Posted On: 2024-10-11 10:33:04
11th October is annually observed as International Day of the Girl Child to increase opportunities for girls and raise awareness about gender inequality. It mainly focuses on access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence against women and forced child marriage.
A lot of Indian men and women have shared their thoughts on gender politics in Indian society including Savitribai Phule, Mahatma Jyotoba Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy. But one such figure often gets overlooked; Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy famously known as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar.
Periyar was born on 17 September 1879 in Erode, then a part of the Coimbatore district of the Madras Presidency. Periyar is widely known for his anti-caste politics and was influential in such movements as well. He was one of the figureheads of the Self-Respect Movement to abolish untouchability, manual scavenging systems etc.
He was also passionate about ridding women of oppression. At the Chengalpet Self-Respect conference held on 17–18 February, 1929, Periyar demanded equal rights of property for women, widow remarriage, abolition of child marriage, and freedom to choose spouses defying caste and community norms and encouraged women to enter professions of their choice.
The Tamil book entitled “Penn Yaen Adimai Aanaal?” or Why Were Women Enslaved includes many essays when it comes to women’s liberation. It has often been compared to Frederick Engels’ The Origins of Family, Private Property and State but in an Indian context.
Periyar’s ideas of women were radical for his time, he compared the institution of marriage to slavery, believing that the idea of the sacredness of marriage forces women into accepting their own enslavement. He said “A wife is an unpaid servant for a man. Even a servant cannot be beaten or kicked around. But a wife can be beaten or kicked and others will not interfere.”
He viewed love and sexual desire (in the romantic sense) as freedom that should exist for both men and women. He noted how a woman who had multiple sex partners was derogatorily called a vibachaari (adulteress/prostitute) but a man who did the same was not called a vibachaaran (adulterer/gigolo).
He was also a big supporter of contraception for the sake of women’s health or maintaining a small family. He went as far as to say that women should get rid of their uteruses if she has to do that to attain freedom.
In his booklet, he also criticizes masculinity, as viewed in the traditional sense, as it prescribes oppressive roles to women. In our society, where women are still open to oppression, Periyar’s writings stand the test of time and inspire us to pursue a radical path for gender justice.
Filaantro supports women’s rights to emancipation and Periyar’s vision and has helped change the minds of 86,895 people with its Gender Equality Programme.
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AUTHOR: Adil Sayyad
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