A Reflection on the Challenges for Hindu Womenin the Twenty-first Century1

Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Introduction

A

T the turn of the 21st century, it is clear that religion is not an institution of the past; it continues to be a powerful force in societies
across the world. For this reason, some purely secularist and sociological theories of religion of the early twentieth century, which led to awide spread view that religion was on the decline in the modern times,
have proved to be limited, even though they are helpful in examining thesocial aspects of religious life.2 As Brian Hatcher suggests in a recent
article, a major shortcoming of the secularist approaches to religion has
been a purely dichotomous view of faith vs reason and tradition vsmodernity. Instead of the demise of religion, Hatcher finds transformation of religion with changing times, as proposed by sociologist Damiele
Hervieu-Leger a more helpful way to understand religious phenomena(Hatcher 2006: 54–55). An aspect of religion that is widely debated withregard to need for transformation is treatment of women.
In most organized religions of the world, women have not enjoyedequal rights with men. The norms assigned to them by male religious
authorities have subjected them to various forms of marginalization. A
major challenge for religious communities across the world today is toensure that their religious practices and values are compatible with theideal of gender equality as an aspect of the ideology of social justice,which is being widely upheld across the globe. While the ideology ofsocial justice is shaped by multiple political, economic, and intellectual
currents, many of which are purely secular, religious communities havebegun to re-evaluate and modify the social norms they have held for
centuries in light of this ideology. The modification of social norms
involves a re-interpretation of religious texts in reference to whose
authority the norms were established. Defining women’s roles is an area
in which the need for such modification has been most acutely felt. In
many communities, women themselves are taking active interest in theprocess of re-interpretation, creating a current of faith-based feminism.
In the Islamic tradition, Laleh Bakhtiar’s translation of the holy61

62

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

Quran, Sublime Quran (2007) provides one example of such feminism.
Indonesian Muslim women’s participation in religious leadership provides another.3 Christian feminism has not only been a subject of several
books and articles written by feminist theologians, it has also stirred theissue to women’s leadership in many denominations.4 The feminist
interpreters of religious sources recognize that historically women havesuffered injustice in their communities. They maintain however, that thisis because men have had the monopoly of interpreting the texts anddefining norms for women based on their interpretations. They argue for
equal rights of women not by severing their ties with their faith but by
re-interpreting religious texts and practices from a feminist perspective.
Their task is not easy. On the one hand, they are challenged by orthodox
groups within their own religious traditions. On the other hand, they findthemselves in debate with those secular feminists who think that feminism cannot be reconciled with religion since religion itself has been themain source of women’s oppression. Even though the faith-based feminists have not been greatly successful in getting fully integrated in feminist movements, the debates they have stirred have drawn attention ofsome thinkers. A well known human rights leader, Dorothy Q. Thomas,
recognizes faith-based feminism as an important voice in feminist
movements.
Attempting to bridge secular and faith-based feminism is very important. Women of faith feel that the rights movement is anti-religious andthe rights activists haven’t made enough effort to listen to and include
the women of faith. The social justice movement needs both voices. We
need to be able to move to the next step, the rights world and the religious world.5

Thus, the debate about faith-based feminism has proved to be both achallenge and an opportunity for religious women in some communities.
In the Hindu context, the issue of women’s equal rights and empowerment seems to have taken a different trajectory. Even though feminist
interpretations of goddess traditions and Hindu women’s practices prevail in academic writings, the concept of faith-based feminism is not
wide-spread among practicing Hindu women.6 A major challenge forthem appears to be development of awareness about and argument forsuch a possibility. In the following short reflection, I attempt to delineate
broadly some issues faced by Hindu women in the contemporary times
and briefly discuss the resources that they may choose to re-interpret for
their empowerment. While sweeping generalizations about Hindu

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

63

women in India and around the world are apparently not possible, it ispossible to observe some broad patterns in their lives in current times.
In examining Hindu women’s issues in the twenty first century, an
important factor to consider is the paradoxical implications of modernity
and/or post-modernity for their lives. These implications are related totheir challenge to create a space for re-interpretation of their religious
resources from a feminist perspective. While the focus of this reflectionis the twenty-first century, a quick reference to Hindu women’s earlyencounter with modernity helps in understanding its paradoxical implications for them.

Early Encounter with Modernity
Hindu women’s early encounters with modernity occurred in the context
of the British colonization in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through what are known as “Hindu reform movements.” These
reform movements, which developed largely in response to the Britishcolonial presence and engagement with Christianity, focused a great
deal on the issues of women. Two features of these early movements areworth noting. First, in spite of being strongly patriotic, the leaders ofthese movements were able to work collaboratively with “Westerners”(chiefly, British officials) in introducing landmark reforms that had
positive implications for women’s lives. Second, even though arguing
passionately for reforms within Hindu society, the leaders generally supported their arguments drawing attention to passages from ancient texts,
which they re-interpreted in the light of modernity. The leader of anearly movement, Brahmo Samaj, Ram Mohun Roy, sought support from
British official William Bentinck in his efforts to secure legal abolitionof the practice of sati (the practice in which a Hindu widow burned herself to death climbing the funeral pyre of her husband either voluntarily
or by coercion). The legal act abolishing the practice, which was passed
in 1829, is considered a landmark in the history of modern India. It isnotable that in Roy’s writings supporting this act, he put passages fromsacred texts of moral codes (dharma sastras) advocating and opposing
sati in debate. He concluded on the authority of the code of Manu,
which recommends a simple life for a widow, that sati was not recommended for a Hindu widow. Further, referring to ancient mysticaltexts—the Upanishads—which recommend eternal liberation of the soulrather than temporary residence in heaven, Roy suggested that since sati
only ensures the latter, it is not a spiritual practice of great merit.7 Thus,
Roy advocated a social change for liberation of women from a cruel64

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

custom by re-interpreting authoritative Hindu sacred texts.
A century later, during the period of nationalist movements for independence in the early twentieth century, Gandhi became a prominent
ideologue for women’s status and role in society. Even though the tone
by now was more of resistance than collaboration with the British officials, the trend of re-interpretation of traditional concepts continued.
Gandhi advocated looking at the smritis (Hindu sacred texts and codebooks) in light of the principle of non-violence, which in his view,
included equal rights for women. He suggested that all that was “repugnant to the moral sense” in these texts, should not be viewed as divinely
inspired. In one place, he went on to suggest that women with puremoral character—similar to that of the heroines of Indian epics, Sita andDraupadi—should be viewed as having the same moral authority as
smritis. He also referred to Hindu woman saint princess Mira as a modelof bravery to support women’s participation in public life.8 A large number of women joined the freedom movement and social reform work led
by Gandhi. Like early reform movements, the re-interpretive lens ofGandhian movement also privileged the religious concepts of the elite
rather than popular practices of Hindu women. Further, in many ways
the re-interpretation of Gandhians was based on a male conception ofidealized Hindu women. However, its appeal filtered through many layers of society and mobilized a large number of Hindu women to take up
the opportunity to redefine their roles in society and participate in thefreedom movements. Thus, in the pre-independence period, someprominent male leaders used re-interpretive lens to secure for Hindu
women positions as more equal members in the society. However limited their overall vision of women’s rights, it was based in an interpretive
and integrative imagination. Apart from these male leaders, an eloquent
woman leader, Sarojini Naidu, also spoke of women’s rights evoking theheroines of epic traditions. In doing so, she presented feminist aspirations as supported by tradition.9

Post-colonial India
In the decades after independence and continuing to the contemporarytime, transformation of traditional values has remained an ongoingprocess within the Hindu society. However, in the more recent times, thepropelling forces behind a large number of changes appear to be a variety of economic, political and social currents. The feminist initiatives
and movements have been largely secular. The initiatives for women’s
empowerment are not necessarily accompanied by a drive to re-interpretA REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

65

traditional religious resources. With the backdrop of the British rulegone, the inspiration to use interpretive and integrative imagination in
dealing with Hindu women’s issues seems to have receded. While manyfemale Hindu gurus traverse the world as charismatic figures, the drive
to interpret the tradition in order to empower lay women through multiple layers of the society seems to be overshadowed by purely economic
and political motivations. Emerging in the midst of immense religious
and linguistic diversities, feminist movements in India have remained
busy in dealing with practical issues of providing legal, social, as wellas, economic support for female victims of violence of various types. In
a way, the purely secular nature of feminist movements has helped tobring women from a variety of backgrounds together for common concerns. At the same time, this has also had paradoxical implications for
women within specific communities, including the Hindu community.
During the post-independence decades, educational opportunities for
women have increased. In the educated middle classes of the Hindu
society, a large number of women have been able to enter the work force
and enjoy economic independence. They enjoy considerable freedom in
selecting their partners in marriage and live in nuclear families after
marriage. Their lives present a notable departure from the life style oftraditional women who lived in large joint families just fifty years ago.
They are not expected to fulfill their wifely duties by observing a number of religious rites and serving extended families in the same manneras their mothers and grandmothers were expected to do. They support
their husbands financially and contribute to the education of the children. Even though most of these women continue to have a religious
life, its nature has transformed from more community based practices topractices of individual choice. On the one hand, this has given women agreat sense of empowerment. Yet, on the other, one implication of thisfreedom is a weakening of their ties with the social networks that provide a strong support system in the traditional Hindu milieu. This isespecially important in the context of the Hindu tradition because except
in the sectarian groups, it has neither a central authority, nor churches orworship places with formal membership. Women’s rituals, even thoughmodeled on male notions of idealized femininity and reinforcing patriarchal norms for that reason, have traditionally provided spaces forexpression of women’s concerns in a rather informal way. Women gathered at a shrine or in someone’s home to perform a votive rite would
inevitably form a support group for themselves. For many educatedworking women, secular spaces such as office lounges and social networks of colleagues have replaced these traditional spaces for close

66

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

bonding. While the new networks are empowering for working women,
an indirect outcome of this situation is that the cultural gap between the
educated middle class and their sisters in the lower economic classes,
especially of rural areas, is growing wide.
Roles for Hindu women in some pockets of the society, especially inremote rural areas have not undergone extensive changes. In these areas,
the literacy rates among women are poor. Yet, with the accessibility totechnological advances such as sonogram in nearby cities, abortion of
female fetus is not uncommon even in these areas, especially in thecastes that have the practice of dowry. Many privileged Hindu women
are involved with NGOs working to bring about change and awarenessamong underprivileged women. However, the cultural continuity basedon shared practices and related vocabulary, a platform for communication among women in the traditional context, is gradually fading. It is
not that the register of religion is the only channel to communicate withrural women; but it is a powerful one and could provide an opening forcommunication regarding re-interpretation of their traditional roles.
A further paradox related to these situations has to do with politicization of Hindu identity by Hindu nationalist groups, many of which areorthodox in interpretation of their own tradition and intolerant of
non-Hindu communities. These groups are successful in manipulating
religiosity of some women. As the above quote of Dorothy Q. Thomassuggests, religious women in many communities feel left out in thepurely secular feminist discourses. Traditional Hindu women are no
exception. Some of these women find opportunities for participation in
public life in Hindu nationalist groups. Women joining such groups arepresented as protectors of the tradition against the non-Hindu “other,”including the secular. At the other end of the spectrum from these
women are women of Hindu background who think that in order toestablish a commitment to secularism, they must clearly distance themselves from their religion. The space for negotiating female empowerment through re-interpretation of traditional religious resources becomes
fairly narrow in the process. In History of Doing, Radha Kumar refers toa failure of co-ordination among multiple groups which spoke against
glorification of a young woman’s death on her husband’s pyre as sati byher in-laws and members of her community in rural Rajasthan in 1987.
Many rural women also joined demonstrations against such glorification. Some women joined pro-sati demonstrations. Yet, a number of prosati demonstrators drew a firm line between worship of a sati (at ashrine) and the actual practice of a woman’s death on her husband’spyre. Kumar perceptively recognizes one of the issues to be the ambiva-

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

67

lence regarding relationship between secularism and religious representation (Kumar 1993: 178–181). Perhaps, if practices such as sati are amatter of re-interpretation and a conversation among a variety of feminist voices, a stronger partnership would emerge.
Religion continues to play a powerful role in social life across theworld. It is therefore, important that women engage in interpreting it tonegotiate their rights. If Hindu women wish to find ways to express
some of their feminist aspirations using resources from their religious
tradition, it will be crucial for them to use “interpretive and integrative
imagination.” This will demand constructive re-interpretation of traditional resources and integration of the new interpretations at practicallevel with courage. Such an effort can also open a space for dialog withwomen in other religious communities who are already engaged in similar tasks of re-interpretation.
The question is: does Hinduism allow such a possibility? As is wellknown, caste and gender norms set by the religious elite of Hindu communities have historically led to acute injustice to low caste people andwomen. In some circles in India and beyond, these norms are seen as
essential features of the Hindu tradition that cannot undergo change. As
a result, in public discourses about the Hindu tradition/s either bitter critique or defensive apology or extreme glorification dominates. The perspective on religious phenomena as processes in history, which allows
room for transformation based on constructive re-interpretation byhuman agents, is missing in these discourses. If Hindu women choose to
move away from this essentialized view of their tradition and explore
the possibilities of developing faith-based currents of feminism, theabsence of central authority and a single authoritative text in their tradition can be of much help to them. These aspects of their tradition makeit open to multiple interpretations as well as additions and subtractions.
It is possible for Hindu women to engage in debates regarding the infamous passages from the code of Manu that declare women’s dependence
on men as essential for a healthy society and are in contradiction withpassages in the same text that stress women’s happiness as the core of
happy family life.10
It is also possible for Hindu women to constructively explore thepotential of their goddess traditions, which have been viewed by many
feminists as non-consequential because of the historical subjugation of
women in the Hindu society.11 History however, often changes coursewith will and action of human agents. Hymns to the all pervading goddess that refer to women as embodiment of universal energy can provide
a basis for an argument for empowerment of women. Additionally,

68

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

Hindu women could also re-interpret their popular practices as sources
for empowerment. For example, garbo dance from Gujarat region inIndia, which is a dance of goddess worship traditionally performed by
women, has many dimensions that can be used constructively to claim
women’s empowerment.12 A large number of songs for garbo refer towomen as the friends of the goddess; in many other women express
their grievances as well as their defiance of powerful people in theirworlds, such as in-laws and employers.13 Unfortunately, garbo as a popular dance has been taken over by commercial ventures on a big scale,
while its potential to create bonds among women and to empower them
have remained largely untapped.
Whether a woman wishes to be religious or the way in which she
embraces religion is a matter of individual choice. But for women in
whose lives religion is an important component, participating in its
interpretation from a feminist perspective can be an empowering experience. Like their sisters in other traditions, Hindu women could express
their aspirations for equality with men in their society through re-interpretation of some resources of their tradition. Using interpretive andintegrative imagination in relation to religious sources does not have to
imply that traditional Hindu women’s quest for empowerment would
become exclusively faith-based. Instead, it could provide one of themany avenues through which they can strive to get equal rights andleadership roles along with men. Hindu women can attempt to add afaith-based current to their own feminist aspirations and to the larger
feminist discourses, all of which ultimately aim for greater rights for
women in their respective societies. This perhaps is an important challenge for practicing Hindu women in our times.
References
Coburn, Thomas. 1991. Encountering the Goddess, A Translation of the Devi-Mahatmya and a Study of its Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Cox, Harvey. 1965. Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective. New York: Macmillan.
Crawford, S. Cromwell. 1987. Ram Mohun Roy: Social, Political and Religious Reformin the 19th Century India. New York: Paragon House Publishers.
Doorn-Harder, Pieternella van. 2006. Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur’an inIndonesia. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Gandhi, M. K. 1950. Hindu Dharma. Ahmedabad, India: Navajivan.
Gandhi, M. K. 1959. Women’s Role in Society. Ahmedabad, India: Navajivan.
Hatcher, Brian. 2006. “Remembering Rammohan: An Essay on the (re-)emergence ofModern Hinduism”, History of Religions, Vol. 46, No. 1: 50–80.
Hunt, Helen LaKelly. 2004. Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance. New York: Atria
Books.

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

69

Kinsley, David R. 1988. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu
Religious Tradition. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
Kumar, Radha. 1993. The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for
Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800–1990. Delhi: Kali for Women.
Laws of Manu. Wendy Doniger, trans. 1991. London: Penguin Books
Pearson, Anne Mackenzie. 1996. Because it Gives me Peace of Mind: Ritual Fasts in
the Religious Lives of Hindu Women. Albany: State University of New York.
Pintchman, Tracy. 2005. Guests at God’s Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the
Women of Benares. Albany: State University of New York.
Ratte, Lou. 1985. “Goddesses, Mothers, and Heroines: Hindu Women and the Feminine
in the Early Nationalist Movement” in Women, Religion, and Social Change. eds.
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Ellison Banks Findly, 351–376. Albany: State University of New York.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 1998. Introducing Redemption in Christian Feminism.
Sheffield, U.K.: Sheffield Academic Press.
Ruether, Rosemay R. 1998. Women and Redemption: A Theological History. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Sublime Quran. Laleh Bakhtiar. trans. 2007. Chicago: Kazi Publications.
Weidman, Judith L. 1984. Christian Feminism : Visions of a New Humanity. Cambridge, MA: Harper and Row.
Notes
This essay is based on a presentation made in the “Religion, Women, and Society”
panel in the conference “East/West in Dialogue: Religious Perspectives on Global Issues
in the 21st Century,” held at Wellesley College, Wellesley MA on Oct. 19th, 2008. Extensive changes or additions are not made here; therefore, it is in reflection format. The
conference was organized collaboratively by the office of the Dean of Religious Life,
Wellesley College, and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Japan. I am grateful to theorganizers for the opportunity.
2
In 1965, Harvey Cox discussed in his book Secular City the rise of urban secularism
as raising important ethical issues as it also signaled the collapse of traditional religion.
In 2007, during a television interview on PBS, he commented on an increased interest
and participation in religion on Harvard campus, even though he still maintained his
estimation of atheism as a positive force in discourses on ethics. The transcript of Cox’s
interview is available at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1019/interview1.
html
3
Laleh Baktiar’s translation of the Quran, Sublime Quran (2007), which interprets
passages of the Quran related to women in an empowering way for women, is wellreceived. Muslim women’s participation in the interpretation of the Quran and theirleadership roles approved by religious organizations Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul
Ulama are discussed in a penetrating manner by Pieternella van Doorn-Harder in
Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur’an in Indonesia (2006).
4
Writings of theologians like Rosemary Ruether—Introducing Redemption in Christian Feminism (1998), Women and Redemption (1998)—propose that feminism and faith
are not incompatible. Articles in Christian Feminism: Visions of a New Humanity, edited by Judith L. Weidman (1984) also make a similar point.
5
Dorothy Q. Thomas as cited by Helen L. Hunt in Faith and Feminism: A Holy
Alliance (2004). In her book, Hunt recounts lives of five historical women since the late1

70

A REFLECTION ON THE CHALLENGES FOR HINDU WOMEN

medieval period (including St. Teresa of Avila, Emily Dickinson, and Dorothy Day),
who were able to synthesize their faith with their feminist convictions and argues thatfaith and feminism are in fact, expressions of the same impulse to connect and be inclusive.
6
Examples of well received academic writings on Hindu goddess traditions are provided David Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu
Religious Tradition (1988) and John Stratton Hawley and Donna Wulff, eds., The
Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India (1986), and of writings on the religious practices of Hindu women are provided by Tracy Pintchman, Guests at God’s
Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares (2005) and Anne Mackenzie Pearson Because it Gives me Peace of Mind: Ritual Fasts in the Religious Lives of
Hindu Women (1996).
7
For a discussion of Roy’s arguments regarding sati, see S. Cromwell Crawford’s
Ram Mohun Roy: Social, Political and Religious Reform in the 19th Century India(1987) p. 106
8
For Gandhi’s views on Hindu women and smritis, see M. K. Gandhi, Women’s Rolein Society (1959: 5–6) as well as Hindu Dharma (1950: 431). For Gandhi’s reference toMira’s bold non-cooperation with her in-laws see M. K. Gandhi, Collected Works, Vol.
XVIII (1920: 125–127).
9
For a discussion of Naidu’s appeal, see Lou Ratte (1985: 365–370)
10
The verses that prescribe dependence of women on men in Laws of Manu are 5.
147–148; 9.2–3, 10–18 and verses prescribing women’s happiness as being crucial tofamily life are 3. 55–58, 60–62. See Laws of Manu, Wendy Doniger, trans. (1991:
48–49, 115, 197–198).
11
In January 2009, I had an opportunity to meet an Indian feminist, who thought thatthe presence of goddesses in Hinduism is non-consequential because even though there
are goddesses of prosperity, knowledge and power in this tradition, women in Hindu
society are poor, lagging in education, and powerless.
12
A hymn of this type is found in the Devi Mahatmya 11.1–34. Verse 11.5 identifies
each woman with the all powerful goddess. See Encountering the Goddess, trans.
Thomas Coburn (1991: 73–77).
13
In my forthcoming work, I discuss songs of garbo dance in detail.