The objective of this study is to address the material question why relatively few studies have been devoted to Indian New Women so far. Indian New Women have received scant attention not only from Indian scholarship, but even from Western and Korean. ...
The objective of this study is to address the material question why relatively few studies have been devoted to Indian New Women so far. Indian New Women have received scant attention not only from Indian scholarship, but even from Western and Korean. There could be various factors why Indian New Women study remained as neglected branch; in my point of view, a matter of external signifiers is a contributing one. New Women’s signifiers in general were ‘clothing or makeup emphasizing activity and sexuality’ and ‘free love.’ In East Asia, so-called 'Western-style dress' has become a signifier of New Women. Further, women started to assert the right to choose spouse, and expressed their strong will to love even by throwing themselves into the Han River or the Korea Strait. On the other hand, Indian women wear sari, traditional Indian women’s clothing, and get married early through the act of matchmaking even now. While the New Women phenomenon was prevalent in Asia during 1920-30s, discourses on women had rather diminished appreciably in India. According to the earlier studies, it is because discourses on women were swallowed up by nationalist discourses or diverted from political issues to social issues. This study, however, seeks to open up a new perspective. In my point of view, a key factor in the change of discourses on women was provided by Gandhi and his non-violent struggle. In addition, the use of the term ‘New Women’ itself is avoided in India. Therefore, it is not easy to trace Indian women’s new womanhood or modern subjecthood by digging into external aspects only. Therefore, the starting point of the study on Indian New Women should not be their external signifiers, rather be the analysis of symbolic aspects and the investigation of new womanhood in them.
Focusing on this objective, I have examined the appearance and characteristics of Indian New Women from the late 1800s to pre-independence. As a result, five research papers have been published: ⓵ “The Aspect of New Woman and Subjective Self-Awareness in Bengal” ⓶ “The Subjectivity of Discourses on Women and Characteristics of the New Women in India”, ⓷ “A Case Study on Sarala Devi’s Dilemmas: New Womanhood and National Consciousness”, ⓸ “The Vision and Women’s Movement of Sarala Devi”, and ⓹ “Modern Identity of New Women in India: Gandhi and Sari.”
New Women in Bengal showed their new womanhood such as consciousness of subjectivity beyond the traditional limits and modern self-consciousness in various ways, though ‘disconnecting to tradition’ could not be firmed up. The characteristics of Indian New Women’s appearance are as follows. First, because most of them exposed their new womanhood after getting married early and becoming widow, they were not strong enough to insist on choosing spouse. Second, New Women’s external signifiers were too tenuous to be visually delivered and exercise influence over the public. Third, the term ‘New Women’ itself was not generalized and emerged in front only after 1970s. Therefore, the study on new women in India is tended to target after 1970s. General characteristic of New Women is a break with tradition; however, because new womanhood in India was made by following to their traditions, it is difficult to trace new womanhood through their external signifiers. Still, it is thought that new womanhood can be found out at Indian women during the pre-independence era through tracing the change of women’s consciousness to criticize men’s consciousness of discrimination against women and the social systems that suppress women.
As for Sarala Devi, new womanhood can be found in the cases of challenging the limit that was imposed to women; on the other hand, the cases related to marriage such as revealed the limitations of gender awareness. She married the person chosen by her parents while claiming women’s right to choose the partner; and positively accepted polygamy in order to carry on a family line. Sarala Devi was in the vanguard of Gandhi’s spinning wheel movement while stressing martial national consciousness. Her activities may seem fallen in a dilemma; but it is more appropriate to see that she participated in the movement by following the principles of swadeshi rather than the spirit of nonviolence argued by Gandhi. In addition, Sarala Devi founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal, women's organization led by women and insisted the separation of Women’s Congress from Indian National Congress. Sarala Devi stressed women’s autonomous rights for making decisions in life. She practiced the āśramas of Vānaprastha and Sannyāsa emphasizing women's right of free choice to enter the āśramas known as the preserve of men before. In brief, Sarala Devi expanded autonomous women’s movement ‘by women, for women.’
Gandhi destroyed the boundaries of Indian women’s area by involving them in nationalist activities, and made the female public be awakened. Consequentially, he brought positive effects to the spread of the New Women phenomenon in India; it is difficult to see that it was aimed at the self-actualization of women yet. Gandhi changed Indian women's clothes by encouraging them to wear a homespun white khaddar sari. That was neither for women’s personalities nor their activities, but for national issues over individual agendas. However, in a certain sense, it can receive positive reviews for inspiring a strong feeling of unity and self-esteem in India women that they work for the nation. Gandhi proposed Sita as an ideal Indian woman. Since Sita had been regarded as the embodiment of devotion and obedience in India, it brought about the reproduction of traditional image of ideal women regardless of his intention. Therefore, on the aspect of the collapse of the area of women and the pursuit of changing women’s clothes, Gandhi’s positive effect on the modern identity of women can be acknowledged up to a certain point; whereas he affected negatively on it as well by reproducing the traditional image of women through the image of Sita. Also, the spread of Sari insisted by him contributed as one of the main reasons why the New Women phenomenon seemed weakened in 1920s in India.
In this study, I attempted to address the question why the study on Indian New Women are being slighted. To sum up, like other regions, the beginning of the New Women phenomenon can be found in India as well; however, a break with tradition has not been clearly shown, women have not been rid of sari, traditional Indian women’s clothing, and Sita is mentioned as an ideal woman even now. Such a situation is the reason why discourses on ‘New Women’ have not been formed in India. Also, the term ‘New Women’ itself that causes negative feelings on the ground of the tendency to refuse Western concepts by following ‘subjectivity of India’ has contributed as another reason.