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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.
9 movementsViolence and safety ×1990 to 2009 ×
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)
1991 to 1995
Rural women in Andhra Pradesh, many of them learners in an adult literacy campaign, organised against the sale of arrack (cheap liquor) that was fuelling domestic violence and debt. Starting in Dubagunta village in…
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)
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)
1992 to 2013
Bhanwari Devi, a grassroots worker (saathin) in a Rajasthan government women's programme, was gang-raped in 1992 after trying to stop a child marriage. Women's groups took the fight to the Supreme Court, which in 1997…
Violence and safetyLaw and rightsWork and money
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
