Phule’s Movement for Women liberation and Empowerment

During the British rule, the “quality of life” of Indian women remained more or less the same. However, some substantial progress was achieved in eliminating inequalities between men and women in education, employment, social rights and so on and this was result of continuous struggle of socio-political reformers. Some social evils such as Child Marriage, Sati system, Devadasi system, Purdah system, prohibition on widow remarriage etc. were either controlled or removed by suitable legislation and such legislations were passed as a result of continuous movements of socio-political reformers such as Mahatma Jyotirao Phule.

During Phule’s time, the females were not having any social status and they are subjugated even in their own families. They were deprived from all types of rights in families and society. Similarly, they were deprived from education. The teaching girl was the worst kind of sacrilege, a horrible attack on Hinduism. When young social reformer Phule opened his first school at Pune for Shudra and untouchable girls there was a wave of stiff opposition. Orthodox and ignorant Brahmins of Pune declared Jyotirao, an enemy of Hindu religion and a disgrace to the so called holy city. In those days of much orthodoxy and caste system no teacher came forward to teach the girls of the lower classes. Phule’s wife Savitribai herself took the challenge of teaching and soon uncontrollable excitement and anger swept over Pune against the couple.

Mahatma Phule was the foremost to rise against this age old tradition. He knew that knowledge advances the people and spread of female education will awaken the society. He believed that emancipation of the depressed and suppressed classes was possible only through education and social reforms. His schools for Shudra girls were a humble beginning of a bigger social movement and symbol of social transformation. In his own life time he became a legend and pioneer of Dalit Liberation from dehumanization, tyranny and oppression. He was a symbol of the revolution of social equality which was born of the impact of Western education and the great idea of equality brought by it to India. Equality as a force began to make for social, economic and national change all over India. In India the threads of religion were lock stitched into the social and economic privileges of the few. That socio-religious system called the caste system bred inequality.

Both Jyotirao and Savitribai carried out their struggle for gender equality and fight against caste system in spite of tremendous mal practice by the Manuwadi and Brahminic forces. In spite of strong opposition and hurdles Jyotiba was firm on educating women with support of his wife Savitribai. His firmness on educating women could be seen in his interview to Dyananodaya on 15th September 1853. He says “It did occur to me that the improvement that comes about in a child due to the mother is very important and good. So those who are concerned with the happiness and welfare of this country should definitely pay attention to the condition of women and make every effort to impart knowledge to them if they want the country to progress. With this thought, I started the school for girls first. But my caste brethren did not like that I was educating girls and my own father threw us out of the house. Nobody was ready to give space for the school nor did we have money to build it. People were not willing to send their children to school but Lahuji Ragh, Raut Mang and Ranba Mahar convinced their caste brethren about the benefits of getting educated”.

Revolutionary and true social reformer Phule never bothered about the threats of the priestly class. And for the first time in India, during her history for about 5000 years the - gates of knowledge and social liberation were opened to the lowest of the low. No doubt Jyotirao was the topmost among all social reformers and thinkers to effect this miraculous change in Pune. When the social history of India is analyzed, most of the crusaders against orthodoxy, caste barriers and social evils who confined their activities purely as ritualistic individual protests in the journals and papers having little and limited circulation or in private meetings and groups, while Phule started girls schools at Pune in 1850, two schools for untouchables education and in 1863 a fondling home to care the unwanted children of Brahmin widows for the prevention of infanticide. He worked day and night for the liberation of the untouchables, education of Shudra girls and women; and opened widows shelter home, favoured widow remarriage and condemned child-marriage.

Phule was extremely kind-hearted person and very well knew that widow’s problem was a great curse in the Hindus social system. The Brahmin widows were not allowed to remarry by the orthodox society. Brahmins and many upper caste Hindus did not want that widows should marry again. This was really a cruel and heartless tradition. Jyotirao too was moved by the miserable life of the widows who lived in wretched conditions totally ignored in the society. He was even shocked to watch their social uprooting and immoral behaviour involving newborn child murder. Thus, Jyotirao raised his voice in favour of widow remarriage and several unmarried young men came forward to accept them. So much so that several widows delivered their children safely in his orphanage (Widow’s Shelter home) and re-marriage were arranged. His wife Savitribai looked after such children in the orphanage as if she was their real mother. He condemned Sati tradition in Maharashtra as a criminal act against women.

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai, were remarkable personalities, especially for their times. He started women education from the education of his wife and trained her for the school. Savitribai was the first women teacher in India. He started the first school for girls at Pune, in the year 1848. He advocated education for female students from the downtrodden (Shudras/ Ati Shudras) communities and adults. He started schools. He established institutes like the ‘Pune Female Native Schools’ and the ‘Society for Promoting Education for Mahar, Mangs’. More important, he engaged in his education at home too. Jyotiba prepared his wife, Savitribai, to teach in the girls’ school, with a view to educating the women first, in order to bring in the value of equality at home. Savitribai had to face bitter opposition from the orthodox society of the time for teaching girls and people from the underprivileged groups in the school. Despite this bitter opposition, Jyotiba and Savitribai continued their work with sincerity. Women empowerment is an essential concept these days as Y.V. Satyanarayana rightly said, “The dominance of men over women is an age-old practice, but after the advent of democracy and democratic institution, almost every nation recognized the freedom, equality, and human rights of women. Now, women are entitled to live with self-respect and dignity by exercising various rights to women in the past and its ongoing effects in the present should be properly addressed by way of empowering women in all spheres of social life”.

Savitribai Phule, wife of Jyotirao Phule was one of the crusaders of gender justice. Though she was initially illiterate, she started getting education after marriage. She Passed third and fourth year examination from a school in 1846-47. Savitribai’s passion for female education started by starting a school with Sagunabai in Maharwada in 1847. Later on, on 1st January 1848, Country’s first school for girls was started at Bhide’s wada in Pune and Savitribai was nominated as the first head mistress of the school. She was appointed as a teacher, at the time when teaching of girls was supposed to be an unholy, unheard of thing, moreover an affront to traditional honour.

After marriage, Jyotibha started educating Savitribai in 1841 and Savitribai become the first female teacher in the first school for girls in Pune in 1848. On the same year that is in 1848, Jyotiba started school for adult learners in Usman Shaikh’s Wada. Later totally 18 more schools were started by Phule for girls, Shudras and Ati-Shudras in 1849. Realizing the contribution of Savitribai Phule towards girls’ education, the School Inspection Committee awarded the Ideal Teacher Award to her in 1852. The progress of Jyotirao- Savitribai’s endeavours was remarkable. There were government schools for upper caste students. One of them had written in the Poona Observer on 29 May 1852,. The number of girl students in Jyotirao’s school is ten times more than the number of boys studying in the government schools. This is because the system for teaching girls is far superior to what is available for boys in government schools. If this situation continues, then the girls from Jotirao’s school will prove superior to the boys from the government schools and they feel that in the coming examinations, they can really achieve a big victory. If the Government Education Board does not do something about this soon, seeing these women outshine the men will make us hang our heads in shame.

She faced severe opposition from almost all sections. Savitribai was subject to intense harassment everyday as she walked to the school. Stones, mud and dirt were flung at her as she passed. But Savitribai Phule faced everything courageously. First public Til-Gul programme was arranged by Mahila Seva Mandal on 14th January, 1852 in which she took active part along with her husband. Their family was honoured by British government for their works in the field of education and Savitribai was declared as the best teacher in 1852. Savitribai also learnt English language. When Revenue Commissioner went to school for inspection, where Savitribai was engrossed in teaching then he praised her lot and Savitribai also spoke English to him into simple manner.

Jyotirao and Savitribai focused on providing girls and boys with education that was vocational and trade- oriented in nature, to make their students self-reliant and capable of independent thought. In the 1852 report, they expressed the following opinion. An industrial department should be attached to the schools where children could learn useful trades and crafts and be able, after leaving school, to manage their lives comfortably and independently. They created such a system. Information about the ‘Home for the Prevention of Infanticide’ started by Savitribai-Jyotirao in 1863 has become available only recently. What is significant is that this home had been started only for Brahman widows and Savitribai had taken the initiative for it. All the information regarding this has been recorded in a letter written by Jyotirao Phule on 4th December 1884 to the Under Secretary, Government of Mumbai.

Jyotirao and Savitribai were running a hostel in their own house, where students from far off places would stay for the purposes of education. A student from Mumbai, Laxman Karadi Jaaya had lived in this hostel and experienced Savitribai.s motherly care and concern. In his memoirs, he has written, “I have not seen another woman as kind and loving as Savitribai. She gave us more love than even a mother could”.

Jyotiba believed in the equality of men and women. He stressed on women’s education, emancipation of women. He brought women in public life. He said equality and oneness is necessary for the development of the country. “In order to empower women he opposed child marriage. He initiated widow-remarriage and started a home for widows. In that time widow remarriage were banned and child-marriage was very common among the Brahmins and in the Hindu society. Many widows were young and not all of them could live in a manner in which the orthodox people expected them to live. Some of the widows resorted to abortion or left their illegitimate children to their fate by leaving them on the streets. Realizing the dangers of a widow giving birth to a child conceived in unfortunate circumstances after her husband’s death, he opened a home for newborn infants in 1863 to prevent infanticides and suicides”. Phule vehemently advocated widow-remarriage and even got a home built for housing upper caste widows during 1854. He requested people all the time to send their children in schools he opened for downtroddens and women.

Mahatma Phule’s bold efforts to educate women, Shudras and the untouchables had deep effect on the values, beliefs and ideologies. His efforts unleashed the forces of awakening among the common masses. Education made women more knowledgeable. They became conscious of what is right and wrong in the light of science. Women began to question the age-old customs which degraded them.

In the history of India, Phule was the first person who spread women education by opening girl schools and opened orphanages for widow women and their children. He said that six progresses of individuals were possible only with education. Jotirao says in the introduction to the book “Shetkaryacha Asood”: Without education wisdom was lost; Without wisdom morals were lost; Without morals development was lost; Without development wealth was lost; Without wealth the Shudras were ruined; So much has happened through lack of education. He gave new meanings to education: He said, “The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion…..real education is that which enables one to stand on one’s legs”.

Phule knew that besides illiteracy, there were many social evils in the society, which have crippled the whole social order. It was all due to ignorance, superstitions and traditional prejudicial thinking. In those days widow’s problem was there in the society. It was a great curse in the Hindu social system. Due to early child marriage and many other social reasons those unfortunate women who lived as widows were not allowed to remarry. The dominating upper castes and the ruling chiefs even encouraged Sati tradition, against which foremost social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy raised his voice.

As practical reformer, Phule virtually destroyed all religious dogmas that were against reason and opened the door to reforms. His aim was to reconstruct society on the basis of equality, liberty and reason. Although the problem of remarriage of widows was confined to Brahmins and some other high caste Hindus, Phule was moved by the miserable condition of the widows, and often by their immoral behaviour. Sometimes they were involved in child murder. A man of flaming indignation against injustice, Jotirao actively supported the movement for widow remarriage. He wanted to liberate the woman from her age-old shackles.