Feminism & India – the realist’s take - Thus Spake Tan!

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Feminism & India – the realist’s take

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Khub Ladi Mardani wo to Jhansi wali Raani Thi


Indian history is full of legendary women who fought against adversities and hardships in life – whether it was the colonial rule, social injustice or domestic violence. Indian women have consistently shown resistance against any kind of atrocities and social evils and have raised a voice in favor of justice, righteousness and peace. If we open the history books we can find innumerable Indian women who have put their foot down when it mattered the most – be it while saving the weak, her children, her husband, her family, her own or someone else’s chastity, or her people, her land, and her country. We should be and we are proud of being the decedents of such women (and men alike), who raised to the occasion, on countless times and exemplified feminism to the truest meaning of the word. Indian women have been the epitomes of womanhood to the world. Feminism is not new in India.

Having said so, modern India is seeing a different kind of feminism these days and it is gaining popularity amongst the young Indian women or I better say the entire Indian population. There is a lot of confusion about the word feminism in today’s minds and thanks to the western intervention in our day-to-day life, we have borrowed the examples and explanations of feminism from them as well. This has not only diluted the inherent thought process of our women but also successfully created a division in the population – of those who are in favor or those who oppose feminism. And these two groups include both boys and girls alike.

...research, learn and know for yourself what feminism means and then build your own ideology around that.

And then, more sadly, there is a huge difference between the understanding and practice of feminism to an urban woman than that to a woman living in the Indian villages or states which are a little detached from the mainland. To some, feminism has transformed into lipsticks, short skirts, and night outs while the others still search feminism in veils, rituals and female feticides. The urban woman curses the village woman for getting stuck in these age-old superstitions and customs and she advises her to come out of these lingering social evils. The former wants the later to get educated, empowered and in most cases, civilized! “Be a feminist and fight for your rights!”

For the exact same reason, weirdly enough but most interestingly, the village woman blames the city woman and tells that the later has no sense of our own prolific antiquity, culture, and customs. She does not know how to even dress properly and behave with the elders, family members and people of the opposite sex. The village woman tells the urban woman strongly that what she is doing by working in offices, rubbing shoulders with the men and wearing revealing dresses does not fit into the “image of the Indian woman.” What is going on in our villages is what should be followed and practiced by women from all over the country. “If you don’t follow our culture and rituals, you are not being an Indian feminist.”

As Published in The Unshort Magazine, March 2018

Well, both the parties are actually going away from the true sense of feminism and with every passing minute, this gap is only increasing. The meaning of feminism is getting blurred and hazy and is almost getting obscure amidst this mental turmoil happening in the country these days. I am seeing it happen. Probably because I come from a village where I spent most of my childhood and now I am staying in a metro for last 14 years. I have seen both the worlds very closely. Maybe you can see it too.

I am sure that when this term “feminism” was first introduced in English (from the Latin word fēmina meaning woman) towards the middle of the 19th century (and from French word féminisme, later on), it only meant feminine qualities, characteristics or character of a woman. But more often than not, this word is no longer used in that sense. If you search Google, you will get a definition that reads and I quote, “the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” The synonyms that Google provides are, “the women's movement, the feminist movement, women's liberation, female emancipation, women's rights; post-feminism.” Maybe this is how the world interprets the word in today’s date.
The meaning of feminism is getting blurred and hazy and is almost getting obscure amidst this mental turmoil happening in the country these days.

But that’s what the world does! If we want to draw the line and find ourselves, as Indians, we need to look into our own history and find out what feminism means to us. I would suggest that we read about ourselves first – our women, like Rani Laxmi Bai, whom I started this article with. And then build our own definition of feminism. I totally understand that not every one of us will feel the same about feminism (or anything else, for that matter) as we perceive things differently, but all I want is to research, learn and know for yourself what feminism means and then build your own ideology around that.


Feminism and India are related since a time when this word was not even in the English dictionary. We are proud of our women. We have every right and right reasons to be. Happy Women’s Day!

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