This book highlights the diverse efforts made by a wide range of groups--the government, Christian missionaries, social reformers, and the women themselves--to bring about the emancipation of Muslim women in India. It looks closely at changes in education and in medical care, particularly at government-sponsored programs to improve maternal health. It also details the struggle of women to win the right to vote. The book is based on primary archival research, making it an invaluable resource for students of women's history and of the history of British India.

"This book, therefore, seeks to fill the gap identified above as well as to offer some thoughts on the emergence of 'feminism' among Indian Muslim women. It does this by focusing on various kinds of 'spaces' in which Muslim women were increasingly able to participate in the public sphere, created in large part by changes emanating from the impact of the colonial state. Through the use of the term 'feminism' this study acknowledges its growing popularity in the Indian subcontinent during the period under discussion, albeit among growing Indian middle classes."--BOOK JACKET.

This collection of essays and articles captures the beginning of the Muslim women's movement in India in the last two decades. Written at different points during the journey, these pieces provide a glimpse into the collective tumultuous journey of women demanding reform in Muslim family law in India and for equal citizenship without discrimination. This journey was undertaken by ordinary women under their own leadership. This collection highlights the challenges faced by women. It also celebrates successes such as the organization of women into groups, abolition of triple talaq and women's entry into the mazar of Haji Ali Dargah. This book is a collection of articles written by authors, individually and jointly in various newspapers, magazines, journals and other publications. It challenges the misogynist regressive norms for women in family set by patriarchal religious groups. It calls for state accountability in providing safety, security and equality to Muslim citizens. Based on experiences and insights from grounded struggle of ordinary women, these essays give hope and provide strength in addressing discrimination through shared vision and collective democratic action. It calls out the failure of conservative religious leadership as well as elected representatives in providing an enabling environment to the community and particularly, women. It calls out certain feminists for their dual standards and for unsuccessful attempts to weaken the movement for reform in family law led by ordinary Muslim women.

DIVArgues that the discursive erasure of Muslim women within colonial and Hindu nationalist discourse underpinned the construction of other identity categories in late colonial Bengal and remains linked to violence against Indian Muslim women today./div

This Collection Of Essays On Politics, Medicine And Historiography Is About Those India Women Who Began To Be Educated And To Pay Some Role In Public Life.