Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
The struggle for women's equality
Explain why gender inequality is social, not natural.
Is women's inferior position natural, decided by biology? Evidence says no:
- In matrilineal societies, such as the Nairs of Kerala in the past and the Khasis of Meghalaya today, property passes through women.
- In many parts of Africa, women are the main farmers.
If gender roles were biological, they would be the same everywhere. They differ, so they are social.
Nineteenth-century reformers took up women's issues:
| Reformer | Cause |
|---|---|
| Raja Rammohun Roy | campaign against sati (widows burned on their husbands' funeral pyres) |
| M.G. Ranade | widow remarriage |
| Jotiba Phule | attacked both caste and gender injustice; opened schools for girls with Savitribai Phule |
| Sir Syed Ahmed Khan | education and reform among Muslims |
Women spoke for themselves too:
- Tarabai Shinde wrote Stree Purush Tulana (A Comparison of Women and Men, 1882), attacking the double standards of a male-dominated society.
- Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain wrote Sultana's Dream (1905), imagining a land where women ruled and men stayed indoors.
So ideas of women's equality were not just imported from the West; they grew from Indian struggles.
In the freedom movement, the Congress's Karachi Session (1931) declared its commitment to women's equality and the vote for women.
After independence, the women's movement changed focus: in the 1970s, how women were shown in the media and left out of development; in the 1980s, law reform on dowry, rape and domestic violence; today, the falling child sex ratio and violence against women.
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