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Short histories of 65 feminist movements, India and South Asia first. Each has a timeline, links to read more elsewhere, and books from our shelf where we have them. These are starting points, not the last word: tell us what is missing through the complaints box or a discussion thread.
14 movementsIndia ×Still going ×
1925 onwardStill going
Periyar's movement against caste and Brahmin dominance campaigned for women's education, widow remarriage, divorce and 'self-respect marriages' held without priests. Women such as Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar led the…
2014 onwardStill going
In NALSA v. Union of India the Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a 'third gender' with the right to self-identify. Trans activists have since contested the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act,…
Violence and safetyLaw and rightsQueer and trans lives
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1990s onwardStill going
Dalit women organised to name the specific violence and exclusion they face at the meeting point of caste, class and gender, and to challenge both upper-caste feminism and male-led Dalit politics. The National…
1972 onwardStill going
A trade union for women in the informal economy, from street vendors and head-loaders to home-based workers, founded in Ahmedabad by Ela Bhatt. It grew into one of the largest unions of women workers in the world, with…
1848 onwardStill going
Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule opened one of the first schools for girls in Pune in 1848, facing abuse from upper-caste neighbours. Often called India's first woman teacher, Savitribai also ran a shelter for pregnant…
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
2015 onwardStill going
Pinjra Tod ("break the cage") is a campaign by women students against curfews and restrictive rules in university hostels, starting in Delhi.
1984 onwardStill going
Founded in Kohima, the association works for peace in Nagaland, mediating between armed groups and the state and campaigning against drug and alcohol abuse. It has also pressed for women's representation in local…
1970s onwardStill going
The 'torch bearers' of Manipur: Meitei women who patrol their neighbourhoods at night with lit torches. Begun against alcoholism and drug abuse, they became a leading force against human rights abuses by security forces…
1998 onwardStill going
Kerala's poverty-eradication mission organises women into neighbourhood groups that run savings, credit and small enterprises and work closely with local government. It has grown into one of the largest networks of…
2006 onwardStill going
A women's group in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, founded by Sampat Pal Devi, its members recognisable by their pink saris. It confronts domestic violence, dowry, child marriage and corrupt officials, sometimes armed with…
1995 onwardStill going
A collective of sex workers formed in Sonagachi, Kolkata, out of an HIV prevention project. It campaigns for sex workers' rights and decriminalisation, runs a cooperative, and set up self-regulatory boards to stop…
1973 onwardStill going
A forest protection movement in the Garhwal Himalaya, in today's Uttarakhand. Village women, who depended on the forests for fuel, fodder and water, became its most visible protectors, famously holding on to trees to…
2003 onwardStill going
A public art project begun by Jasmeen Patheja in Bengaluru that rejected the term 'eve-teasing' and asked women to send in the clothes they were wearing when harassed ('I Never Ask For It'), to counter the blaming of…
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
2017 onwardStill going
In 2017 a crowdsourced list named academics accused of harassment, and in late 2018 women in journalism, film, publishing and politics named men who had harassed them. Several resigned, including a Union minister, and…
