UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 1 Q18: model answer

In the 19th century, the status of women became central to social reform, as reformers and colonial rulers alike saw it as a measure of society's progress.

Major issues

• Sati: abolished in 1829 after Raja Rammohan Roy's campaign.
• Widow remarriage: Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, through Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's efforts.
• Child marriage: the Age of Consent Act, 1891, raised the age of consent to 12.
• Education: Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule's school in Pune (1848); Bethune School (1849).
• Purdah, polygamy, female infanticide.

Debates

• Reformers used scripture as well as reason: Rammohan and Vidyasagar cited the shastras.
• Orthodox opposition: the Dharma Sabha against sati abolition; Tilak opposed the Age of Consent Bill as colonial interference.
• Women's own voices: Tarabai Shinde's Stri Purush Tulana (1882), Pandita Ramabai's work for widows.

Regional voices

• In Bengal, the Brahmo Samaj promoted women's education; in Maharashtra, M. G. Ranade and the Prarthana Samaj backed widow remarriage.
• In the south, Kandukuri Veeresalingam organised widow remarriages in Andhra.
• Muslim reformers such as Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's circle debated purdah and education; later, Begum Rokeya started schools for girls in Calcutta (1911).

Limits

• Reform focused on upper-caste practices; the problems of Dalit and working women received little attention, a gap later filled by Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar.
• Many reforms stayed on paper: the 1856 Act saw few widow remarriages, and Vidyasagar spent his own savings funding them.

Bottom line

The women's question opened a debate on tradition, reason and identity, laying foundations for women's participation in the national movement, though it was led mostly by men and touched mostly the upper castes.