Women’s Social Reform in Colonial India

In early 19th-century India, women faced severe social inequalities driven by patriarchal customs and religious orthodoxy. Key oppressive practices included Sati (widow burning), child marriage, enforced widowhood, polygamy, female infanticide, and the Devadasi system. Purdah (seclusion) restricted women’s physical mobility and access to public life, particularly in northern India.

Denial of Education and Property Rights

Female literacy was negligible due to superstitious beliefs that educated women would bring misfortune to their households. Under traditional Hindu law, such as the Dayabhaga and Mitakshara systems, women lacked independent property rights. Their ownership was limited to Stridhana (personal gifts given during marriage), leaving them economically dependent on male family members.

Anti-Sati Campaign and Abolition

Role of Raja Rammohan Roy

Raja Rammohan Roy pioneered the campaign against Sati. He quoted ancient Hindu texts, including the Upanishads, to demonstrate that Sati lacked scriptural mandate. Roy established the Atmiya Sabha in 1815 and the Brahmo Sabha in 1828 to build public consensus against the practice. He submitted petitions to the government detailing the coerced nature of widow burning.

Legislative Action Under William Bentinck

Responding to public pressure, Governor-General Lord William Bentinck enacted the Bengal Sati Regulation (Regulation XVII) on December 4, 1829. The regulation declared the practice of Sati illegal and punishable as culpable homicide in Bengal. The administration extended similar provisions to the Madras and Bombay Presidencies in 1830.

Widow Remarriage Movement and Legislative Measures

Contribution of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar led the campaign for Hindu widow remarriage in Bengal. As Principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta, he cited the Parashara Smriti to prove that Hindu scriptures permitted widows to remarry. He submitted a petition signed by over 1,000 individuals to the Legislative Council to demand legal protection for remarried widows.

Enactment of the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856

Drafted during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie and passed under Lord Canning, the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act (Act XV of 1856) legalized the remarriage of Hindu widows. The Act declared children from such marriages legitimate, though it stripped remarried widows of inheritance rights over their deceased husbands’ properties.

Remarriage Reformers in Western and Southern India

• Vishnu Shastri Pandit established the Punarvivah Uttejak Mandal (Society for Encouragement of Widow Remarriage) in Maharashtra in 1865.
• Mahadev Govind Ranade helped establish the Widow Marriage Association in 1861.
• Dhondo Keshav Karve established the Anath Balikashram in Hingne, Pune, in 1896 to provide shelter and education to young widows.
• Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu founded the Rajahmundry Social Reform Association in 1881 to champion widow remarriage in coastal Andhra.

Opposition to Child Marriage and Consent Legislation

Efforts of Behramji M. Malabari

Parsi social reformer Behramji M. Malabari campaigned against child marriage and enforced widowhood. In 1884, he published his influential paper, Notes on Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood, urging the colonial government to step in through legislation.

Major Marriage Restraint Acts

• Native Marriage Act (1872): Also known as the Civil Marriage Act, it banned polygamy and child marriage, setting the minimum marriage age at 14 for girls and 18 for boys. It applied to those who declared themselves non-Hindu, non-Muslim, and non-Christian.
• Age of Consent Act (1891): Sparked by the death of 11-year-old Phulmani Dasi due to marital violence, this law raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse for girls from 10 to 12 years under Lord Lansdowne.
• Child Marriage Restraint Act (Sarda Act, 1929): Drafted by Harbilas Sarda, it set the minimum age of marriage at 14 for females and 18 for males across British India.

Female Education and Autonomous Women’s Organizations

Early Pioneer Schools

• J.E.D. Bethune, President of the Council of Education, collaborated with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar to found the Bethune School in Calcutta in 1849, establishing a foundation for female education in Bengal.
• Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule opened India’s first school for lower-caste girls at Bhide Wada, Pune, in 1848.
• Pandita Ramabai established the Sharada Sadan in Bombay in 1889 to educate and shelter destitute young Hindu widows.
• Dhondo Keshav Karve established the Indian Women’s University (later SNDT University) in Bombay in 1916.

Rise of All-India Women’s Associations

Indian women organized nationwide institutions in the early 20th century to campaign for political and social rights independently.

• Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910): Founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani in Allahabad as the first all-India women’s organization managed entirely by women.
• Women’s Indian Association (WIA, 1917): Established in Adyar, Madras, by Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, and Dorothy Jinarajadasa to demand voting rights and educational reforms.
• National Council of Women in India (NCWI, 1925): Founded by Mehribai Tata as a branch of the International Council of Women.
• All India Women’s Conference (AIWC, 1927): Founded by Margaret Cousins; key leaders included Sarojini Naidu, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.

Timeline of Key Social Legislation for Women

Historical Facts and Trivia

Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu graduated from Calcutta University in 1883, making them the first female graduates in British India. Kadambini Ganguly later became one of India’s first female Western-trained physicians. Anandi Gopal Joshi became the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, graduating from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1886. Rukhmabai Raut defied a court order in 1884 forcing her to live with her husband after an unconsumed child marriage. Her high-profile legal defense directly led to the drafting of the Age of Consent Act of 1891. Pandita Ramabai received the title Pandita and Saraswati from the scholars of Calcutta University in 1878 in recognition of her deep knowledge of Sanskrit texts. She authored The High-Caste Hindu Woman in 1887 to expose patriarchal oppression in Indian society.