Opinion 75th Republic Day of India: The women who fought for our rights

One of the first official calls for enfranchising women was made in 1917 when a delegation of women activists presented a memorandum of demands to Edwin Montagu and Lord Chelmsford, who had been tasked to formulate a scheme of self-governance for India. The same year, the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) was formed to address the socio-economic challenges faced by women. It was the first national body to advocate for female suffrage. In 1918, WIA and others intensified their advocacy, travelling to Britain to garner support for their causes. Sarojini Naidu took the women’s rights issue to the Congress party, moving resolutions for women’s enfranchisement at Congress sessions in Bijapur and Bombay.

Follow our Republic Day 2024 live blog for the latest updates!

The first victory came with the enactment of the Government of India Act 1919 that allowed provincial legislatures to enfranchise women. In 1921, Madras became the first province to grant women the right to vote, followed by Bombay and the United Provinces. The enfranchisement Bill was defeated in the Bengal Legislative Council. Suffragists led by the Bangiya Nari Samaj organised massive awareness campaigns for four years, leading to the passage of the Bill in 1925. Women leaders did not let up after the initial success. The right to vote, while monumental, was conditional upon ownership of property, income, and other statuses which excluded a sizeable number of women. Further, women still did not have a right to sit in legislative bodies.

The Nehru Report, a draft Constitution, prepared by an All Parties Conference in 1929 called for equal civic rights for all citizens. Britain was not keen on expanding this right. To galvanise international support, a delegation led by Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Shareefa Hamid Ali travelled to London, and then Geneva to petition the League of Nations. The Government of India Act 1935 expanded the right to vote and paved the way for women in public offices. Several women contested the 1936-37 elections and joined provincial governments. Women leaders created widespread acceptance for the idea of a universal adult franchise.

Their activism extended to social and personal spheres. In 1927, several women-led organisations joined hands to form the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC). Initially, AIWC focussed on women’s education. Later, it pushed for outlawing child marriage, raising the age of consent, and banning polygamy. AIWC believed that women’s emancipation was not possible without reforming the various religious laws (personal codes).

In 1945-46, the AIWC adopted the Indian Woman’s Charter of Rights and Duties. The charter demanded equality in all spheres. It specifically made a case for women’s economic empowerment and highlighted the need to formally recognise the value of domestic work. The charter advocated wholesale reforms to the personal codes, demanding the freedom to divorce, and equal property and inheritance rights. Some of these demands found their way into the Hindu Code Bill and were enacted a decade later.

In the aftermath of Partition, a key issue was the reservations of seats on religious grounds. In the Constituent Assembly, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (a Christian) and Begum Qudsia Aizaz Rasul (a Muslim) made passionate appeals to do away with any special privileges. Eventually reservation was limited to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. AIWC had been against separate electorates and believed that reservation deepened communal divisions — they even argued against women’s reservation. These issues caused a rift within the AIWC reflecting the diverse worldviews within the women’s movement.

The framers of our Constitution were no strangers to the diversity of thought. The Constitution was envisioned as a living document, allowing future governments to mould the republic as per the contingencies of the time. In the last 70 years, feminists have strived to advance the rights of women leading to the enactment of various laws, policies, and Constitutional amendments. The groundwork was laid by the women who came much before us. This 75th Republic Day is an opportune moment for us to honour and acknowledge their contributions. Lest we forget.

Aribam & Satyawali are authors of the upcoming book The Fifteen: The Lives and Times of the Women in India’s Constituent Assembly