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Contributing to recent debates on feminism, and Indian feminism in particular, this book assesses how feminists in India have impacted legal and social debates on women's rights, violence against women and sexuality from the 1970s. The author examines and analyses feminist campaigns on issues of violence and women's rights and debates on ways in which feminist legal debates may be limiting for women and based on exclusionary concepts such as citizenship. Campaigns ranging from domestic violence, rape, pornography and son preference are addressed and set within a wider analysis of the position of women within the Indian state and sexuality generally. The strengths and limitations of law reform for women are addressed as well as whether legal feminisms relating to law and women's legal rights are effective in the Indian context. The author examines whether legal campaigns have led to or can lead to positive changes in women's lives or whether they further legitimize oppressive state patriarchies. The recasting of caste and community identities are also assessed, as well as the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and the ways in which feminists in India have combated and confronted these challenges. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in the areas of feminism, law, women's movements and social movements in India and South Asia more generally.
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INDIAN FEMINISMS
This book is dedicated to all the activists in the Indian feminist movements – for their efforts to make a difference...
Indian Feminisms Law, Patriarchies and Violence in India
GEETANJALI GANGOLI University of Bristol, UK
© Geetanjali Gangoli 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Geetanjali Gangoli has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England
Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Gangoli, Geetanjali Indian feminisms : law, patriarchies and violence in India 1. Feminism - India - History 2. Women - India - Social conditions 3. Women - Legal status, laws, etc. - India I. Title 305.4'2'0954 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gangoli, Geetanjali. Indian feminisms : law, patriarchies, and violence in India / by Geetanjali Gangoli. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4604-4 (alk. paper) 1. Feminism--India. 2. Family violence-Law and legislation--India. 3. Women--Legal status, laws, etc.--India. 4. Sex and law--India. I. Title. HQ1742.G36 2007 305.420954--dc22 2006031459
ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4604-4
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall.
Contents List of Abbreviations Glossary Acknowledgements
vii ix xi
1
Introduction
2
National and Local Feminisms: Different Streams within the Women’s Movements
15
Feminism and the State: Citizenship, Legislative Debates and Women’s Issues
33
The Legal Regulation of Women’s Sexuality: Continuum between Civil and Criminal Laws
57
5
‘Custodial Rape’ and Feminist Interventions
79
6
The Campaign Against Domestic Violence
99
7
Conclusions
3
4
Bibliography Index
1
119
131 145
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List of Abbreviations AMM APL APRM AWM BJP