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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.
11 movements1990 to 2009 ×Still going ×
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…
CasteViolence and safetyWork and money
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
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…
1990 onwardStill going
Mothers of young men 'disappeared' during the state's crackdown on the JVP insurgency in the south organised to demand answers, using their identity as mothers when other protest was dangerous. Tamil mothers in the…
Violence and safetyWar, peace and memory
TimelineBackground: the 1987–89 JVP insurrection, on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
2006 onwardStill going
Iranian women's rights activists went door to door collecting signatures to change laws that discriminated against women in marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance and testimony. Many organisers were arrested, and the…
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1995 onwardStill going
Mothers and relatives of people forcibly disappeared in Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s, many of them Kurdish, have gathered every Saturday in Istanbul's Galatasaray Square since 1995, holding photographs and asking where…
1991 onwardStill going
In August 1991 Kim Hak-sun became the first survivor to speak publicly about being forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. Survivors and supporters have held a protest outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul…
2000s onwardStill going
Indigenous families and activists in Canada and the United States drew attention to the high rates of violence against Indigenous women, often ignored by police. Canada's national inquiry reported in 2019 that the…
2006 and 2017 onwardStill going
Activist Tarana Burke began using 'Me Too' in 2006 to support survivors of sexual violence, especially Black girls. In October 2017, after reports about Harvey Weinstein, the hashtag spread worldwide, leading to…
Violence and safetyWork and money
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
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…
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)
