| Status | Dissolved |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founders | Urvashi Butalia Ritu Menon |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Successor | Zubaan Books Women Unlimited |
| Country of origin | India |
| Publication types | Books |
Kali for Women was a start-up feminist publisher in India founded by Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon. It was arguably the first Indian press dedicated to publishing works by, for, and about women.
Kali for Women was founded by Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon in 1984. Butalia had previously worked with Oxford University Press and Zed Books in Delhi, while Ritu Menon was a scholar. They started with very little capital and the goal to make Indian women's voices heard by publishing academic works, activists' writings, translations, and fiction. Kali for Women was associated with the international women in print movement, which aimed to create autonomous alternative communications networks created by and for women. [1]
In 2003, the founders parted ways. Butalia set up Zubaan Books in 2003, which publishes fiction, general interest books and children's titles in addition to feminist titles. Menon founded Women Unlimited. [2]
Widely regarded as India's answer to Virago Press, Kali for Women published some pathbreaking titles, among them the Hindi reference book Shareer ki Jankari ("About the Body"). Shareer ki Jankari was written by 75 village women and sold by them at a special price in the villages. Shareer ki Jankari was extremely frank about sex and women's bodies including issues such as menstrual taboos, shocking some commentators.
Previously, academic presses had largely ignored the markets for cheap, mass literature popularized by Kali for Women. [3]
Kali for Women published Radha Kumar's The History of Doing (1993), the ecofeminist Vandana Shiva's landmark work Staying Alive (1988), and Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid's landmark Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History (1989). [4]
In 2011, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon were jointly conferred the Padma Shri award, for their contribution to the nation by the Government of India. [5]
