Women- Power and Progress

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About the Book This book contains a collection of articles dealing with women's participation in various struggles. It has covered India's freedom struggle, struggle for equality in South Africa and Goa Liberation Movement, Dr. Ambedkar's Movement and also Women's Lib Movement. Here the author has also discussed delicate problems pertaining to the other aspects of women's life like Unmarried Motherhood, Mother's Lineage and the Tradition of Sati. There are articles on women's role in the Legislatures, the approach of new women's organizations in solving women's problems. Some articles throw light on customs in some nomadic tribes and among the former untouchables.

The second part contains sketches of few women who have contributed in various fields. Some have played a role in the freedom struggle. Some have tried to rehabilitate abducted women during the traumatic period of partition. Some women are working among the Adivasis that is tribals or trying to educate children of prostitutes. Some articles are about women artists who have combated different types of problems. All in all in this informative book one gets glimpses of various facets of the Indian womanhood.

About the Author Smt. Champa Limaye, M.A. was born at Amalner, Jalgaon District of Maharashtra on 19 December, 1928. From 1955 to 1988 she worked as a Professor and Head of the Department of Marathi in the National College, Bandra in Mumbai. She has participated in many activities of women and has studied their problems from very close quarters. She has written on the social problems in Marathi, Hindi and English periodicals. She has written many short stories. So far she has published three books in Marathi and two in Hindi. In 1995, she got the Sauharda Sanmaan from Hindi Sahitya Sabha, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. In 1952 she got married with the famous Socialist leader Madhu Limaye and she came in close contact with active politics. She enthusiastically helped him in his election campaigns and his writings. She has travelled extensively.

Foreword Prof. (Mrs.) Champa Limaye is an extremely erudite writer on both serious academic subjects as well as short stories depicting various aspects of our society. Here, she has written particularly on problems of Indian women and also about the many remarkable activities of women during the freedom struggle, in the social reform movement and in the political field. Through her writings one gets a true picture of the multifaceted nature of women and a vivid picture of their lives in a very prevaricative society i.e., India.

The present book deals with women in these varied aspects. starting with age old problems and inequity inflicted on women from time immemorial. She has described heartrendingly the misery inflicted on women in the name of so-called religious teachings, especially showing the cruelties inflicted on Dalit and tribal women in the name of customs and traditions which were steeped in ignorance and superstition.

She begins with the 'status' of the unmarried mother in Indian society then and now. In our mythology innumerable instances are to be found where unmarried mothers were sanctified and accepted in the society of those days, for many logical and illogical reasons. They were also prey to the lust of a patriarchal society and made to pay the price of forced relationships at many times. Later scriptures in a chauvinistic manner condemned and ostracised such women. Mrs. Limaye makes a sincere plea for the recognition of the unmarried mother in today's society. She follows this with the issue of accepting the mother's name legally and socially as a corollary to the equal rights supposedly granted to women today. The plight of illegitimate children and their emotional turmoil is shown very tragically in Akkarmashi, the autobiography written by Sharan Kumar.

Another chapter deals with the tradition of Sati and how it evolved, again bringing out the fact that it was never an original part of our ancient traditions, but became a part of a plan of denying women equal economic rights to their husbands' property. In modern times it has become a means for the family to acquire wealth and 'status' as in the case of Roop Kunwar in Rajasthan a few years ago.

Introduction Woman Power and Progress. While presenting this collection many memories come to my mind. Many aspects of Women's movement have been expressed through it. I have written these articles for Hindi and Marathi dailies and periodicals like Dharmayug Navabharat Times, Dainik Hindustan, Janasatta, Ravivar, Prabhat Khabar, Stree (Marathi Magazine) etc. In articles such as "Unmarried Motherhood' or 'Mother's Lineage, 'Mother's Name,' the problem 1 have discussed is a very delicate one related to women's life. I have taken stock of Indian Women's participation in the freedom struggle and their role in politics through some articles. These articles were written many years ago, so the figures (statistics) available then are presented in them. I could not update the figures. I have tried to give the glimpses of the struggle of American women's life from the very beginning. This article was written on the request of the USIS (United States Information Service). I have also written on Women's Liberation Movement. I wrote this article for the Marathi magazine Stree (Woman). Everybody was shocked to hear the Devarala Sati episode. I was entrusted with the work of shedding light on the social and religious aspects of this custom in one of Doordarshan's discussions. At that time while going through the History of the Dharmashastras, I came to the conclusion that the Dharmagranthas have not given permission to the custom of Sati. They treated it as suicide. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar did tremendously useful work for the upliftment of the Dalit society. As a result there came awakening among the Dalit women. They participated in the movement on a very big scale. I have described it in one article. I have also depicted how much suffering women of nomadic tribes have to undergo due to customs and traditions. I have tried to give some information about the activities and the work some of the women's organizations are doing on women's genuine problems. I thought this would be helpful to other women's organizations.

Amongst Indian women some are very well known and have become very famous. But the work done by the majority of women is not known to the public. Women working in different fields of society come from various classes. In the nineteenth century Smt.. Savitribai Phule was born in the backward class of gardener family.

**Contents and Sample Pages**