This section features discussion questions for two of the main readings.
Tarabai Shinde's Comparison Between Men and Women
- Who is Tarabai Shinde? Which region and social class does she come from?
- Why does she write this polemical tract?
- What are the social and political contexts of 19th century reforms?
- What is caste? How and why does it become important in colonial India?
- How are women important in maintaining/creating caste identities?
- What are the different 'roles' for Indian women in the 19th century? What are the normative expectations in each of these roles? How were these prescriptions disseminated?
- What are the different characteristics of Victorian models of womanhood? Why do they become popular in the latter half of the 19th century with Indian reformers?
- What is marathmola? In what ways does it's meaning differ between 18th and the 19th centuries?
- What is stridharma? How is it defined?
- In what ways were women defined in popular literature in the 19th century?
- Did colonialism affect Indian women? If yes, then in what ways? What is Tarabai's opinion on this issue?
- According to Tarabai how did colonial rule change the men?
- How does Tarabai describe the 'double standards' of Indian men? What do these descriptions tell you about masculinity in Pativrata colonial India?
- How does she describe the following:
- Child marriage
- Or virtuous wife
- Condition of widows
- What is Tarabai's opinion on the contemporary social reforms?
- Would you argue that Tarabai's tract is more than a critique of patriarchy? How does it compare with Ramabai's High Caste Hindu Woman?
- Are Ramabai and Tarabai feminists? Are they revolutionary or are they peculiar colonial products of their times?
Katherine Mayo's Mother India
- Who is 'Mother India'? What are her characteristics according to Katherine Mayo?
- According to Mayo, what is the root cause of the problems that plague India?
- What sources does she use? Do you find her arguments convincing? Why? Why not?
- Why does she put forward such a thesis?
- According to Mayo, why can't the British government raise the age of marriage for girls to 14? Do you agree with her contentions?
- What is her attitude towards the British Government? Towards Indian nationalists like Gandhi?
- Mayo talks a lot about Indian women and their pitiful conditions. Does that make her a champion of women's rights in India?
- In your view that is the most convincing/preposterous description of Indian women in the book?
- What is the historical context within which the book was written?
- The British hold the majority in the Indian legislature. Then why are there so few legislations to improve the condition of Indian women?
- Discuss the different strands of protest against the book? Is Gandhi's reaction different than those written by early Indian feminists?
- According to Mrinalini Sinha, how did the book serve as a platform of alliance between the Indian women's movement and Indian nationalism?
- How can one get out of the 'Mother India Syndrome' in the contemporary world?