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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 movementsWar, peace and memory ×Still going ×
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…
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…
1977 onwardStill going
Founded in Kabul by Meena Keshwar Kamal, RAWA opposed the Soviet occupation, the mujahideen and the Taliban alike, running secret schools and clinics and documenting abuses. Meena was assassinated in Quetta in 1987.
War, peace and memoryEducation
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
2021 onwardStill going
After the Taliban took Kabul in August 2021, women took to the streets of Kabul, Herat and other cities chanting 'bread, work, freedom' as girls were shut out of secondary school and women barred from most work.…
Violence and safetyWar, peace and memoryEducation
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
1972 onwardStill going
During the 1971 war, Pakistani soldiers and their collaborators raped many thousands of Bengali women. The new state called survivors 'Birangona' (war heroines), but many were shunned. Decades of activism led to their…
Violence and safetyWork and moneyWar, peace and memory
Timeline and booksRead more on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)
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)
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…
1977 onwardStill going
Founded by Wangari Maathai, the movement paid rural women to plant trees, tackling deforestation, firewood shortages and poverty together, and grew into a wider fight for democracy in Kenya. Maathai won the Nobel Peace…
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…
1977 onwardStill going
Mothers of people 'disappeared' by Argentina's military dictatorship began walking every Thursday around the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, wearing white headscarves. Three of the founders were themselves disappeared;…
