The Women’s Movement and Colonial Politics in Bengal: The Quest for Political Rights, Education and Social Reform Legislation, 1921-1936

"The emergence of an active women’s movement in contemporary India has created new interest in discovering the historical roots of feminist thought and women’s organizations in the colonial period. Professor Southard analyzes the growth of the women’s movement in the crucial period between the two World Wars, when the Indian nationalist movement gained momentum and women’s associations first sought to address women’s issues through political action. This regional study focuses on the attempts to gain a hearing for women’s issues from the provincial legislature in Bengal whose powers were enhanced by the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. The author examines three women’s campaigns for political rights, education and social reform legislation: the Bangiya Nari Samaj’s quest for woman suffrage, the Bengal Women’s Education League’s efforts on behalf of extending universal education schemes to girls, and the All-Bengal Women’s Union’s campaign for protection of women and young girls from the prostitution trade. Autobiographies and biographies, records and reports of women’s associations, newspapers and journals, and government documents, such as the Bengal Legislative Council proceedings, have been used to reconstruct the social origins, goals, political strategies, and historical significance of these women’s movements."