Women's Organization and Struggle in Colonial India

Women's Organization and Struggle in Colonial India
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This paper will examine the role played by a few prominent Indian women to educate their sisters through their organizational activities in the early twentieth century. In nineteenth-century India, women were subjects of serious discrimination and various oppressive practices. Education for women was regarded as unnecessary, to the point of being considered dangerous. However, as a result of concerted efforts by reform-minded Indian males, the colonial state, the Christian missionaries, and some British women, a section of Indian women began to be educated in the course of the nineteenth century. By the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, some prominent women began to address their own issues and especially the question of women's education. Two prominent women among them were Rokeya Sakhawat, who belonged to an affluent Muslim family in Bengal, and Pandita Ramabai from Maharashtra. The progress in women's education that happened throughout the early twentieth century is quite important because the first generation of educated women wrote about their own experiences and struggle, and the second generation started acting to make a change in their lives.
Women's Organization and Struggle in Colonial India
Introduction
Education in the 19th Century
Education in the 19th century in India was characterized by a focus on girls' education and missionary efforts to enhance literary levels in the country. The Hindu College was opened in 1816, and later on, the Calcutta School Society (CSS) was incepted. CSS's primary objective was to promote female literacy. The CSS's administrator, Radha Kanta Deb, became a female education patron and facilitated the opening of the Calcutta Female Juvenile Society (CFJS) in 1819. As such, the CFJS introduced Miss Mary Anne Cooke into Calcutta in 1821, but they were unable to raise funds to create more learning institutions. These schools benefited from Hindu gentlemen patronage and, as its staff comprised of brahmin experts. However, learning institutions could not attract higher socioeconomic class girls. The spiritual leadership undermined prestigious households' capacity to enroll their children in such schools, whereas learners are drawn from the economically disadvantaged populace, and predominantly Christian households were enticed into the learning institutions by the assistance of clothes as well as essential commodities.[. Geraldine Forbes, “Education for women.” Women in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 32–64.]
The Church Missionary Society (CMS) emerged more prominent within South India, where it established pioneer "boarding" learning institutions for females in 1821 in Tirunelveli. As such, the Scottish Church Society claimed six learning institutions with a population of two hundred Hindu girls by 1840. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Madras-based missionaries were teaching nearly eight thousand girls, with the majority of them being Christians, within their boarding and day schools. The Hindu Balika Vidyalaya, which was established in Calcutta in 1849 by J.E Drinkwater Bethune – was one of the most outstanding schools for girls' education. The learning institution was secular. Accordingly, teaching happened in Bengali, given that the schoolgirls were moved within a "carriage" decorated with a Sanskrit statement indicating that it was a father's duty to provide education for his daughter. The appointed school's secretary was Pandit Vidyasagar. Bethune convinced various prominent families to support his experiment, and there were 89 learners by 1850. When Bethune passed on in 1981, the school's support dramatically deteriorated. In 1863, the learning institution had 93 school girls aged between 5 to 7 years, with three-quarters of the entire populace drawn from the lowest socioeconomic class – an explicit indication of bias against girls' education among the upper socioeconomic class.[. Geraldine Forbes, “Education for women.” Women in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 32–64.]
Hardships in Women Education
One of the primary challenges facing women's education in Indian during the 19th century was the lack of female instructors. All teachers were men. In this vein, the girls' guardians in the respective schools appointed men of reputable character, whom they believed could be satisfactory teachers. The government noted a lack of trained schoolmistresses' humanizing influence, as well as the possibility of the schools' failure, which simultaneously worked to higher the general education development within the provinces. There was also a lack of appropriate infrastructure and buildings to support women's education in the 19th century. Despite the villagers not opposing the learning institutions, they viewed them primarily as an approach to support relatives and Brahmans. The government was not fully committed to promoting girls' education as their schools were accommodated in places "not more attractive than a cowshed", and the boys within a good-looking building. Therefore, lack of government support, absence of female teachers, and unattractive learning environment were the outstanding problems that undermined women's education at the grassroots levels in the 19th century in India.[. Minna Galbraith Cowan, The Education of the Women of India... (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1912) p.113.]
The Question of Women Education and Key Issues
Institutions for girls' education were faced with a set of difficulties. Indians were increasingly accustomed to enrolling their girls in "learning institutions" despite this being the only effective approach to execute the activity. Home-based education (Zenana education) was cumbersome, expensive, and significantly ineffectual. These schools provided the answer to female education, but what type of learning institutions? Who should instruct? What should be instructed? Which families should decide to enroll their girls in learning institutions as well as for what periods? If the girls were wedded before puberty, should they remain in school as matrimonial women? The Indian society administrators were required to address these concerns – which emerged a far more challenging task compared to offering material as well as moral support. Women also questioned their role in nationalism efforts as well as the struggle for independence. The financial and moral assistance of the imperial government was necessary to expand female literacy but failed to secure learning institutions for girls. Unlike males' education, female education failed to automatically improve the financial standing and prestige of the family. More outstandingly, the opposite could have been the case. Indian social customers and norms made it challenging for the population to embrace the British schooling model. Deeply inherent notions of gender-based segregation and, in certain areas, of full seclusion implied girls had to secure female instructors and learn in separate schools. The ingrained youthful marriage practice limited females' school-attendance years. Further, societal demands and expectations on women anchored on nurturing and food production left limited timescales for studying and lessons.[. Geraldine Forbes, “Education for women.” Women in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 32–64.] [. Chatterjee, Partha. "Colonialism, nationalism, and colonialized women: The contest in India." (American ethnologist 16, no. 4, 1989) p.622-633.] [. Geraldine Forbes, “Education for women.” Women in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 32–64.]
Pandita Ramabai
Who is Pandita Ramabai?
Pandita Ramabai was a reputable Brahmin scholar. Ramabai's position was an exceptional women leader in the Women's Emancipation movement in the 19th century in Maharashtra. She is credited for her significant contribution to women's liberation after she embraced the Christian faith and neglected the mainstream Hindu societal practices and cultural norms. Prior to her efforts to empower and liberate women from societal shackles, women were increasingly vulnerable to assault based on predominantly patriarchal religious doctrines. Ramabai's family had begun extended pilgrimage across the Indian subcontinent since her infancy. During the pilgrimage, the family earned a living from narrating the puranas. Between 1876 to 1878, Ramabai and Srinivas (her brother) continued with a similar life characterized by poverty, ritual observances, and hardships till they reached Calcutta. This emerged as a critical event in Ramabai's life since she instantly hailed as honored and learned women with titles of "Saraswati" and "Pandita." Accordingly, Ramabai's contact with Brahmo Samaj elders and other prominent individuals motivated her to offer public talks on women's liberation, anchoring her perspectives on traditional Sanskrit writings. However, personal tragedy followed her in Calcutta since, after her brother's death, she married his close ally (a Bengali lawyer named Bipin Behari Das Medhavi). Unfortunately, her husband died barely two years into their marriage, leaving her alone with a child daughter, at the age of twenty-two.[. Meera Kosambi, "Multiple contestations: Pandita Ramabai's educational and missionary activities in late nineteenth-century India and abroad." (Women's History Review 7, no. 2, 1998) p.193-208.] [. Meera Kosambi, "Women, emancipation and equality: Pandita Ramabai's contribution to women's cause." (Economic and political Weekly, 1988) WS38-WS49.]
Ramabai's Efforts in Women and Education
Ramabai noted that it was her duty to advocate for female education, maintain the cause, and fight to appropriate women's position in India. As a widow, Ramabai understood the challenges facing the group in Indian society due to patriarchal religious beliefs. In this regard, Ramabai acknowledges the value and role of education in Indian women's emancipation efforts. As such, she went to England for further studies to empower herself as a critical force in women and widow's liberation within the Indian subcontinent. Soon after she entered England, Ramabai converted to Christianity for various reasons. She noted that Christianity was centered on increasingly "convincing truths" and was driven by a message of forgiveness and love; it is egalitarian handling of all persons, which contradicted the Hinduism belief in Shudras and women's inferiority (to the extent of denying them an opportunity to seek salvation). She noted that Christianity was inclined towards rehabilitation for "fallen women" in contrast to Hinduism, which encouraged the doctrine of dire punishment and consequences. It was during the time when she attended a graduation ceremony in the United States that she publicized her plan to create a home for high-caste Hindu widows within India. In this vein, the campaign led to the beginning of the Ramabai Association of Boston, which promised to offer financial support for a decade to the institution, provided various kindergarten schools as well as vocational training institutions for women, and began preparing learning materials including text-books for the proposed school.[. Ramabai Sarasvati, The high-caste Hindu woman. No. 2307. Press of the JB Rodgers Print. Company, 1888.] [. Ramabai Sarasvati, The high-caste Hindu woman. No. 2307. Press of the JB Rodgers Print. Company, 1888.] [Ramabai Sarasvati, The high-caste Hindu woman. No. 2307. Press of the JB Rodgers Print. Company, 1888.] [. Meera Kosambi, "Women, emancipation and equality: Pandita Ramabai's contribution to women's cause." (Economic and political Weekly, 1988) WS38-WS49.]
Upon her return to India, Ramabai collaborated with Manorama (who had recently returned from England) and opened a widows' home (Sharada Sadan) at Chowpatty. The Home was associated with all the reputable social reformers, including Sir Ramachandra Bhandarkar and Justice Ranade, who became the trustees. Despite the institution being accused of secularism, Ramabai continued her efforts to help famine victims within Gujarati and Central provinces. Furthermore, Ramabai moved to North India to execute a rescue mission while disguising herself as a pilgrim. In this way, she visited various holy places, including Brindaban, which sheltered hundreds of desperate and homeless widows. These widows were increasingly being exploited by the temples' priests. Accordingly, she witnessed significant misery facing widows but rescued a few of them.[. Meera Kosambi, "Women, emancipation and equality: Pandita Ramabai's contribution to women's cause." (Economic and political Weekly, 1988) WS38-WS49.]
After shifting to Kedgaon, Ramabai significantly focused on lower socioeconomic caste famine survivors instead of the upper social class widows. In this way, her activities turned out to be peripheral to the Maharashtrian society. Within this society, Ramabai spends the remaining part of her life in comparative isolation, despite participating in ceaseless activity, establishing educational classes as well as vocational training (including teaching, tailoring, cloth, and carpet weaving, gardening, operating the print press, nursing, embroidery, etc.) for the inmates. Furthermore, she translated the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew to Marathi, as well as tended orchards and fields. As a result of tireless efforts, Ramabai was awarded the Kaiser-j-Hind Gold Medal in 1919. Ramabai died in 1922, barely a year after Manorama had passed on.[. Meera Kosambi, "Women, emancipation and equality: Pandita Ramabai's contribution to women's cause." (Economic and political Weekly, 1988) WS38-WS49.]
Ramabai's Respective Role in Women's Organization
Ramaba...