ISSN 0970-8669
Odisha Review
The Rise of Social Consciousness
Among Women of Odisha
Pradeep Kumar Giri
Scholars believe that women’s movement began
in India as a part of the social reform movement
in the 19th century when social reformers like Ram
Mohan Ray, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, M.G.
Ranade raised their voices against the prevailing
religious and social customs subjugating women.
Their influence encouraged the British Government
to enact certain laws against the Sati system,
permitting women to remarry, abolishing the
custom of child marriage etc. Efforts were also
made to spread education among girls. Some of
these issues continue to affect women even in 20th
century. The difference is that till the turn of the
19th century very little effort was done to mobilize
women for participation in public life in general
around the issues concerning them. Mahatma
Gandhi made efforts to bring women out of their
kitchens. He raised the status of women.
Women’s organization, such as the
Women’s Indian Association and the All India
Women’s Conference came into existence in the
1920’s to spread education among women. These
organizations raised similar issues and carried out
welfare programmes during the postindependence period. They enjoyed an all India
status with branches in all states. Social reformers,
as well as women’s organizations, raised women’s
issues which primarily affected Hindu ideology,
based on the Vedas. Most social reformers
believed in the separation of the roles played by
the male and female in society. Though they were
not against women working outside their homes,
they were not in favour of independent careers
for women in the wider world. They believe that
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women should not compete with men in all
spheres. The reformers continued to demand the
women should be pure, firm and self-controlled.
They should be pativrata, i.e. devoted and chaste
wives who should view the views of the husband
with tolerance. Those women’s organizations,
which were offshoots of the social reform
movements, share more or less the same ideology.
Studies on women’s movements, the
freedom movement, the peasant movement, the
tribal movement, the student movement, discuss
the role and the participation of women in these
struggles. These movements do not raise issues
affecting women per se but they do raise societal
or class issues; such movements, pre-movements
as far as women are concerned. They reveal the
power of women as a force in society, they allow
women opportunity to begin to bring forward their
own needs, and they are forgotten part of a process
leading to the development of women’s
movements as such. Most of the studies of various
movements do not examine the women’s role in
the movements specifically. It is generally assumed
that these movements are led and dominated by
males and in which women have either no role or
an insignificant one. They are written from a male
perspective. Women have had a distinctive active
role in the area of social and political movement.
While this leaves an incomplete account of the
past which is to be regretted; history like other
social sciences is to be criticized for its deficiencies
not primarily because women have emerged with
less significance than some scholars suppose in
their due.
February - March - 2016
Odisha Review
The status of women in India has
remained as subordinate to men. This has become
a tradition as well as a legacy of several
generations. Women have become the victims of
both socio-economic systems as well as within
the family itself. However, their status underwent
some change due to the increasing social and
political consciousness during the national
movement, which had aroused in women a desire
to extricate themselves from the social yoke and
to undertake an enlightened and equal
participation with men in the process. Their
activities in the socio-political fields vindicated the
views of prominent social reformers of 19th century
as well as Gandhiji’s mass movement. The
developments paved the way for the formation
of women’s organization called Utkal Women’s
Conference, which held its first meeting in 1924
at Berhampur. This may be described as the origin
of the women’s movement in Odisha.
The most important factor that was
responsible for the awakening of Odiawomen
was the visit of Gandhiji to Odisha. After the
declaration of Non-cooperation Movement,
Gandhiji toured the whole country to spread the
objective of the movement. He visited Odisha
with his wife Kasturba in 1921. Within his short
stay Gandhiji through his speech highlighted the
issues of social emancipation of women. During
this period ‘Odia Andolana” was at its highest
stage and people of Odisha were determined to
fetch their political identity. Gandhiji at a meeting
at Binod Bihari at Cuttack highlighted the cause
of women backwardness in Odisha society. He
said that child marriage, polygamy, orthodox
traditions made women’s life miserable. He
stressed the cause of low status was the lack of
education among women. He said that women
are not weaker sex but they are forced by the
men dominated society and men made laws. The
meeting at Binod Bihari was attended by about
forty women. This has been stated that they had
gone to see Gandhiji. Probably sensing this,
Gandhi had made direct appeal to Odiawomen
to join in the Non-Cooperation Movement. He
maintained that women were the embodiment of
sacrifice and suffering as such their advent to
public life would result in purifying them.
February - March - 2016
ISSN 0970-8669
His speech had so much impressed the
Odia women who were present had donated their
golden ornaments to the Swaraj Fund for
Freedom Struggle. Those who decided to join
the movement included Ramadevi, the wife of
Gopabandhu Choudhury who had also donated
her ornaments. This had probably inspired
hundreds of Odiawomen to join the National
Movement and there arose social consciousness
among them. With this there was an increasing
demand among women for the formation of an
organization to look after their interest. In this
process the Utkal Women’s Conference had been
formed largely due to the initiative taken in this
regard by ladies from Southern Odisha namely
Rasamani Dei and Swarnalata Dei. They
announced at a meeting at Swaraj Ashram in
Berhampur about the formation of Women’s
Conference. The first meeting was held at
Berhampur on 30 June 1924. A large number of
women from all over Odisha attended and
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray who had come
from Bengal to chair Pradesh Congress
Committee Parishad over the meeting.
Sarala Devi another woman from
Berhampur along with Rasamani Dei, Hemabati
Dei and Kishorimani Dei worked silently behind
the screen. They discussed about the women
problem. Thus, this had paved the way for the
launching of Women’s Movement in Odisha
during freedom movement.
References:
1.
Vina Majumdar, The Social Reform Movement
in India: From Ranade to Nehru in B.R. Nanda
(Ed.), Indian Women from Purdah to Modernity
(Delhi, 1976), S.P. Sen (Ed.), Social and
Religious Reform Movements in the 19th and
20th Centuries (Calcutta, 1979)
2.
This view is challenged. For details see Kalpana
Shah, Women’s Liberation and Voluntary Action
(Delhi, 1984).
3.
Kalpana Shah, op.cit., p.135.
Pradeep Kumar Giri, Kundabai, Udala, Mayurbhanj.
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