[This is an article by Kochattil Kalyanikkutty Amma (known by her married name, Mrs C Kuttan Nair) appended to her well-known travelogue, A Peep at Europe (Njaan Kanda Europe in Malayalam), written after her tour of Europe in 1935 along with a group of Indian women under the leadership of Mrs Alexandrena Datta, a Scotswoman married to the Indian nationalist Dr s K Datta. It reveals her extraordinary perception of ‘Women’ as a global category and the necessity of establishing a position of equality between women of colonised and coloniser countries in addressing the question of patriarchal oppression. Interestingly, nowhere else in her writing did she evoke the fall-from-golden age narrative of Indian women’s past, or that of the freedoms enjoyed by Nair women! Clearly, these are merely props used to create a speaking position of equality with women of Europe. ‘A Peep at Europe’ is a truly remarkable work, especially for its deep awareness of the structural base of cultural difference, and the ‘politics of friendship’ that it performs. It is now available online, thanks to the Panjab Digital Library. It may be found here. ]
I have been asked by some of my countrymen now in the West, .when they put me many other questions concerning western countries, what I think of the status of women and of the free mingling of the sexes there as compared with the same in my own country. This question was put to me by some of my western friends too, and so this chapter is intended, both for those in India and in Europe.
Judging by the externals, the western woman, by her freedom of movement in society, her increasing love of out-door life and sports, her competition with men in nearly all walks of life, her strenuous efforts to prove herself his equal in almost every respect, may still be a marvel to many of my sisters, especially those of Purdha- ridden communities of India. And in European countries, barring Soviet Russia, where women hold a unique position as comrades, the women of England and Czechoslovakia enjoy greater freedom than women do anywhere else in the West. Since reference has already been made to the position of British women in the chapter on England I intend saying just a few words on the condition of women in Czechoslovakia to-day. This country has a very dominant position as a land with a progressive outlook on the question of women’s movement. This is to a great extent, due to the strong opinion held, and the vigorous stand made, by the important leaders there headed by President Masaryk. His reference to his wife who is a real companion to him, is one of the most beautiful portions of the book on him by the Czech writer Cupek. So also is the wife of the foreign minister Dr. Benes to her husband. Women here are found in all positions, some very conspicuous personalities standing out by real capacity and merit. Czechoslovakia has senators, members of parliament, writers, journalists, doctors, and teachers who are women, who are to be found in all professions except the army. There are several papers edited by women—a very well known one being the weekly “ Cin”. The Sokol movement, the leading physical culture association, is open to both men and women. The most important of the social clubs are also mixed ones, which even in England, they are not.
I strongly feel that something of that free mingling of the sexes in the West, which to an average Indian mind is today fraught with serious dangers, has to be introduced into our country too, where the tendency in several parts is to keep man and woman in separate watertight compartments, which can only lead to an unhealthy sex-consciousness, if not sex obsession, on either side. This segregation of the sexes which did not exist in ancient India is today greatly responsible for the apparent lack of respectful behaviour on the part of many of our youths especially in non-co-educational institutions towards women outside home. One can realise the ridiculously pathetic attitude towards sex on the part4 of some of the heads of these institutions when it is told that in one of them in South India the boys were made to act the famous Indian drama ” Sakuntalam ” without the heroine Sakuntala appearing on the stage, for fear that even the semblance of a female form in the midst of the unsophisticated Adams, may excite them! Brought up in such a cloistered atmosphere, it is no wonder that our innocent brothers, when we enter the premises of their institutions in response to invitations to attend some function there, often greet us with hisses, hootings and cat-calls. In the Ramakrishna Mission Schools some of which I have visited in the south, that traditional respect for womanhood in India is being fostered. The boys of the Theosophical schools too in our country are found to behave very politely towards girls and women. One hears the same thing of the poet Tagore’s educational institution at Santi-niketan, where boys and girls mingle freely. 1 do not know much about the other national institutions in the country, but special mention must be made of Gandhiji’s Ashrams, which are of interest as places where men and women work together in an atmosphere of healthy freedom. But at the end of this chapter I shall deal in greater detail, with the contribution of this great national leader of ours towards the emancipation of Indian womanhood.
Yet in spite of the apparently great measure of freedom among the women of the West they have still much more to achieve, and that has to be after a very hard struggle. In countries like Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria and Hungary the tendency is now to push women back to their homes. We have also to remember that whatever the women of the West have obtained by way of rights, has been got through their own heroic efforts in the teeth of stern opposition from their men, while we in India are fighting with the active support of most of our great men, to recover what we once had and later on lost. That France, the seat of international culture, or democratic Switzerland, should still have its women unenfranchised, would be a matter of great surprise to our sisters in India. For, when the South-borough
Committee appointed by the British Government to consider the question of the franchise in India, decided not to give votes to Indian women there was strong protest from various quarters from both men and women- And when finally the matter was left to the various provinces concerned) Madras immediately threw open its legislature to its women and this was followed by the Bombay and the other legislatures.
Women with progressive views in the West have told me that there is still that lack of inherent respect and feeling of camaraderie on the part of their men towards them in spite of their extreme polite behaviour in public. Soviet Russia which a few of these had visited is said to be the only place where real camaraderie between the sexes exists to-day. In spite of the prejudice of most of the European countries against Russia it is perhaps the only place where sex exploitation in any form is almost absent. Theatres in France for example where women appear naked on the gorgeously fitted stages, are to the modern Russian mind a detestable kind of sex exploitation.
In ancient India there was no purdah and no child marriage, and the girls had full freedom to choose their husbands when they attained maidenhood. Married women could divorce their husbands under certain conditions. Women had property rights and were given a certain amount of education especially in the fine arts. Gargi and Maitreyi were women philosophers highly respected by learned men. Leelavathi was a great mathematician. Later on from behind the purdah Indian women wrote fine works without the need to seek shelter behind a masculine name as a Mary Evans had to- Even in the later centuries when women had considerably lost their position? there had been women administrators like Sultan Raziya? Chand Bibi, Rani Lakshmi Bai? Ahalya Bai, and others, and some of them, have died on the battle field fighting bravely against the aggressor.
Due to the clash of various cultures in our country as a result of successive invasions, each culture tried to preserve what it considered to be the best in it, and this gave rise to a series of rigid customs which unable to adapt themselves to the needs of changing times? have become definite barriers to the progress of society. Child marriage, the purdah etc., thus came into existence. Later on, after British rule was established, the government when administering Hindu Laws consulted not the enlightened section among men but the most orthodox pundits and that gave rise to a system of law by which the Hindu woman has to-day no property rights, and has other disabilities which hamper her progress. The purdah and child marriage prevail chieily among the higher castes among the Hindus, while the low caste women who form a large section, have much more freedom. They move with their men with a sense of equality seldom to be found among the higher classes.
In spite of the evils of the purdah, child marriage etc. woman at home occupies a place that is seldom hers in any other country. She gets a devotion from her sons and daughters, almost unparalleled anywhere else in the world and she has an important part in all ceremonial functions. This is all due to the very high place given to women in the Hindu religion and religion is still a vital influence with the masses in our country. Where women are honoured there the Gods are pleased say the Indian scriptures. The symbolic representation of God among Indians as “Ardha-Nareeswara ” (half man and half woman) will give an idea of the lofty conception of ancient India about womanhood. Something of that traditional respect for woman still lingers in our country, and that is why, in spite of the many social disabilities that she suffers from to-day, she has a dominant place at home.
Among the women of South India there is much more freedom than there is in the north. There is comparatively very little of purdah, and child marriage is common only among the Brahmins. Co-educational institutions—High Schools and Colleges—are not rare in this part of India. In Travancore and Cochin the staff in some of the mixed Colleges contains lady members also.
In this connection I must say a few words about the Nair women of Kerala, to which community I myself belong. The province of Kerala —the land of Keras or coconut palms—comprising British Malabar, and the enlightened Native States of Travancore and Cochin that stand foremost in the whole of India in education, lies in the southwest of India. It has a dominant population of Nairs who were warriors by profession in older days. From time immemorial, the matriarchal system has been prevalent among this Hindu community, according to which the inheritance of property is through woman. The thrones of Cochin and Travancore are inherited in this way the eldest son of the dead ruler’s sister becoming the next Maharaja. There is no child marriage, no purdah among women. They can easily get a divorce and marry again and the mother has the right to keep the children with her. A married girl has the same old rights in her maternal home where she can always stay without going to her mother-in-law. Even the child of an unmarried any other member and thus it never becomes an outcaste and a burden on society. It is doubtful whether, barring perhaps Soviet Russia, which is more oriental than occidental our sisters in the west have even to-day after so much of hard fight) the same amount of real freedom as the Nair women of Kerala.
The Women’s Movement in India, though still young, is advancing by rapid strides. The All-India Women’s Conference, the Women’s Indian Association and the National Council of Indian Women are the three most important bodies that have a network of branches all over India. In their active work to remove the social and the legal disabilities of women they have the full support of many of our men. But progress is rather slow as legislation for removal of such social evils has not the vigorous support of the Government which seems anxious to placate the orthodox section. Even the Sarada Bill against child marriage, introduced by the Social reformer Mr. Harbilas Sarada and passed after considerable difficulty, is being openly flouted by the orthodox elements in our country, as the penalty imposed for its breach is far too mild.
While the Women’s Movement has more or less been confined to the cities, the awakening ofIndian womanhood as a whole has been achieved by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Gandhiji during the last few years. At his call thousands and thousands of women left their homes and threw themselves heart and soul into the national struggle Women from behind the purdah came out and willingly subjected themselves to ‘ lathi ‘ charges and the severe trials of prison life. Expectant mothers of high social status and position suffered the pangs of child birth behind the prison bars. Educated women stood in the sun and rain, picketing liquor and foreign cloth shops, bearing insults and humiliations of every kind. Women, rich and poor, educated and uneducated from cities and villages, then came forward in large numbers and their sacrifices and heroism will ever remain the glory of Indian womanhood and the Indian nation as a whole. Above all, it has created a sense of real ‘camaraderie’ with their men with whom they fought side by side in a common cause.
Gandhiji’s Ashrams too are places where in spite of the strict discipline there, men and women freely move and work together. We find here members of both sexes belonging to different castes and creeds, of varying social status and with varying educational qualifications. It is the very place where self-reliant individuals are made and where both men and women work together as equals and comrades. Thus through his Ashrams, and through the movement which has led to a great mass awakening in India for the first time the Mahatma has contributed not a little to the breaking of the prison bonds of many a sister in our country. Besides him the Congress has vigorous champions of the woman’s cause in India, among whom I may make special mention of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru who, to-day is the idol of the Indian youth. In this connection I may also refer to the fact that the Indian National Congress which is the most representative body in our country, had as its Presidents for the grand annual sessions two women—Dr. Annie Besant and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu.
We are only too conscious that we have still farther to go before we can break the fetters that bind Indian womanhood. There is so much prejudice to be fought against among orthodox men and still worse among orthodox women themselves. But yet we reasonably hope that our struggle may not be so hard as that of our sisters in the west whose heroic efforts in their uphill task will be an inspiration to us.
Swatantryavaadini 