[On 27 February 1974, K R Gouri Amma called for attention under Rule 16 in the Kerala State Legislative Assembly, drawing attention to the ‘menace’ of ‘naked dancing’ in Kerala. The translated version of her speech is below. It was perhaps one of the few matters on which the right and left, men and women who claimed to be decent, were all in public agreement – ‘naked dancing’ lowers the moral standards of a culture. This page from the records of the Kerala State Legislative Assembly does not give us any clue of who these ‘naked dancers’ were – they seem to have been a group of women with a male manager. They had actually secured permission from the local government authorities for their performances.
Continue reading “Cabaret Dancing and the Malayali Feminists’ Moral Burden – K R Gouri Amma from the 1970s”Category: Legislative Assembly Debates
More on Elite Women’s ‘Social Work’ and the History of Caste in Kerala
[This is a continuation from the post on the autobiography of Jooba Ramakrishna Pillai which gives us a glimpse into how educated neo-savarna women usurped all the opportunities for social intervention by or for women in the state. It gives us food for critical thought on why social conservatism came to be so deep-rooted in Kerala despite high levels of women’s education won through struggle. Interestingly, many leading first-generation feminists enjoyed the most amicable relations with educated neo-savarna women even when their own visions of empowerment were different — for example, the friendship between Anna Chandy and Mrs Ponnamma Thanu Pillai.
Continue reading “More on Elite Women’s ‘Social Work’ and the History of Caste in Kerala”Women Workers of Kerala: K O Aysha Bai and O Koran
[This is from the discussion on Resolution No. 3 moved in the Kerala State Legislative Assembly during the First Session , by P Ravindran, on 13 March, 1964 [Proceedings of the Kerala State Assembly Vol 25, pp. 2221-24]. Besides Aysha Bai’s intervention, it also gives us glimpses of the conditions under which the poorest-paid women laboured in Kerala. The text of the resolution was the following:
This House recommends to Government to appoint a committee to study the problems facing the women workers of Kerala regarding their wages, conditions of work, health and safety measures, training opportunities for higher jobs and facilities for the care and upbringing of their children.
Continue reading “Women Workers of Kerala: K O Aysha Bai and O Koran”Marriage or a Job? T Narayani Amma
[From the Proceedings of the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly 16 November 1933, pp 95-100]
Intervention in the debate on Demand for Supplementary Grants — Education.
SRIMATI T NARAYANI AMMA (Nominated) : Before I begin my observations on the Report of the Education Reforms Committee [the Statham Committee], I wish, Sir, to thank the Government of His Highness the Maha Raja, for the privilege that has been extended to us, the members of this House, to discuss the Report. It is a rare privilege so far as this House is concerned and a healthy move as far as such Reports are concerned. We feel grateful that unlike some other reports that are gathering dust in some of the archives of the Secretariat, the Education Reforms Committee’s Report gets the benefit of a discussion by the non-official members of the legislature, the welcome impression being created that early action is being contemplated by the Government. This is certainly as it ought to be, and the policy adopted by the Government, I am sure, will be immensely appreciated. Continue reading “Marriage or a Job? T Narayani Amma”
Appointment of Women in Public Service: Elizabeth Kuruvila
[Speech made in support of the Resolution moved in the House by A G Menon in support of the appointment of women in public service, Proceedings of the Travancore State Legislative Council XIV, no. 7, 1st Session, 25 April 1929, pp. 537-38.] Continue reading “Appointment of Women in Public Service: Elizabeth Kuruvila”
Women and the Police: Anna Chandy
[Proceedings of the Sree Mulam Popular Assembly, 3 Mar 1931, pp. 46-48]
Representation before the Assembly
21. Disabilities of Women in Courts, lock-ups etc.
Training Midwives: K R Gouri Amma
[Proceedings of the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly, 3rd Session, 1952, pp. ]
Discussion on the Travancore-Cochin Nurses and Midwives Bill 1952 Continue reading “Training Midwives: K R Gouri Amma”
Encouraging Industrial Habits Among Women: K Bhagirathy Amma
[Proceedings of the Shri Mulam Popular Assembly, 11 March, 1932, pp. 45-46.]
27. Suggestions for encouraging industrial habits among women
SRIMATI K BHAGIRATHY AMMA (Nominated): thanked the Government for nominating her as a member of the Assembly and prayed for a long and prosperous reign for His Highness the Maha Raja. She said that the future of the women of the country depended on their industry. The system of education obtaining in the country was fit only to produce persons for Government service. Continue reading “Encouraging Industrial Habits Among Women: K Bhagirathy Amma”
Cottage Industries for Women: Peninah Moses
[From the Proceedings of the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly, 4 March 1931, pp. 72-73] Continue reading “Cottage Industries for Women: Peninah Moses”
Defending Women of One’s Community and Outside: Mrs Walsalam Rose
[A noteworthy aspect of the interventions of the representatives of Women in the Travancore and Cochin legislative bodies was that these women were representatives of the women of both their communities as well as of Women in the general sense. There was no contradiction perceived between these two roles them — which came to be perceived much later. Mrs Walsalam Rose’s intervention in 1932 in the Shree Mulam Praja Assembly is an excellent illustration. The imagination of the ideal life for women as essentially that of “good mothers, efficient housewives, and responsible citizens,” bolstered with equal property rights and compulsory education was a dominant strain in early feminist articulations of women’s rights, and this was already being critiqued by other feminists as early as the 1930s] Continue reading “Defending Women of One’s Community and Outside: Mrs Walsalam Rose”
Swatantryavaadini 