Annotated Resource Set (ARS)
Women in India: The Colonial Period to the Present
Title / Content Area:
Developed by:
Rachel Meyer, Outreach Director, South Asia Institute, University of Texas at Austin
Grade Level:
6–12
Essential Question:
What were women’s roles in India during the colonial period? What kind of
restrictions/challenges did women face in India during this time? How did Indian
women differ from their Western counterparts? How have women’s roles in India (and
Western perceptions of them) changed over time? How did/do Indian women respond
to the challenges they face?
Contextual Paragraph:
This resource set examines women’s roles in India from the colonial period to the
present. It examines perceptions about women from a Western perspective and
encourages students to try to examine the accuracy of these perceptions in order to
get to how Indian women themselves experienced their roles within the context of
colonialism and other social struggles.
Women in India, as elsewhere in the world, have historically experienced many
challenges in addition to gender inequality—including poverty, colonialism, and caste
discrimination. They also have a long history of responding to these challenges by
actively fighting for gender equality, as well as for independence from British rule,
workers’ rights, environmental rights, and other social reforms.
Indian women fought for and won the right to vote in 1920 (the same year as U.S.
women). India also elected the first woman to national government in 1925, when
Sarojini Naidu became elected president of Indian National Congress. India’s first
elected female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, came into office in 1966. She was the
second women elected to this position in the world. (The first was Sirimavo
Bandaranaike, elected Prime Minister of nearby Sri Lanka in 1960.)
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Resource Set
Ladies riding on
elephant
Primitive native life of
India—Hindu women
grinding at the mills
Washington, D.C.,
International student
assembly, Indian delegates,
Benares—woman walking;
stone steps in background
Left to right: Miss Sita Guha
Thakurta; K.Z. Fournadjiadieff,
a student at Yale University;
Miss Satiavati E. Cotelingan, a
student at the Biblical
Seminary; Miss Kamala
Kosambi, a student at the
University of Michigan
http://www.loc.g
ov/pictures/item/
2004707752/
http://www.loc.gov/pict
ures/item/92508657/
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/i
tem/owi2001009792/PP/
India in the war. Girl
workers in a booming
Bombay textile mill
Miss Neil [and] a
famine victim, India
Thirty-five percent of
India's great cotton
textiles production,
amounting to some
5,000,000,000 yards a
year, is going into war
materials for India and
United Nations
http://www.loc.gov/pictur
es/item/2004707771/
http://www.loc.gov/pi
ctures/item/oem2002
007110/PP/
http://www.loc.gov/
pictures/item/20076
82803/
2
A Hindu bridal
party
The Ogden standardexaminer, February 06,
1921, MAGAZINE SECTION,
Image 21A
Drawing room of H.E.
Lady Curzon and
Hindu, Viceregal
Palace, Simla, N.
India
Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi of
India at the
National Press
Club, Washington,
D.C.
“Brahmin Woman Leads
Forces against Britain”
http://www.loc.
gov/pictures/ite
m/99401520/
http://chroniclingamerica.l
oc.gov/lccn/sn85058393/1
921-02-06/ed-1/seq21/;words=SAROJINI?date1
=1860&rows=20&searchTy
pe=basic&state=&date2=1
922&proxtext=sarojini&y=1
4&x=8&dateFilterType=yea
rRange&index=3
http://www.loc.gov/
pictures/item/92508
652/
http://www.loc.go
v/pictures/item/20
04666286/
Annie Besant, half-length portrait,
seated, facing slightly right
Women of India carry
on Gandhi salt
campaign: wives of
leaders active as
violence grows
Anne Besant went to India in 1893, an
advocate for social reforms and a critic
of British colonialism. “…the Rights of
Man have become an accepted
doctrine, but unfortunately that are
only the rights of man, in the exclusive
sense of the word…until they become
human rights, society will never rest on
a sure, just foundation”
(Note: not yet
digitized)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/917
86293/
http://www.loc.gov/
pictures/item/96504
839/
Notes/Comments:
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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India: Women
May be
Employed as
Bartenders
Young Indian
women, dressed
in colorful saris,
get military
training ... on
campus of
Darrang College
Patronage and Power:
Women Movers and
Shakers in the Indian
Subcontinent - Panel
III: Women Leaders in
India's Independence
Struggles
Delivery of concert
piano, Nagpur, India,
1923—Helena
Morstyn, piano
Link to
newspaper
article in The
Hindu
(Note: not yet
digitized)
Symposium on Library
of Congress Website
(Note: not yet
digitized)
(recordings and
transcripts)
Nayantara Sahgal (1927– )
Readings from Mistaken identity (1988).
Associated Press
photograph of Maharajah
and Maharanee (Nancy Ann
Miller) of Indore walking
together
Novels bring out Nayantara Sahgal as a
writer with feminist concerns seeking
independent existence of women. She sees
women as victims of conventional Indian
society engaged in their quest for identity.
In her last novel Mistaken Identity her
concept of emancipation reaches its
pinnacle where her female character is an
out-and-out rebel.
(http://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/
nayantarasahgal.html)
http://www.hi
ndu.com/2007
/12/07/stories
/20071207559
30100.htm
http://www.loc.
gov/pictures/ite
m/2005693445/
http://www.loc.gov/t
oday/cyberlc/feature_
wdesc.php?rec=4049
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
http://www.loc.gov/
pictures/item/97505
552/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/mbrs/master/salrp/0
8002.mp3
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpc
oop/ichicdn.n090163
4
Jacqueline
Kennedy
Woman carrying
large corrugated
sheets
Young woman
street vendor
holding
measuring scales
New York Tribune,
October 09, 1921, Page
3, Image 27
“Tragedy of Being a Wife”
The San Francisco call.,
August 31, 1913, Image 8
Having a bindi
placed on her
forehead,
which is a sign
of marriage, at
Jaipur, India
Arundhati Roy (1959– )
Readings from The god of small things (1997)
The book, set among the Christian community
of the southern state of Kerala, is a personal
account of a tragic love story cutting across
the caste, religious and political divides of
India Roy has used her celebrity status in India
to write in defense of causes she believes in.
Almost unique among intellectuals, Roy
publicly excoriated the Indian Government for
its decision to launch nuclear tests in 1998. In
1999, Roy pointed her sharp pen against the
Narmada dam, under construction in the
states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in
another critical essay.
(Note: not yet
digitized)
(http://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/aru
ndhathiroy.html)
http://www.lo
c.gov/pictures
/item/925202
00/
http://www.loc.
gov/pictures/ite
m/2004707703/
http://www.loc.g
ov/pictures/item
/2004707709/
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
http://chroniclingamerica
.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214
/1921-10-09/ed-1/seq27/;words=Sarojini?date1
=1860&rows=20&searchT
ype=basic&state=&date2
=1922&proxtext=sarojini
&y=14&x=8&dateFilterTy
pe=yearRange&index=4
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.
gov/lccn/sn85066387/191308-31/ed-1/seq8/;words=INDIA+women+Indi
a+Women?date1=1860&rows
=20&searchType=basic&state
=&date2=1922&proxtext=indi
a+women&y=0&x=0&dateFilt
erType=yearRange&index=15
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/mbrs/master/salrp/035
01.mp3
5
Foundations Annotations
Curriculum Connections
Social Studies; Language Arts—Reading, Writing; Critical thinking; Information Literacy
Curriculum Standards
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
113.22 (Social Studies Grade 6)
(1) History. The student understands that historical events influence contemporary events. The student is expected to: (B) analyze the historical background of
selected contemporary societies to evaluate relationships between past conflicts and current conditions.
(2) History. The student understands the contributions of individuals and groups from various cultures to selected historical and contemporary societies. The
student is expected to: (A) explain the significance of individuals or groups from selected societies, past and present.
(13) Citizenship. The student understands that the nature of citizenship varies among societies. The student is expected to: (A) describe roles and
responsibilities of citizens in selected contemporary societies including the United States; (B) explain how opportunities for citizens to participate in and
influence the political process vary among selected contemporary societies; and (C) compare the role of citizens in the United States with the role of citizens
from selected democratic and nondemocratic contemporary societies.
(15) Culture. The student understands the similarities and differences within and among cultures in different societies. The student is expected to: (C) analyze
the similarities and differences among selected world societies.
(18) Culture. The student understands the relationship that exists between artistic, creative, and literary expressions and the societies that produce them. The
student is expected to: (A) explain the relationships that exist between societies and their architecture, art, music, and literature; (C) describe ways in which
societal issues influence creative expressions.
113.33 (World History Studies)
(1) History. The student understands traditional historical points of reference in world history. The student is expected to: (A) identify the major eras in world
history and describe their defining characteristics; (C) apply absolute and relative chronology through the sequencing of significant individuals, events, and time
periods.
(17) Citizenship. The student understands the significance of political choices and decisions made by individuals, groups, and nations throughout history. The
student is expected to: (A) evaluate political choices and decisions that individuals, groups, and nations have made in the past, taking into account historical
context, and apply this knowledge to the analysis of choices and decisions faced by contemporary societies; and (B) describe the different roles of citizens and
noncitizens in historical cultures, especially as the roles pertain to civic participation.
(18) Citizenship. The student understands the historical development of significant legal and political concepts, including ideas about rights, republicanism,
constitutionalism, and democracy. The student is expected to: (C) identify examples of political, economic, and social oppression and violations of human rights
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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throughout history, including slavery, the Holocaust, other examples of genocide, and politically-motivated mass murders in Cambodia, China, and the Soviet
Union; (D) assess the degree to which human rights and democratic ideals and practices have been advanced throughout the world during the 20th century.
(20) Culture. The student understands the relationship between the arts and the times during which they were created. The student is expected to: (B) analyze
examples of how art, architecture, literature, music, and drama reflect the history of cultures in which they are produced.
(21) Culture. The student understands the roles of women, children, and families in different historical cultures. The student is expected to: (A) analyze the
specific roles of women, children, and families in different historical cultures; and (B) describe the political, economic, and cultural influence of women in
different historical cultures.
Content & Thinking Objectives
Research Skills for History:
Historical research is a process in which students examine topics or questions related to historical studies and/or current issues. Students will learn to
understand the difference between primary and secondary sources; choose question and analyze sources for a specific historical inquiry. Students will evaluate
primary sources for authors main points; purposes and perspective; facts vs. opinions; different points of view on the same historical topic/event; credibility
and validity. By using primary and secondary sources effectively, students learn to obtain accurate and relevant information, and develop strong questions for
further inquiry.
Emergence of Women’s Rights in India:
Students will assess how social developments influenced women’s rights in colonial India, and understand women’s roles in India’s struggle for independence
and women’s place within the new nation. Using India as case study, students will gain knowledge of systems of social structure and gender structure
(comparing major features within India and in relation to the U.S., and assessing change and continuity). They will gain an understanding of the relationship
between gender and empire (including the role of women in households and in politics); and make comparisons in the roles and conditions of women in the
upper/middle classes with the working class. They will also gain an understanding of the processes of social reform and social revolution (changing gender roles;
the rise of feminism).
Other Resources
Web Resources
Lesson Plan on Hemispheres’s Website:
Women in the India Independence Movement: The Salt Protests of 1930: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/orgs/hemispheres/_files/pdf/women/SaltMarch.pdf
Other Symposium on Library of Congress Website (recordings and transcripts):
Teaching with Primary Sources - Annotated Resource Set
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Patronage and Power: Women Movers and Shakers in the Indian Subcontinent - Panel I: Women and Religion
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4053
Patronage and Power: Women Movers and Shakers in the Indian Subcontinent - Panel II: Begums and Maharanis
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4052
Patronage and Power: Women Movers and Shakers in the Indian Subcontinent - Panel IV: Women and Art
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4051
Secondary Sources
Books
Domosh, Mona and Joni Seager. 2001. Putting Women in place: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World.
Forbes, Geraldine. 1996. Women in Modern India.
Kumar, Radha. 1993. The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800–1990.
Ramusack, Barbara and Sharon Sievers. 1999. Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History.
Seagar, Joni. 2003. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World.
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