Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T22:20:15.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Colonial Politics and Women's Rights: Woman Suffrage Campaigns in Bengal, British India in the 1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Barbara Southard
Barbara Southard
Affiliation:
University of Puerto Rico
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The historian Geraldine Forbes, writing on the origins of the woman suffrage movement in India, stated: ‘the firm insistence of organized women—that they be treated as equals of men on the franchise issue—emerged not from the perceptions of the needs of the women in India, but as the result of the influence of certain British women, in the case of the first demand for the franchise, 1917, and as a response to the nationalist movement, in the case of the second demand for franchise, 1927–33.’

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 397 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Smithsonian Institution which provided a grant to cover travel, living, and incidental expenses for research in India, and the Institutional Fund to Promote Research of the University of Puerto Rico.

1 Forbes, Geraldine, ‘Votes for Women: The Demand for Women's Franchise, 1917–1937’ in Majumdar, Vine (ed.), Symbols of Power: Studies in the Political Status of Women in India (Bombay: Allied Publishers, Private, Ltd, 1979), p. 4.Google Scholar

2 For example, see: Forbes, Geraldine H., ‘From Purdah to Politics: The Social Feminism of the All-India Women's Organization’ in Papanek, Hanna and Minault, Gail (eds), Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia (Delhi: Chanakya Publications), p. 219Google Scholar, and Jayawardena, Kumari, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World (London: Zed Books, Ltd, 1987), p. 99.Google Scholar

3 Seal, Anil, The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), pp. 45–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Ibid., pp. 57–64.

5 Borthwick, Meredith, The Changing Role of Women in Bengal, 1849–1905 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp. 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Ibid., pp. 26–59.

7 Ibid., pp. 49–52.

8 Ibid., p. 59.

9 Ibid., pp. 48–9.

10 Kopf, David, The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979), pp. 57, 126–7.Google Scholar

11 Mitra, Lakshmi, Education of Women in India, 1921–1966 (Bombay; MacMillan and Co., Ltd), p. 42.Google Scholar

12 Kopf, , The Brahmo Samaj, pp. 38–9.Google Scholar

13 Southard, Barbara, ‘Bengal Women's Education League: Pressure Group and Professional Association’, Modern Asian Studies 18, 1 (1984), pp. 55–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarFor statistics see also Mitra, Education of Women in India, pp. 68–9.Google Scholar

14 Southard, , ‘Bengal Women's Education League’, pp. 57–8, 63–5.Google ScholarStatistics taken from three sources: Mitra, Education of Women in India, pp. 59–67;Google ScholarNurallah, S. and Naik, J. P., History of Education in India during the British Period (Bombay: MacMillan and Co., Ltd., 1943), p. 28;Google ScholarFornberg, Mary, ‘The Education of Women in India in the Ninteenth Century’ (unpublished paper, University of Pennsylvaina, 1975), pp. 7–17.Google Scholar

15 Borthwick, , The changing Role of Women in Bengal, pp. 273–4.Google Scholar

16 Sinha, Nirmal, Freedom Movement in Bengal, Who's Who? 1818–1904 (Calcutta: Government of West Bengal Education Department, 1968), pp. 417–18.Google Scholar

17 The same tendency for women to become activists in this perioid prevailed in other parts of India as well. See Forbes, ‘From Purdah to Politics’, p. 222.Google Scholar

18 Women in India: Who's who? (Bombay: British India Press, 1935), p. 9.Google Scholar

19 Dutt, G. S.. A Women of India: Being the Lift of Saroj Nalini Dutt (London: Hogarth Press, 1929), pp. 96–7.Google ScholarSee also discussion of Dutt's work in Forbes, ‘From Purdah to Politics’, pp. 222–3.Google Scholar

20 Broomfield, J. H., Elite Conflict in a Plural Society: Twentieth Century Bengal (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 98, 101.Google Scholar

21 Forbes, , ‘Votes for Women’, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., pp. 6–7.

23 Bose's, S. M. mother was SirBose's, J. C. sister. See Kopf, The Brahmo Samaj, pp. 69–70, 100.Google ScholarFor brief biographical details on Lady Abala Bose see Women in India: Who's Who? (1935), p. 9.Google ScholarFor details on S. M. Bose see Indian Messenger, 10 Aug. 1930Google Scholar

24 Statesman, 16 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

25 Gupta, Padmini Sen, Pioneer Women of India (Bombay: Thacker and Company, Ltd, 1944), pp. 85–7;Google ScholarWomen in India: Who's Who? (1935), p. ix.Google Scholar

26 Sen, Mrinalini, Knocking at the Door (Calcutta: Living Age Press, 1954), pp. i–vi;Google ScholarWomen in India: Who's Who? (1935), p. 63.Google ScholarInterview with her daughter, Arati Sen, February 1984.Google Scholar

27 Bangal, Joseph, ‘History of the Bethune School College, 1849–1949’ in DrNag, Kalidas (ed.), Bethune School and College Centenary Volume, 1849–1949 (Calcutta: Bethune College, 1950), p. 57.Google Scholar

28 Indian Messenger, 30 March 1924.Google Scholar

29 Report of the Bengal Women's Education Conference (1928), p. 78;Google ScholarDutt, , A Women of India, pp. 123–4.Google Scholar

30 Indian Messenger, 20 March 1927.Google Scholar

31 Statesman, 2 April 1932.Google Scholar

32 Zaidi, Syed M. H., The Muslim Womanhood in Resolution (Calcutta: 1937), p. 124.Google Scholar

33 Amrita Bazar Patrika, 24 Aug. 1921 and 21 Sept. 1924 (letters to editor).Google Scholar

34 Statesman, 28 Aug. 1921;Google ScholarBengalee, 28 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

35 Statesman, 27 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

36 Sen, , Knocking at the Door, p. 150.Google Scholar

37 Statesman, 30 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

38 Indian Messenger, 28 Aug. 1921;Google ScholarAmrita Bazar Patrika, 1 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

39 Amrita Bazar Patrika, 24 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

40 Statesman, 10 Aug. 1921;Google ScholarAmritra Bazar Patrika, 1 Sept. 1921;Google ScholarBengal Legislative Proceedings (henceforth BLCP) vol. IV (1 Sept. 1921), p. 332.Google Scholar

41 See discussion of the social feminism of the All-India women's movement in Forbes, ‘From Purdah to Politics’, pp. 238–9.Google Scholar For a recent definition of social feminism see Black, Naomi, Social Feminism (Ithaca; Cornell University Press, 1989).Google Scholar

42 Bengalee, 2 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

43 Statesman, 4 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

44 Statesman, 3 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

45 Amrita Bazar Patrika, 6 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

46 BLCP vol. IV (5 Sept. 1921), p. 476.Google Scholar

47 Gangull, Prabhat Chandra, ‘Raja Rammonhan Roy’ in Gupta, Atulchandra (ed.), Studies in the Bengal Renaissance (Bengall National Council of Education, 1958), pp. 8–15.Google Scholar

48 Southard, Brabara, ‘Individualismo y Nacionalismo en la Ideollgia de la Sadharan Brahma Samaj’ (Individualism and Nationalism in the Ideology of the Sadharan Brahma Samaj), Estudios de Asia y Africa XVII, 1 (01–03 1982); Kopf, The Brahmo Samaj, pp. 144–7, 210–14.Google Scholar

49 Southard, Barbara, ‘Political Strategy of Aurobindo Ghosh: The Utilization of Hindu Religious Symbols and the Problem of Political Mobilization in Bengal’, Modern Asian Studies 14, 3 (07 1980), pp. 362–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

50 Southard, Brabara, ‘Vivekananda: The Search for Ethical Values and National Progress under Indigenous Leadership’ in Sharma, J. P. (ed.), Individuals and Ideas in Modern India (Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1982), p. 132.Google Scholar

51 Broomfield, , Elite Conflict, pp. 29–34.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., pp. 99–112, 139–41, 165–8.

53 Kaur, Manmohan, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, 1857–1947 (Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private, Ltd, 1968), p. 107.Google Scholar

54 Statesman, 16 Aug. 1921;Google ScholarAmrita Bazar Patrika, 28 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

55 Indian Messenger, 7 Aug. 1921.Google Scholar

56 Statesman, 20 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

57 BLCP, vol. IV (1 Sept. 1921), pp. 313–17.Google Scholar

58 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), p. 375.Google Scholar

59 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), p. 395.Google Scholar

60 BLCP, vol. IV (5 Sept. 1921), p. 449.Google Scholar

61 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), p. 372.Google Scholar

62 BLCP, vol. IV (1 Sept. 1921), p. 324.Google Scholar

63 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), p. 371.Google Scholar

64 BLCP, vol. IV (5 Sept. 1921), p. 450.Google Scholar

65 BLCP, vol. IV (5 Sept. 1921), p. 470.Google Scholar

66 BLCP, vol. IV (1 Sept. 1921), pp. 324–5.Google Scholar

67 Amrita Bazar Patrika, 6 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

68 Statesman, 9 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

69 Broomfield, , Elite Conflict, pp. 227–35;Google ScholarGordon, Leonard, Bengal: The Nationalist Movement: 1876‐1940 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974), pp. 201–11.Google Scholar

70 Broomfield, , Elite Conflict, pp. 238–47.Google ScholarGordon, , Bengal, pp. 201–11.Google Scholar

71 Broomfield, , Elite Conflict, p. 268.Google Scholar

72 Statesman, 14, 19, and 20 Aug. 1925.Google Scholar

73 BLCP, vol. XVIII (19 Aug. 1925), pp. 291–2.Google Scholar

74 For one exception see Ibid., pp. 305–6.

75 Ibid., pp. 304–5.

76 Ibid., p. 293.

77 Ibid., pp. 297–8, 302.

78 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), pp. 378–80 and (5 Sept. 1921), p. 466.Google Scholar

79 BLCP, vol. IV (1 Sept. 1921), p. 343.Google Scholar

80 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), p. 374.Google Scholar

81 BLCP, vol. XVIII (19 Aug. 1925), pp. 300–1.Google Scholar

82 Sen, , Knocking at the Door, p. 145.Google Scholar

83 Statesman, 7 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

84 Statesman, 14 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

85 Statesman, 11 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

86 BLCP, vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), pp. 393–4 and vol. IV (2 Sept. 1921), pp. 388–9.Google Scholar

87 Statesman, 9 Sept. 1921.Google Scholar

88 Broomfield, , Elite Conflict, p. 110.Google Scholar

89 Ibid., pp. 244–59.

90 Ibid., pp. 244–7. Gordon, , Bengal, pp. 207–11.Google Scholar