Debating Women’s Citizenship in India: 1930–1960

Women’s citizenship in India is a deeply contested subject. Even in the decades preceding independence, a generation of women leaders in India was closely engaging with the Indian state and society, negotiating ideas of citizenship and gender justice across various public spheres. These women leaders did not all share the same views. They were often in deep contention with one another over issues like women’s health, reservation, the rescue and repatriation of abducted women, social service and family planning. South African Historian Annie Devenish closely examines these complex debates by studying the ideas and activism of leading figures within the All India Women’s Conference and the National Federation of Indian Women, and in India’s Constituent Assembly. Dive into this conversation to know more.References: Debating Women’s Citizenship in India, 1930–1960 by Annie DevenishA Passage to India by E.M. ForsterThe Raj Quartet (four-volume novel sequence) by Paul Scott: The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence, A Division of the SpoilsThe God of Small Things by Arundhati RoySEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) and Ela BhattSarojini Varadappan, Sarla Sharma, Vidya MunshiFounding Mothers of the Indian Republic: Gender Politics of the Framing of the Constitution by Achyut ChetanThe Women’s Library at London School of Economics and Political ScienceHilda Seligman, Lady Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, Mridula Sarabhai, Muthulakshmi ReddiKerala Story by Sudipto Sen