Empowerment of Women and other Weaker Sections

 

Empowerment of Women and other Weaker Sections

Women had participated extensively in the freedom struggle. Women have also made important contributions in all fields in the post-independence period, too. That is what we will study in this chapter as also the laws enacted for women and other weaker sections.

When we study the condition of women in India we realise that the roots of several of the problems they face lie in the mentality of men. Even in the twentyfirst century, we have not been able to rid ourselves of this male-centred mentality. Vinoba Bhave made use of woman power in the Bhoodan Movement which he had started placing his faith in Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy. Women volunteers carried the message of Bhoodan to all parts of India. Women played a significant role in the Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle which challenged the rule of the nizams and the feudal system. As their region became free from bonded labour, women also found freedom from this torment.

Manifestation of woman power : Women, who have to face the brunt of scarcity of supplies and rising prices, gave a show of their strength as an organised entity in 1972. Under the leadership of the socialist leader Mrinal Gore, women in Mumbai participated in a demonstration which came to be known as the laatne morcha (the rolling pin demonstration). Commodities like oil, ghee, rava, maida, would become scarce just as Diwali was near at hand.

Kerosene had become very expensive. Women came together brandishing their rolling pins and took part in the demonstration. This movement met with success and the public got a glimpse of the united power of women. The Chipko movement : Another show of constructive woman power was seen during the Chipko movement in 1973. Trees from the forests in the foothills of the Himalayas were to be cut down for commercial purposes.

Chandiprasad Bhat and Sunderlal Bahuguna had started a movement to prevent this. Women followed the strategy of holding hands and encircling each tree. As their method consisted of protecting the tree by embracing it, the movement came to be known as the Chipko movement. Women took part in it in large numbers. Women had a big role to play in the agricultural economy of this region. Gaura Devi was the activist who created this awareness among the women with the help of Sudesha Devi and Bachani Devi.

 Anti-liquor movement : In 1992, in Andhra Pradesh, a movement was started against the drinking of alcohol. It received a good response in other States too. When the head of the household dies an untimely death due to addiction to alcohol, the family faces a serious crisis which affects women the most. Due to alcoholism, they have to deal with extreme sorrow and poverty. This movement got the support of the anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh. As a result of a government policy, arrack (a locally produced alcohol) dealers set up shop in every town and village.

 The poor labouring people began to get addicted to alcohol. At the same time, a literacy programme was being run in the villages of the State. The Sitama Katha (Sita’s story) was narrated as a part of this programme. It was a story about Sita who creates awareness among the people of a village and gets alcohol to be banned from the village. In 1992, three youths of Dubuganta village of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh drowned in a lake, in a state of inebriation, and died. At this instance, the women of the village came together and forced the closure of arrack shops. The report of this news in the local newspapers had its effect on many other villages. The movement spread to the entire State and the government had to adopt a strict policy against the sale of alcohol.

 International Women’s Year : The United Nations had declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year. The three aspects of this programme were peace, development and equality between men and women. In 1975, the government of India constituted the Committee on the Status of Women and appointed Dr Phulrenu Guha as its Chairman.

A comprehensive survey was conducted of several issues such as the social position of women, their status, the consequences of the constitutional provisions made for women as also education of women and its percentage, their progress due to education, difficulties faced by working women, the position of women with respect to work/livelihood, their wages (relative to men’s wages), the female-male ratio, birth and mortality rates and the role of women.

Taking into consideration this entire background, a State-wide conference for women was held in 1975 organised by the Stree-mukti Sangharsha Samiti. Women from all walks of life /regions participated in it. The Samiti published its manifesto in 1978.

The policy of a struggle against discrimination on the basis of gender, caste and varna was adopted.This gave rise to a collection of songs called Streemuktichi Lalkari, a street play called Mulgi Jhaali Ho by Jyoti Mhapsekar and a periodical called Prerak Lalkari which became their mouthpiece, and other such programmes. In 1977, groups like the Streemukti Andolan Samiti established by Soudamini Rao in