A Look at India's 19th Century Social Reform Movement - Essay Sample

Introduction

India is known for a long history of the social reform movement, especially that if the nineteenth century. The reform mainly focused on changing or replacing the institutions of that period that have been considered irrelevant to the Indian social order. The institutions that the social reforms were seeking change are responsible for misery, low quality of life, inequalities, and unrest in society (Bhattacharjee 8). The reforms meant reconstruction and formation for the second time after the initial system is demolished. It was the nineteenth-century social reform movement that marked a period of turmoil in India as the reform did not resemble other reforms seen in the West. Instead, it infused new ways of thought and life into the existing social structures. The paper discusses how such social reform movement of the nineteenth century tried to address the conditions of Indian women at that period. The paper also discusses the changes in the concerns put forward by the social reformers concerning women after the rise of popular nationalism and after the advent of Swadeshi.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Impacts of Social Reform Movements of the 19th Century on Women's Conditions

During the period, the social reform movement was to get rid of social evils, which affected women. Some of the social evils were a ban on female education, Sati, and female infanticide. The movement was a work of several active organizations and individual reformers who were determined to fight social evils, especially those that affect women. One of the notable reformists of the century was Raja Rammohan Roy. He fought for the cause of women with more emphasis on ending sex discrimination and eradication of Sati and allowing women to get an education. Rammohan was the first single individual in the nineteenth century who formed various associations to assist in fighting social discrimination, especially on women. He ended up engaging in crusades, which were set to condemn the practice of widow's immolation at the funeral of their late husbands. Also, in the year 1819, Rammohan started a Bengali journal called which attacked the practices of Sati as a rite in Indian society (Bhattacharjee 11). More other newspapers like Bangadut and Samachar Darpan supported the ideas of Rammohan by writing several articles in both English and Bengali to create awareness for Indian citizens and make them understand the evil practices associated with Sati rite and women discrimination.

Social reformers like Rammohan and his supporters believed in the principle of equality, freedom, and individual liberty, irrespective of sex. Their main goal was to liberate women from their shackles, which was done by launching an attack on several hierarchical, traditional, and authoritarian social institutions. The reformers disproved the belief that supported Sati, which holds that a woman after the death of her husband could be led to astray, thus immolation was a tradition done to widows during husband burial. The reformers thus, disproved that astray can occur even a woman's husband is still alive. The reformers had the belief that her family can protect a widow without undergoing the practice of immolation. According to Bhattacharjee (23), the arguments of Rammohan and the activities that were anti-Sati led to the legislation of the Sati Prohibition Act in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck.

Excellent conditions of women in the period were also advocated by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who advocated for improving conditions of Indian widows by legalizing remarriages of widows, which was not allowed in that century. Ishwar pledged to educate his daughters, and if they become widows, allow them to remarry again. Another reformer who did a great job to improve women's condition through the social reform movement in the century was Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade through the formation of the Indian National Social Conference (Dhoop 9). It was the pioneering organization to carry the social reform movement in an organized and collective manner. Ranade was an active member of society, and he supported widow remarriages making him attend the 1869 first remarriage of a widow (Bhattacharjee 39). He also advocated for women's education, and in 1884, together with his wife, started a school for girls. On the same topic of widow remarriages, another reformer known as Maharishi Karve in the same century re-energized the Widow Remarriage Association and, at the same time, established Hindu Widow's Home. His work changed the attitudes of Indian people concerning widows. Through such successful and extensive work to improve the condition of women in the nineteenth-century, Karve was able to establish Kane Women's University as an effort to liberate women. He even married a widow after his wife died to act as an example.

Several institutions were established to liberate women during the century. Some of them are the Gujarat Vernacular Society which was formed in 1848 to decrease the high level of illiteracy in Gujarat; it worked for women's education in Gujarat; the Deccan Education Society established in 1884 which is the same year started a girls school and encouraged women education in Maharashtra; the Ramakrishna Mission is another institution formed in the century to improve the lives of women. It was started in 1897, and it set up schools for girls and homes for widows, provided refuge to destitute and invalid women; another institution is The Hingne Women's Education Institute, established in 1896 to address women's demands (Dhoop 19). It assisted all women, whether widowed, married, or unmarried.

Women Conditions During the Advent of Swadeshi and Rise of Nationalism

The Swadeshi movement was established from the Bengal Partition, which happened from 1905 to 1908, where British goods were boycotted. At the advent of Swadeshi, the emancipation movements for women were gaining momentum (Choudhury 15). The women's emancipation was also on the rise during the nationalism movement. All India Women's Conference was the most influential organization formed in 1927 to discuss issues affecting women and targeted on problems faced by Indian women in the nineteenth century.

The gender dynamics of the Bengal was influenced to a large extend by the rise of nationalism movement as it changed it and caused a lot of favor on such dynamics (Heimsath 25). During the Swadeshi movement, women were active participants of the movement as they got involved in it as they advocated for an independent nation. The women who got involved in the Swadeshi movement took charge and were in front of the struggle.

More so, during the rise of the nationalism movement and the advent of Swadeshi, significant progress was made on women's status. In 1937, the first Right to Property Act for Hindus Women was passed, which was intentioned to help widows own properties (Heimsath 31). Even in the late movements that happened in the mid-1970s, there were major developments in the status of women, which saw a government decision of releasing a contentious report concerning the status of Indian women (Prabhu 13).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the nineteenth-century social reform movements were majorly targeted at advancing the lives of Indian women in an era when women were discriminated against and suffered from social evils. Several reformists were involved in the movement, notable ones being Raja Rammohan Roy, Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Maharishi Karve, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The action of the movement resulted in various achievements in the lives of women as its outcomes are 1829 legislation of the Sati Prohibition Act and the formation of various institutions and associations that advocated for women equality. The concerns of the reformers were continuing even during the advent of Swadeshi and the nationalism movement, where various women got involved.

References

Bhattacharjee, Debabrata. Women's issues: Contribution of the reform and reformers in colonial India. 2015. https://eprawisdom.com/jpanel/upload/articles/509pm40.Mr.%20Debabrata%20Bhattacharjee.pdf

Choudhury, Ekramul Haque. "An Analysis of Women's Participation in the Swadeshi Movement: A Case Study of India's Freedom Struggle." Education 3.6 (2012). http://www.ignited.in/File_upload/17581_74481842.pdf

Dhoop, Prerna. What the women's movement today can learn from 19th-century social reforms. 2018. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/what-the-women-s-movement-today-can-learn-from-19th-century-social-reforms-118103000357_1.html

Heimsath, Charles Herman. Indian nationalism and Hindu social reform. Vol. 2232. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Prabhu, Meshram Pradhnya. "Swadeshi movement in India: With special reference to Maharashtra." ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research 2.6 (2012): 191-196. http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:zijmr&volume=2&issue=6&article=014