Examining the views and activities of Phule and Ramabai regarding the improvement of women's status in India

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Corresponding Author, Graduated with a master's degree, The field of religions and mysticism, University Al-Zahra Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Theology, Al-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran., Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Objective: The 18th and 19th centuries for India were the era of the rise of reformers and their movements in line with the reforms of the social and cultural structure. Some of these reformers focused their efforts on improving the condition of Indian women. Jyotirao Govindrao Phule and Pandita Ramabai were two of this people who dedicated themselves to challenging social norms and defending women's rights. This article examines the views and activities of these two reformers and studies the changes that their attitudes and actions brought about in order to improve the status and empower women.
Methods: This research is a descriptive-analytical method and by collecting reliable and documented library sources, it goes to the historical research in this subject area.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the writings, campaigns, movements and social activities of these two reformers and it deals with the problems and difficulties of implementing social reforms in the conditions of that time in India.
Conclusions: This article shows how the struggle of Phule and Ramabai ultimately led to the establishment of gender equality in India and the followers of their school of thought learned and continued the path of change and contribution to Indian culture from them.

Keywords


Begari, J. (2010). Jyotirao Phule: A Revolutionary Social Reformer. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 399-412.
Butler, C. (1922).Pandita Ramabai Saraswati. (pp. 22-23). New York: The American Ramabai Association.
Dyer, H. S. (1900). Pandita Ramabai: The Story of Her Life. United Kingdom: Morgan and Scott.
Figueira, D. M. (2012). Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: theorizing authority through myths of identity. Suny Press.
Grimshaw, P. (1972). Women’s suffrage in New Zealand. Auckland University Press, 45.
Irvathur, U. K., & Rajalakshmi, N. K. (2010). Pandita Ramabai Saraswathi: Making of a Social Entrepreneur. JWEE, (1-2), 48-70.
Jha, N. K. (2011). Jotirao Phule: social justice. Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers. India: Pearson.
Johnson, R. B. (2008). The biblical theological contribution of Pandita Ramabai: A neglected pioneer Indian Christian feminist theologian. Ex Auditu, 23, 111-128.
Kavalekar, K. K. (1979). Non-Brahmin Movement in Southern India (1873-1949).
Khan, A. (2018, November 14). Overlooked no more: Pandita Ramabai, Indian scholar, feminist and educator. The New York Times.
Kirloskar-Steinbach, M. (2018). Negotiating Identity in Colonial India: The Case of Ramabai Mary Dongre Medhavi.
Kosambi, M. (1992). Indian Response to Christianity, Church and Colonialism: Case of Pandita Ramabai. Economic and Political Weekly, WS61-WS71.
Kosambi, M. (2016). Pandita Ramabai: Life and landmark writings. Routledge.
Kosambi, M. (2016). Pandita Ramabai: Life and Landmark Writings. India: Taylor & Francis.
Offen, K. (1988). Defining feminism: A comparative historical approach. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(1), 119–157.
Offen, K. (2000). European feminisms, 1700–1950: A political history. Stanford University Press.
O'Hanlon, R. (1983). Low Caste Protest and the Creation of a Political Identity: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and the Origins of Non-Brahman Ideology in Maharashtra 1855-1890. University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (United Kingdom).
O'Hanlon, R. (2002). Caste, conflict and ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and low caste protest in nineteenth-century Western India (No. 30). Cambridge University Press.
Omvedt, G. (2004). Jotirao Phule and the ideology of social revolution in India. Critical Quest.
Padhy, K. S. (2011). Indian political thought. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Phule, J. (2016). The life and work of Mahatma Jotirao Phule. E-content Development Programme.
Phule, J. G. (1991). Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule: Slavery: (in the Civilised British Government Unde the Cloak of Brahmanism). Education Department, Government of Maharashtra.
Ramabai, P. (1977). The letters and correspondence of Pandita Ramabai. (A. B. Shah, Ed., & S. Geraldine, Comp.). Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture.
Rendall, J. (1985). The origins of modern feminism: Women in Britain, France and the United States, 1780–1860. Macmillan.
Sarasvati, R. (1977). The Letters and Correspondence of Pandita Ramabai. Compiled by Sister Geraldine. Bombay: Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture.
Sarasvati, R. (2003). Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889). United States: Indiana University Press.
Singh, S. (2015). Mahatma Govindrao Jyotiba Phule and Satyashodhak Samaj: A Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 5(6), 1-3.
Sklar, K. K. (2000). Florence Kelley and the nation’s work: The rise of women’s political culture, 1830–1900. Yale University Press, 78.
Susie, Tharu, and K. Lalita. (1991). Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century. United States: Feminist Press at the City University of New York.
Tanzeel, S. (2017). Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati: A testimony of our inexhaustible treasure. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 7(5), 1-3.
Wesley, Y. S. P. (2017). Social reform movement for emancipation of women in 19th and 20th century India: A study of Pandita Ramabai. People: International Journal of Social Sciences, 3(2), 1135-1145.