Answer:

Introduction:

Feminist movement in India started in the late 1970s, with movements aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and opportunities for women in India.

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Western feminism and its objectives –

The western feminism is defined as a movement for women’s emancipation that advocates for equal gender rights, alongwith equal access to public life.

• Overcome traditional role – They wanted to overcome the traditional household roles in the society and question the limitation of women’s role as mother and wife.
• Self-identity– They wanted to establish self-identity for women and not to be associated with the male members of the society.
• Gender based stereotypes – They questioned the gender-based prejudice and stereotypes which encourage discrimination against women.

Indian feminist movement

The feminist movements in India have been organised against the peculiar problems of women in Indian society, such as:

• Women’s Suffrage: While Western feminist movements fought for women’s suffrage, Indian women were granted the right to vote upon India’s independence in 1947. Indian feminist movements have focused on broader issues such as women’s education, legal rights, and social reforms.
• Caste-based Feminism: Indian feminist movements have had to grapple with the complexities of caste-based discrimination, which is unique to India. Dalit women, for example, face double oppression due to both gender and caste discrimination.
• Against Khap Panchayats: The movement of Jagmati Sangwan against the Khap panchayats challenged the deep-rooted patriarchy.
• Female foeticide – The efforts have been made to curb female foeticide and infanticide with Beti Bachao campaign.
• Domestic violence– The anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh tried to address the problem of domestic violence by alcoholic husbands.
• Notion of purity-impurity – feminist movements have challenged the notion of purity-impurity with movements like Happy to Bleed Campaign.
• Against rape: The Nirbhaya movement was organised against increasing rapes in the society.
• Against Dowry: The feminist movements have challenged those who consider women as tool to extract cash or gifts in the form of dowry, e.g., Shahada movement.
• Sexual harassment: Although the MeToo movement was extension of western movement but challenged the deep-rooted problem of sexual harassment in Indian society.
  

Conclusion:

Thus, the feminist movements in India have challenged the exploitation women facein their life which ranged from private to public life affecting their social, economic, and political rights. Since problems in both the societies were not the same, hence the feminist movements in both the societies too were not on the similar lines.

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