THIS IS MY SEMINAR PAPER THAT I HAD TO DO FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF MY SECOND YEAR OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES.
schema
1 Introduction
2 Movements
2.1 Meaning of Movements
2.2 Marxist Theory
2.3 Marxist Versions of Organization Theory
2.4 different kinds of movements.
2.5 How movements helps for structural change.
2.6 How movements address the present situation.
3 The women’s movements.
3.1 origin
3.2 Denial of Fundamental rights.
3.3 different kinds of opressions within the family.
3.4 low paid workers.
3.5 gender based INEQUALITIES.
4 Women movements in India.
4.1 origin
4.2The women's movement in India: Action and reflection
4.2 support and opposition to women’s movements.
5 REFLECTIONS on Women’s Movements
6 Women’s movements in relation to coming of God’s Kingdom.
7 CONCLUSIONS.
1. Introduction
A Social movement is a deliberate collective endeavor to promote change in any direction and by any means, not excluding violence, illegality, revolution or withdrawal into ‘ utopian’ community. Social movements are thus clearly different from historical movements, tendencies or trends. It is important to note, however, that such tendencies and trends and the influence of the unconscious or irrational factors in human behavior, may of the crucial importance in illuminating he problems of interpreting and explaining social movement[i].
In recent times it has become commonplace to emphasize that theology, when properly done will always be contextual. Unless a person who is thinking theologically is rooted in his context and thinks from that perspective, his theology will not be truly relevant[ii]. And for sure any theology that is study of God, should also be included in the real lives of the people. And how that bring about the kingdom of God in the present reality.
In the recent time very many movements have tried to do it in a more meaningful way this reality of brining the kingdom of God in a reality here on earth. Movements have been there from the beginning of the history. Even at the time of Jesus too there were very many movements. Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots were some of the most powerful movements of Jesus’ time.
Here I try to bring out, how the women’s movements are trying to bring out the kingdom of God. And many of the women’s movements are doing the will of God to realize the kingdom of God here on earth in as much as possible.
2. Movements
2.1 Meaning of Movements: people organizing themselves for the structural change of the society in order to bring a new reality in the light of the kingdom of God. This could be in order to change an existing custom, order, thinking, acting etc…
2.2 Movements are also a combined work of people in order to make a real change in the society and in them in order to bring a new reality being realized in their life.
2.3 How movements address the present situation
Today social movements or people’s movements are a common phenomenon, at the micro and macro levels, nationally and globally. The believing eyes discern in them today’s sign of the times through which the God of history is revealing her/ his will.[iii]
A deeper study of the movements shows that they originated in social matrix of dissatisfaction and unrest. There is, at the grass roots, a growing realization that the State has ceased to be an agent of social transformation protecting the rights and dignity of the marginalized masses. People motivated by their dissatisfaction with the status quo, are looking for a new human sociality with new structures of just relationships. Their longing for justice and fuller humanity serves as the strong motivating force giving them the emotive energy needed to withstand all the attempts of the powers that be to suppress them. Because of the quest for justice, equality, freedom etc… these movements have a moral and a spiritual thrust to heal and transform the sick world[iv].
2.2 Marxist Theory. Marxism as an ideology and theory of social change has had an immense impact on the practice and the analysis of social movements. Marxism arose from an analysis of movements structured by conflicts between industrial workers and their capitalist employers in the 19th century. In the twentieth century a variety of neo-Marxist theories have been developed that have opened themselves to adding questions of race, gender, environment, and other issues to an analysis centered in (shifting) political economic conditions. Class-based movements, both revolutionary and labor-reformist, have always been stronger in Europe than in the US and so has Marxist theory as a tool for understanding social movements but important Marxist movements and theories have also evolved in the US. Marxist approaches have been and remain influential ways of understanding the role of political economy and class differences as key forces in many historical and current social movements, and they continue to challenge approaches that are limited by their inability to imagine serious alternatives to consumer capitalist social structures.
[1]
2.3 Marxist Versions of Organization Theory
The Marxist critique of organization theory was pursued most vigorously in the 1970s. In some sense this is not surprising, as the 1970s saw the end of the Vietnam War, a very politicizing event for American culture, Watergate and the resignation of President Nixon, and the economic stresses associated with oil shocks, inflation, and recession. It was a time of heightened political awareness and a questioning of the institutions of authority. Marxist theory provided a useful theoretical lens for that critique:
The Marxist approach began essentially as a critique of the dominant rationalist views.... Marxists argue that organizational structures are not rational systems for performing work.... Rather, they are power systems designed to maximize control and profits. Work is divided... not to improve efficiency but to "deskill" workers, to displace discretion from workers to managers, and to create artificial divisions among the work force.... Hierarchy develops... as an instrument of control and a means of accumulating capital through the appropriation of surplus value.... Human relations... reforms are misguided because they do not challenge the fundamental exploitative nature of organizations; indeed they help to shore it up by assuming a congruence of goals. (Scott, 1992, p. 115)
2.3 different kinds of movements
There are different kinds of movements in India. Mainly they are based on a common agenda by a group of people for the betterment of the society. Mainly the following are the main movements existing in India.
¯ Peasant movement: India is predominantly an agrarian country. Seventy per cent of its populations till depend on agriculture. And the peasant movement is again all kinds of injustice done to the laborers in all kinds of cultivation [v].
¯ Tribal Movement: The Scheduled Tribes constitute 8 per cent of the total populations of the country. And they are divided into two. Such as: frontier tribes and non- frontier tribes. The ST are known as tribes, Adivasis, aboriginals etc. Tribals are ethnic groups and all the exploitation to these groups done by government and other categories of people are the cause of the origin of this movement. And they are one of the strongest movements in India.[vi]
¯ Dalit Movement: The Scheduled Castes are known as Harijan… the children of God- as termed by Gandhi. But these people would call them Dalit, which means the least, the oppressed etc… These people’s movement is for dignity and equality of their life and for all the human rights into their life[vii].
¯ Student’s movement: Our attention needs to go to different student in colleges and universities. In India College education was began in year of 1850. Though the history gives us of the existence of universities and study centers in the historic India. Student’s agitations in different parts of the country and at different times have been concerned with issues varying from educational problems to political issues[viii].
¯ Middle Class Movement: the Middle class is placed between labor and capital. It neither directly owns the means of production that pumps out the surplus generated by wage labor power, nor does it, by its own labor, produces the surplus which has use and exchange value. Broadly speaking this class consists of the petty- bourgeoisie and the white- collar workers.[ix]
¯ Ecological movement: Ecology is the science which studies animal and plant systems in relation to their environment, with particular emphasis on their inter- relations and their inter dependence between different life forms. When nature is misused, the poor people are the victims of flood and drought and such natural calamities. And so the poor are the front-runners of Ecological movement[x].
2.4 How movements helps for structural change:
Ω Social Movements fill a vacuum focusing the country’s attention on the neglected needs and problem of the people, specially the most marginalized and oppressed. Social Movements create a space for the people to express, crystallize and even increase their dissatisfaction with the statue quo, their dissent and opposition to the injustices and inequalities prevailing in it.
Ω Movements engage themselves in a serious search for alternative in all spheres of life: politics, economics, culture, religion, environment, science, technology, life-style etc… Thus by searching for an alternative these movements are spreading a new vision of life and society.
Ω Mainly their contribution is in the field of politics. They bring new issues and problems like health, education, caste, reservation, environment, gender, rights, human rights, corruption, etc. Into the existing political agenda. Thus broadening the very political process of the country.
Ω Movements search further for a the realization of a new society by establishing participatory structures at all levels of society, including their own organization. Thus a new process is initiated to restore true democracy, and to regain genuine people’s power at every level. By this the true meaning of democracy is discovered as the empowerment of the masses for their self- determinations and true autonomy. Thus the people are declaring through the movements that they have a politics of their own a politics that will build a new society.
3 THE Women’s movements.
Gail Invedt classifies women’s movement into two types: (1) women’s equality movements; and (2) women’s; liberation movements. The former one may not directly challenge the existing economic and political or family structure, but rather aim at attaining an equal place for women in it, and abolishing the most open remnants of feudal patriarchy, whereas the women’s liberation movement directly challenge the sexual division of labor itself.
There is also another division of women movement classification.
Such as
Corporate feminism: claiming a larger role in politic for women on the ground that they have a special contribution to make as women. [xi]
Liberal feminism: claiming that the rights of men should be extended to women on the grounds that women are equal to men and they should have the same rights.[xii]
3.1 origin
The international women’s decade 1975-85 has provided an impetus to the growth of social science literature on women. The studies on women’s movement in India are relatively few. Most of them are at an exploratory stage. For many activist involved in feminist movements, feminism is not merely a discourse to be analyzed, but ‘a method of brining about social change’. In India due to different kinds of oppressions to women the movement started. Though it was much supported by the British women during the time of colonial time.
At the same time scholars believe that women’s movements began in India as a part of the social reform movement in the last century. Social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Mahadeve Govind Rande, Behramji Malbari, raised their voices against the prevailing religious and social customs subjecting women. Their influence encouraged the British government to enact certain laws against the sati system, permitting women to remarry, abolishing the custom of child marriage etc… efforts were also made to spread education among girls. Some of these issues continue to affect women even in this century.
3.2 Some challenges posed by Women’s Concern
Laws relating t family planning, contraception abortion, divorce and inheritance need to be looked at from the pint of view of all aspects of women’s health and well-being. In particular the control of their fertility is to be seen as a basic aspect of women’s empowerment.
The recognition of the rightful place of women in the Church in policy planning, theological endeavors, participation in the Liturgical and spiritual arena is to be seen as a human rights concern rather than doing representative charity to women.
The partnership of women in the eradication of poverty, sustained economic growth, access to resources and environmental protection, is to be seen as essential in promoting development and economic growth.
Enhance the spirit of daring dynamism and courage to risk their lives, particularly for the cause of Dalits, and women victims of violence. Allowing women to proclaim the Word at Sunday sermons and participate in administering the sacraments. It will help in the emergence of al Inclusive God- language and enhance women’s empowerment in articulating a new theology based on their experiences.
3.3 Some notable features of women’s subordination.
ð ¼ of all households are headed by women due to family disintegration, urban migration and internal displacements.
ð Annual population growth in the world is 90 million. In many developing counties 45 to 50 of the population is less than 25 years old. In many developed countries the proportion of elderly people is increasing.
In both causes women are the caregivers to the young, sick and elderly. They carry these additional responsibilities.
ð Massive migration, refugees, and environmental stress have profound consequences on family structures. Women are the worst affected victims of such situations.
ð The epidemic of AIDS is increasing in alarming rates among women and girls.
ð Attitudes structures and lack of resources prevent full and equal participation by women.
ð Women make 2% of all decisions in the world.
Men make 98% of all decisions in the world.
75% of the growing poverty and starvation affects women.
ð Sexual violence traumatizes women: repeated pregnancies, childhood pregnancies, female fetus abortions, rape for personal and social causes.
At the same time scholars believe that women’s movements began in India as a part of the social reform movement in the last century. Social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Mahadeve Govind Rande, Behramji Malbari, raised their voices against the prevailing religious and social customs subjecting women. Their influence encouraged the British government to enact certain laws against the sati system, permitting women to remarry, abolishing the custom of child marriage etc… efforts were also made to spread education among girls. Some of these issues continue to affect women even in this century.
4
The women's movement in India: Action and reflection
The women's movement in India is a rich and vibrant movement, which has taken different forms in different parts of the country. Urvashi Butalia contends that the absence of a single cohesive movement, rather than being a source of weakness, may be one of the strengths of the movement. Although scattered and fragmented, it is a strong and plural movement.
ONE of the most enduring clinches about India is that is a country of contradictions. Like all clinches, this one too has a grain of truth in it. At the heart of the contradiction stand Indian women: for it is true to say that they are among the most oppressed in the world.
During the 18 years that India had a women as Prime Minister the country also saw increasing incidents of violence and discrimination against women. This is no different from any other time: a casual visitor to any Indian city – for example Mumbai – will see hundreds of women, young and old, working in all kinds of professions: doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, scientists... and yet newspapers in India are full of stories of violent incidents against women, of rape, sexual harassment, sometimes even murder. But to have a women in the highest office of the State and to simultaneously have extreme violence against women are merely the two ends of the scale. As always, a more complex reality lies in between.
The hundreds of thousands of Rojammas and Sarojini Naidus who are to be found all over India form part of one of the most dynamic and vibrant of political movements in India today, the women's movement. The trajectory of this movement is usually traced from the social reform movements of the 19th century when campaigns for the betterment of the conditions of women's lives were taken up, initially by men. By the end of the century women had begun to organize themselves and gradually they took up a number of causes such as education, the conditions of women's work and so on. It was in the early part of the 20th century that women's organizations were set up, and many of the women who were active in these later became involved in the freedom movement.
Independence brought many promises and dreams for women in India – the dream of an egalitarian, just, democratic society in which both men and women would have a voice. The reality, when it began to sink in was, however, somewhat different. For all that had happened was that, despite some improvements in the status of women, patriarchy had simply taken on new and different forms.
The Problem of dowry.
One of the first issues to receive countrywide attention from women's groups was violence against women, specifically in the form of rape, and what came to be known in India as 'dowry deaths' – the killing of young married women for the 'dowry' or money/goods they brought with them at marriage. This was also the beginning of a process of learning for women: most protests were directed at the State. Because women were able to mobilize support, the State responded, seemingly positively, by changing the law on rape and dowry, making both more stringent. This seemed, at the time, like a great victory. It was only later that the knowledge began to sink in that mere changes in the law meant little, unless there was a will and a machinery to implement these. And that the root of the problem of discrimination against women lay not only in the law, or with the State, but was much more widespread.
In the early campaigns, groups learnt from day to day that targeting the State was not enough and that victims also needed support. So a further level of work was needed: awareness raising or conscientisation so that violence against women could be prevented, rather than only dealt with after it had happened. Legal aid and counseling centers were set up, and attempts were made to establish women's shelters. It was only when groups began to feel sucked into the overwhelming volume of the day-to-day work of such centers that they began to feel that it was not enough to do what they now saw as 'reformist' and 'non-campaign' work. Knowledge was recognized as an important need. India is such a vast country; what did activists in Karnataka, a state in southern India, know of what was going on in Garhwal in north India? And yet, everywhere you looked, there was women's activity, activity that could not necessarily be defined as 'feminist', but that was, nonetheless, geared towards improving the conditions of women's lives.
In recent years, the euphoria of the 1970s and early 1980s, symbolized by street-level protests, campaigns in which groups mobilized at a national level, the sense of a commonality of experience cutting across class, caste, region and religion – all this seems to have gone, replaced by a more considered and complex response to issues. In many parts of India, women are no longer to be seen out on the streets protesting about this or that form of injustice. This apparent lack of a visible movement has led to the accusation that the women's movement is dead or dying.
Other whipping sticks have been brought out: little has happened to improve women's lives, so how can the movement be called successful? Activists within the movement are urban, Western, and middle class, so the movement was considered an alien thing, a Western product. It has little to do with the lives of thousands of poor, rural, underprivileged women all over India.
These allegations make the classic mistake: they judge a complex reality by that part of it that is most visible. Because urban, middle-class women are visible and articulate, therefore they must be the only participants in the women's movement.
Backbone
The reality is somewhat different. While the participation of urban, middle class women is undeniable, it is not they who make up the backbone of the movement, or of the many, different campaigns that are generally seen as comprising the movement. The anti-alcohol agitation in Andhra Pradesh, and similar campaigns in other parts of India were started and sustained by poor, low-caste, often working-class women. The movement to protect the environment was begun by poor women in a village called Reni in the northern hill regions of India, and only after that did it spread to other parts of the country. There are any numbers of such examples.
Religious right
One of the biggest challenges women have had to face in recent years is the growing influence of the religious right in India. Right-wing groups have built much of their support on the involvement of women: offering to help them with domestic problems, enabling them to enter the public space in a limited way, and all the while ensuring that the overall ideology within which they operate remains firmly patriarchal. For activists too, this has posed major problems. It has forced them to confront the fact that they cannot assume a solidarity as women that cuts across class, religion, caste, ethnic difference. And yet, they must hold fast to such an assumption if they are to work with women: for how, as an activist, do you deal with a women who takes part in a violent right wing demonstration one day, and comes to you for help as a victim of domestic violence the next?
Perhaps the most significant development for women in the last few decades has been the introduction of 33% reservation for women in local, village-level elections. In the early days, when this move was introduced, there was considerable skepticism. How will women cope? Are they equipped to be leaders? Will this mean any real change, or will it merely mean that the men will take a backseat and use the women as a front to implement what they want? While all these problems still remain, in a greater or lesser degree, what is also true is that more and more women have shown that once they have power, they are able to use it, to the benefit of society in general and women in particular.
The women's movement in India today is a rich and vibrant movement, which has spread to various parts of the country. It is often said that there is no one single cohesive movement in the country, but a number of fragmented campaigns. Activists see this as one of the strengths of the movement, which takes different forms in different parts. While the movement may be scattered all over India, they feel it is nonetheless a strong and plural force.
It is important to recognize that for a country of India's magnitude, change in male-female relations and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come easy. For every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression. And it is this that makes for the contradictions, this that makes it possible for there to be women who can aspire to, and attain, the highest political office in the country, and for women to continue to have to confront patriarchy within the home, in the workplace, throughout their lives. As activists never tire of repeating: out of the deepest repression is born the greatest resistance. (Third World Resurgence No. 94, June 1998)
End Notes
[1]
[i] Shah Ghansyam Social movements in India, A Review of othe Literature, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.13.
[ii] Sumithra Sunand, Doing Theology in Context, Theological issues Series.No.2. Theological Book Trust, 1992, P.13.
[iii] The Church in India- the 19th Annual meeting of the Indian Theological Association, Kunnampuram Kurian SJ., NBCLC, Bangalore, St. Paul’s press, Bangalore, 1997. P. 272.
[iv] Ibid. P. 273.
[v] Shah Ghansyam Social movements in India, A Review of othe Literature, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.32.
[vi] Ibid. P. 85.
[vii] Ibid. P. 107.
[viii] Ibid. P. 148.
[ix] Ibid. P. 161.
[x] Social Movements – Towards a perspective, Desrochers John CSC, Center for social action. Bangalore, 1991, P.77.
[xi] Social movements in India – a review of the Literature, Shah Ghanshayam, sage publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.131
[xii] Ibid, P. 131.
1 Introduction
2 Movements
2.1 Meaning of Movements
2.2 Marxist Theory
2.3 Marxist Versions of Organization Theory
2.4 different kinds of movements.
2.5 How movements helps for structural change.
2.6 How movements address the present situation.
3 The women’s movements.
3.1 origin
3.2 Denial of Fundamental rights.
3.3 different kinds of opressions within the family.
3.4 low paid workers.
3.5 gender based INEQUALITIES.
4 Women movements in India.
4.1 origin
4.2The women's movement in India: Action and reflection
4.2 support and opposition to women’s movements.
5 REFLECTIONS on Women’s Movements
6 Women’s movements in relation to coming of God’s Kingdom.
7 CONCLUSIONS.
1. Introduction
A Social movement is a deliberate collective endeavor to promote change in any direction and by any means, not excluding violence, illegality, revolution or withdrawal into ‘ utopian’ community. Social movements are thus clearly different from historical movements, tendencies or trends. It is important to note, however, that such tendencies and trends and the influence of the unconscious or irrational factors in human behavior, may of the crucial importance in illuminating he problems of interpreting and explaining social movement[i].
In recent times it has become commonplace to emphasize that theology, when properly done will always be contextual. Unless a person who is thinking theologically is rooted in his context and thinks from that perspective, his theology will not be truly relevant[ii]. And for sure any theology that is study of God, should also be included in the real lives of the people. And how that bring about the kingdom of God in the present reality.
In the recent time very many movements have tried to do it in a more meaningful way this reality of brining the kingdom of God in a reality here on earth. Movements have been there from the beginning of the history. Even at the time of Jesus too there were very many movements. Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots were some of the most powerful movements of Jesus’ time.
Here I try to bring out, how the women’s movements are trying to bring out the kingdom of God. And many of the women’s movements are doing the will of God to realize the kingdom of God here on earth in as much as possible.
2. Movements
2.1 Meaning of Movements: people organizing themselves for the structural change of the society in order to bring a new reality in the light of the kingdom of God. This could be in order to change an existing custom, order, thinking, acting etc…
2.2 Movements are also a combined work of people in order to make a real change in the society and in them in order to bring a new reality being realized in their life.
2.3 How movements address the present situation
Today social movements or people’s movements are a common phenomenon, at the micro and macro levels, nationally and globally. The believing eyes discern in them today’s sign of the times through which the God of history is revealing her/ his will.[iii]
A deeper study of the movements shows that they originated in social matrix of dissatisfaction and unrest. There is, at the grass roots, a growing realization that the State has ceased to be an agent of social transformation protecting the rights and dignity of the marginalized masses. People motivated by their dissatisfaction with the status quo, are looking for a new human sociality with new structures of just relationships. Their longing for justice and fuller humanity serves as the strong motivating force giving them the emotive energy needed to withstand all the attempts of the powers that be to suppress them. Because of the quest for justice, equality, freedom etc… these movements have a moral and a spiritual thrust to heal and transform the sick world[iv].
2.2 Marxist Theory. Marxism as an ideology and theory of social change has had an immense impact on the practice and the analysis of social movements. Marxism arose from an analysis of movements structured by conflicts between industrial workers and their capitalist employers in the 19th century. In the twentieth century a variety of neo-Marxist theories have been developed that have opened themselves to adding questions of race, gender, environment, and other issues to an analysis centered in (shifting) political economic conditions. Class-based movements, both revolutionary and labor-reformist, have always been stronger in Europe than in the US and so has Marxist theory as a tool for understanding social movements but important Marxist movements and theories have also evolved in the US. Marxist approaches have been and remain influential ways of understanding the role of political economy and class differences as key forces in many historical and current social movements, and they continue to challenge approaches that are limited by their inability to imagine serious alternatives to consumer capitalist social structures.
[1]
2.3 Marxist Versions of Organization Theory
The Marxist critique of organization theory was pursued most vigorously in the 1970s. In some sense this is not surprising, as the 1970s saw the end of the Vietnam War, a very politicizing event for American culture, Watergate and the resignation of President Nixon, and the economic stresses associated with oil shocks, inflation, and recession. It was a time of heightened political awareness and a questioning of the institutions of authority. Marxist theory provided a useful theoretical lens for that critique:
The Marxist approach began essentially as a critique of the dominant rationalist views.... Marxists argue that organizational structures are not rational systems for performing work.... Rather, they are power systems designed to maximize control and profits. Work is divided... not to improve efficiency but to "deskill" workers, to displace discretion from workers to managers, and to create artificial divisions among the work force.... Hierarchy develops... as an instrument of control and a means of accumulating capital through the appropriation of surplus value.... Human relations... reforms are misguided because they do not challenge the fundamental exploitative nature of organizations; indeed they help to shore it up by assuming a congruence of goals. (Scott, 1992, p. 115)
2.3 different kinds of movements
There are different kinds of movements in India. Mainly they are based on a common agenda by a group of people for the betterment of the society. Mainly the following are the main movements existing in India.
¯ Peasant movement: India is predominantly an agrarian country. Seventy per cent of its populations till depend on agriculture. And the peasant movement is again all kinds of injustice done to the laborers in all kinds of cultivation [v].
¯ Tribal Movement: The Scheduled Tribes constitute 8 per cent of the total populations of the country. And they are divided into two. Such as: frontier tribes and non- frontier tribes. The ST are known as tribes, Adivasis, aboriginals etc. Tribals are ethnic groups and all the exploitation to these groups done by government and other categories of people are the cause of the origin of this movement. And they are one of the strongest movements in India.[vi]
¯ Dalit Movement: The Scheduled Castes are known as Harijan… the children of God- as termed by Gandhi. But these people would call them Dalit, which means the least, the oppressed etc… These people’s movement is for dignity and equality of their life and for all the human rights into their life[vii].
¯ Student’s movement: Our attention needs to go to different student in colleges and universities. In India College education was began in year of 1850. Though the history gives us of the existence of universities and study centers in the historic India. Student’s agitations in different parts of the country and at different times have been concerned with issues varying from educational problems to political issues[viii].
¯ Middle Class Movement: the Middle class is placed between labor and capital. It neither directly owns the means of production that pumps out the surplus generated by wage labor power, nor does it, by its own labor, produces the surplus which has use and exchange value. Broadly speaking this class consists of the petty- bourgeoisie and the white- collar workers.[ix]
¯ Ecological movement: Ecology is the science which studies animal and plant systems in relation to their environment, with particular emphasis on their inter- relations and their inter dependence between different life forms. When nature is misused, the poor people are the victims of flood and drought and such natural calamities. And so the poor are the front-runners of Ecological movement[x].
2.4 How movements helps for structural change:
Ω Social Movements fill a vacuum focusing the country’s attention on the neglected needs and problem of the people, specially the most marginalized and oppressed. Social Movements create a space for the people to express, crystallize and even increase their dissatisfaction with the statue quo, their dissent and opposition to the injustices and inequalities prevailing in it.
Ω Movements engage themselves in a serious search for alternative in all spheres of life: politics, economics, culture, religion, environment, science, technology, life-style etc… Thus by searching for an alternative these movements are spreading a new vision of life and society.
Ω Mainly their contribution is in the field of politics. They bring new issues and problems like health, education, caste, reservation, environment, gender, rights, human rights, corruption, etc. Into the existing political agenda. Thus broadening the very political process of the country.
Ω Movements search further for a the realization of a new society by establishing participatory structures at all levels of society, including their own organization. Thus a new process is initiated to restore true democracy, and to regain genuine people’s power at every level. By this the true meaning of democracy is discovered as the empowerment of the masses for their self- determinations and true autonomy. Thus the people are declaring through the movements that they have a politics of their own a politics that will build a new society.
3 THE Women’s movements.
Gail Invedt classifies women’s movement into two types: (1) women’s equality movements; and (2) women’s; liberation movements. The former one may not directly challenge the existing economic and political or family structure, but rather aim at attaining an equal place for women in it, and abolishing the most open remnants of feudal patriarchy, whereas the women’s liberation movement directly challenge the sexual division of labor itself.
There is also another division of women movement classification.
Such as
Corporate feminism: claiming a larger role in politic for women on the ground that they have a special contribution to make as women. [xi]
Liberal feminism: claiming that the rights of men should be extended to women on the grounds that women are equal to men and they should have the same rights.[xii]
3.1 origin
The international women’s decade 1975-85 has provided an impetus to the growth of social science literature on women. The studies on women’s movement in India are relatively few. Most of them are at an exploratory stage. For many activist involved in feminist movements, feminism is not merely a discourse to be analyzed, but ‘a method of brining about social change’. In India due to different kinds of oppressions to women the movement started. Though it was much supported by the British women during the time of colonial time.
At the same time scholars believe that women’s movements began in India as a part of the social reform movement in the last century. Social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Mahadeve Govind Rande, Behramji Malbari, raised their voices against the prevailing religious and social customs subjecting women. Their influence encouraged the British government to enact certain laws against the sati system, permitting women to remarry, abolishing the custom of child marriage etc… efforts were also made to spread education among girls. Some of these issues continue to affect women even in this century.
3.2 Some challenges posed by Women’s Concern
Laws relating t family planning, contraception abortion, divorce and inheritance need to be looked at from the pint of view of all aspects of women’s health and well-being. In particular the control of their fertility is to be seen as a basic aspect of women’s empowerment.
The recognition of the rightful place of women in the Church in policy planning, theological endeavors, participation in the Liturgical and spiritual arena is to be seen as a human rights concern rather than doing representative charity to women.
The partnership of women in the eradication of poverty, sustained economic growth, access to resources and environmental protection, is to be seen as essential in promoting development and economic growth.
Enhance the spirit of daring dynamism and courage to risk their lives, particularly for the cause of Dalits, and women victims of violence. Allowing women to proclaim the Word at Sunday sermons and participate in administering the sacraments. It will help in the emergence of al Inclusive God- language and enhance women’s empowerment in articulating a new theology based on their experiences.
3.3 Some notable features of women’s subordination.
ð ¼ of all households are headed by women due to family disintegration, urban migration and internal displacements.
ð Annual population growth in the world is 90 million. In many developing counties 45 to 50 of the population is less than 25 years old. In many developed countries the proportion of elderly people is increasing.
In both causes women are the caregivers to the young, sick and elderly. They carry these additional responsibilities.
ð Massive migration, refugees, and environmental stress have profound consequences on family structures. Women are the worst affected victims of such situations.
ð The epidemic of AIDS is increasing in alarming rates among women and girls.
ð Attitudes structures and lack of resources prevent full and equal participation by women.
ð Women make 2% of all decisions in the world.
Men make 98% of all decisions in the world.
75% of the growing poverty and starvation affects women.
ð Sexual violence traumatizes women: repeated pregnancies, childhood pregnancies, female fetus abortions, rape for personal and social causes.
At the same time scholars believe that women’s movements began in India as a part of the social reform movement in the last century. Social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Mahadeve Govind Rande, Behramji Malbari, raised their voices against the prevailing religious and social customs subjecting women. Their influence encouraged the British government to enact certain laws against the sati system, permitting women to remarry, abolishing the custom of child marriage etc… efforts were also made to spread education among girls. Some of these issues continue to affect women even in this century.
4
The women's movement in India: Action and reflection
The women's movement in India is a rich and vibrant movement, which has taken different forms in different parts of the country. Urvashi Butalia contends that the absence of a single cohesive movement, rather than being a source of weakness, may be one of the strengths of the movement. Although scattered and fragmented, it is a strong and plural movement.
ONE of the most enduring clinches about India is that is a country of contradictions. Like all clinches, this one too has a grain of truth in it. At the heart of the contradiction stand Indian women: for it is true to say that they are among the most oppressed in the world.
During the 18 years that India had a women as Prime Minister the country also saw increasing incidents of violence and discrimination against women. This is no different from any other time: a casual visitor to any Indian city – for example Mumbai – will see hundreds of women, young and old, working in all kinds of professions: doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, scientists... and yet newspapers in India are full of stories of violent incidents against women, of rape, sexual harassment, sometimes even murder. But to have a women in the highest office of the State and to simultaneously have extreme violence against women are merely the two ends of the scale. As always, a more complex reality lies in between.
The hundreds of thousands of Rojammas and Sarojini Naidus who are to be found all over India form part of one of the most dynamic and vibrant of political movements in India today, the women's movement. The trajectory of this movement is usually traced from the social reform movements of the 19th century when campaigns for the betterment of the conditions of women's lives were taken up, initially by men. By the end of the century women had begun to organize themselves and gradually they took up a number of causes such as education, the conditions of women's work and so on. It was in the early part of the 20th century that women's organizations were set up, and many of the women who were active in these later became involved in the freedom movement.
Independence brought many promises and dreams for women in India – the dream of an egalitarian, just, democratic society in which both men and women would have a voice. The reality, when it began to sink in was, however, somewhat different. For all that had happened was that, despite some improvements in the status of women, patriarchy had simply taken on new and different forms.
The Problem of dowry.
One of the first issues to receive countrywide attention from women's groups was violence against women, specifically in the form of rape, and what came to be known in India as 'dowry deaths' – the killing of young married women for the 'dowry' or money/goods they brought with them at marriage. This was also the beginning of a process of learning for women: most protests were directed at the State. Because women were able to mobilize support, the State responded, seemingly positively, by changing the law on rape and dowry, making both more stringent. This seemed, at the time, like a great victory. It was only later that the knowledge began to sink in that mere changes in the law meant little, unless there was a will and a machinery to implement these. And that the root of the problem of discrimination against women lay not only in the law, or with the State, but was much more widespread.
In the early campaigns, groups learnt from day to day that targeting the State was not enough and that victims also needed support. So a further level of work was needed: awareness raising or conscientisation so that violence against women could be prevented, rather than only dealt with after it had happened. Legal aid and counseling centers were set up, and attempts were made to establish women's shelters. It was only when groups began to feel sucked into the overwhelming volume of the day-to-day work of such centers that they began to feel that it was not enough to do what they now saw as 'reformist' and 'non-campaign' work. Knowledge was recognized as an important need. India is such a vast country; what did activists in Karnataka, a state in southern India, know of what was going on in Garhwal in north India? And yet, everywhere you looked, there was women's activity, activity that could not necessarily be defined as 'feminist', but that was, nonetheless, geared towards improving the conditions of women's lives.
In recent years, the euphoria of the 1970s and early 1980s, symbolized by street-level protests, campaigns in which groups mobilized at a national level, the sense of a commonality of experience cutting across class, caste, region and religion – all this seems to have gone, replaced by a more considered and complex response to issues. In many parts of India, women are no longer to be seen out on the streets protesting about this or that form of injustice. This apparent lack of a visible movement has led to the accusation that the women's movement is dead or dying.
Other whipping sticks have been brought out: little has happened to improve women's lives, so how can the movement be called successful? Activists within the movement are urban, Western, and middle class, so the movement was considered an alien thing, a Western product. It has little to do with the lives of thousands of poor, rural, underprivileged women all over India.
These allegations make the classic mistake: they judge a complex reality by that part of it that is most visible. Because urban, middle-class women are visible and articulate, therefore they must be the only participants in the women's movement.
Backbone
The reality is somewhat different. While the participation of urban, middle class women is undeniable, it is not they who make up the backbone of the movement, or of the many, different campaigns that are generally seen as comprising the movement. The anti-alcohol agitation in Andhra Pradesh, and similar campaigns in other parts of India were started and sustained by poor, low-caste, often working-class women. The movement to protect the environment was begun by poor women in a village called Reni in the northern hill regions of India, and only after that did it spread to other parts of the country. There are any numbers of such examples.
Religious right
One of the biggest challenges women have had to face in recent years is the growing influence of the religious right in India. Right-wing groups have built much of their support on the involvement of women: offering to help them with domestic problems, enabling them to enter the public space in a limited way, and all the while ensuring that the overall ideology within which they operate remains firmly patriarchal. For activists too, this has posed major problems. It has forced them to confront the fact that they cannot assume a solidarity as women that cuts across class, religion, caste, ethnic difference. And yet, they must hold fast to such an assumption if they are to work with women: for how, as an activist, do you deal with a women who takes part in a violent right wing demonstration one day, and comes to you for help as a victim of domestic violence the next?
Perhaps the most significant development for women in the last few decades has been the introduction of 33% reservation for women in local, village-level elections. In the early days, when this move was introduced, there was considerable skepticism. How will women cope? Are they equipped to be leaders? Will this mean any real change, or will it merely mean that the men will take a backseat and use the women as a front to implement what they want? While all these problems still remain, in a greater or lesser degree, what is also true is that more and more women have shown that once they have power, they are able to use it, to the benefit of society in general and women in particular.
The women's movement in India today is a rich and vibrant movement, which has spread to various parts of the country. It is often said that there is no one single cohesive movement in the country, but a number of fragmented campaigns. Activists see this as one of the strengths of the movement, which takes different forms in different parts. While the movement may be scattered all over India, they feel it is nonetheless a strong and plural force.
It is important to recognize that for a country of India's magnitude, change in male-female relations and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come easy. For every step the movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression. And it is this that makes for the contradictions, this that makes it possible for there to be women who can aspire to, and attain, the highest political office in the country, and for women to continue to have to confront patriarchy within the home, in the workplace, throughout their lives. As activists never tire of repeating: out of the deepest repression is born the greatest resistance. (Third World Resurgence No. 94, June 1998)
End Notes
[1]
[i] Shah Ghansyam Social movements in India, A Review of othe Literature, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.13.
[ii] Sumithra Sunand, Doing Theology in Context, Theological issues Series.No.2. Theological Book Trust, 1992, P.13.
[iii] The Church in India- the 19th Annual meeting of the Indian Theological Association, Kunnampuram Kurian SJ., NBCLC, Bangalore, St. Paul’s press, Bangalore, 1997. P. 272.
[iv] Ibid. P. 273.
[v] Shah Ghansyam Social movements in India, A Review of othe Literature, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.32.
[vi] Ibid. P. 85.
[vii] Ibid. P. 107.
[viii] Ibid. P. 148.
[ix] Ibid. P. 161.
[x] Social Movements – Towards a perspective, Desrochers John CSC, Center for social action. Bangalore, 1991, P.77.
[xi] Social movements in India – a review of the Literature, Shah Ghanshayam, sage publications, New Delhi, 1990, P.131
[xii] Ibid, P. 131.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK FR. KM SEBASTIAN OFM FOR HIS KIND SUPPORT AND GUIDENCE FOR MY SEMINAR WITH HIM.
ALSO TO BROS:AJI, VINCENT AND RAMA RAO.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
No comments:
Post a Comment