Her-Self: Early Writings on Gender by Malayalee Women, 1898-1938 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8185604746 ISBN 13: 9788185604749

Publisher: Bhatkal & Sen, 2005

Synopsis

IIn Kerala, women participate in the vigorous debate over modern gender relations which were taking shape in this period. All these pieces appeared in various women's magazines and newspapers in Kerala. In these texts Malayalee women insisted on the necessity of perceiving the agency of women in modern society as an active one, even in the domestic domain. Women argued that because modernity implied non-coercive means of achieving and maintaining social cohesion, the qualities identified as 'Womanly' within the discourse of modern gender difference acquired significance both at home and outside. Woman by her very nature was seen as especially suitable for employment in schools, hospitals, in social work, the range of institutions increasing progressively. This was also the time of foundation and growth of the All India Women's Conference and of local organisations like the Travancore Muslim Women's Association, and the Kottayam Mahila Samajam in Malabar, and women were also nominated members of the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly of the state of Travancore. Conveying the richness of writings on gender, the pieces also present a critique of modernity.

About this title

Synopsis:

This collection reveals the vigorous debate over modern gender relations that was taking place in this period. The authors hailed mostly from those groups which had obtained access to modern education and ways of life like the Nairs, Syrian Christians and Ezhavas. There are other voices too, a few women from the Nambutiri Brahmin caste and two Muslim women. Women reflected on what was 'Womanly' on education, duties, vocation and civil roles, first influenced by reformism and later by nationalist and communist ideas. The editor also points to the need to define what is non-Womanly.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bhatkal & Sen
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 8185604746
• ISBN 13: 9788185604749
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 181
• Editor: Devika J