Ranjana Kumari | |
|---|---|
 Kumari speaks at the Paris Iran Freedom Rally in 2015 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education |
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| Occupation(s) | Academic, activist |
| Known for | Women's rights |
Ranjana Kumari is an Indian social activist, writer, and academic. She is the director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi and chairwoman of Women Power Connect, a national organization of women's groups. [1]
Kumari was raised in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in the Kashi Vidyapeeth compound. [2] [3] She was born to her mother Chandravati Sharma and father Jayanath, who manufactured banarasi saris. [3] She is the second of their six children and their eldest daughter. [3] Her grandfather Pandit Vishwanath Sharma was a founder of Kashi Vidyapeeth, [1] and she has described her family as "very Gandhian". [2] Most of her childhood friends became married, often through arrangements by their parents, by the time their 12th year of school was completed. [2]
After she completed her primary education at Central Hindu Girls School, she resisted pressure from her grandmother and other family members to attend a women's college and instead enrolled in Banaras Hindu University (BHU). [3] [2] She studied political science, psychology, and economics at BHU and graduated in 1974, then moved to Delhi and completed her post-graduate and doctorate degrees in political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University. [3] [2] Her PhD thesis studied power structures of the Panchayati raj political system, with a focus on the role of women. [3]
A woman who is strong, confident, fearless because if you’re not fearless, you will be wronged. You have to be strong. You have to say no if anything happens, maybe sometimes you have to pay a cost for saying no but don’t accept any injustice ever in life. Say no, be ready to bear the cost but don’t accept any injustice.
Rajana Kumari (2015) [2]
After completing her masters in Political Science in 1976, Kumari worked as a lecturer at Delhi University for four years, [3] following the death of her father. [2] During this time, she joined a protest with activist Pramila Dandavate against a dowry death, and then began conducting research into dowry deaths. [2] [3]
In 1983, she founded a nonprofit NGO based in Delhi, the Centre for Social Research, to focus on the empowerment of marginalized people. [3] [4] She became a prominent women's rights activist in India, [5] and has spoken on a variety of issues, including dowry deaths, [6] the reports of a 2014 gang rape and murder of two girls in Uttar Pradesh, [7] [8] the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in India, [9] victim shaming, and the prevalence of sexual violence. [10]
After leading a campaign in support of the Women's Reservation Bill, she released the book Reign She Will: Women's Strife for Political Space in 2011, in which she examined factors that contribute to a lack of participation by Indian women in politics. [11] [3] In 2013, she began to study surrogacy in India, and submitted recommendations to the government in 2014 to create legal protections; in 2021, she stated, "We never wanted the ban, but we wanted the total protection of the women who are offering the womb for a child. Banning never works. It hasn't worked for drugs or alcohol. How will it work for something which is so human?" [12]
In February 2013, she participated in the One Billion Rising campaign, telling The Washington Post "something changed forever" after the 2012 gang rape and murder of Nirbhaya, and "Women here are no longer using the language of protecting themselves. Today women are saying, 'What is the society doing to ensure our safety?'" [13] In August 2013, after reports of a gang rape in Mumbai, she called for protests to demand the arrests of the suspects, stating "Nobody is safe today because people are getting away with impunity." [14] In 2017, after reports of crime against women in India had increased, she criticized the effectiveness of the government response, discussed the link between safety and economic development, and offered suggestions for how to improve the government response, including police training, the use of social media, and reforming the judicial process to become more empathetic towards women victims, also stating "Women are now mustering the courage. But as long as women remain dependent on men for their jobs, future and income they remain silent - which is not out of choice but circumstances." [15] In 2018, she discussed the #metoo movement in India with Indian Currents, stating it is "the first time that a collective call by women has been made and women are breaking their silence to talk in public about it" and predicting it would become "a big movement" in India. [16]
In a review of Brides are not for Burning: Dowry Victims in India, Maitrayee Chaudhuri writes for Sociological Bulletin, "contrary to a widely held assumption of the emancipatory role of education, the study suggests that neither education, nor employment seemed to empower women to resist harassment" and "[i]t is a pity" the study did not include "a conceptual frame to explain dowry and its relationship with property rights and other issues" because "[a] clear understanding of dowry is a necessary prelude to any ameliorative action." [17]
In a review of Women-Headed Households in Rural India and Growing up in Rural India: Problems and Needs of Adolescent Girls, Anantha Giri writes for Sociological Bulletin that Kumari and her associates conducted studies with a focus on northern India and policy proposals to support women identified as disadvantaged by what is described as the "feminization of poverty", and "[i]t is unfortunate that Indian sociologists have not adequately responded to the contemporary challenge of marrying numbers to representations. One wishes for more actual voices even in such quick reportage and statistical profiles, more on how the problems are culturally constructed even in such inquiries which are primarily geared towards policy formulation and policy intervention rather than just scholastic illumination." [18] Eddie J. Girdner writes in a review of Growing up in Rural India: Problems and Needs of Adolescent Girls for Pacific Affairs , "This well-written and interesting study of the tragic situation facing young women in India is a timely and valuable contribution to the growing body of literature on women in the third world." [19]
In a review of Brides are not for Burning and Women-headed Households in Rural India by Kumari, and Widows, Abandoned and Destitute Women in India by Pramila Dandavate, Kumari, and Jamila Verghese, Ursula Sharma writes for Sociology that the two research reports by Kumari "[prefer] practical suggestions to polemic, and [conclude] with some sensible suggestions addressed to policy makers" and "I liked Ranjana Kumari's resourceful approach to solving methodological problems and her direct and down-to-earth style." [20] With regard to Widows, Abandoned and Destitute Women in India, Sharma writes the book "is a collection of papers arising from a workshop sponsored by the Makhila Dakshata Samiti, a voluntary women's organization in Delhi, which focused on the women who constitute 'the rejects' of Indian society." [20] After discussing the "journalistic" tone of Widows, Sharma writes that all of the works "very clearly" show "Indian women who cannot find support and contentment within the household receive minimal support outside of it. There is a real need to develop institutions and networks from which such women can derive support and assistance to build independent and worthwhile lives." [20]
In 1977, she married Sudhindra Bhadoria, a politician with the Bahujan Samaj Party, after The Emergency. [3]
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment by the groom, or his family, to the bride, or her family, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride, or her family, to the groom, or his family. Similarly, dower is the property settled on the bride herself, by the groom at the time of marriage, and which remains under her ownership and control.
The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordination continued to be reified well into India's early modern period.
Bride burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in countries located on or around the Indian subcontinent. A category of dowry death, bride-burning occurs when a young woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry. The wife is typically doused with kerosene, gasoline, or other flammable liquid, and set alight, leading to death by fire. Kerosene is often used as the cooking fuel for dangerous small petrol stoves, so it allows the claim that the crime was an accident. It is most common in India and has been a major problem there since at least 1993.
Dowry deaths are deaths of married women who are murdered or driven to suicide over disputes about dowry. Dowry deaths are found predominantly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran.
Feminism in India is a set of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and opportunities for women in India. It is the pursuit of women's rights within the society of India. Like their feminist counterparts all over the world, feminists in India seek gender equality: the right to work for equal wages, the right to equal access to health and education, and equal political rights. Indian feminists also have fought against culture-specific issues within India's patriarchal society, such as inheritance laws.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) is the statutory body of the Government of India, generally concerned with advising the government on all policy matters affecting women. It was established on 31 January 1992 under the provisions of the Indian Constitution, as defined in the 1990 National Commission for Women Act. The first head of the commission was Jayanti Patnaik. As of 30 November 2018, Rekha Sharma is the chairperson.
The men's rights movement in India is composed of various independent men's rights organisations in India. Proponents of the movement support the introduction of gender-neutral legislation and repeal of laws that they consider are biased against men.
Crime in India has been recorded since the British Raj, with comprehensive statistics now compiled annually by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (India) (MHA).
Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between men and women in India. Various international gender inequality indices rank India differently on each of these factors, as well as on a composite basis, and these indices are controversial.
Pramila Dandavate (1928–2001) was a political activist from Mumbai, associated with the Praja Socialist Party and later with the Janata Party.
Domestic violence in India includes any form of violence suffered by a person from a biological relative but typically is the violence suffered by a woman by male members of her family or relatives. Although Men also suffer Domestic violence, the law under IPC 498A specifically protects only women. Specifically only a woman can file a case of domestic violence. According to a National Family and Health Survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15–49. A 2014 study in The Lancet reports that although the reported sexual violence rate in India is among the lowest in the world, the large population of India means that the violence affects 27.5 million women over their lifetimes. However, an opinion survey among experts carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women.
Female foeticide in India is the abortion of a female foetus outside of legal methods. A research by Pew Research Center based on Union government data indicates foeticide of at least 9 million females in the years 2000-2019. The research found that 86.7% of these foeticides were by Hindus, followed by Sikhs(1.7% of the population) with 4.9%, and Muslims(14% of the population) with 6.6%. The research also indicated an overall decline in preference for sons in the time period.
Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the 2021 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 31,677 rape cases were registered across the country, or an average of 86 cases daily, a rise from 2020 with 28,046 cases, while in 2019, 32,033 cases were registered. Of the total 31,677 rape cases, 28,147(nearly 89%) of the rapes were committed by persons known to the victim. The share of victims who were minors or below 18 - the legal age of consent - stood at 10%.
The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend, Awindra Pratap Pandey. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. She was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi for treatment and transferred to Singapore eleven days after the assault, where she succumbed to her injuries 2 days later. The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. Subsequently, public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security for women took place in New Delhi, where thousands of protesters clashed with security forces. Similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country. Since Indian law does not allow the press to publish a rape victim's name, the victim was widely known as Nirbhaya, meaning "fearless", and her struggle and death became a symbol of women's resistance to rape around the world.
Manohar Lal Sharma is an Indian lawyer known for filing a number of frivolous public interest litigations.
Violence against women in India refers to physical or sexual violence committed against a woman, typically by a man. Common forms of violence against women in India include acts such as domestic abuse, sexual assault, and murder. In order to be considered violence against women, the act must be committed solely because the victim is female. Most typically, these acts are committed by men as a result of the long-standing gender inequalities present in the country.
The Nisha Sharma dowry case was an anti-dowry lawsuit in India that represented how IPC 498A law can be misused. It began in 2003 when Nisha Sharma accused her prospective groom, Munish Dalal, of demanding dowry. The case got much coverage from Indian and international media. Nisha was portrayed as a youth icon and a role model for other women. The case ended in 2012, after the court acquitted all accused. The court found that Nisha had fabricated the dowry charges to wriggle out of the wedding.
Achamma Mathai was an Indian social worker, women's rights activist, a co-founder of Dr. John Mathai Centre, an institute of Information Technology, Economics, Management, Theatre Arts and Music under the University of Calicut and the wife of John Mathai, the first Railway Minister of India and a former Finance minister. During her stay in Delhi, when her husband was serving in the Union Ministry, she was reported to have been involved in activities related to children's education. During the riots that followed Indian independence, she worked alongside Sucheta Kripalani for the rehabilitation of the riot victims. She served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Libraries in 1955 and as the chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board in the early Sixties. The Government of India honoured her in 1954, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for her contributions to the society, placing her among the first recipients of the award.
The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the groom, his parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry is referred to dahez in Hindi and as jahez in Urdu.
The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India 1800–1990 is a book by Radha Kumar. First published in 1993 in New Delhi by Kali for Women after a Norwegian organisation's grant of Rs 1.4 lakh, and later published by Zubaan and Verso, the illustrated book is "a brief interpretative history of women's movements in India from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the present day", as the first line of the introduction concisely conveys.
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