"All nations have attained greatness only by paying respect to its women. That country and that nation that do not respect women have never become great, nor will they ever in the future. The principal reason why your race is so much degraded is that you had no respect for these living images of Shakti." — Swami Vivekananda
The subjection of Indian women in the pre-British period was rooted in the social, religious, economic, and political structure of that period. Sadly, most of the Hindu religious literature, like the Puranas, Smritis, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, were also responsible for prejudices against women. As a result, many social evils were being practised in Indian society. Social evils, especially those against women, were rampant in society. The practice of Sati, child marriage, polygamy, female infanticide, deprivation from education and other basic human rights, deprivation of a widow from a second marriage, as well as the right to inherit property, were only some of the common evils prevalent in almost every part of India.
British rule, undoubtedly, ruined the Indian economy. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that it did uplift the level of women in this country. The capitalist economy, the legal and political regime which the British introduced and established here, was based on the principles of individual equality and freedom. It did not recognise, at least in theory, the inequalities based on birth, sex, caste, or community. Western education, western liberal thought, social reform movements, modern institutions, and modern means of transportation and communication played a positive role in the emancipation of women.
It is important to note that the question of women's emancipation had first been raised by men (the liberal men), and very few women cooperated with them. Women came forward in this regard only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They had begun to think, speak, and act themselves.
Almost all social reformers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave attention to the issue of women's emancipation and their rights. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was one of the earliest Indians to actively start a movement against the practice of Sati. Due to his consistent efforts, the Anti-Sati Resolution was passed in 1829.
Child marriage was also one of the principal social evils which Indian women suffered for centuries. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and B.M. Malabari, a Parsi social reformer, opposed early marriage. Due to the efforts of Vidyasagar, the Act of 1860 was passed, raising the age of consent for married and unmarried girls to ten. B.M. Malabari, through his journal 'Indian Spectator', created awareness and argued how child marriage was eroding the Hindu race at its roots. Due to his effort, the Age of Consent Act was passed in 1891, raising the age of consent from ten to twelve. Later, in 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act (popularly known as the Sarda Act) was passed, which raised the marriage age for girls to fourteen and for boys to eighteen. These developments not only improved the social condition of women but also sent a message across that everything is achievable if only one fights for it.
The right of widows to remarry was strongly advocated by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Bengal and by Malabari, Narmad, Justice Ranade, and K. Natrajan in Bombay. Their efforts did not go in vain, and Lord Dalhousie's Government passed The Widow Remarriage Act in 1856. Hindu widows now started being permitted legally to remarry, contrary to what the Shastras permitted.
The institution of temple prostitution (Devdasi) was prevalent in different parts of India, especially in South India, as their temples had a kind of grandeur to them. Devdasis formed a hereditary caste of women who consecrated themselves in early childhood to temple service. In the guise of dancing and singing, they worked or were rather forced to work as prostitutes in the temple. Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, a social reformer, started a movement against this practice, which resulted in a ban on the trafficking of minors (1925).
Another important social issue that affected the condition of women was that of polygamy or 'multiple marriages'. Polygamy did not limit itself to any single community and was seen throughout almost all the communities. Social reformers like Keshab Chandra Sen and Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan opposed this practice strongly. For Hindus, the Native Marriage Act of 1872 was passed, which forbade polygamy (and also polyandry—the union of one woman with many males); it encouraged widow remarriage and allowed inter-caste marriage for those who declared that they did not belong to any recognised school of religious faith.
Indian social reformers gave great importance to women's education because they believed that education brought with it awareness and self-confidence. The pioneering work of women's education was done by Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ram Krishna Mission, the Aligarh movement, and the Christian missionaries of Holland (the Netherlands), America, Germany, and England. (For more details, see the section on Christian missionaries and social reformers). Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, with the help of Bethune, founded the first school for girls, 'Hindu Balika Vidyalaya', in May 1849, for the girls of high caste families. Vidyasagar succeeded, to a great extent, in removing the prejudices against female education in the country.
Widespread poverty among the majority of the Indian population became one of the major hurdles in the growth of women's education. Yet, the steady growth of women's education was reflected in the fact that the number of girls attending schools rose from 1,230,000 in 1917 to 2,890,000 in 1937. The Wood's Dispatch (1854) and the Hunter Commission (1882) recommended encouragement of women's education, but more than the State, the social reformers and the Christian missionaries opened schools for girls and put these good intentions into actual practice. Professor Karve started the Indian Women's University in 1916, at Pune.
The process of social reform for women took a new turn when the nationalist movement started and women, especially in the Gandhian movement, joined it. Thousands of women took active part in political mass movements, picketing of liquor shops, marching in demonstrations, courting jails, facing lathi charges, and even bullets. Many of them worked as ministers, under-secretaries, and Deputy Speakers of provincial legislatures when Congress governments were formed in 1937. Indian women also became members of local boards and municipalities. Thus, a new awakening took place among Indian women. Now, they were ready to write their own destiny.
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