Geraldine Hancock Forbes

Women and modernity: The issue of child marriage in India

Synopsis In less than a century, the legal age at which an Indian female could begin conjugal life has been raised three times. While this has generally been viewed as evidence of concern with womens emancipation, a closer scrutiny of the historical evidence suggests that this particular issue has served as a vehicle to advance an entire set of socio-political attitudes. In 1891, the Age of Consent controversy was diverted from the problem of the helplessness of child wives to the question of whether or not the British government had a right to interfere in Hindu social customs. The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 was fought for by reformist Hindus and particularly the emerging womens organizations because it illustrated that Indians were deeply concerned with and anxious to change certain social practices. The latest increase in the legal age of marriage (October, 1978) was related to population policy. Favoring a later age of marriage has become synonymous with commitment to modernity but it has not necessarily meant commitment to modifying the social position of women.

Caged tigers: ‘First wave’ feminists in India

Abstract Between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War, Indian women began to voice their grievances, form organizations for women only and formulate a womens rights ideology. Between the time when the three major all-India organizations were formed, 1917–1927, and Independence in 1947, women worked for female education and for legislation that would free women from traditional restrictions. This article examines their treatment of three issues: child marriage, purdah and the Hindu Code. The Conclusion evaluates the feminist ideology, the relationship between this ideology and nationalism, and the impact of this movement.

Small Acts of Rebellion: Women Tell Their Photographs

Spoken in a crowded train headed for Calcutta, this fictional piece of advice was directed at the mother of a too-old, too-dark daughter. The apprehensive mother listened carefully. In the big city, she changed her daughter’s name (following her instructor’s advice to drop Kalidasi for a more stylish name like Swarnalata or Binodini), had the girl’s hair styled, bought fashionable clothes, and headed for a studio. The retouched photo netted an interview and, following her mentor’s counsel, the mother applied a great deal of powder to her daughter’s face and arranged an evening meeting in a dimly lit room. The groom’s side, fooled by the photograph, makeup, and poor lighting, agreed to the match. It was only after the wedding that the groom’s mother, the original advice giver, discovered her son had married the ugly girl from the train.2

Jogendro Chandra Ghosh and Hindu positivism: a case study in cultural adaptation

order. Comte had predicted that this philosophy would first be accepted in Western Europe and then gradually spread to other countries of the world. Despite his prophecy, European disciples were soon outnumbered by those in countries which had not yet begun to industrialize. By the late nineteenth century, intellectuals in India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico were treating positivism as a blueprint for modernization. In December of 1883 a small group of Bengali gentlemen gathered at one of the burning ghats in Calcutta to celebrate the Festival of All the Dead ( Jogendro Chandra Ghosh to Richard Congreve, February 8, 1884, Richard Congreve Papers, Bodleian Library, Ms. English letters [hereafter M.E.L.],