made to confer this right on them to enable them to play part in the future of the nation in an adequate and effective manner.l16

The women asked various women's associations to support

the move asking Congress for equal rights of property and

franchise; some of whom also wired the Subjects Committee of

the Congress at Karachi. 117 The Women's Indian Association

of Madras was specific in its demand and wired the Congress

to include four women in its delegation to the Round Table

118 Conference. The women believed that if political power

was in the hands of those who would stand by this resolution

then the political status of women was assured and proceeded

to support the Congress declaring that woman's task was "to

help these men in their struggle to get the power." 119

116. The 'vomen signing the petition were Lady Laxmibai Jugmohandas, Hansa Mehta, Ramibai Kamdar, Avantikabai, Gokhale, Snehalata Hazrat, Ratanben Mehta, G.M.S. Captain, Nargis Captain, Perin Captain, Kashibai Kothare, Kusum Desai, Jaishree Raijee Kshma Rao, and Annapurna Deshmukh. Hinclustan Praja Mitra 21-3-1931 (Gujarati) Snehalata Hazrats papers. B.C. March 21, 1931, p.l.

117. B.C. March 23, 1931, p.S; B.C. March 27, 1931, p.S.

118. Muthulakshmi Reddy to Jawaharlal Nehru telegram dated March 2ll , 19 31 A. l . C . C. G . 13, 19 31 .

119. I-Iansa Mehta "Political Status of the Indian Woman" in Shyam Kumari Khan (ed.) Our Cause Allahabad Kitahistan 1935, p.344.

Not only was the principle accept~d by Congress in its

Manifesto for the first election after civil disobedience,

the Congress made a declaration of intent as regards women.

At the end of July 1934, the Election Manifesto of the

Congress Parliamentary Board was put forward and placed the

objectives behind capturing the legislatures before the

1 ; 120 e ectorate. The Manifesto dealt with the agrarian

programme and industrial workers and the situation of women.

The Congress has already declared that it stands for the removal of all sex disabilities whether legal or social or in any sphere of public activity. It has expressed itself in favour of maternity benefits and the protection of women workers. The women of India have already taken a leading part in the freedom struggle, and the Congress looks forward to their sharing, in equal measure with the men of India, the privileges and obligations of citizens of a free India.l21

It was not the demand for participation that was the

radical content in all of this, but the move that the kind of

participation expected was not one based on the need for

women representatives in a segregated societ~ but a move

women towards the creation of a common space in which both

men and women were represented. In the negotiations for

franchise rights in the Constitution, the women consistently

made clear their opposition to the treatment of w6men as a

special interest group with reservation of seats; and at the

Karachi Congress, Mrs. Naidu made clear her support for the

resolution and the view of the women who did not want

120. B.C. July 30, 1934, p.l.

121. Congress Election Manifesto, p.4. C.I.D. D:I.G. (Intelligence) 1/INC/36-II(9).

484

discrimination in their favour by protection, reservation or . 122 co-opt1on.

A few women, such as Sarojini Naidu, who came to politics

from the segregated sphere of the household posed no threat

but in fact offered an advantage to male politicians who

through them gained access to that sphere which they would

not otherwise have had. However, an increase in numbers from

this sphere into the decision making arena posed a no

~ncertain threat to the traditional patriarchal social order.

In a sense the exigencies of civil disobedience with

its demands of centralized control and the use of both men

and women to play the role of Congress dictator in the war

council, created a situation of common space in which limited

participation by women was acceptable. This happened despite

the care taken to stress that in working for the nation woman

was not stepping outside her household role. The very

exaggeration and universalization of women's civil

disobedience participation that had served the propaganda

purposes of Congress now added magnitude to the threat of

women operating in this newly growing common space.

Vallabhbhai Patel expressed this fear of the male nationalists

when he commented on how surprising women's participation in

civil disobedience was and that it looked as if Indian women

vied with men in the struggle thinking that if they lagged

behind they would not get a proper share in the swaraj

government. 123

122. B.C. March 23, 1931, p.S.

123. B.C. July 15, 1930, p.S,

48 5

The movement of women into decision making areas was

quite marked. Gandhi had always travelled with female

escorts. When he was released fr6m jail and went to Allahabad

to discuss the national situation with the delegates who had

returned from the Round Table Conference prior to the Gandhi­

Irwin talks, 124 he took with him Sarojini Naidu, a

representative of the old style women politicians, and Hansa

M ht d t 1 . . f . 1 lf 125 1e a, a new woman rawn o po 1t1cs rom soc1a we are.

At the time when the withdrawal of civil disobedience

and a return to constitution making and parliamentary politics

were being considered, women involved themselves in the

discussion of a new nationalist programme. In May 1934, a

conference of Congress workers was held at the initiative

of Sarojini Naidu to decide on the mandate to be given to the

A. I.C.C. regarding the future programme of the Congress.

About ninety people attended this meeting including women

such as Gangaben Patel and Avantikabai Gokhale. 126 In June,

following the Working Committee's May resolution withdrawing

civil disobedience, 127 the ban on associations forming

constituent parts of the Congress organization was removed,

and confiscated buildings were to be restored. This was the

124. For negotiations between the Congress and Liberals at this time see Low, D.A. "Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and the First Round Table Conference" in D.A. Low (ed.) Soundings in ModePn South Asian HistoPy, Australian National University Press, 1968, p.294.

125. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 570/H/3717 January 28, 1931.

126. The meeting discussed whether the resolution of boycott of legislatures passed by the Lahore Congress should be rescinded ancl whether the Swaraj party should be formed or not. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2311/H/3717 May 14, 1934; F.R. 1st half May 18/5/34.

127. B.C. May 19, 1934, p.12; F.R. 2nd half May 18/5/34.

~86

awaited signal and the B.P.C.C. and District Congress

Committees set about reorganizing. Sarojini Naidu, Shantabai

Vengaskar and Ratanben Mehta were involved in these

d . . 12 8 TJ . f 1scuss1ons. 11s pattern o participation of the long

time representative women and the women like Shantabai

Vengaskar, newly politicized through civil disobedience is

even more clearly seen in the entrance of women into the

B.P.C.C.

In 1929, the only woman representative on the B.P.C.C.

("' ... N .d 129 was 0aroJ1n1 a1 u. In 1931, following the first phase

of civil disobedience and the Karachi resolution, women

asserted themselves in the Congress organization of the city.

The major conflict in the B.P.C.C. elections was that

between the King makers, those men who had remained out of

the'public eye and secretly directed civil disobedience

. · th "t 130 d h G dh.t h 1 d th operat1on 1n e Cl y an t e an 1 es w o e e

Congress to jail. The civil disobedience movement had brought

many individuals both male and female into Congress politics

and there was keen competition as 150 nominations had been

received for 75 seats. 131

128. F.R. 1st half June 18/6/34; C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2849/H/3717 June 11, 1934.

129. She was elected from 'A' ward S.A. 1929 para 1915 (2)

130. For the 'King makers' case following their arrest see N.A.I. Home Political 5/JX/1931.

131. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2444/H/3717 May 15, 1931.

487

In'C'ward where the King-makers w~re ·hoping to establish

b th d "d t 132 a ase ere were no women can 1 a·es. In the other wards

there were nine women candidates. All had taken an active

part in the civil disobedience struggle. Yamunabai Chodekar

who had worked consistently in the mill area, and Jamnaben

Purshottam of the Rashtriya Stree Sabha were standing for F

ward.· Mrs. Shantabai Vengaskar who had played a prominent

role in Dadar, and Mrs. G.M.S. Captain stood for'G' ward.

Avantikabai Gokhale, Perin Captain and Ratahben Mehta for 'D'

ward, Urmilla Mehta for'E'ward, and Sofia Somji for'W ward

had all gone to jail as Congress war dictators. The election

was the occasion of a great deal of rivalry between the

d "ff f . 133 p· 1 d134 b d . 1 erent act1ons. 1ve women were e ecte ut esp1te

the Congress eulogization of the role of women in the struggle

only Perin Captain and Sofia Somji, one a separatist, the

other a new woman in a common space, participated in the

first council of the B.P.C.C. which discussed restarting

the Congress Bulletin and the ensuing constructive prograrnme~ 35

The B. P. C. C. elections of 1934 genera ted much excitement

as these were the first since 1931. Many more women offered

themselves as candidates than ever previously. Two of these,

Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya and Urmilla Mehta were standing for

132. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2342/H/3717 May 11, 1931.

133. C.I.D. Police to Govt. 2693/H/3717 June 1, 1931; B.C. June 1, 1931, p.l.

134. These were Sofia Sornji, Perin Captain, Jamnaben Purshottam, Shantabai Vengaskar and Mrs. G.M.S. Captain S.A. 1931 para 2027 (9).

135. B.C. June 3, 1931, p.7; C.I.D. Police to Govt. 3406/H/3717 July 17, 1931; S.A. 1931 para 2393 (4).

488 '

the Congress Socialist Party. The Bombay Presidency Socialist

Group, which had achieved a notable success at the May

conference of Bombay leaders by securing an amendment by which

the lifting of boycott was made subject to the adoption of a

programme of national independence having as its objective the

establishment of a socialist state in which power would be

transferred to the masses, had been dissolved and replaced by

the more formal Congress Socialist Party. It was carrying out

appeals to Congress members to vote only for C.S.P.

candidates at the forthcoming B.P.C.C. elections. 136

Some of the candidates such as Perin Captain and Ratanben

Mehta had long been associated with Congress politics, while

others such as Hansa Mehta, Urmilla Mehta and Sofia Somji had

been drawn into political life through the civil disobedience

movement. In all, eleven women were standing for election, a

high proportion considering the actual numbers of women who

participated in the civil disobedience struggle comp~red with

the 102 candidates in all.

Ward

A

B

c D

E F

G

B.P.C.C. Elections 1934137

No. of Candidates Women

8 Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya

18 Hansa Mehta; Sofia Somji,

23

27

46

44

36

Mrs. Mungiben Mavji; Mrs. Urmilla Mehta

Perin Captain

Bachubai Wagle

Mrs. Soonabai Velkar; Mrs. Ratanben Mehta

Mrs. Kaveriben Divecha; Shantabai Vengaskar

136. F.R. 1st half May 1934 18/5/34; F.R. 1st half June 1934 18/6/34; 1st half July 18/7/34. "For Kamladevi's views on preparations for forming the party see Kamladevi to Purshottam dated 26/9/33 with C.I.D. File No. 3872/H/IV.

137. From B.C. August 8, 1934, p.8.

. 489

The interest of women was not confined to being

candidates. On the day of election 10,000 people were said

to have voted and it was reported that a noteworthy feature

was the keen enthusiasm shown by women voters. 138 The

election again reflected the differences between the behind

the scenes Congress workers and the others, and s~veral

promirient Congressmen who had taken an active part in civil

disobedience failed to secure election. 139 Kamladevi was not

returned, but later co-opted. Hansa Mehta, Sofia Somji, Perin

Captain, Urmilla Mehta, Shantabai Vengaskar and Kaveriben

140 Divecha, all were returned. Although there was some

dissention regarding irregularities in the electio~ it was

decided to hold the first m~eting of the newly elected

members in September. The women acquitted themselves well

with Perin Captain, Sofia Somji, Shantabai Vengaskar, Hansa

Mehta and Urmilla Mehta securing seats on the Council of the

Committee and Perin Captain appointed to the Estate and

Finance Sub-Committee and Urmilla Mehta on the Labour

Sub-Committee. 141 In subsequent elections women continued

to be well represented on the B.P.C.c. 142

Women who had participated in civil disobedience also

found their way to tl1e Bombay Suburban Districts Congress

Committee. Gangaben Patel, who became President, and

138. F.R. 1st half August, 1934 18/8/34; B.C. August 13, 1934, p.1.

139. F.R. 1st half August 1934 18/~/34.

140, B.C. August 14, 1934, p.l.

141. B.A. 1934 para 870 (8).

142. For details of the 1936 and 1937 elections see C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) .4/INC/37(III).

490

Dahiben Desai were elected and Ratanben Damania and Pra~ilabcn

Mehta co-opted to the Santa Cruz Congress Committee. Both

Gangaben Patel and Dahiben Desai were elected as

representatives to the Suburban Districts Committee. 143

The movement into municipal politics represents

a different trend but still one associated with the drive by

the female leadership to attain wider decision making powers

in the society. At the Municipal ~lections the B.P.C.C.

declared that it would not contest them as suc~but appealed

to voters to support the candidature of such Congressmen "as

have rendered services and undergone sacrifices in the cause

of the country." In Bombay the C.S.P. issued a manifesto

appealing for support for its 7 candidates standing on a

party ticket, 144 including Kamladevi who was to contest from

G ward. 145 Three women also contested the Bombay Municipal

election as quazi Congress candidates - Lilavati Munshi in

'C'ward, Jaishri Raijee in'D'ward and Kaveriben Divecha in

'G' ward. 14 6

Only one of these, Lilavati Munshi, was elected. The

other two women elected were Dr. (Mrs.) Sukthankar, a social

worker of long standing and Maniben Kara from the Labour

movement. 147 Within the next few years Lilavati Munshi was

143. The Sun 26/7/34; C.I.D. File 3847/H/1935.

144. F.R. 1st half December 1934 18/12/34.

145. . . November 19, 193.5, p.S; C.K. NarHyanswami to Kamladevi dated 24/11/34 with C.I.D. File 3872/H/IV.

146. B.C. January 22, 1935, p.J.

147. B.C. February 14, 1935, p.l.

491

to advocate that women alone should administer the

. . 1' . 148 mUnlClpa ltlCS. This was a move not into any common space

but to enlarge the arena of separate space from the female

jurisdiction of the households into the municipalities. The

women.of Bombay had earlier demonstrated their concern with

municipal politics when they supported the move to

enfranchise more women by bringing the municipal franchise

in line with the new voting rights for the Legislative

Assembly. 149

This demand for a separate female administrative sphere

was reiterated by Mrs. Vidyagauri Nilkanth who asked for a

province for women to govern exclusively with the rationale

that "if women's power was only organized and mobilized it

would transform the world.''lSO She further argued that there

148. Speech at Ahmedabad B.C. September 28, 1937, p.4.

149. One of the anomalies of the extension of franch'ise under the new constitution was that a large number of women and Harijan citizens in the city had the right to vote in election for the provincial Assembly but were still debarred from exercising the franchise in the local City Municipal Corporation elections. When the Minister for local self government introduced an amendment in the Bombay Legislative Council reducing the qualification for franchise for the Municipal Corporation from pa~1ent Rs. 10/- rent to Rs. 5/- and extending the franchise for the Local Boards no one commented on the discrepancy between Municipal Fr~nchise and the Legislative Assembly Franchise. However, in the Corporation itself K.F. Nariman tried to remove this anomaly by proposing that adult franchise was the best solution to end such discrimination but that the future Municipal franchise should at least be brought into line with the franchise for the new legislatures. In this he was supported by various women's organizations and on 13th October a public meeting of 16 women's associations under the Presidentship of Hansa Mehta was held for this purpose. B.C. September 23, 1936, p.13; B.C. October 13, 1936, p.5; G.H.S.M. 1935-3?, p.33; Bhagini Samaj 21st Report 1937-38, p.25.

150. Speech at Al1medabad B.C. July 11) 1938, p.12.

492

was no disunion or jealousy among women and that they had no

greed for power. She contrasted this with the men who had

been fighting all these years for freedom and failed; who

went to the Round Table Conference and raised the communal

question instead of swaraj.

Despite the acceptance in principle and the declaration

of intent, the Congress offered no uncertain resistance to a

significant entrance of women into the higher echelons of

nationalist decision making. The formation of the Congress

Parliamentary Board was greeted with scepticism by those who

expected that women's participation in civil disobedience and

consequent Congress eulogization now entitled them to greater

representation.

Mrs. L.R. Zutschi of Lahore issued a press release.

The Congress Parliamentary Board has been formed and the claims of women ignored again. Only one lady Mrs. Naidu has been nominated to represent the women of India. If that is so, why should a board be formed at all? If one woman can represent all the women of the country, surely one man is enough for the men? But men are always ready to ignore us. Their age long habits, old fashioned traditions are hard to break. During the Civil Disobedience movement women left their homes threw off the shackles which bound them and took their rightful place beside men bearing the brunt of the battle shoulder to shoulder with them. Even that was not enough for the men to recognize us as a separate entity. When Pandit Malaviyaji called the Unity Conference at Allahabad women were calmly ignored and it was only Mrs. Asaf Ali's forceful protest which made him realize that women had come into their own.

We are surprised that eminent politicians like Dr. Ansari and P.M. Malaviya could forget our claims. In the Parliamentary Board care has been taken to make the Board as representative a body as possible and whatever differences of opinj.on existed

between two groups, two men ~ere chosen to represent their separate interests. We do not desire the Board to increase its numbers and become an unwieldy body, but we do demand that women be taken from other parts of India in whichever proportion Pandit Malaviya thinks best. We hope that the Congress Parliamentary Board will realise its mistake and take early steps to make amends and that in future women will not be so completely ignored,l51

49:'>

This demand was ignored and at the Legislative Assembly

elections, when it was declared that not to vote for Congress

f th d .d 152 was a vote -or government, ere was no woman can J. ate.

Margaret Cousins of the Women's Indian Association declared

in Karachi at the All India Women's Conference that her only

regret regarding the Congress victory in the recent elections

was that no women had been elected and asked for women

d . d . h b 1 t. 153 can 1 ates 1n t e y-e ec 1ons.

The high com1nand of the Congress, although prepared to

acquiesce in women's move into local decision making bodies,

not only ignored their claim to wider powers but actively

propagated against the notion of extended areas of powerfulness

of women. The Congress opposed the attempts by Bina Das to

shoot the Governor in Bengal for political reasons but they

also opposed this image of the boldness of women. At a

meeting of Bombay women Vallabhbhai Patel advised that it did

not become women to wield the weapons of death and destruction.

Women should rather handle the charka he said. 154

151. B.C. June 11, 1934, p .12.

152. B.C. November 23, 1934, p .1; Indian Annua Z Register 1934, Vol. II, p.363.

153. B.C. December 5' 1934, p.10.

154. C. I. D. Police to Govt. 6311/H/3717 December 6' 1931.

494

jThe old guard had very clear ideas on the role of women

in Indian society which were threatened by the new spirit

among women. They set about reinforcing the traditional role

of woman using the very nationalist ideology that had

mobilized women and provided the base for their new confidence.

They had praised woman's contribution to the struggle

acknowledging even that "Whenever men had lagged behind being

exhausted women who were supposed to be illiterate and weak

and confined in purdah redeemed the honour of our country." 155

But they argued this contribution of women at a time of crisis

should not obscure woman's true role. The call now to women

in accord with the new politics of negotiation was not to

come on to the streets to save the nation, but to achieve I

swaraj through their domestic duties in the world of the

household. At a meeting of Bombay women at which Sarojini

Naidu presided Rajendra Prasad, now the Congress President,

acknowledged the presence of women in public life by stressing

their role as nation builders, and ambassadors of national

unity and communal accord but went on to idealize domestic

life prior to the introduction of new domestic technology. 156

The crudest swadeshi argument was extended to the sphere of

domestic production. According to Rajendra Prasad many women

had abandoned their ancient domestic duties in the name of

modern fashions which had resulted in the importation of

foreign products. Therefore, women sho~ld lend a hand in

~ighting the problem of unemployment. This they could do by

155. RajenJra Prasad Convocation adJ.ress at Prayag Mahila Vidyapith, Allahabad. B.C. February 19) 1935, p.17.

156. The meeting was reported to consist of about 150 women and 200 men. C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 4/INC/34.

495

reverting to their nncient domestic chores, which would save

India crores of rupees. "India was a land of prosperity once

when women plied the charkha, cooked the food, stitched the

cloths, ground the rice, and nursed the children."157 At the

same meeting Vallabhbhai Patel spoke in a similar vein. He

said that it was disastrous that villagers had forsaken the

ancient native handicrafts and tried to imitate city

dwellers. "It was up to the women of Bombay to set an

example by going back to the ancient hand made products., 158

he said.

Paradoxically, the old guard were aided in their efforts

to contain women in the household by women themselves. With

the return to constitution making and the demise of the mass

movement the basis for the mobilization of women, rooted in

the intensity of nationalist ideology in times of struggle,

fragmented. Through their inability to supplement oi replace

the nationalist ideology as the basis for the movement among

women with an ideology linked to an analysis of woman's role

in society, the women leaders failed to consolidate the

movement as a basis for a changing female participation.

The fate of the women volunteers illustrates this.

Volunteers were required at the sessions of the A.I.C.C. and

the Indian National Congress. The presence of women

volunteers lent credence to the continuing link between the

national movement and women's situation as was also required

157. B.C. December 30, 1935, p.l.

158. .Ibid.

496

1n the case of peasants and workers to. retain them under

Congress hegemony. Bombay women acted as volunteers at the

B b 159 d F . 160 . f h C b om~ay an ·a1zpur sess1ons o t e ongress ut the

belief was common that the women's section of volunteers was

mere show. 161

The volunteers acted only as a service category. 162 Gone

were the days of brave deeds. Sarojini Naidu led the way in

undercutting the potential of the volunteer movement to act

as an arena for politicization or a training ground for

future leadership. Using the nationalist slogan equating

service of the Congress as service of the country she told the

women volunteers to be content to do the duty of sepoys and

not aspire to be leaders. 163 She invoked the role of women

in the household and told them you represent shakti the . 164

Jagatmata and you should prove worthy of the name.

159.

160.

161.

162.

163.

164.

A Volunteer Sub-Committee of the Reception Committee for the 1934 Bombay Congress was formed which was also to be responsible for training three hundred or so women volunteers. B.C~ August 31, 1934, p.8; B.C. September 9, 1934, p.12.

B.C. August 25, 1936, p.4; B.C. September·12, 1936; B.C. December 23, 1936, p.S; B.A. 1936 para 887. 40 women volunteers were trained at a camp near Poena in preparation for the Faizpur session of the INC. F.R. 1st half November 1936, 18/11/36. Avantikabai Gokha.le took a number of women from the Hind Ma.hila Samaj to Faizpur.

B.C. October 22, 1934, p.l.

The work of the volunteers was to check admission tickets, fetch water for women attending meetings, find missing wives, husbands and children and during hours of duty at the sessions they could pick up instruction in politics, rules of procedure for conducting discussions and voting. Margaret Cousins "Our Women Volunteers" B.C. November 2, 1934, p.6.

B.C. October 7, 1934, p.1.

Ib·id.

497

This resistance to political participation by more than

just representative women was not confined only to the old

guard within the Congress. The reaction from the business

community to Jawaharlal Nehru's declaration as Congress

P "d t f h" . 1" d165 h d d h . resr en. o rs soc1a 1st cree overs.a owe t e rssues

surrounding the composition of his working committee.

Jawaharlal Nehru's working committee included no women.

This was a break with the tradition of including individuals

to represent women and Muslims and the first time Sarojini

Naidu had been excluded from the committee. 166 This departure

was not acknowledged openly by Nehru who at first suggested

that at the Lucknow Congress his wishes had not been carried

out, 167 and then after numerous complaints from women

165. Bipan Chandra "Jawaharlal Nehru and the Capitalist Class 1936" E.P.fi. Vol.X, No.33-35, 1975, p.1307.

166. In a letter from Gandhi to Nehru it was made clear that the decision was in fact Jawaharlal's himself. Gandhi deplored Nehru's throwing the blame for the non­inclusion of women on to others. "You even went so far as to say that you did not believe in the tradition or convention of always having a woman and a certain number of mussulmans on the committee. Therefore as far as the exclusion of women is concerned I think it was your own unfettered discretion. No other members would have had the desire or the courage to break the convention." Gandhi went on to state certainly he would never have had the courage to exclude Sarojini Naidu. M.K. Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru dated 29/5/1936. J.N. papers.

167. In May J.N. met with a group of women and asked them why they had not asked him why no woman had been included in the working committee and explained that at the Lucknow Congress there had been a great number of difficulties and his wishes had not been carried out. The Hindu, May 19, 1936 with Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru dated 21/5/1936. J.N. Papers.

4 98

d . h . 1 . f 168 . d regar 1ng tenon-Inc us1on o: a woman· 1ssue a statement

that he had done so for women's own good. 169

This statement drew the fire of Kamladevi who pointed

out that Nehru's declaration that he had deliberately omitted

women was in contradiction to his address to the women of

Bombay where he had talked of forceful circumstances making

him do so. She accused him of having little real knowledge

of the affairs of women in the country and the possibilities

of his statement being exploited by those opposed to social

reform. 170 In her public statement Kamladevi argued forcibly

against the characterization of women relying on other's

goodwill pointing out that women fought against the reservation

of seats for women and the wifehood qualification as violently

as against the communal electorates; "it was their sense of

168. In April Ansuyabai Kale complained to Gandhi that there were no Homen on the working committee and expressed the wish that women were in opposition like the socialists and could have gained seats on this basis. B.C. April 18, 1936, p.Z. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, an organizer of the All India Women's Conference, was also preparing to raise the question of the non-inclusion of women at the half yearly meeting of the A.I.W.C. at Waltair. Amrit Kaur to Jawaharlal Nehru dated 30/5/36. J.N. papers. In the meantime Nehru had also received a letter of protest from several ladies of Gujarat regarding the non-inclusion of women in the working committee. B.C. June 14, 1936, p.7.

169. Nehru's statement explained that he had decided to break the tradition as this would be good for women themselves who should not rely on others' good will rather than on their own efforts and rejected the idea of a special sub-committee of Congress women that would be premature as it would lull the women into thinking that other people were working on their behalf. Nevertheless he acknowledged that social reform would be harder than their participation in the freedom struggle had been. B.C. July 7, 1936, p.1.

170. Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya to Jawaharlal Nehru dated July 7, 1936. A.I.C.C. G 48, 1936.

499

self respect that made them oppose such measurcs." 171 She

also pointed out that in no province had the women asked

special favours from the Congress organization and stated

than when important bodies are nominated such as the Working

Committee and the open door is deliberately shut then women

have a just complaint especially in the case of those such

as Jawaharlal Nehru who hold progressive views and should not

d f . 1 . . 172 create prece ent or soc1a react1onar1es.

Nehru appeared to have rejected the idea that women

should have special representation but with little vision of

a changing political and social role for women. This is clear

for when later in the year Kamladevi was being lobbied as a

member for the Working Committee not as a representative

woman but as a political candidate operating in a common

space she was rejected not becaus~ of her ability but on

171. B.C. July 16, 1936, p.l2.

172. Ib1:d.

500

d fl ll .fl73 . } groun so· 1cr persona 1:0 -an 1ssue t1at was certaj.nly

not a hindrance to many a male politician.

The 1935 Constitution and the complicity of nationalist

men in accepting special representation reduced the threat

of the movement of women into decision making bodie~. The

establishment of reserved seats for women meant that women

would be elected to and sit in the legislatures not as women

operating in a common space but as representative women from

the segregated world of the household. 174

The nationalist women had portrayed an ambivalent

attitude to the question of reservation of seats, but

eventually offered a strong opposition to such special

173. When two vacancies were caused by the resignations of C. Rajagopalachariar and Jai Prakash Narayan the President, Jawaharlal Nehrus adopted a queer procedure of asking the A.I.C.C. members to select 2 candidates from among themselves. This was contrary to the usual practice of the President selecting the members and Nehru was accused of shirking his responsibilities. There was much canvassing by the Congress Socialists in favour of Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya and it was thought that Nehru had avoided his responsibility because of his supposed opposition to the admission of female

·members to the Congress Executive, C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 1/INC/36-11(9). At the time it. was also suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru did not want Kamladevi on the Working Committee "as her private life is altogether too blatantly jmmoral for his taste." "Notes on a conversation with a casual source in respect of the recent meeting of the Congress Working Committee Bombay sgnd. N.P.A. Smith Central Intelligence Office August 25, 1936." C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 1/INC/36-II(9). In fact it was Gandhi who vetoed her. M.K. Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru undated 1936. M.K. Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru dated April 4, 1937. J.N. Papers. It appears that an earlier attempt to get her onio the A.I.C.C. was baulked by her co-option to the B.P.C.C. in 1934. It was suggested that a place on the A.I.C.C. might be possible if she resigned the B.P.C.C. scat and membership of the 'A' ward District Congress Committee C.K. Narayanaswami to Kamladevi dated 1/10/34 with C.I.D. File 3872/H/IV.

174. See Chapter V.

501.

representation. Earlier, the women had demanded franchise

for an aggrandizement of the power of the segregated household.

It was only in the post civil disobedience period that the

female nationalist leaders opposed the constitutional

treatment of women as a separate entity and demanded to fight

the elections on equal terms. However, as preparations for

the implementation of the Constitution gathered momentum,

some sections of women took a pragmatic view, accepted that

they should gain whatever benefit they could from the

Constitution and even demanded an extra reserved seat.

~;} In a limited way, though confined to the middle classes,

the civil disobedience movement did represent a mass movement

among women in that it extended public participation from the

female intelligentsia to other groups. It was only on the

consolidation of such a mass movement for social change that

a common space into which women might move could have been

sustained. The tragedy of civil disobedience is that it had

created the possibility of a social movement to underwrite

the demand for equal status in a common space but the demands

that were made by female leaders for social change were made

within the old legalistic framework and were easily dismissed

by the bourgeoise nationalists who maintained the stance of

political freedom before social reform.

The universalization of the category woman during civil

disobedience created the illusion of an homogeneous group.

With no ideology drawing all women together, and the down-

grading of the women volunteers, the only remnant of the

1930's upsurge, the diffcrcntes between the leadership and

502

other women were no longer obscured in the heroics of struggle.

With most women contained within the household and its

ideology, the leadership could be only a representative one.

The female elite remained only a representative one, a group

of leaders emerging from a truncated movement for social

change. In any case the women had gained their leadership

position as a function of segregation and although they tried

to move from being merely representative leaders to being . common leaders, too strong a challenge would have undermined

the basis for their very leadership.

The struggle for women's participation in a separate or

common space was not articulated by women. They were

subservient to the needs of a bourgeoise nationalist ideology

which was bringing all groups under its hegemony and which

would not tolerate the potentially divisive social demands

of different categories and classes.

The women had no choice but to capitulate on the reserved

seats issue and subsequently, despite earlier attempts to

utilize a threat of woman's political power to ensure a woman

on the current Congress Parliamentary Board and Congress

nomination of women candidates, 175 the 1937 election campaign

175. The Secretary of the A.I.W.C. sent its "Manifesto issued on behalf of the A.I.W.C. to candidates for the coming Election" to Nehru with a request for information regarding Congress nominations of women as candidates and suggesting that even now a woman could be nominated to the Parliamentary Board and liaise with the A.I.W.C. Ammar Swamina.dhan to Jawaharlal Nehru dated July 26, 1936 and August 22, 1936. A.I.C.C. G 48, 1936. The A.I.W.C. sent a memorandum to the Working Committee suggesting they could not vote for other than social reform candidates. Hansa Mehta to Rajendra. Prasad dated 2/3/36, A.I.C.C. 6, 1936.

503

was devoid of any issues regarding wom.en' s social or pol it ica 1

status. The Congress required women participants only as

voters and token representatives.

The B.P.C.C. had recommended to the Working CoTillnittee

the issue of detailed instructions regarding propaganda for

securing enrolment of the largest possible number of voters

and was said to have formed a "Brains Trust" to elaborate

a scheme to awaken mass political consciousness among the

residents of the city. 176 The Congress was joined by the

women's associations in this effort to ensure a "perfect roll"

of those who would vote for Congress.

B.P.W.C. had earlier suggested that women might be helped

to enrol themselves by the appointment of women enrolling

officers. 177 This work was instead taken up by the women's

associations on a voluntary basis. The Bhagini Samaj 178 and

the Bombay Women's Association179 were particularly active.

In the various wards of the city various Committees were

set up to propagandize for a perfect electoral roll. In 'C'

ward i.e. Bhuleshwar for instance, a pamphlet was issued by

the Secretary of the Election Propaganda Committee saying who

-----------------------------------------------------------------176. F.R. 2nd half July 1935 18/7/35.

177. B.P.W.C. Annual Report 1935s p.10.

178. The Bhagini Samaj initiated its 'perfect roll' campaign under the leadership of Mrs. Annapurnabai Deshmukh and Mrs. Yamunabai Hirlekar. B.C. August 3, 1935, p.S; B.C. August 6, 1935, p.9.

179. Miss Amy Rustomji was appointed convenor of a sub­committee to open centres and undertake house to house visits. "Bombay Women's Association. Half yearly Report 21/6/35 sgnd. Gulbanu J.R. Doctor" Indian Annual Register, 1935, Vol.l, p.384.

50~

could vot~~ 80 and asking that the special forms to be filled

in by women i.e. the application to vote should be returned

to the Committee or the centres staffed by women volunteers

which were set up in different places within the ward. 181 One

Sunday a "Women Voters Day" was declared and volunteers

including Sofia Khan Somji 7 Lilavati Munshi went around

collecting the application forms of hundreds of voters. 182

The All India Women's Conference advised that women

should enrol under the literacy provision and avoid the

wifehood qualification. The Bombay Women's Association issued

an appeal addressed to "sisters" to tell them "It is a

sacred duty as well as a grave responsibility for all men and

women who are prospective voters to g~t their riames correctly

registered." 183 They listed who could vote and appealed also

to fathers and husbands as well as doctors and health visitors

to broadcast the information to women and help them enrol.

"Become a voter" 7 they appealed and remedy the ills of

society from inadequate sanitation 7 housing and medical care

to ensuring inheritance rights and economic independence.

180. (i) "The lady who can read and write in some languages selected by her, has a right to vote.

(ii) The lady whose husband is an income tax payer or a payer of rents Rs. 10/- per month has a vote."

B.C. June 3, 1936, p.5.

181. They were manned by Shantaben Snatika, Laxmiben Snatika, Kumari Promila Mohanlal, Mrs. Nathiben Girjashankar, Mrs. Savitribadi Chavda and Smt. Bhagirathibai Nirgude. B.C. June 26 7 1936, p.S.

182. B.C. June 23, 1936, p.S.

183. Text of appeal issued by the Han. Secy. of the Bombay Women's Association. B.C. June 13, 1936, p.11.

505

Despi.tc all these appeals women were not very enthusiastic

about any gains to be had from the new constitution. At a

meeting of the Bhagini Samaj Jaishree Raijee deplored the

apathy of women in understanding their constitutional position

and the apathy towards the campaign to get women entitled to 184 vote. In Dadar Shantabai Vengaskar found it difficult to

find women volunteers for the perfect roll campaign. 185

The elections for both the Legislative Council and the

Legislative Assembly, the upper and lower house were set for

February, 1937. This was to be the first election under the

1935 Act. By October the previous year, the Bombay Provincial

Congress Parliamentary Board had received applications and had

. d . d"d t 186 nom1nate 1ts can 1 a es. In the General Urban constituency

reserved for women Mrs. Lilavati Munshi was nominated to stand . 187

from'C' ward and Mrs. Annapurnabai Gopal Deshmukh from'~ ward,

Mrs. Deshmukh was standing against .Mrs. Malinibai Sukthankar

who was standing for Girgaum as an Independent. 188

There was mild pressure from the Bombay ChronicLe that

since women had played such a significant part in the freedom

struggle they should be helped by Congress ·to stand for as

d t · bl 18 9 Th 1 C many non reserve sea s as poss1 e. e on y ongress

184. B.C. July 13, 1936, p.10.

185. B,C, June 13, 1936, p.5.

186. Applications and deposits were received from 4 women who were willing to contest the elections to the Bombay Legislative Council of nominated by the Congress. Maniben Mulj i (Karlfla) '"as the unsuccessful applicant. C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 24/INC/34.

187. B,C, October 30, 1936, p.7.

188. B.C. December 19, 1936, p.24.

189. B.C. Editorial, December 3, 1936, p.6.

506

woman candidate standing for a general ~onstituency was Mrs.

Hansa Mehta who was a candidate for the Bombay Legislative

Council, from the Bombay City and Bombay Suburban

Constituency. 190 The remaining woman candidate was Mrs.

Salima Faiz Tyabji, President of the Bombay Presidency Women's

Council 1933-34 who stood uncontested in Girgaum as the Muslim

League'nominee for the Muslim reserved seat set aside for

women. 191 She was the wife of Mr. Faiz B. Tyabji a judge of

the Bombay High Court and demonstrated that government servants

were not required to be responsible for the views of their

dependents and that their wives could take part in political

t . . . d ff J 1 f 1 t. 192 ac 1v1t1es an o er t1emse ves or e ec 1on.

The attributes of the three Congress women nominees were

that they were wives of prominent Congress-men - K.M. Munshi,

Dr. G.V. Deshmukh and Dr. Jivraj Mehta and came from

sufficiently wealthy families to pay their deposits and

r· h • 1 • • 193 r1nance t e1r e ect1on campa1gns. They had all been

190. B.C. October 30, 1936, p.7.

191. B.C. December 19, 1936, p.24.

192. The government had earlier formulated measures to prevent government servants and their dependents from taking part in any activity which might be a potential threat to the government. See N.A.I. Home Public 50/13/32; Home Public 367/34; Home Public 50/14/36; Home Public 50/25/37; Home Public 136/37 and Reforms Office 97/36 G(B); W.I.A. Report 1932-33, p.l4.

193. It has been suggested that Gangaben Patel of Santa Cruz had been approached as a candidate but for financial reasons was unable to stand. Ititerview with Miss Dhiruben Patel, June 24, 1976. Out of the sum of Rs. 2,000/- which a candidate to subscribe as electiort expenses Rs. 700/- was retained by the Finance Committee of the Bombay Parliamentary Board and Rs. 1,300/- was to be spent by the candidates themselves on election day. C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 4/INC/37 (III).

507

involved in women's organizations and both Lilavati Munshi

and Hansa Mehta had been prominent in the civil disobedience

movement.

The Congress undertook an intensive propaganda campaign

prior to the elections with the main slogan "Vote Congress

and Veto Slavery". Although election meetings of women were

held, the campaign among women was certainly not as intensive

as that to gain their participation in the civil disobedience

t S t • h ld • h I • • 194 movemen . orne mee 1ngs were e w1t women s assoc1at1ons

b t tJ t 11 . . . 1930 195 u -1ere were no grea ra 1es or meet1ngs as 1n .

The occasion of the election was not used to extend the

influerice of the women's associations. Congress had by this

time bound them sufficiently close to its policies to ensure

widespread support for the Congress women candidates. On

election day the Bombay Chronicle estimated that women played

a more important part than men in obtaining votes for the

Congress. 196

194. The Bhatia Stree Mandai was addressed by Hansa Mehta, Gangaben Patel, Lilavati Munsh~ Bachuben Thakkar and Kantaben Khandwalla. B.C. January 25, 1937, p.S.

195. One procession in 'G' ward led by Shantaben Vengaskar and Gangaben Patel included a strong contingent of Koli women who had not earlier been brought within the influence of the organized women of Bombay. The group of Koli women from Worli was lead by Sakhuba~ Jethabai, Gangabai and Kasibai. B.C. February 8, 1937, p.S.

196. In the South of the City where Hansa Mehta was canbassing in 'A' ward lvi th other women volunteers there were also a large number of Parsi women working and voting for Parsi candidates. In the north of the city, where there was the most enthusiasm there were also some women working for independent candidates. In the suburbs proportionately more women than men entitled to vote actually cast their votes but in 'E' ward women voters were so indifferent that before midday little more than fifty women had voted. B.C. February 18, 1937, p.7.

508

The result of the election was an overwhelming victory

for tl1e Congress. All of the Congress women candidates were

returned and out of the fourteen seats in the city and

suburbs Congress captured eleven. 197 In the Bombay

Legislative Assembly the Congress had a clear majority of

88 out of 175 seats. 198 After resolving the issue of office

acceptance, B.G. Kher was elected in the face of the Nariman , dispute to lead the Congress Parliamentary Party in government

in the Legislative Assembly.

The crowning irony of the determined stand of women

against being enfranchised as dependents of men during the

tedious constitutional negotiations was that one of the first

acts of their representative in the Legislative Assembly was

the attempt by Mrs. Deshmukh to have a Bill passed to amend

the Acts governing the Municipality to enlarge the franchise

for women through a wifehood and literacy qualification. 199

Political participation for women or rather the

participation of the female leadership, was now ensured . .._

Reserved seats ensured that the female elite would remain in

the parliaments and deal with the legislation for social

reform. This participation linked with the hollow shell

that the universalization of women's participation in civil

disobedience had become, obscured divisions among women and

their real social condition. The participation of the elite

197. B.C. February 2 5' 1937, p.l.

198. B.C. Februaxy 2 7' 1937, p .1.

199. The bill ·was not deemed practicable. B.C. July 5 ' 1937~ p.S; B.C. .t'\ugus t 26, 1937, p. 2.

509

substituted for the movement for social change. The female

intelligentsia in its failure to analyse society and women's

condition was an accomplice to the illusion that the

participation of a few elite women in the decision making

bodies of the nation conferred high social and political

status on all women.

Alternatives

Political participation was to remain the province of the

few, of the female elite. There was no alternate ideology

for the mass of organized women who remained under Congress

hegemony led by the old guard and young radicals who both

rejected the image of a strong and active womanhood

unshackled from her separate space. We have argued the

failure of the women intellectuals· to interpret the experience

undergone in civil disobedience by a significant number of

women in terms of its impact for new roles and new potentials

and the confining of the social order to legislative change.

Yet some women did attempt to explore roles for women that

provided an alternative to the traditional household. That

these women, both those who dealt in the politics of

experience and those who linked women's role with socialism

were unable to make any impact among organized women attests

to the strength of the Congress, the divorce of their

ideological questionings from any social movement, and

relates to the failure of the left in the nationalist period.

All prescribed economic independence for women which in the

existing economic order was not possible.

From her own experience Lilavati Munshi portrayed a

new vision of the marriage relationship based on mutuality

d d h . 200 A 1 II an comra es 1p. t a ecture at Poena on Women's Part

510

in the National Struggle" Lilavati Munshi examined the

situation of women not wanted at birth and as daughter, wife

and widow entitled only to maintenance and the life of a

drudge: Since civil disobedience she said there was a growth

of confidence among women. She put the practical questions

of women's status.

Do you treat women as equals in life? Do you devote the same attention and money after the education of your daughters as of your sons? Do you consider your wives as co-sharers of your life as of your wealth?201

She outlined a notion of womanhood different from the Gandhian

reinforcement of the traditional role plus dignity. Lilavati

argued that there was need of marriage reform to eradicate

the idea that the wife is the property of the husband. The '

relationship between husband and wife would be more loyal if

based on freedom with the right to secede. For women to be

free they must have economic independence.

The women who brought the British Goverrunent to its knees will find it easy enough to bring their fathers husbands and sons to their knees. They are awake now; they know their strength; they have tasted power and liberty. And you can rest assured that they are not going to be docile any longer. They are willing to suffer all, they are willing to give all; they are willing to lay down their lives so that man may be happy strong and true. But they are conscious .of their

200. For an account of Lilavati's first marriage and her marriage to K.M. Munshi see Dave, J.H. et al (ed.) Munshi His Art and Work Vol.l Bombay, 1956, p.77. Her portrayal of the position of Indian women and their economic serfdom can be seen in her volume of short storcis Jivanmanthi Jadeli (Stories from Life) collected in 1932.

201. B.C. May 23, 1931, p.12.

strength and they will only do so if they are no longer slaves. Bond slaves, they will be the curse of your life. Free, they will be your companion in ambition and in love, conquering together, suffering together and if need be, dying together comrades in life and death.202

Lilavati's vision of women's determination to claim their

freedom was not fulfilled.

511

Lilavati Munshi was not the only woman to portray an

alternative in a literary form. Gangaben Patel came from an

orthodox village background with only one year of formal

education in Gujarati medium. In some ways she espoused a

more determined feminist view than those concerned with

legislative change. She argued that women were subservient

to men because of their craving for ornaments, and that they

should instead be economically independent. In one short

story she put the case for economic independence by asking

why women should look to their marriage in-laws for support,

for if men can type and get a job why can not women. 203

A new style marriage was not the only alternative social

arrangement for women to consider. Since the time of the

Seva Sadan and the Bhagini Samaj Sevikas,the idea that there

should be an alternative form of organization of the service

role of woman other than in the household and its extensions

had been put forward. Only in the Jain community did the

202. Ibid. 203. Gujarati Typist and other stories (Gujarati) 1935,

from interview with Dhiruben Patel June 24, 1976. "Review of Gujarati Typist 11 IHndustan Praja Mitra September 1934 (Gujarati) papers of Gangaben Patel.

512

_idea of female religious ministrants h-ave any currency. 20 4

These new schemes envisaged a secular organization of

celibate women devoted to social service. Thjs was also the

ideal embodied in Gandhi's recruitment of women workers to

his Ashram. Prema Kantak was one such woman who for the

duration of the civil disobedience struggle remained at the

Ashram at Gandhi's behest. 205 Prema Kantak, herself a

celibate, was trying to integrate current questioning of the

role of women in society with the movement that was taking

place among women in the form of service to the Congress.

In 1936 she was appointed in charge of the women

volunteers under the Maharashtra Provincial Congress Committee

and outlined a scheme of training for women volunteers for

the Faizpur session of the Indian National Congress. In her

appeals for volunteers in the English and Marathi press she

went beyond Sarojini Naidu's view of the volunteer and

appealed to "all those, Hho are fighting for equal rights,

for those public spirited women whose motto is service, for 206 these tender hearted souls who are pining for their country. 11

However her plans for a woman's camp came under criticism

from the local Democrat party when she planned to inviteS.

Dange to address them on "The Revolution in Women's Life."

204. In March 1930, a public meeting of women under the auspices of the Jain Mahila Samaj, the Gujarati Hindu Stree Mandai, the Bhagini Samaj, the Rashtriya Stree Sabha, the Pat.iclar Stri Mandal and others was held to mourn the death of the Jain Nun Srimat.i Naganbehn Manekchand Ponachand. B.C. March 25, 1930, p.S. For a short account of Jain female ascetics see Towards Equali-ty New Delhi, Govt. of India, 1975, p.46.

205. Interview with Prema Kantak, May 5, 1976.

206. n.c. August 17, 1936, p.12.

The Democrats were wary of the socialist domination in the

Congress but declared that they did not mind their economic

views.

What we are afraid of arc their views on sex and the mutual relations between man and woman whether personal or social . . . In Russia they feel no sanctity for the holy marriage vow. Divorces are more frequent than marriages. They don't recognize the difference between legal or illegal children. They want licence and not liberty reasonable liberty ... We distrust your organization. We therefore are not willing to send our daughters and sisters and women folk to your corps or camp and that is why we are making an appeal to the guardians at large to beware of your movement.207

513

The Congress was prepared to accept the service role of women

but it was not prepared to countenance any social questioning

when it threatened delicate political balances. When she

looked for support from Nehru, who had declared himself a

socialist, Prema Kantak received none. He asked what

socialism or marriage had to do with volunteering and

declared that so far as the volunteers w~re concerned such

. d . 208 quest1ons o not ar1se. It was clear that the pragmatic

concern of politicking was to be placed above that of

questioning the social order. Politics triumphed again in

the politics or social reform debate. Even socialism was to

be defined only in its politico-economic sense according to

Nehru.

207. Prema Kantak's summary of the arguments of the Democrat Party. Prema Kantak to Jawaharlal Nehru dated September 22, 1936. A.r.c.c. G 49, 1936.

208. Jawaharlal Nehru to Prema Kantak dated September 25, 1936. A.r.c.c. G 49, 1936.

In a wide sense of the word socialism is a philosophy of life and therefore it covers and includes all aspects of life. But ordinarily socialism means a certain economic theory. When I talk of it I mean that economic theory and all this talk of religion and morals in connection with it is absurd.209

What was the socialist view of woman so emphatically

rejected by the Congress? The Communist Party of India had

earlier included the "emancipation of the toiling women" in

its platform for action. 210 At the All India Women's

Conference at Lucknow in 1933, a C.P.r. group, the Women's

Emancipation group had issued a manifesto. This demanded

that marriage be a free and voluntary union, and that the

concept of illegitimacy be discarded along with economic

demands regarding property, employment and wages. 211 The

manifesto was highly abstract, not at all specifically

related to Indian conditions, had little influence, but

209. Ibid.

514

210. "Noting that the present bourgeoise national women's organization, the 'All India Women's Conference' led by Sarojini Naidu, one of the leaders of the National Congress, is not carrying on a genuine struggle to emancipate women but in reality is co-operating with British Imperialism, the Communist Party of India calls upon the working masses of India to join the common revolutionary struggle of the toiling masses under the leadership of the Communist Party for the overthrow of the social order and social system which give rise to the slave conditions of Indian women." Extracts from a Draft Platform of Action of the C.P.r. distributed at the Nav Jawan Bharat Sabha Conference March 27, 1931, Karachi. Appendix to the Bombay Police Secret Abstract of Intelligence dated April 4, 1931. In the same year Durgabai, a woman member of the Navjavan Dharat Sabha which during civil disobedience had published a broadsheet Revolt which was regarded by the B.P.C.C. as subversive of Congress ideals declared the necessity of economic independence for women. B.C.B. 3 No.63 July 5, 1930; B.C. September 16, 1931, p.9.

211. For the text of the Manifesto see Appendix E.

515

published in the newspapers was appare~tiy sufficient to

frighten all guardians of sacred Indian womanhood.

The Congress Socialist Party was slow to raise the issue

f I • . • I d' . t 212 b . K ] d . o woman s pos1t1on 1n n 1an soc1e y ut 1n am_a ev1

Chattopadhyaya gained a major spokeswoman on the question.

As Kamladevi began to clarify her socialist ideas she also

questioned the traditional role of women in society. Her

views remained theoretical and did not deal specifically

with the social fabric of India. Nevertheless, she stated

the importance of economic independence to a free womanhood.

During the civil disobedience movement care had always

been taken to stress that woman was not stepping out of her

role in the household. Post civil disobedience, women were

still regarded as creatures of the household for whom

legislative safeguards were all that was necessary. Kamladevi

questioned not only the structure of Indian society but the

role of women within it. Kamladevi believed that true

freedom for women would come only when society was

reconstructed on a classless basis and when woman ceased to 213 be private property and was able to stand on her own legs.

212. In 1934, class war, the necessity of Congress adopting a mass outlook and the organization of workers and peasants were discussed but not the woman question. Purshottam Trikamdas "Statement at All India Congress Socialist Party" Conference. B.C. October 22, 1934, p.l3.

213. Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya "Socialism and Women's Role in it" address to women's meeting at Bellary, Karnataka. B.C. September 2, 1935,_p~4.

What will the women of India choose? Poverty, degradation or oppression for the many or a golden cage for the few or freedom for all? If the latter then let them organize themselves and throw in their lot with the entire mass struggle for freedom.214

The women's problem is the human problem and not merely the sex problem .. It is not literacy or franchise which will fundamentally change their position to their advantage and satisfaction but the root basis and entire construction of society.215

To emphasize that the traditional social order was not

immutable but could change, Kamladevi traced the changes in

women's position from primitive society as one social order

516

gave place to another, and showed how the economy influenced

their status. 216

One could trace the social evils of purdah, child marriages, husband-worship as embodied in the widow ~1o could not re-marry, and a host of other things which had obtained the stamp of tradition and religion, to the one factor, namely the structure of society.217

In dealing with primitive society she fell into the same

trap of idealization of the unique position of woman as did

later anthropologists. She described woman's role in

capitalist society in both its imperialist and fascist

. d J f d . 1 . 218 per1o s, as t1at o a repro uct1ve mac11ne.

214. Handwritten signed by Kamladevi entitled For Malati's magazine, n.d. N.S. Hardikar papers.

215. Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya "Future of Indian Women's Movement" in Shyam Kumari Nehru (ed.), op. cit.

216. Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya "Socialism and Women's Role in it'', op. cit.

217. "Report of a speech to the Bombay AduJt Educatjon Association", B.C. October 30, 1936, p.14.

218. Ibid.

.517

Class society was the touchstone to woman's position,

according to Kamladevi. She argued that neither the middle

class feminist movement in the West, nor the movement among

Indian women dealt with the fundamental problem.

. . . all those demands for right to property, removal of legal disabilities, equality of status which formed the basis of the Women's movement in India did not go to the roots of the problem.219

While taking the view that the liberty of all women was

curtailed, Kamladevi was careful to differentiate herself from

a feminist position.

I am not a suffragist, I am a Socialist and I know that the women's question is intrinsically a part of the entire human problem and that the ultimate liberation of women can be achieved only by the liberation of all the exploited classes,220

she wrote in combating Nehru. Yet she did not take a hard

line class view of the oppression of women and argued that

all women were in some way oppressed.

I do not hold that the interest of women is separate from that of men. Fundamentally their interest is determined by the class they belong to. But due to a variety of circumstances they have become a suppressed element on their own and doubly subject. Although a working calss woman is socially freer because of her economic independence than a Maharani who is a pitiable prisoner in a gilded cage, still in her own proletariat class, she is at a disadvantage socially as compared with men. Men are still the masters because tradition dies hard. This is what creates what is called the women's problem.221

219. "Report of a speech to the Bombay Adult Education Association", op. cit.

220. B.C. July 16, 1936, p.l2.

221. Ib1:d.

The C.S.P. did not hold a totally· abstract view of the

question and at a socialist study camp in Gujarat in 1937

the curriculum included a study of l·JOmen 's activity as part

of a wider study of the history and method of working of

I d . . . 222 n 1an organ1za t1ons. · In her addresses to women's

associations Kamladevi advocated that such organizations

should not hold off from the national movement but should

link themselves with the fundamental problem of the country

518

and in some way try to strengthen the democratic struggle of

the vast vasses to free themselves from poverty and

. 223 oppreSSIOn.

The Royist group was the only other faction that put

forward a theor~ical view of the position of woman in

d 1 . . . 1 d 224 society linke to 1er econom1c role in the soc1a or er.

Maniben Kara, perhaps the best known woman representative

of the group, did not have much to say on the question but

in the Royist weekly edited by Charles Mascarne~ Lilavati

Chitnis published an article on the "Economic Emancipation

of Women''. In it she described both the spiritual and

material condition of woman.

222. C.I.D. D.I.G. (Intelligence) 3/CSP/3711.

223. B.C. March 6, 1937, p.8. 224. Later M.N. Roy in his humanist phase presented a view

of the destruction of the family by capitalism and of the need to preserve and change the economic basis of the family. Roy, M.N. "The Ideal of Indian Womanhood": Fragments of a Prisoners Diary, Vol.II, Dehradun 1

Indian Renaissance Association, 1941.

Woman from very ancient times, is considered to be the tempter of man whom she leads to the evil path. She is looked down upon as an obstacle in the spiritual attainment of man. She prevents man from attaining to perfection and drags him down in the mire with her.225

519

The r~ality is different from this she argued as the division

of labour within the family in favour of the husband created

a slavish mentality in the woman. To change this by giving

women economic freedom the whole system would have to change

and capitalism be destroyed she concluded.

The failure of these groups to develop a further

theoretical understanding of the position of woman in Indian

society is linked to their relationship with the theories

of revo'll::itionary change and failure to analyse Indian society.

The working class movement which could have provided the social

base for a revolutionary change was restricted to wage

demands and was fast being brought under Congress he~emony.

Hence the failure to provide an alternative to the bourgeoise

women's movement which Kamladevi described was linked to a

wider political failure to provide an alternative to

bourgeoise nationalism. There were no women working class

intellectuals and the female intelligentsia was too closely

linked with both the reform movement among women and with

political currents that considered "workers" and "peasants"

as far more important issues than "women". Such was the

failure to analyse the situation of women and reach political

conclusions that within another decade and Independence

gained, Kamladevi herself was espousing a v~ew of equality

225. Lilavati Chitnis "Economic Emancipation of Women" Independent IndiaJ Vol.l, No.1, August 30, 1931.

achieved without struggle.

Women's biggest advance has been in the political field, where they, unlike the women of the west, have met with practical (sic) no opposition in acquiring their rights. Their heroic participation in the freedom struggle, side by side with men, has also been an additional factor in securing for them their equality of status with men.226

226. Kamladevi Chattopaclhyaya "Status of Women in India" Asian Relations Conference March-April 1947, Indian Council of World Affaj.rs, New Delhi, 1947.

520