Emancipation of Women Section in 19th Century India

Women’s Oppression in Pre-Reform India

• For centuries, women had been socially subordinated due to distorted religious interpretations, rigid customs, and discriminatory laws.
• By the 18th century, Indian women faced:
  • Female infanticide
  • Child marriage
  • Denial of education
  • Sati practice (widow burning)
  • Ban on widow remarriage
  • Polygamy
  • Purdah system (mainly upper-class women)
  • No rights to property or inheritance

👉 Interestingly, upper-class women were often worse off than peasant women. Since peasant women worked in the fields, they enjoyed more mobility and sometimes the right to remarry. Upper-caste women, by contrast, lived under strict purdah and were bound by rigid customs.

Colonial Intervention and Its Limits

• The British, in their early rule, enacted laws against social evils:
  • Banned sati (1829)
  • Prohibited female infanticide
  • Legalised widow remarriage (1856)
• However, orthodox Indians saw this as foreign interference in religion, and indeed, resentment over such laws became one of the grievances behind the Revolt of 1857.
• After 1858, the British became cautious and largely withdrew from social reform, leaving it to Indian reformers themselves.

Indian Reformers and Women’s Upliftment

Educated Indians of the 19th century, moved by humanitarian ideals and egalitarian impulses, became the torchbearers of women’s emancipation.

Appeals to Ideals

• Some reformers appealed to modern principles of individualism and equality.
• Others argued that true Hinduism, Islam, or Zoroastrianism never sanctioned women’s oppression — and that it was a later distortion.

Voices of Women Themselves

• Pandita Ramabai: Wrote The High-Caste Hindu Woman, exposing the misery of upper-caste widows.
• Tarabai Shinde: Published Stripurushtulna (“A Comparison Between Women and Men”), boldly criticising patriarchy and social double standards.

Key Areas of Reform

1. Sati Practice

• Sati symbolised the ultimate oppression of widows.
• Raja Rammohun Roy launched a campaign against sati, showing from scriptures that it had no sanction in ancient texts.
• His persistent agitation succeeded when Lord William Bentinck outlawed sati in 1829.

2. Female Education

In the 18th century, girls’ education was rare — superstition even held that “an educated girl would become a widow.”

Missionary Efforts

• Missionaries opened schools for girls, but suspicion of conversion limited attendance.

In Bengal Presidency

• Raja Rammohun Roy and Brahmo Samaj advocated strongly for girls’ education.
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar as secretary of Bethune School (1849) encouraged Hindu families to send girls, and he himself opened many schools for them.
• Arya Samaj too later spread girls’ education in Punjab.

In Bombay Presidency

• The social climate was more open:
  • Purdah system was not prevalent, social interaction freer.
  • Bombay was ahead of Bengal in female education.
• Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule (1848) started India’s first school for girls at Bhide Wada, Pune.
  • Along with Fatima Sheikh, they spread education especially among downtrodden communities.
• Students’ Literary and Scientific Society (1848) promoted girls’ schools in Bombay.
• Wealthy reformist families supported this cause:
  • Jagannath Shankarshet, Dadoba Pandurang, Bhau Daji, the Cama family.

Reformers Who Championed Female Education

• Dadabhai Naoroji
• B.M. Malabari
• M.G. Ranade
• D.K. Karve (founded SNDT Women’s University)
• Pandita Ramabai
• Gopal Krishna Gokhale
• Agarkar
• Even Tilak, though conservative in some respects, supported women’s schooling.

Significance

• Women’s emancipation became one of the central planks of 19th-century reform.
• Reformers like Rammohun Roy, Vidyasagar, Phule, Pandita Ramabai, Karve, and others laid the foundation for women’s rights in India.
• By linking women’s emancipation with education, law, and social practice, they gave birth to the women’s movement in modern India.

3. Widow Remarriage

Social Context

• In 18th–19th century India, widows were condemned to a life of misery.
• They could not remarry, were denied property rights, and were subjected to humiliation and neglect.
• Men, however, could marry multiple times — reflecting a deep gender inequality.

Key Reformers and Initiatives

• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (Bengal):
  • Cited ancient texts to prove widow remarriage was not against Hindu shastras.
  • His campaign led to the passing of the Widow Remarriage Act (1856).
• Bombay Presidency:
  • Reformers like Jyotiba Phule, M.G. Ranade, Vishnu Shastri Pandit, D.K. Karve, and Pandita Ramabai championed the cause.
  • Periodicals like Indu Prakash, Satya Prakash, and Lokhitwadi carried debates.
  • Widow Remarriage Associations founded:
    • Vishnu Shastri Pandit (1866)
    • M.G. Ranade (1865)
    • D.K. Karve (1893)
• Madras Presidency:
  • Veerasalingam Pantulu founded an association for widow remarriage among Telugus.
• North India:
  • Swami Dayanand Saraswati (Arya Samaj) strongly supported widow remarriage.

👉 Despite these efforts, society remained conservative — widows who remarried often faced social boycott. Still, this campaign was the first major legal–social victory for women in India.

4. Child Marriage

• Child marriage was widespread and generated a chain of social evils:
  • Sati (as young widows were burnt alive)
  • Polygamy
  • The problem of child widows
• No minimum marriage age existed until reformers intervened.

Key Legislations

• Hindu Marriage Act (1860): set the minimum marriage age for girls at 10.
• Civil Marriage Act (1872, Act III):
  • Abolished early marriage
  • Declared polygamy a legal offence
  • Allowed inter-caste marriage, but only for those not professing any of the major Indian religions.

Age of Consent Act (1891)

Role of B.M. Malabari

• Behramji Malabari, editor of Indian Spectator, led the agitation against child marriage and enforced widowhood.
• Published “Malabari’s Notes” (1884) on infant marriage and compulsory widowhood.
• Demanded raising the age of consent (the age below which intercourse with a girl is legally rape).

Debate

• Supported by reformers like Ranade, Agarkar, Narayan Lokhande, K.T. Telang, Vidyasagar, Bhandarkar.
• Opposed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and orthodox Hindus.
  • Tilak’s stance: Not against reform itself, but opposed government interference in Hindu customs.

Outcome

• After widespread debate and the sensational Rukhmabai Case (1885–87), the British enacted the Age of Consent Act (1891).
• Key provisions:
  • Raised age of consent for girls (married or unmarried) from 10 to 12.
  • Declared sexual intercourse with girls below 12 as rape, even within marriage.

Rukhmabai Case (1885–87)

• Rukhmabai Raut (later one of India’s first women doctors) was married at 11 to Dadaji Bhikaji (19).
• She refused to live with him, leading to a lawsuit for “restitution of conjugal rights.”
• Court ruled she must live with her husband or face jail.
• Rukhmabai wrote to Queen Victoria, who intervened and dissolved the marriage.
• The case stirred national debate on women’s rights and directly influenced the Age of Consent Act (1891).

Seva Sadan (1908)

• Founded by B.M. Malabari and Diwan Dayaram Gidumal in Bombay.
• Aimed to rehabilitate destitute women, widows, and orphans of all communities.
• Provided education, medical aid, and vocational training, giving women a path to self-reliance.

Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929)

• Popularly known as the Sarda Act (after sponsor Harbilas Sarda, an Arya Samajist and judge).
• Fixed minimum marriage age:
  • Girls: 16 years
  • Boys: 18 years
• First secular law applicable across all communities.
• Though weakly enforced, it was a landmark in curbing child marriage.

Significance of These Campaigns

1. Widow Remarriage Act (1856) → First major breakthrough against regressive customs.
2. Age of Consent Act (1891) → Focused national debate on the state’s role in reform vs. tradition.
3. Seva Sadan (1908) → Practical institutional reform for women’s welfare.
4. Sarda Act (1929) → First pan-Indian law directly restricting child marriage.

✅ In short: The widow remarriage and child marriage debates reveal the tensions between reformers, orthodox groups, and colonial state. Reformers like Vidyasagar, Malabari, Karve, and Ramabai fought within society, while British laws cautiously followed. The result was a gradual but irreversible shift in women’s status, preparing ground for the 20th-century women’s movement.