WOMEN IN INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1926, Page 26

WOMEN IN INDIA.

The last two months have given mc an opportunity of comparing the sphere bf women's activities in India and Egypt, writes Air. R. Evans in "Time find Tide.' , In India the problem is more complicated, and generalisations of little use by reason of the vast area •with which one is dealing; , hut I think at i 3 safe to say that, despite racial difficulties and casto restrictions, women's activities here arc more varied than in Egypt. I have found women in the political parties, some of them interested in nationalism to the extinction of social and educational enthusiasm: but in India 1 have also found —and this is the main contrast to Egypt—many who are devoting tlioir lives disinterestedly to the general wellbeing of Indian women. ]n discussing the women who are occupied in Indian politics, one must remember that even now the greatest of them is an Englishwoman, Mrs. Annie Besant. One cannot help feeling surprised that she still manages to achieve bucli a degree and variety of activity. [Indeed, among the plans put forward by many Indian politicians, Dr. Besant's seems to mc. the sanest. Gandhi and jMotilal Xehru and the Swarajists generally enlarge upon their dissatisfaction with British rule and the necessity for rapid and vital changes; but they cannot give a detailed statement of what they desire. Dr. Besant, on the other hand, has formed a National Convention, to represent as far as possible all ehades' of Indian opinion, with the object of setting out in the precise form of a bill, to be presented to the Imperial Parliament, the demands of India in the matter of self-government. Such a plan •would reduce all the vague talk of Indian politics to precise issues. It remains to be seen whether Dr. Besant etill has sufficient following to render iher Convention adequately representative. An Indian woman of considerable influence in political councils is 3lrs.

Earojini Naidu, 'better known in earlier flays in England as a poetess. English Jteaders will perhaps recall the practical pense with wMch Mrs. Naidu tackled the Kenya emigration problem during jher visit to Africa. She applies the same values to the discussion of Indian politics. While insisting that India must be given self-government, she realises that many *of India's problems iare economic and not political, and she affirms that until the problems which . purround peasant life in India Bre adequately explored, poverty and unrest must remain. Mrs. Naidu, un- ' like the leading Egyptian women poli- ! ticians, is not an extremist within her party, nor is she antagonistic to EngJish culture. While I have found many Indian fcromen doing excellent work in the eocial sphere, the chief protagonist, loth for women's education and women's ' rights generally, is Professor Karve. 1 ' must admit that I did not know Professor Karve's name before I came to India, and yet, with the sole exception of Gandhi, he is spoken of with more reverence than any other man in public life. And there is -justification for this respect. Fifty years ago the British Government abolished suttee; but what Could not be abolished by law is the cruel life W hich the Hindu widow is forced to lead. A girl o f six m , be . come a widow, and the rest of her life U one of shame and domestic slavery in the family of h er husband. Never can she remarry. Professor Kane ■when public opinion was strong against fcun, carried a widow, and his" example has served to destroy this age-long prejudice among gome of the more enJjtrhtened. Since this -decisive step Professor parve s first aim has been the education o f Hind" widows so that they may hav e a chance of economic freedom * From 18 9!) his Hindu Widows' Home ha 8 contended against every kind of ignorance |nd religious prejudice. The widow

students in the home rose in 'number only from four to twenty-one in five years. Some time later Professor Karve founded the Mahila Yidyalaya, to discourage child-marriage, and parents were urged to send their girls for education under a binding contract that they should not be married under the age of sixteen or seventeen. Another institution which- owes its origin to Professor Karve is the Indinn Women's University noar Poona. This was inaugurated about ten years ago, with the object of giving to women a curriculum different from that laid down by Bombay University, which was thought to be unsuitable. It is a hopeful feature in education in India, where the women students in any co-educational university form a very low percentage. Another society doing excellent work along these lines is the Poona Seva Sadan, which aims at training women, irrespective or race or caste, as nurses, midwives. and sub-assistant surgeons, and which has lately established an Infant Welfare Centre and a Public Health School. These achievements may seem of very small importance, but it must be remembered that this society and those of Professor Karve were formed without any external pressure, and because certain Indians themselves realised a need for reform. Indian , women in theifc present position can do little for themselves: external agencies saich as the Government can do nothinar. The only hope, it seems to mc. is from , the educated Indian man who, after his Western training, expects his wife to be an intellectual companion. He will demand, as he is already demanding in individual cases, that the Indian woman may have more opportunities of contact with the world and witli affairs. But the process will be slow: we are apt to judge developments by their most advanced adherents, and to forget how impossible it is to rush Western ideas and reform on to so deep a civilisation. It must be remembered always, in any discussion on the women of India, that the centuries of faith and. prejudice which bulwark the present position cannot easily be shaken.