Introduction -A Theoretical Perspective

In the recent years, studies on gender have reached a prominent focal point within the discipline
of social history and have also attracted the attention ofvarious scholars around the world. This
study represents, yet another humble attempt in this direction. I have chosen this subject because
I consider gender to be an integral part of all human experiences. Since gender is so omnipresent
in human life, shaping the decisions, choices and lifestyles of individuals, it is useful to study
gendered experiences and identities of women, who have been at the receiving end of a socially
constructed gendered hierarchy and therefore are at a disadvantage vis -a- vis men.
My study investigates how the educated, self-dependent, 'new women' in post-independence
India project the reality of their lives and those of their sisters via their pens.
Since my research is located at the confluence of gender, history and literature, it is
essential to first understand the relationship between these three concepts. This study is based on
the premise that social sciences are interrelated fields as they constitute the study of human
society and social relationships, which cannot be bound within one field or discipline of study.
Gender history is one such area of study within social science that proves the fact that disciplinary
boundaries are arbitrary and artificial. They have been created for convenience of study and not
as an obstacle in the path of research. Thus for a successful and complete study of gendered
relations within society, I have adopted the integrated approach by merging together three fields
of analysis which, though seemingly unrelated, are in fact intricately interconnected: gender,
history and literature.

History, Gender and Literature

Tile Confluence o(Historv, Gender and Literature
Traditionally, the bulk of mainstream academic history has generally neglected gender and
culture, (here specifically the literary form of culture). Moreover, history, gender and literature
are regarded as distinct fields of analysis, considered in isolation from each other. The links
between them have recently begun to be perceived in academic history circles. In the past few
decades attempts have been made to establish, or rather perceive such links. In such a situation,
there is an obvious need for more work ori the subject at the level of generalization and theory as
well as for careful scrutiny by specific case studies. ·
Following the discussion above, I now direct my study towards a survey of links between
history, gender and literature so as to broadly delineate theoretical perspectives and contemporary
debates on the subject.

1
 Like literature, gender cannot be treated in isolation either. By virtue of being a social
construct, gender relations change with changing socio-economic conditions and there is a
complex interaction between the power relations of men and women and their changing
historical, material and ideological circumstances.
The idea that literary works should be treated as autonomous and without significant
relation to the world in which they are produced and read has been seriously challenged. In spite
of some limitations, it goes to the credit of Marxist thought to have seen for the first time an
organic relationship between forms of cultural expression and their social milieu. 1 There would
be inherent problems in the study of literature as well if one stripped it of its living meaning,
stripped it clean of the contradictions within society and divorced it from its material conditions
in a given historical period. Terry Eagelton states that the reduction of literary criticism to a
private contemplative act is an equivalent in the literary sphere to what is known as possessive
individualism in the social sphere. 2 Thus writing, though often solitary, is not an isolated act.
Literature and literary criticism are both products of and interventions in particular moments in
history. Even the greatest classics cannot be fully appreciated until they are understood in their
pertinent historical and cultural context. 3
All this however, is not to say that literature can only be understood by relating it to the
social structure. We cannot ignore the fictional, imaginative and aesthetic dimensions of
literature.4 However, though realizing this 'relative autonomy' of literature, one has to see the
intersection of ideas, form and language with the social and the historical. 5
In keeping with this view, Yi Tse Mei Feuerwerker, scholar of Chinese literary studies
has remarked," the novel stands at the point where social history and human soul intersect."6 In
recent years, many historical and sociological studies have been carried out, using literature as the
illuminating source material. Although every kind of literary work makes a unique contribution
in its own way, the expanse and variety provided by novels and short stories, make works

1
Marx and Engels in The German Ideology in 1845-46, stated, "The production of ideas, concepts and
consciousness is first of all directly inter-woven with the material intercourse of man, the language of real
life." .
2
Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983),
196-7. Also see his Marxism and Literary Criticism, (London: Methuen, 1976), I 0.
3
Although quite a few studies have been done in this field, a few significant works are: Frederic Jameson,
Marxism and Form: Twentieth Century Dialectical Theories ofLiterature, (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1975) and Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, eds., Theory ofLiterature, (London: Penguin Books,
1973.)
4
Ibid.
5
Louis Althusser, "Marxism and Humanism" (1965) and "Ideological State Apparatuses" (1969), both in
Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, (London: New Left Books, 1971.)
6
Yi Tse Mei Feurwerker, "The Chinese Novel," in Approaches to the Oriental Classics, ed. Wm. Theodore
de Bary (Nw York, 1959): 172, quoted in Paul S.Ropp, Dissent in Early Modern China: Ju-lin wai-shih and
Ch'ing Social Criticism (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1981), p. 5.

2
 belonging to these literary genres particularly notable for their contribution. Historians are
7
increasingly using the novel to map a broad range of social behaviour. Similar is the case with
short stories, the other important component of the fiction genre. Literary historians believe that
. stories and novels allow us to understand the conscious and unconscious assumptions of a
society. Moreover, works of fiction bring out the imperfect ways in which social institutions
operate within ambiguous and refractory human situations. 8
Both gender and literature have shared a history of, being neglected till recently by mainstream
history writing or being treated in reductionist ways by orthodox Marxism. It has been argued
that history has been a male experience, written by a~d from the perspective of men. From mid-
nineteenth century onwards, there was a great emphasis on facts, which though tenned as
historically significant, were in fact aimed at serving the power structure and dominant order.
Even historians of the Annales school have followed this school of thought in presenting history
from a so called patriarchal perspective. 9 Elizabeth Fox-Genovese believes that history has been
written primarily from the perspective of the male subject. 10 I accept that the kind of gender
sensitivity that women have introduced in historical research was missing from earlier history,
however since the field of history that makes women its subject matter has only recently opened
up for research, it is erroneous to dismiss earlier history as a biased history of patriarchy.
Moreover, I would like to add that the importance of the concept of gender in
determining history does not undermine or undervalue what male historians have been writing
about. Hence women's history has not replaced traditional history, it has added a new dimension
which was missing from history written by men. Needless to say, women have also shared with
men in preserving collective memory, which shapes the past into cultural tradition, provides the
link between generations and connects past and future. However, women's activities and
experiences have often been left unrecorded, neglected and ignored in interpretation and theory
fonnation. 11

Women's History:
Factors (or the Rise of Women's History:

7
Kanwar Sonali Jolly-Wadhwa, Gender: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (New Delhi: Gyan Publishing
House, 2000), 72.
8
Ibid.
9
The works of Arlette Farge, Michelle Perrot and Genevieve Praisse prove this in their articles in Tori! Moi
ed., French feminist Thought: A Reader, (London: Basil Blackwell, 1987.) ·
10
Elizabeth Fox Genovese, "Culture and Consciousness in the Intellectual History of European Women,"
in Signs, Vol. 2, No.3 (Spring, 1987), 529-547.
11
Ibid. , 3.
3
 Our view of the past has dramatically widened in scope in the last few ears. History instead of
being mere chronicle of kings and statesmen, has moved on to being an analytical account of the
everyday lives or ordinary men and women. 12 There are a whole range of factors which have led
to the rise and development of women's history. In her study on writing women's history,
Michelle Perrot has delineated: the development of a new historical anthropology which put the
study of the family and sexual roles in the forefront of its preoccupations; the development of
what is commonly referred to as 'new history', anxious to take account of everyday ideas and
behaviour, all subsumed under the loose term 'mentalities' as factors that she rightly argues,
undoubtedly created a more receptive climate for women's history. 13
Additionally, it is noteworthy that much of women's history has arisen form women's
movements and the many questions that they raise. Women have expressed themselves with
particular forcefulness in the years 1970-5, a period which corresponds to the political
breakthrough ofthe Women's Liberation Movement and the rise of the feminist press. Although
in India, such development is discernable in the 1980s, with feminist publications such as
Manushi and numerous women's organizations taking the lead in raising women's awareness of
their rights and improving their status is life.
A survey of the development of women's history within India, reveals a pattern similar to
its worldwide counterparts. Women's history in India began as an act of reclamation. It has
developed in the direction charted by the titles of leading works in the English-language in the
1970s. Since women had been 'hidden from History', the aim was to make women in history
visible. 14
Commenting on the evolution of women's history in India, Aparna Basu writes that
women's history is an assertion that women have a history even though that history has been
distorted, and in many cases erased by the biases that pervade our culture and scholarship. To
write the history of this long neglected section of society, we need to recognize the various
images of women. Displaying the scope of women's history, Basu lists the various aspects of
women which need to be focused on under the purview of women's history. We have to see
women as a force in politics, as reformers, revolutionaries, searching for an identity in their
nation, their class, themselves. She further writes that women as producers, peasants, workers,
artisans, domestic servants, in their roles in the family, as wives, daughters and mothers have now
become visible. Basu emphasizes that the totality of women's lives is the concern of women's

12
Karen Offen, ed., Writing Women's History: International Perspectives, (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1991) , 181-185.
13
Michelle Perrot, ed., Writing Women's History, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 2-3.
14
Sheila Rowbotham, Hidden from History: 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Against It
(New York: Pantheon Press, 1975)
4
 history and its historians. Hence this field is developing as a vastly unexplored area of research,
especially made interesting by two related yet essentially independent developments, the
maturation of social history and the growth of an active women's movement both within India as
well as the feminist movement in the west. 15
In the context of my study which combines women, gender, history and literature, I
would also like to briefly mention studies situated at the confluence of women's history and
literature. The images and perceptiop.s of women within literature is another growing area of
interest. Scholars are working on both individual authors, men and women, such as the Hindi
novelist Premchand, Bengali writer, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, C.S. Lakshmi from Tamil
Nadu, and also on literature as a whole, especially region specific literature such as Tanika
Sarkar's study on Bengal. Gail Minault has examined Urdu women's magazines in their
historical context. 16 Additionally, a demand for women's literature in vernacular languages has
also been created by translations. Feminist publisher Ka/ifor Women began consciously
publishing translations of women's writing in regional languages to catch the multiple voices of
women. A niche publisher like Katha has made translations its main plank. Bharatiya Gyanpith
is also a great contributer of translated literary masterpieces. With regard to my study
particularly, translations of writings by women in Urdu have been particularly useful.
Keeping such situations in mind, it is the task of historians concerned with gender to
reconstruct the female el{perience, the buried and neglected female past, to fill in the blanks and
make the silence speak. To write history without reference to gender is to distort vision. Sexist
history by virtue of its assumption of "immutable and inherent... character attributes/' is a bad
17
history, since it cannot "deal with change over time."

Literature as a Source (or Reconstructing Women's History

15
Aparna Basu, "Women's History in India: an Historiographical Survey," in Writing Women's History:
International Perspectives, eds., Karen Offen, Ruth Roach Pierson and Jane Rendall, On behalf of the
International Federation for Research in Women's History, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991),
181-182.
16
See Jagdish La! Dawar, "Feminism and Femininity: Women in Premchand's Fiction," Studies in History,
3, No. I (1987); Geetanjali Pandey, "Women in Premchand's Writings," EPW, 21, No. 50 (December 13,
1986); Jasodhara Bagchi, "Positivism and Nationalism: Womanhood and Crisis in Nationalist Fiction:
Bakim Chandra's Anandmath," EPW, 20, No. 43 (October 26, 1985). See also C. S. Lakshmi, The Face
Behind the Mask: Women in Tamil Literature (New Delhi: Vikas, 1984), and Tanika Sarkar, "Nationalist
Iconography: Image of Women in Nineteenth Century Bengali Literature," EPW, 22, No.4 (November 21,
1987). Gail Minault, "Urdu Women's Magazines in the Early 20th Century," Manushi, No. 48 (1988).
17
Bernice Carroll, ed., Liberating Women's History: Theoretical and Critical Essays, (Chicago: University
oflllinois Press, 1976.)
5
 Literature faces a similar situation of relegation to the realm of separation from history until the
later part of the twentieth century. The misbelief was that written history, which was inherited
and endorsed by official records, could not be rewritten, qualified and contradicted at different
points in time. However, we now know that history can be thought of as a kind of imaginative
fiction, or a poem, persuasive, ordered, endowed with the record, already established, of complex
transactions and ideologies. 18
It is now being increasingly recognized that in matters relating to mentalities, outlooks,
socially constructed notions and attitudes, the literary construction of a given reality can offer
richer insights and 'data' for its historical reconstruction than can the 'harder' source materials
conventionally relied upon by historians. Many times writers have an intuitive ability to capture
and articulate deeper human concerns and yearnings in their works that can be absent from the
hard-core academic, social or political analysis. 19 And yet, both literature and history are
equipped to explain life on the basis of institutions created by men and women rather than
appealing to immutable truths.
In the absence and paucity of other sources, literature offers deep insights and contributes
to gender history by giving a glimpse of the wider cultural and historical processes, which define
the position of women in a given society. Moreover, a feminist perspective of literature also
brings out the fact that a simple historical and materialist analysis must also focus on questions of
the representation of sexual difference, sexuality and subjectivity along with class conflict and
struggle, because a history of marginalized groups of society will not be complete without the
study of gendered experiences and identities of women, the largest marginalized group of any
society.
In the context of gender relations, literature does play an important role in female
subordination. 20 However, one should be aware of the danger of extracting from a text only one
aspect of a complex set of relationships between individuals and social processes. Cora Kaplan
has warned that there is a danger that feminists discussions of literature, in identifying sexism and
relations between the sexes as the critical issues in human affairs overlook other significant
relationships and their social situation. 21 Therefore, my study focuses not just on areas of
gendered hierarchy, where women are in a subordinate position, but also bring out women's

18
Ibid.
19
Ibid. '5.
20
Literature has become one of the major targets of feminist scrutiny and it has not let up its attack on
male-defined literature. One of the significant books on this subject being Kate Millet's Sexual Politics,
(London: Oxford University Press, 1972.)
21
Cora Kaplan, "Radical Feminism and Literature: Rethinking Millet's Sexual Politics," in Mary Evans
ed., The Woman Question: Readings on the Subordination of Women, (New York: Fontana, 1982); 386-
400.
6
 survival strategies, their methods of resistance and in some cases even the subversion and reversal
of gendered hierarchies.
Literature provides those details of social history and insights into such popular cultural
attitudes, which might have been systematically excluded from official histories of a period.
Historians in general and social historians in particular have increasingly begun to realize this
unique character of works of fiction, which renders them as useful sources in reconstructing the
history of traditionally marginalized groups of society, especially women. When researching
women's lives, works of literature become particularly important because non-official documents
such as diaries, stories, novels and folk songs portray a realistic picture of the day to day realities
and social interactions of women's lives. Official histories are often written with a view to
preserving and reinforcing traditional gender hierarchies, and not to subvert them. Drawing from
the preceding discussion, it is appropriate to conclude that literature is one of the most reliable
guides for studying women's history.
As a historian trying to discover and re-discover the contemporary and not so
contemporary reality, the literary creations of these writers who are perceptive observers of
society's grass root level functioning, form an important source material. All the writers under
study are living within the family tradition, either, their natal family, or the family of procreation,
or even both, they are not leading an isolated urban life and therefore they aren't cut off from the
reality. They are in fact an integral part of the social set! up and so their insights come from being
within, rather than as looking in as observers from an alien background and culture.
It is imperative to acknowledge that while fictional works do not necessarily represent
attempts to express eternal verities, they perform a kind of "cultural work" within a specific
historical situation. 22 This implies that fictional plots and characters offer society a way to think
about itself by defining aspects of social reality shared by author and reader and they dramatise
conflicts and recommend resolutions. 23 Tompkins further elucidates saying that "literary texts
both shape and reflect the culture from which they emerge, they contain much that is potentially
useful for the social historian-not in the formal properties of the literary discourse, but in the
cultural data they may reveal.
The use of fiction as a source ofhistorical data is not a new concept. Where a dearth of
material has hampered research, for example, on certain aspects of the lives of ordinary people,
historians have relied on literature to fill in the gaps. Most often they have turned to novels
included in the literary canon, for instance, the works of Kalidasa have been used to reconstruct

22
Linda W. Rosenzweig, The Anchor of My Life: Middle-Class American Mothers and Daughters, 1880-
1920, (New York: New York University Press, 1993), 42.
23
Jane Tompkins, Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work ofAmerican Fiction, 1790-1860, (New York:
New York University Press, 1985.) \
7
 Ancient Indian history. Literature is useful to the historian ecause it does not exist in a vaccum.
Even things like the composition, publication, circulation, and reading of the text reflect the
influence of cultural forces. 24
Recent Revisionist studies have focused the historians's attention on the importance of
popular novels, particularly late twentieth century women's fiction, in both expressing andre-
shaping the social context of the era. Hence my use of 1iterature is based on the belief that fiction
by women is an excellent source material on social history, especially gender and women's
history because of its discussions of domesticity, particularly since fiction reaches a large
readership, and identifies the most-talked and thought about subjects within families and
households. Further more, in this context, Mary Ryan writes, that fiction records raw individual
experience, sorts out, evaluates, assigns relative importance and gives a human and social
meaning to emotions and experiences, which the readers can identify with and situate within the
context of their personallives? 5
Literature is a way of saying things. My study of literary writings during the course of
this study shows that they could simply be dreams of the authors, lying in their deep sub-
conscious, or they could be truths about the ills ailing the larger society in general. Literature
covers subjects as wide-ranging as the story of an individual to the society, polity, economy and
culture of the human race. Right from the experience of a single moment, to the historical
evolution of centuries, literature has the ability to extend its boundaries. Thus literature in this
sense then is beyond the dimensions oftime and space, although in order to study it, one might
have to contextualize it within particularities of time and place. It carries within it the past,
present and future, because human imagination can take a flight of fancy in any direction, and in
this sense then they are three dimensional as far as time is concerned. The writers I have studied
have borrowed from the past in the form of history, culture and traditions, they reflect the present
in their writings and they predict and create the future via the medium of dreams and imagination.
Writers write about different regions yet express similar gender experiences.

24
Linda W. Rosenzweig, The Anchor of My Life: Middle-Class American Mothers and Daughters, 1880-/920,
(New York: New York University Press, 1993), 43.
25
Mary P. Ryan, The Empire ofthe Mother: American Writingabout Domesticity, 1830-1860, (New York:
New York University Press, 1982.)

8
 Historians at times make use of literary sources while weaving their historical narratives.
Since most literary discourses are rooted in the socio-cultural conditions of the epoch, they
usually reflect social reality in an authentic way. 26

Gender and Gender Relations

This aspect of my study is grounded in the belief that gender is a fluid entity and gender relations
therefore are dynamic and ever-changing depending usually on personalities and circumstances.
In this context, the introductory essay of the book, Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two
World Wars,Margaret Randolph proposes an very interesting model to explain the
relationship between the two genders. She compares the gender system to the structure of
the double helix. The gender system is composed, they suggest, of a male strand and a female
strand which are intertwined but opposed and set in a dominant-subordinate relationship. This
double helix represents women's progress and regression, with its male and female intertwined
strands changing position as they move around the axis, yet maintaining a constant relationship
with each other.Z 7 Recognizing the complexity embodied in the double helix model, this stream
of thought considers the interplay of economic, social, political, ideological, and psychological
factors in the construction of and challenges to the gender system. Following from this, the most
accepted explanation for gender differences is the sociocultural model that holds them to be
results of socialization and/or occupancy of sex differentiated roles. There has been extensive
social change in the past three decades, reducing sex typed role assignments and attitudes.

Gender and Women's History

A generation of studies has taught us to see ways in which men and women are socially and
culturally conditioned to certain kinds of behaviour. This is the reason why scholars in the last
few decades are increasingly thinking and talking about 'gender'-the social and cultural

26
Jaspal Singh, "Mosaic of life in a village on the Chenab," The Sunday Tribune, Spectrum, (Sunday,
August 18, 2002.) Last April, a bunch of Punjab historians led by J. S. Grewal organised a seminar
at Punjab University specifically devoted to this theme.
27
Randolph Higonnet, Margaret, Jane Jenson, Sonya Michel, and Margaret Collins Weitz, eds. Behind
the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.
9
 behaviour that may build upon or ignore biological sexual identity. 28 There are however, pitfalls
even in the field of women's history. Often times, historians who see women's history as a
means of breaking down stereotypes about women's place in society uncover exceptional women
who gained power or prominence in the largely male world of rulers, artists, writers or rebels,
tend to neglect the married women who stayed at home rearing children and tending to family
affairs, or those who performed back-breaking labour in the fields or worked as sweepers and
domestic help, or those who spent long hours cooped up in offices, working shoulder to shoulder
with their husbands, yet coming home to a second shift of cooking dinner, tending to the children
and offering herself up for her husband's sexual needs. In order to see these aspects as integral to
women's lives and therefore to their history, one needs to not place women in traditionally
masculine contexts and highlight great women rulers and artists, but also try to see, perceive and
write their history within their traditional context of home and family and analyse their
conventional roles. Therefore, a significant part of women's history as it has been developed in
Western academic circles has stimulated historians to analyze the ideological basis of women's
subordination and the historical processes by which particular constructions of gender differences
have come to be accepted as matters of fact. Today history also includes studies on personal and
emotional lives of men and women, their activities through all the years of historical annals of
men's achievements. History today is also concerned with analyzing gender as an integral force
within culture and society. 29

To study gender within history involves studying the ways in which men and women are
conditioned and trained in different (and similar) activities, to explore those diverse realms, and
to understand the dynamics of gender interactions. ln other words, it involves studying family as
w~ll as state, and kinship and household ties are given as much importance, or even more than
matters of governance and foreign relations. What this implies for gender and more specifically
women's history is that activities in which traditionally women have been playing a greater role
than men such as household activities, child rearing, cooking, feeding, clothing, maintaining
family relations etc. are as important a part of human past as the largely male-dominated
"outside" activities of traditional history.
Thus the new historians ofwomen, many of whom are women, 'new women' to be
precise, have opened up vast realms of human activity that were largely ignored in past histories
because men did not deem them important." And since male records of human civilization and

28
Kevin Reilly, "Foreword," in Women in World History, 1500 to Present, eds., Brady Hughes and Sarah
Shaver Hughes, (New York: Sharpe, 1997), xi-xiii.
29
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung
Period (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 4-5.
10
 history are more numerous than women's and have shown us how to read in between the lines of
those documents, to find new sources in myths, oral traditions, art and artifact, thus developing
new means of research and new methods of analysis.
It is indeed noteworthy that the scholars of women's history and allied scholars of what
has come to be known as the "new social history" (the study of everyday life, average and earlier
marginalised people and activities, of eating habits, sexuality, diseases, witchcraft, pastimes etc.)
have opened up the past thus expanding the field of history beyond its centuries old traditional
boundaries.

Language and Gender

In a study on gender and literature, it goes without saying that language which is the medium for
expressing literary observations and opinions and language which is in itself a form of gendered
expression in culture and society, plays an important role in formulating women's gendered
experiences and identities.
There are two main outlooks regarding the relationship between gender and language.
· Firstly there is the view that language merely reflects social gender divisions and inequalities,
whereas the second view holds that such divisions and inequalities are actually created through
sexist linguistic behavioi.lt. 30 However, my experience in the course of this study and in real life
itself supports a third a view that argues that both processes apply and that any full account of
language and gender must explore the tension and interplay between the two. Therefore while
language certainly reflects the gendered hierarchies of society, it also on the other hand creates
gendered divisions and inequalities by its verbiage and use in sexually discriminatory manner.

Gender, Literature and Women's Historv as the Three Focal Points o(Mv Study

Women are now exploring previously uncharted courses and developing new paths leading them
to their roots. My decision to study this subject was also motivated by my desire to see where
I'm coming from, what shaped the attitudes and personalities of my mother and grandmother,
where are my roots and how can I preserve, what is my cultural heritage, how can I imbibe this
culture within myself, and preserve it for the future generation. While studying such literature
inspired by and reflecting matrilineal tendencies, that is to say subjects revolving around
women's lives, their world, family, household, relationships etc. is not a new concept in literature,

30
David Granddol and Joan Swann, Gender Voices, (Oxford: basil Blackwell, 1989), 7-9.
11
 its use as historical source material though is relatively new. In the academic fields of history and
literature, the so called 'private' sphere is being examined and revealed. Carroll Smith-
Rosenberg describes the effect of this approach on history, and says that our concern with the
private and the domestic has altered our methodology and our hierarchy of historical significance.
On the most elementary level, asserts Smith-Rosenberg, this change has demonstrated the need to
expand the nature of our sources and to turn to the behavioural sciences and humanities for
frameworks of interpretive conceptualization. She rightly emphasizes that "we begin to question
whether women's peculiar experiences and needs (as they go about leading the normal course of
their lives) may have affected developments in the public sphere. We have in short, redefined
what is significant about our past. 31

Categorizing women as minorities, historian Jacques Revel states that in the twentieth
century, "women's history has had as its primary function to restore a memory to those women
(and sometimes men) who felt themselves dispossessed of memory. The subject matter of history
has therefore been examined in order to find women's place in it."32
Keeping this function of current historical research, especially in the field of the so-called
"women's history," this study is an attempt to understand and uncover women's role and
placement in the historical and (given the time frame of this study) contemporary scheme of
things. After all, comprising almost half of the population of the nation, women ought to have
been doing things, making things happen and been impacted with things happening around them.
Focusing on women, examining their presence as a gendered entity, analyzing the formulation of
their gendered identities and studying their gendered experiences is then the core essence and the
central aim of this study.
However, despite its aim at studying women's gendered lives, this study should not be
categorized as simply "women's history." Women like men have always formed part of the
society and have been responsible for carrying on the human species in order to make history
happen. They have been, if not always highly active, then at least passive instruments of creating
history and belng in turn affected by it. For instance, taking the example of work, more
specifically, "productive work," which implies paid work done outside the home, which was for
the most part then done by men, should be studied along with women's work and should not be
treated exclusively from each other. As Revel explains, all types of work, whether men's or
women's should be compared to each other, "so as to understand how these types form a
hierarchy and are related to one another, and so as to recognize the conflicts, similarities and

31
Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "The New Woman and the New History," in Feminist Studies, Vol. 3, (Fall,
1975), 185.
32
Jacques Revel, "Masculine and Feminine: The Historiographical Use of Sexual Roles," in Writing
Women's History, ed. Michelle Perrot, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 93.

12
 interdependence of different types of work."33 Taking the same concept to a broader level then, it
is desirable that the history of women's roles, like the present one, should cease to be written as a
separate history, precisely in order that it may find a status and a place in the overall social
history in which feminine practices, just like masculine practices find their true meaning and
place.
As the title of my thesis implies, I am studying the gendered experiences and gendered
identities ofwomen, therefore, women form the category of analysis. This category is not based
on the biological characterictics shared by women, but rather on their socio-cultural traits.
Women as a category of analysis refers to the critical assumption that all of us belonging
to the same gender, across classes and cultures, are somehow socially constituted as a
homogeneous group identified prior to the process of analysis. This is an assumption
which characterizes much feminist discourse. 34 The homogeneity of women as a group is
produced not on the basis of biological essentials, but rather on the basis of secondary
sociological and anthropological universals. Thus, for instance, in any given piece of
feminist analysis, women might be characterized as a singular group on the basis of a
shared oppression. What binds women together is a sociological notion of the "sameness"
of their oppression. While I agree with Chandra Talpade Mohanty that aspects of women's
studies, for example male violence or patriarchal oppression, must be theorized and
interpreted within specific societies, both in order to understand it better, as well as in
order to effectively organize to change it and that sisterhood cannot be assumed on the
basis of gender; it must be forged in concrete, historical and political practice and
analysis, however in the context of my study where the subjects are part of a common
culture and society, it is appropriate to generalize North Indian women from Hindi,
35
Punjabi and Urdu speaking belts as a singular category of analysis. Although variations
on the basis of location (rural vs urban), class differences, social standing among others
are noticeable throughout the literature, however, I argue that gender emerges as the
supreme force in guiding women's life choices, options, constraints and decisions.
Gender permeates through other differences and although its implications might
be reflected in individual ways, they are nevertheless restrictive and liberating,
oppressing and empowering in a manner that that is unique to women. This study offers
powerful representations offemale constriction, subordination and her desire for and means of

33
Ibid. , 95. .
34
Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses," in
Boundary 2 Volume 12, Issue 3, On Humanism and the University 1: The Discourse of Humanism (Spring-
Autumn, 1984), 337-338.
35
Ibid. , 339.
13
 resistance against such control within, or without the institution of marriage during the decades
since independence right until contemporary times. Unlike other victims of generic social
discrimination, women are expected to live with and to desire the parties who have
traditionally and institutionally denied them legitimacy and autonomy. These contradictory
tendencies of social organization impede for women the production of the kind of group
consciousness generated by, for example, the physical ghettoization of many ethnic, racial,
and religious communities. 36
This is probably the reason why writers have been moved to the extent that they are and
consequently, a common motif which is woven through the narrative in all the chapters is that of
these writers' experience of being literally and psychologically wounded and moved by the
inequality of gender relations and blatant subordination of women. Even in narratives of
women's resistance and subversive designs, the empowerment, usually covert in nature, emanates
from previous consciousness of oppression and the ability to resist, thus highlighting the fact that
the writers are highly sensitive to the oppression and subjugation of women and in a way lay it on
the table before turning the tables and inverting gender equations.
While stressing the profound misogyny of Indian culture, my study also explores the
various ways in which these writers have adapted to or attempted to resist the patriarchal society
and culture, not just in their texts but even in their lives.
Additionally, it is imperative to point out that despite underlying commonalities, there are
differences, and womanhood is not a singular, universal experience, rather it encompasses a
multiplicity of experiences. Because of its concentration on women as mothers, childless
mothers, daughters, wives, mothers-in-law, my thesis offers a specific vantage point within the
current debate among feminists about the female subject and the meaning of femininity. By
distinguishing between varying female positions as mentioned above, it challenges the notion of
woman as a singular, unified, transparent category. For instance, the multiplicity of women is
highly pronounced even in the so called universal concept of motherhood. Within this concept,
there are mothers and daughters, additionally, there are mother figures, who are women who
might be childless women or surrogate mothers.
These writers have taken up several traditional themes, many of which are age old and
have rewritten them to represent the present day context of these issues in the lives of women
today. For instance, motherhood is a very conventional theme, but it has been placed in the
context of a career, thus bringing out the dilemmas of working mothers. Similarly marriage has

36
Lauren Berlant, "The Female Complaint," in Social Text, Volume 0, Issue 19/20 (Autumn, 1988), 237-
259.

14
 been re-framed in today's socio-economic conditions, where college educated wives want careers
of their own and therefore come in conflict with husbands who might have been raised in a more
traditional family environment. The writings under study show how writers who are women can
articulate their attitudes towards the position of women in their society through the language and
patterning of their fiction.
Therefore, keeping in mind the various facets of women's experiences and identities, the
analyses presented in this chapter focus on writers whose narratives reflect varied expressions of
the metaphors of boundary and spatiality: the experiences of the body; the formation of
psychological boundaries; the crucial effects of attachment, union, separation, and loss as
processes within primary emotional relationships-particularly between wives and husbands,
mothers (or mother-figures) and daughters and daughters-in-law; political or cultural conflicts
between dissimilar groups or values; and the shape or narrative of each literary work. In other
words, I would like to emphasise and focus on how women know their boundaries, they are aware
'
of the relationships, the kinship bonds and the identities that tie them and ground them in a way.
Yet at the same time, they are also aware of their personal ability to create their own spaces.
Although this sense of space is still constrained by their boundaries of family life, yet variables of
individual personality, specific circumstances, cultural environment of the family and the level of
pressure of subjugation can influence women's strength and capacity to resist and to expand this
' personal space without breaking the boundaries. Hence the boundary and spatialty referred to
above, exist simultaneously in the woman's psyche, and even while acknowledging the
boundaries, she can set her own limits as far as the space within that boundary is concerned. The
boundaries are fixed, the space that a woman needs, desires and succeeds in creating for herself is
fluid and elastic in nature.
While novels, stories and other fiction do not necessarily represent attempts to express
eternal verities, they do perform a kind of"cultural work" within a specific historical situation:
fictional plot and characters offer society a way to think about itself; they define aspects of social
37
reality shared by author and reader; and they dramatize conflicts and recommend resolutions.

Women and Writing:

The Rise and Emergence of Women Writers

37
Jane Tompkins, Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work ofAmerican Fiction, 1790-1860, (New York:
New York University press, 1985.)
15
 The 1940s and the granting of independence to the countries of South Asia, marked the beginning
of a new era for women writers in India. Together with their male contemporaries they began
working towards a new kind of self-determination in which sex and gender played little or no
role. The Indian constitution granted women political equality and at least Hindu women were
given equal rights of inheritance, monogamy and divorce. Moreover, rapid urban expansion and
the economic deterioration of the middle classes have produced two new phenomena: more and
more women are receiving an education and many women are leaving the confines of the home to
take an outside job. As a result, argues Sanjukta Gupta in her article on women and literature in
India, a number of women have emerged as writers of repute and have contributed invaluably to
Indian literature. 38 Many of them are highly educated women, aware of the changing patterns of
Western social philosophy and literature. They are well-read, well-traveled, progressive and
emancipated, relatively speaking, although many of them would refuse to make this claim about
their emancipation, particularly in light of the challenges and censorship they have to face in their
family and society (I have discussed these challenges a bit later in the chapter)
Although traditionally the literary activities of women have centered mainly on poetry,
most of the well-known women writing today chose prose as their literary medium, usually in the
form of short stories, novels and critical essays. In fact talented writers like Amrita Pritam
writin~ in Hindi and Punjabi and Nabaneeta Deb-Sen began their literary career as poets, but later
took up prose and acquired fame more as novelists than as poets. This switch in their literary
medium can be attributed to the popularity and effectiveness of prose over poetry. While reading
poetry requires a certain temperament and aptitude, reading stories and novels is easier for most
people and therefore ensure a much wider readership than poetry. Therefore, although both
mediums can be true in their description of reality, and poetry can in fact sometimes be highly
fervent and inspirational, however, social change and raising awareness is more likely to be
achieved through prose than through poetry.
A number of these writers such as Mannu Bhandari, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Mridula Garg,
Usha Priyamvada, also teach in universities, and so are in touch with young women, are keenly
aware of the problems that women face today, and they closely follow developments in women's
movements all over the world. Most of them are involved in emancipation in their societies and
communities where they are well-read.

Why is the Study Based only on Writers who are Women?

38
Sanjukta Gupta, "Women and Literature in South Asia," in Unheard Words: Women and Literature in
Africa, The Arab World, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, ed., Mineke Schipper, (London: Allison
and Busby, 1984), 127-128.
16
 I believe that a social situation or circumstance is best understood from the inside, rather than
outside, similarly, gendered identities are better portrayed when experienced by the writer herself,
and social processes of gender are best described by those who have been intricately involved
with trying to accommodate their lives 'around those processes and have been part of a movement,
though sometimes on an individual and unorganized level, to reverse or subvert these male
constructed gendered processes. Therefore, it is but natural that when I study the gendered
identities and experiences of women, with an aim to achieving the most sincere, honest, true to
life records of women's realities, I would turn to women writing about women.
I would like to borrow Mary Kelley's term "literary domestics" to describe the
writers whose works I have analysed for purposes of my study. 39 This term implies that
the writings of these authors integrate the private, domestic side of their own lives into
their published prose, thus providing valuable insights into the lives of Indian women.
These novels reflect and contribute to the changes occurring in women's lives and as my
study will demonstrate, these works speak directly to the concerns of their readers. 40
The most accurate way to learn and know about a particular subject is to go to an expert
in that particular field of knowledge. An expert would be someone who has either studied the
subject for a considerable length of time, or has personally experienced the subject or
phenomenon under study or has closely observed the working and perpetuation of the subject of
scrutiny. In order to get a comprehensive picture of women's gendered experiences in society,
which implies both within and outside the home, the total fabric of women's lives needs to be
considered, not one aspect of their lives apart from the others. Therefore, it is imperative to
understand that, given women's special rotes as daughters, wives, and mothers, the paid
employment of women outside the home cannot be understood in isolation or separate from
women's status and work within the home. 41 Based on this premise, I argue that while
attempting to study and understand the gendered identities and experiences of women's social
realities, it would best serve my purpose to go directly to the writings by members of this
marginalized group--women, who observe, analyse and represent the socio-cultural and
economic life of women by virtue of being writers.

39
Mary Kelley, Private Woman, Public Stage: Literary Domesticity in Nineteenth Century America, (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1984.)
40
Nina Baym, Woman's Fiction: A Guide to Novels By and About Women in America, (New York: New
York University Press, 1978.)
41
Jane Lewis, ed. Labour and. Love: Women's Experience ofjlame and Family, 1850-1940, (New York:
Basil Blackwell. 1986.)

17
 It is generally believed that all writing by women is marked by gender and these writings
necessarily articulate gendered experiences. 42 While this might be true to some extent, it is
however necessary to acknowledge that women's writings also necessarily take place within,
rather than outside a dominant male discourse, through acts of revision, appropriation and
subversion. Therefore, one can extend this argument saying that even men's writing is a
gendered discourse as all subjects are gendered and all literary discourse is gender-specific,
43
irrespective of the fact that it is written by either male or female.
Additionally, and more importantly, my survey of literature within India and outside, by
writers who are women has revealed that these writers represent not only a gender, but rather
each of them is also part of a certain caste, class, race, rei igion, nation and ideology. Of all these
factors, gender and class are in fact most closely linked issues and represent what Joan Kelly
44
calls, "the doubled vision of feminist theory." And it is only by seeing both relations of gender
and class as simultaneously perpetuating oppression can one get a complete picture, and thus
reach a comprehensive analysis. I aim at undertaking this kind of comprehensive research by
studying literature by women who write about gendered experiences across class, caste and
regional boundaries. The readings I have done with regard to my research, show that there are
two main groups of characters portrayed in this selection of literature. One group comprises of
women from well to do families, who have been educated in the university, are enlightened and
unencumbered by traditional social strictures. They suffer from their unique set of problems such
as alienation, loneliness and misunderstandings. They strive to establish new social norms for
women and in general lead a more fulfilling life. On the other end of the spectrum lies the second
group of characters, mainly rural and lower to lower-middle class women. These women face
problems of oppression, discrimination in terms of upbringing, reproductive rights and basic
economic problems such as survival in a hostile socio-economic environment. These types of
representations have been articulated by writers su~h as Shivani, Ajeet Cour, and Qurratulain
Hyder and others to name a few.
In order to rationally explain my decision to use writings by women as the source material
instead of using writings by both men and women, it is necessary to briefly explain how men and
women differ in their observations of women and women's lives and experiences.
Stephen Alter points out that, with few significant exceptions, the vast majority of
post-colonial writers in India are men. This literary patriarchy often wrote about the

42
Karen Offen , Ruth Roach Pearson and Jane Rendall, eds. , Writing Women's History: Interntiona/
Perspectives, on behalf of the International Federation for Research in Women's History (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1991 ), II.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid., 13.
18
 social problems faced by women such as dowry, child marriage or the treatment of
widows but these issues were couched in patronizing stories that did not seriously
question the inequality of women in Indian society .45 While I agree that the writers under
study, being women themselves have a better understanding ofthe various feelings,
emotions, reactions and responses buried within the psyche of women. However, Alter's
statement appears to be a sweeping generalization which obviously is not taking in the
entire literary scene of modern India. Writers such as Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyaya,
Rabindra Nath Tagore, and Premchand though not as familiar with the inner worlds of
women and women's lives still have presented creditable works, which are very
sympathetic in their description of women's lives.
Anita Desai, who broke into print during the 1970s, makes a point similar to Alter in
an essay on gender in Indian literature. She writes that although enunciation comes easily
enough to Indians, and so does worship, criticism is an acquired faculty and Indian women have
never been encouraged- on the contrary, all their lives have been discouraged- from harbouring
what is potentially so dangerous. Accept or Die has been their dictum. It is a creed that could not
last and is .now being unleamt ... The effects of that dire mille dictum have been particularly
horrible ones- however unjust and unacceptable life seemed, women were not supposed to alter
them or even criticize them; all they could do was burst into tears and mope. This is surely the
reason for so much tearfulness in women's fiction - a strain now dominant and now subdued, but
ever present, as many critics have pointed out, of nostalgia and regret. 46
Once again, Desai's argument is steeped in bias and displays an incomplete comprehension
fthe Indian women's literary writings. I have aimed in my study to build up a narrative of
resistance in ever context and ever aspect possible because that reflects the reality of women's
lives, where relationships are combative and do not reflect what Desai says, "accept or die."
Admittedly, women do have to give in and submit more often than me, however, they certainly
do not do so without at least some degree of resistance. Accepting Desai's statementwould
imply that one ignores the passive and covert forms of resistance and subjugation, which in fact
characterize majority oflndian women's style and avenues of resistance. In fact passive and
covert resistance is often less expensive for women, they can influence and resist decisions while
living within the fold of the household and family ties, obligations and rights. Hence these under-
cover methods are even more powerful than open resistance and the risk element that open

45
Stephen Alter, "A Few thoughts on Indian Fiction," in A/if Journal ofComparitive Poetics, Volume 0,
Issue 18, Post Colonial Discourse in South Asia, (1998), 26.
46
Anita Desai, "Indian Women Writers," in The Eye ofthe Beholder, Indian Writing In English. ed. Maggie
Butcher. (London: Commonwealth Institute, 1983), 56.

19
 resistance carries with is minimized when covert methods are employed.
Moreover as my chapter on gender and culture explains, the strength which women have
is not as Desai argues acquired from Western thought, in fact the writers under study read Indian
writings more than western ones and are likely to imbibe influences likewise instead of blindly
following foreign traditions. The references these writers make in their fiction, and the cultural
heritage they describe is their very own, uniquely Indian and indigenous in character, barring of
course the commonalites that underlie certain aspects ofwomanhoods that are different yet in
some ways universal. Hence women's own inner resources oftraditions, backgrounds,
upbringing and culture form part of their writings' identity. And these traditions, especially the
tradition of women's oral culture of folk songs, proverbs and lyrical easily memorizable verses
reflect a deep-seated discontent and a desire to resist patriarchal domination. It is this tradition
that the present day writers draw upon for their inspiration. The women under study have
created literature which has gone a long way towards reversing some of such biased
dictums. Writings such as "Kajli," "Ramji Ke Kuon Ki Dolchi," and "Ketaki" 47 to name_a
few, presentthe narratives of women speaking in their own voices, without the tears and
tantrums.
The emphasis is not on "accepting and dying" and the total victimization of women, rather
on the urge to instigate and provoke resistance. Many writers speak about refusing to be silent or
allow patriarchal forces, both male and female to silence them. For instance, Sunaina, the
narrator in Gitanjali Shree's Mai, repeatedly, in every 'chapter, insists, cajoles, even shouts at her
mother to break her silence and urge her to talk back or at least put up some form of token
resistance by speaking up. 48

The most generally accepted thesis of gender difference in writing autobiography has
been propounded by Mary Mason, that where men stress their individualism in their
autobi~graphies, women define their identity in terms of their relationship with others. 49 To add
to this, I would like to emphasise that this is the case not just with regard to autobiography, but
rather even in the case of fiction, where female narrators or protagonists, portrayed by women
creators define themselves and their lives around others and their own relationships with these
others. Other "genderic differences" frequently put forward hypothesize the discontinuity and
fragmentation of women's autobiographies as opposed to the public, professional matter of men's
and the "split subject" of women's autobiographies written against a cultural injunction against

47
Amrita Pritam, "Garud Ganga," (93-99) and "Ramji ke Kuen ki Dolchi," (77-82) in Kacche Resham Si
Ladki, (New Delhi: Kitaabghar, 1998.)
48
Gitanjali Shree, Mai, (New Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashna, 1993.)
49
Mary G. Mason, "The Other Voice: Autobiographies of Women Writers," in Autobiography: Essays
Theoretical and Critical. ed., James Olney, Princeton: Princeton University press, 1980, (207-235).
20
 50
women's writing." Writers in the female mode use language not to gain power but to create
intimacy, especially through the use of self-reflective statements and introspective writing style. 5 1
The extremely personal nature of autobiographical writings is characteristic of the
autobiographies of the writers under study. For instance, Bachint Kaur and Amrita Pritam, Ajeet
Kaur, all reveal details of their personal lives, some in more intricate detail than others. Ajeet
Cour gives details of her affairs while Amrita Pritam refers from time to time in her
autobiography, to her tragic love affair with poet Sahir Ludhianvi. 52 Bachint Kaur's
autobiography focuses on her economically deprived childhood and youth, and she willingly
exposes her grandmother's attempt to kill both new born baby Bachint and her mother just after
her birth. 53

The very qualities male critics such as Georges Gusdorf claims were not significant
in the autobiographical self~qualities such as "identification, interdependence and~
community" were seen to be "key elements in the development of a woman's identity" i .c?(Y ~
C!) ClJ'
autobiography as in life. 54 Women who are expected to be responsible for maintaining Z. . :!§
.......~\ '
family ties, whose identities as writers are rivaled, in many cases even surpassed by their~'<~~>:·~::.~-- ,
:--...~4:;N'\'c::.
identities as wives and mothers find it but natural to bring into their narrative, both personal · :::::::~;..:.::.::-
and fiction the network of relationships by which they are tied and through which they
procure their different names and identities. However, this very fact of interdependence and
a sense of relational community makes these women often go into introspection and reflect
on what exactly is their innermost identity. Therefore their writings reveal self-reflection, a
growing sense of awareness and self-realization that they do have an identity beyond being
mothers, wives, aunts, daughters, they are in a way, apart from the relationships defining
them, an entity by themselves too. One of the most prominent examples that comes to mind
in this regard is that of Khanabadoush by Ajeet Cour which is full of instances where the
writer is struggling hard to locate her respective identities. Finally she comes up with her
most true identity which, she writes, is the biggest sin of her life as seen by male eyes,
because this identity says loud and clear that she is a financially self-dependent, self-
respecting, intellectually cultured, single woman. 55

50
Shirley Neuman, Autobiography and Questions of Gender, (London: Frank Cass, 1991),2.
51
Diane P. Freedman, "Discourse as Power: Renouncing Denial," in Anxious Powers: Reading writing and
Ambivalence in Narrative by Women, eds., Carol J. Singly and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, (New York:
University ofNew York Press, 1993), 363-378.
52
Amrita Pritam, Rasidi Ticket (Revenue Stamp), (New Delhi: Nagmani Prakshan, 1976.); Ajeet Cour,
Khanabadoush, (Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1982.)
53
Bachint Kaur, Pagdandiyan, (New Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1995.)
54
Ibid.
55
Ajeet Cour, Khanabadoush, (New Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1982), 131.
21
 To explain and prove my belief that women's writings on women are more true to reality
and close to the actual experiences of women than are men's writings on the same subjects, the
world over, I have used an example from an earlier century and from a different continent and
culture (Nineteenth century slave narratives from Southern American states.) However, this
\
difference oftime and place between this example and my study of almost contemporary Indian
literature only goes to prove the universality of my argument. The study of nineteenth century
slave narratives by men and women clearly brings out the difference between male and female
narratives and how writings by women are more accurate than men's in portraying their true
situation. 56
Black men, who wrote slave narratives, shared the Nineteenth century's predilection for
defining women in terms of manners, morals, and motherhood and for limiting the female
protagonist to the genteel writing designed for the woman reader. Most male narrators, referred
to slave women en masse as "the females" or "the women" and presents slave women primarily as
examples of the extremes of the depravity to which slaveholders descended and ofthe
degradation to which black men, through their inability to protect and to provide, were forced. 57
There is no reason to believe that male narrators deliberately set out to demean or to
misrepresent slave women. Both social attitudes toward women and literary conventions
made the distortion of slave women probable in narratives that featured male protagonists. 58
These narratives by men were not intended to beHttle the brutal effect upon the women, but it
does remind us that maltreatment of women is often considered an affront to the men with
whom the women are associated. The psychological dejection of those men who could not
protect their women is then included as another burden of slavery. Thus the woman, who
was the real victim was sidelined and the narrative focussed and elaborated on the men who
were related to the woman. The shift of focus from the actual victim of sexual and physical
crimes is characteristic of male narrative, not just in this context but in contexts of all periods
and societies. This major literary flaw can be corrected only by narratives from the other end
of the gender spectrum, that is in writings by women, who have the inside view of the
gendered experiences of their sisters. The switch in characterization of slave women from
passive victims to heroic actors is partly due to the fact that slave women are protagonists
and thus expected to exhibit more complex and positive traits and to engage in a greater
variety of experiences than when all women are secondary characters. Male narrators
interpret as supplements to their own experiences that which they saw and deemed significant

56
Frances Foster, ""In Respect To Females ... ": Differences In The Portrayals Of Women By Male And
Female Narrators." In Black American Literature Forum, Volume 15, issue 2 (Summer, 1981), 66-70.
51
Ibid., 67.
58
Ibid., 66
22
 of other slaves' experiences as a means of enhancing their descriptions of the crippling power
of slavery. Female narrators present those incidents that most affected their development,
those experiences that might have influenced the molding of their character and by
implication or direct statement, they extend their positive characteristics to other slaves.
Rather than elaborating upon the weight of their oppression, the women emphasize the
sources of the strength with which they met that force. 59
The number of slave narratives published by men far exceeds those published by
women, and thus the slave's self-portrayal is dominated by male features. Male narrators' use of
slave women's experiences was limited by the generic conventions of slave narratives as well
as by their conventional nineteenth-century male notions of woman's place. As a result, slave
women were stereotyped as sexual victims. Women narrators because of those same generic
conventions and their differing view of woman's place, present stronger, more complex
portraitures of their sex. Through their likenesses we gain a different perception of the courage
and perseverance not only of the narrators but also of the 'women who did not write their
stories. To recognize their presence gives us a more complete picture of our past, and this we
should strive for not only in respect to females, but in respect to ourselves. 60

If a comprehensive literary history of the Twentieth Century is written, it will be

remembered a~ the century of women writers. 61 Even though literary women dates back to the
ancient times, it is the last century that saw the women writers come into their own and wield the
pen with a confidence that has long been denied to them. And this is a phenomenon that cuts
across countries and cultures. Moreover this is not to be judged just by numbers but also the
quality and the literary merit of their writings. These were writers who could break through the
given sexist politics of literature and make a place for themselves as writers who happened to be
women. In India, this ~;;entury sees the rise of the woman fiction writer. We have Asha Puma
Devi (Bengali), Ismat Chughtai and Qurratulain Hyder (Urdu) and Krishna Sobti (Hindi) as the
pioneering writers in their respective languages who paved the way for many other writers to
follow.
Women's literature is a powerful avenue through which to resist and subvert the common,
expected ways in which society frames all issues having to do with women. Women's spaces, one
might argue, need not necessarily exist under purely physical conditions. Female writers create a
space in which the depth and complexity of women's lives and their interactions with others can

59
Ibid. , 67.
60
Ibid. , 70.
61
Nirupama Dutt, "A Total Commitment to Writing," The Tribune, (Sunday, November 25, 200 I.)
23
 be represented honestly and fairly. Burdened by historical accounts, news media, politicians,
films, and other public forums that seek to essentialize and simplify women's lives, many female
writers have responded by forging a platform from which they can speak their familiar
62
experiences in their own words, through literature.

List of writers and Reason for their Selection and Biographies:

Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, the three main languqges ofthe northern belt, spoken primarily in
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal and Jammu
have a plethora ofwritings by women. Ofthis generous treasure of literature, I have chosen to
study the following:
Hindi: Shivani, Krishna Sobti, Mannu Bhandari, Chitra Mudgal, Mamta Kaliya, Mridula Garg,
Gitanjali Shree, Prabha Khaitan, Maitreyi Pushpa, Usha Priyamvada.
Punjabi: Amrita Pritam, Bachint Kaur, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, and Ajit Cour.
Urdu: Ismat Chughtai, Qurratulain Hyder, Jeelani Bano.

Reasons (or selection of these writers

My reasons for selecting these writers are many-fold. Beginning with the wave of writers born in
the 1920s and 30s who began publishing in the 1950s and 60s, these writers belonged to the
generation of women who played an increasingly important role in the following decades by
taking to the streets and protesting against social injustice. 63 Therefore they have lived through
the thick of the feminist movement and have therefore had their hand on the pulse oflndian
womanhoods. Since all these writers make women a focus on enquiry and an agenda of the
narrative, they are very popular and have a wide readership, therefore they represent the realities
of a wider population, and so a great percentage of women identify with the characters portrayed
by these writers. As a result, they are highly accurate in representing the reality of women's life
in a socially constructed gendered world. Additionally, it is accepted that the writings of popular
writers often reflect the desires of the readers, so the author writes what the readers would like to
read and learn about, especially if the case concerns women writing about issues they feel keenly
about and share their views and feelings with a readership that has similar concerns.

62
Ismat and Women's Writing as a Means of Resistance and Subversion.
Electronically Available at: http://www.isis.aust.com/rtn/womenonly.htm
63
Vasudha Dalmia, "Hopes and conflicts," in Dawn Special Report on South Asian History
Electronically Available at: http://www.dawn.com/events/millennium/20.htm
24
 Krishna Sobti admits that "one does write in view of what is the need of the hour. Also, I
feel a very strong sense of duty towards my readers. I am answerable to them. For me it is they
who influence my creativity. My writing shouldn't just be all of me. It must create spaces for the
64
reader outside and beyond the immediate context of the book." She also emphasizes that a
writer must move out of her interiority to be more expansive in thinking and expression.
In an interview with Katha, Sobti says that she t~kes her readers "very very seriously and
she believes that if one distorts anything while writing then she is destroying the trust reposed in
her by her readers." 65 She stresses the fact that one has to be very honest because she is writing
for "all those people who read you because they can't write themselves." You can't indulge your
emotions or you will be sentimental. You cannot give your readers half-truths. 66 Sobti also
explains that since her primary reader is not an English-speaking person, therefore she doesn't
keep that kind of reader in mind while writing.
Ajeet Cour's autobiography, Khanabadoush also reveals the high regard that she has fro
her readers. She uses terms such as Saathiyon and Doston (friends) in her narrative, thus
establishing a on-on-one relationship on as personal a level as writing and reading literature
allows. 67 Hence the needs, expectations and aspirations of the readers play an important role in
the creation ofthis literature, therefore, in order to understand the identities and experiences of
the women in the Northern Indian, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi speaking belt, it was a rational choice
to study literature by women.
Since the portrayals visible in this literature depict women as role-performers, aspiring,
suffering, protesting and reconciling as mothers, wives, sisters, identifying with the readers'
everyday lives, and also in turn enabling the readers to identify with the daily existence of the
protagonists, these writers create varied scenarios such as when role expectation and role
performance come to be at cross-purposes, emotional isolation of women, clash of tradition with
modernity, and the resulting threat or what is perceived as a threat to the family and the world of
order arid discipline among women under patriarchy. While they do portray repression, they also
refuse to ignore the simmering discontent among women, especially amongst the middle class
women who strive hard to balance and synthesize their various roles within and outside the home.

64
Krishna Sobti, interview with Hindustan Times.Com, (Wednesday, May I4, 2003)
Electronically Available at:
http://srd.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=krishna+sobti/v=2/SID=w/I=WS I/R=3/H=O/*-
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/18I I00522,00 II 0004000 I.htm
65
Krishna Sobti, Interview with Katha. Katha, Online Journal.
Electronically Avail able at: http://www.fictionindia.com/interview.htm
66
Ibid.
67
Ajeet Cour, Khanabadoush, (Delhi: Navyug Publishers, I982.)
25
 The readers feel a sense of identification with their literary 'heroines' and to my
understanding, they get a sympathy support group amongst these fictional women and at the same
time, a sense of hope from narratives of resistance, which make these female characters active
agents of subversion, trying through covert means in their own everyday lives, to create a place
for themselves and a grounding for their own status and decision-making faculties. The writers I
have chosen create characters, which represent the aspirations and inner thoughts and feelings of
the female readers, thus providing them with an indirect fulfillment and a dream to aspire to and
look up to in real life.
Furthermore, I have chosen this selection of writers with a view to getting a wider variety and a
more complete picture of gendered experiences and issues. Since the writers I am working come
from different socio-cultural, class and educational backgrounds, they all have different views
regarding women's gendered identities and experiences. They write about issues closest to their
hearts. Thus, while authors like Dalip Kaur Tiwana writes about the social life of women, relating
gender and society, Bachint Kaur and Chitra Mud gal talk about issues of economic deprivation,
thus linking class and gender; similarly, while Shivani has vividly depicted the rural woman in
her writings, Mannu Bhandari focuses more on the problems faced by the urban working woman;
While Amrita Pritam has written volumes about the spiritual and psychological lives of women,
Mridula Garg, Ajeet Cour and Ismat Chughtai portray women's desire for sexual liberation and
rights over their bodies. THis selection represents a mosaic, which provides reading experiences
of every kind, aimed at different sections of men and women in the society. More importantly, it
provides me with the opportunity to study a broad range of issues that are related to women's
gendered experiences and constitute their gendered identities.

Brie(Biographv o(the Writers:

Most of these authors such as Amrita Pritam, Ajeet Cour, Bachint Kaur, Chitra Mudgal, Dalip
Kaur Tiwana have led lives which stand testimony to their own personal victory in
emancipating themselves from the dictates of Indian patriarchy, as they have actively shaped
the direction of their life, and reached their goals of independence and self-expression without
patriarchal socio-cultural controls. Needless to say, since fiction writing is inspired by true life
events, the personal life of the writer, her relationship with her family, especially mother, spouse,
partner, children, friends becomes inevitably interlinked with their literary writings. Therefore I
have purposely made references to the autobiographical writings of these writers, which reflect
their life experiences, challenges and their responses to these challenges in the capacity of
daughter, wife, mother, friends, employer and a citizen of the Indian society. I have not included

26
 long biographical notes, because they are not intended to be full-scale biographical accounts,
especially since for almost all of the writers under study, there is at least one up to date biography
or autobiography, and in some cases both and for those who do not yet have biographies
dedicated to them, since many of the writers are extremely young both literarily speaking, and in
terms of age, there is still a lot of biographical evidence in anthologies, literary journals and
internet literary forums.
Combining fiction and autobiography wherever necessary has been an important tool in
this study, since fiction and autobiography grow in all likelihood from the same source, the
"contemplation of life that goes below its surface," therefore each provides a usefu I context
for examining the other. While some writers confine their autobiographies to what is
known as "the public sector of existence," others believe in the bare all philosophy. 68
would like to illustrate this with the help of the example of Punjabi fiction writers. It is
interesting to see that while Amrita Pritam's autobiography Revenue Stamp focuses more
on her public life, her friends, acquaintances, travels, her personal life is visible only in
glimpses, whenever she feels like referring to it occasionally within the narrative. On the
other hand, Ajeet Cour and Dalip Kaur Tiwana, the other two big names in Punjabi
fiction, go into considerable depth while narrating the course of their lives. They begin
and proceed with their life stories in a chronologically planned manner, giving details of
childhoods, the discrimination that Ajeet Cour had to experience, growing up with a
much pampered brother, and the travails in Dalip Kaur Tiwana's life that followed her
child marriage and her eventual rebase after she legally divorced her oppressive
husband. 69

Hindi Language Writers

Krishna Sobti
Krishna Sobti born on February 18, 1925, in Gujarat (West Punjab, in present-day Pakistan) is a
well-known Hindi fiction writer. Krishna Sobti's style and idiom impart an authentic touch to
whatever theme and situation she portrays. The essence of her creativity is said to lie in her
honesty and eagerness to reach the truth and to look into things, rather than at them. She received
the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Zindaginama. "Suffused with the ethos and ambience
of pre-partition rural Punjab, this novel of epic dimensions is a visual and dramatic recall of early

68
Susan Goodman, "Edith Wharton's Mothers and Daughters;'' in Tulsa Studies in Women's
Literature, Volume 9, Issue I, Women Writing Autobiography (Spring, 1990), 127.
69
Ajeet Cour, Khanabadoush, (Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1982), 71, 80; Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Nange Pairan
Da Safar, (New Delhi: Nagmani Prakashan, 1980.)
27
 memories in episodic form." Nand Kishore Naval, a critic, has referred to it as the most
comprehensive, sympathetic, and sensitive treatment in Hindi literature of the peasants since
Premchand. 70
Sobti says that she finds it boring to continue in the same vein, vocabulary and vision,
thus providing an apt description of her literary pattern. A look at her writings shows that her
language resources seem endless, varying from the earthy flavour of rural Punjab to the
uninhibited sexual bantering of Mitro Marjani to and Purani Dilli ethos;ofDilo Danish. She
claims that she changes her persona according to the needs of charaters and situations. The
importance of Krishna, lies not just in the fact that she chose a language, which spreads over a
large region of the country, but the fact that she could tell a story like none other conscious of the
history of the century that she was born to. 71 It is the very pulse ofthe times that she has captured
through the everyday people and their lives. Frank discussion of sexuality has emerged as a key
factor in women's writings today and beginning with Krishna Sobti's work, this strand in
women's writing has become more overt.
Her novels include Ai Ladki, Dar se Bichhuri, Mitro Marajani, Surajmukhi Andhere Ke.
Some of her well-known short stories are Najisa, Sikka Badal gaya, Badalom ke ghere. Sobti ek
Sohabata includes her major selected works. She also writes under the pseudonym of "Hashmat".
She received the Katha Chudamani for Lifetime Literary Achivement in 1999. She has also been
honoured with, the Shiromani Award in 1981, the Hindi Academy Award in 1982, and the Sahitya
Akademi Award for her novel Zindaginama. The essence of her creativity lies in her honesty and
in her eagerness to explore the truth on a larger canvas.

Sltivani

The prolific Shivani was born in 1923 in Saurashtra, and passed away last year in 2003. She
studied at Shantiniketan between 1935 and 1943, and since then has considered Rabindranath
Tagore one of her major influences. At Santiniketan she developed an interest in drama, and soon
started writing fiction. Her first published story was written in Bengali, but the majority of her
writing has been in Hindi. She was also fluent in Gujarati, Sanskrit and English. Shivani's fiction
proclaims a quiet, warm humanism. Characters who might seem pale and uninteresting in real life
such as an undistinguished, very orthodox Brahmin priest in a village up in the foothills of the
Himalayas, his traditional wife, the village idiot, the widowed mother take on a human glow and

70
The South Asian Literary recordings Project
71
http://www .katha.org/Academics/deep%20stories%20&%20silences_ bionotes.html#krishnas

28
 their lives an unexpected resonance. It is the small events, little gestures, nondescript people, that
suffuse the world of Shivani's fiction with hope, and the future is something one enters with
courage. Shivani's feminism is like a gentle humanism that does not stop short when it meets the
female. Within the world-view of her fiction, there are few contradictions or problems that cannot
be transcended with a little sympathy and a belief in the goodness ofhumankind. 72 Shivani's
writings though not very revolutionary in the sense that her protagonists do not rebel outwardly,
they usually adopt passive means of resistance, yet they do play an important role in exposing the
decadent values prevalent in the Kumaon society and representative of other regions of Northern
India as well. A prolific writer novels and short stories in Hindi, Shivani's prominent writings
include, Krishnaka/i, Kalindi, Pootonva/i, Ek thi Ramreti ,Manik, Surangma, Rathya, Aparadhini,
Chal Khusrao Ghar Apne and a host of others that enticed and entertained readers for decades. In
Hey Dattatreya- introduces the readers to the folk of culture and folk literature of Kumaon. She
was also awarded the Padma Shree for enriching the literary world with her heroine-dominated
novels that expressed her sensitivity to female emotions.

Mannu Bhandari

·Mannu Bhandari, who is the other name apart from Shivani that symbolizes pioneering literature
by women in Hindi beginning around the year of Indian independence was born on April 3, 1931
in Bhanpura (M.P.) and received her writing skills as a legacy from her scholar father. She
earned her Bachelors degree from Ajmer and masters from the Benaras Hindu University in 1952.
She was the principal ofMiranda House (Delhi University) from 1964 until her retirement in
1991. She has written both short stories and novels. She had been closely associated with the
Nayi Kahani (New Story) movement in the 1950s and 60s which focused on literature being less
flowery but more realistic and true to life in nature. Her writings focus more on the urban family
although she has written about rural life too. She is one of the first Hindi writers referring to the
'new woman' and expounded on the dilemmas faced bythe 'new woman', her choices in the
Indian society and the limitations that are placed on her wholesome development because social
and cultural change fails to accompany educational, economic and political change in women's
lives, Aapka Bunty, one of her most famous novels talks about how the values of the 'new
woman' are at crossroads with her feelings and responsibilities as a wife and mother, this is one
of the earliest descriptions of a divorced home in Hindi literature. Ek Plate Sailab, a short story

72
Susie Tharu & K. Lalitha eds., Women Writing in India, Vol II, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1993.)

29
collection also reflects upon the different facets of the urban 'new woman'. Her writings have
been published in various literary journals and magazines such as Sarika and have even been used
as storylines for films.

Cltitra Mudgal

She got her Masters' degree from Mumbai's SNDT University, and then Mudgal plunged that into
the trade union movement in her youth as a reaction to her upbringing in a feudalistic family that
controlled 32 villages. Her father was a Naval commodore and though she was born in Chennai
and brought up in Mumbai, the feudalistic living pattern was part of her life. She reminisces that
her brothers were put in a convent, whereas she and her sisters were sent to the Central school.

She proclaims that she revolted against the restrictions imposed by the traditional
Kshatriya family by marrying a Brahmin journalist (MrAwadh Narain Mudgal, former editor of
'Sarika'), left home, and learnt Bharatnatyam. Her rebellious streak guided her, just the way it
guides her protagonists. The more the restrictions, the bigger the revolt. She says that she
started her married life in a hovel in a slum as her mother's life was not acceptable to her.

Chitra Mudgal's focus and expertise lies in the description of the tribulations and
challenges faced by working girls. These women break traditions, but in a manner true to the
Indian socio-cultural milieu, they do not leave chaos in the wake of these shattered traditions, but
create something meaningful out of their circumstances and social realities of everyday struggles.
As I interpret her works, Chitra Mud gal's short stories represent some of the greatest
examples of fiction as an active agent for change. The characters are generally drawn
from the impoverished or exploited classes and their struggle against daily realities of
life form the core of these writings.

Mudgal's latest novel Awwan, which was recently released, has been hailed in literary
circles as one of the greatest literary works in Hindi. Renowned critic Namvar Singh called it
"the best novel of the nineties decade", litterateur Shri Lal Shukla rated it as "a great poetic
novel" and Jansatta newspaper reviewed it as a "great document of burning truths". Awwan
emerged out of Mudgal's deep and long-lasting association with the trade union movement in
India. Inspired by the works of Amritlal Nagar and Premchand, the inspirational flame was
however ignited after Chitra read Maxim Gorky's "Mother".

30
 Over the years, she has built up an impressive body of work, including novels such as the
award winning Ek Zamin Apni, Madhavi Kannagi, and Awwan. Her huge repertoire of short
story collections include Zahar Thehra Hua, Lakhshagraha, Charchit Kahahiyan, Jinavar,
Mama/a Aage Badhega Abhi, and the award-winning Is Hamam Mein and Gyarah Lambi
Kahaniyan.
She has also written five short story collections for children and a collection of write ups.
She is perhaps one of the few writers working as a social activist at the grassroot level, looking
after under privileged women, children of slums and construction sites.
A staunch believer of equal rights for women, she runs her own organization, Samanvay,
which works towards arousing a sense of social responsibility among people. -She is also
associated with Stree Shakti and the Mahila Manch of Uttar Pradesh. She emphasizes that
"writers today need to go among people to understand them so as to create more life like
characters that tug at the reader's heart. Only then will the purpose of writing be served. The
reader on his part needs to read to be able to understand people better." 73 She is the recipient of
Sahitya Bhushan Puraskar conferred by the Uttar Pradesh Government, 2001-2002, for
contribution to Hindi literature.

Maitreyi Pushpa

Maitreyi Pushpa was born on November 30, 1944 in Aligarh (UP) and earned her bachelors and
Masters degrees from Bundelkhand University, Jhansi (M.P.). Having gone into literary
hibernation after her marriage, she resumed writing at the age of 45 when her story "Akshep" was
published in 1990. Within the last 14 years Pushpa has written brilliant novels and short stories
and earned her way to the top most ranks of Hindi writers. Having lived a large part of her life in
the countryside, she prefers to write about rural society, especially the life of women within these
village communities ofBundelkhand in M.P. her writings reflect her desires of breaking
conventions and setting new rules for women in a patriarchal society. In the past nine years, has
become the urgent voice of blood, sweat and tears fiction about Bundelkhand and its people,
especially the trodden but strong-willed women. 74 So far she has published three short story

73
Chitra Mudgal, "Chitra Mudgal: Fighting for the Common Man Through Literature," interview by
special correspondent, Meghdutam. Electronically available at:
http://www.meghdutam.coinlauthtemp.php?name=auth7.htm&&printer=O
74
Maitreyi Pushpa, The Katha Award.
31
collections, the most popular ones being: Chinhaar and Lalmaniyan. Amongst her novels, Betwa
Behti Rahi, ldannamam, Alma Kabootari and Chaak are the most famous ones. She is the
recipient of the Katha Award, Premchand Sam man and Jndannamam has won her the Najnagudu
Tirumalamba Award and the Vir Singh Dev Award from the Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Parishad.

Prabha Khaitan

She was born on November I, 1942. She earned her Masters in Economics and her Ph.D focused
on Jean Paul Sartre. Her writings bring out the reality of wives and daughters in tradition steeped
Marwari households, which depite their wealth and luxuries, continue to place traditional
constraints on the education of their daughters and daughters-in-law. Women continue to be
treated as commodities to be used to decorate the house as a trophy of modernity while at the
same time they are expected to continue fulfilling traditional roles within the family. Her novels
reveal not just the superficial aspect of women but even uncover their extremely private, personal
and secret layers of existence. The streak of resistance runs deeply in her writings where
protagonists are raised in an atmosphere ruled by conventions, and married into similar
households and still they manage to break free from the hold of their restrictive lives.
Khaitan is one of the most philanthropic and socially aware and committed writers under study.
Khaitan has been actively working for upliftment of women and has been the Chairperson of the
Kalyan branch of the Indian Red Cross. She is the managing trustee and main sponsorer of the
EF A (Education For All), a movement initiated by International Marwari Federation Youth Wing
IMFYW) in collaboration with Prabha Khaitan Foundation in 2000; that has been working
towards sponsoring primary education of needy children throughout the country. 75 Her writings
include Chhinnamasta, Peeli Aandhi, and Talabandi. She has been awarded the Indira Gandhi
Solidarity Award and Ratna Shiromani Award among others. Additionally, the Bihari Puraskar,
instituted for outstanding works in Hindi from Rajasthan during the past one decade, was
awarded to Prabha Khaitan in 1999 for her novel Pee/i Aandhi.

Gitanjali Sltree

Electronically Available at:

http://www.katha.org/Academics/deep%20stories%20&%20silences bionotes.html#maitreyi
75
Electonically Available at:
http://www .mustformums.com/newsandevents/fullstory.php3 ?newsid= I 04407 893 I
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32 305.40954
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TH12363
Gitanjali Shree was born on June 12, 1957 in Mainpuri. She earned her Masters from Jawaharlal
Nehru University and her PhD. from Sayajirao University, Baroda. She is a free-lance writer,
often contributing to literary journals in both English and Hindi. Her novels and the stories that
form her collection of stories, Anugoonj, are a combination of characters who resist patriarchal
conventions and those who offer themselves up to be enveloped within these norms of
subjugation. She empahsises bonds between mothers and daughters and represents the 'new
woman' who is educated, career oriented, yet finds herself bound to traditions and bound by those
traditional, even decadent values. She presents women's daily routines, chores and drudgery in a
charming manner lending a sense of grace and glamour to these mundane chores.
Her works include Anugoonj, Mai, Hamara Shaher Us Baras, and Tirohit. She has been on both
Indian and Japanese fellowships and has been awarded the Hindi Academy Sahityakar Award.
The English translation of Mai has won the Sahitya Academy Award.

Usha Privamvada

Usha Priyamvada was born on December 24, 1930 in Kanpur. She earned her Masters and PhD.
from the Allahabad University in 1955, after teaching for a few years at the Lady Shri R~m

College in the Delhi University, she moved to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship and continues
to teach there. Her stories are characterized by their aliveness and meaningfulness, especially in
the context oftoday's contemporary thinking, changing attitudes and changing life's realities.
Her writings focus on urban families and especially on the dilemmas faced by working women
living by themselves in big cities, many of whom might be breadwinners and have families living
in small towns or villages. She represents the loneliness, anonymity, dullness, boredom
associated with singlehood and city life. Her chief writings include both novels and short stories
such as Pachpan Khambe La/ Deewarein, Ek Koi Doosra, Rukogi Nahin Radhika and Zindagi
Aur Gulab Ke Phool.

Mridula Garg

Mridula Garg was born on October 25, 1938 in Kolkata and earned her Bachelors degree from
Miranda House in Delhi University and Masters from the Delhi School of Economics. After
marriage she lived in various industrial towns in Bihar, Bengal and Karnataka. She has regularly
been contributing to the literary journals such as Ravivar, and represented India on various issues
like child labour, women, environment etc, at universities abroad. Her writings bring out
women's feelings, emotions, and their rational intellect. Her writings have often run into

33
controversy and have been suppressed by government as well as male dominated literary circles.
The most controversial of her works are Chitkobra, Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop and Kathgulab. These
novels talk about women and sexuality, extra-marital affairs and the subversion of the sexual
power equation when the woman finds sexual intercourse mechanical and even considers rape to
be a mere physical accident, refusing to let it mar the rest of her life. Mere Desh Ki Mitti Aha! Is
also a short story collection that foc~ses on subversion of traditional hierarchies. She is one of
the chief writers to speak against governmental and non-governmental forms of censorship of
women's writings and on the creative freedom of women writers. Having continued to write and
express her views in a frank and candid manner, despite government repression has earned her the
Helman Hemut Award from the Human Rights Watch for the year 2001.

Mamta Kaliya

Mamta Kaliya was born on November 2, 1940 in Vrindavan. She earned her masters Degree from
the Delhi University and has held the position of the Principal at reputed Delhi University
colleges. Apart from fiction, Kaliya also writes poetry. She is especially known for the sincerity
of her language in which she presents contemporary reality and problems which challenges
society. Her writings such as Beghar expose the patriarchal hypocrisy in attaching immense
importance to women's chastity, while the same is not expected from men in return. She attacks
superstitious conventions, inhuman practices and unscientific beliefs associated with sexuality.
Her main writings include short story collections such as Ek Adad Aural, Seat Number Cheh,
Unka Yauvan and novels include Beghar and Prem Kahani.

Punjabi Language Writers

Amrita Pritam:
Pritam was born on 31 August 1919, in Gujranwala, now in Pakistan. Since her mother died
when she was merely 11 years old, Pritam had a distorted childhood. Pritam is regarded as the
doyen of Punjabi literature, she began her literary career as a poet and her novels and short stories.
also have a poetic quality. During her adolescent stage, her poetry was something which her
devotional poet father thoroughly despised because of its unconventional tone. What he
anticipated from his exceptionally talented daughter was religious verse and not the sensuous and
romantic love poems.

34
 Although she has written both in Hindi and Punjabi, Pritam has earned fame and economic
independence with her Punjabi writings. Her early life focuses on the inner life of her characters,
many of whom seem to be projections of the author herself. Pritam's mature work is
characterized by a search for harmony and truth. She seems to be influenced by Freud and is
intrigued by the way in which sentimental young girls always seem to be in search of unselfish
76
mother love. Issues of gender, personal transcendence and spiritual power have been prominent
in Pritam 's fiction, both novels as well as short stories. Dreams and the supernatural play an
important role in her writings, for example in novels such as Nagmani and Unchas Din.
Her writings after the 1960s deal more and more with women who acknowledge their
desires and their independence and accept responsibility for their lives even at the cost of love.
Her explicitly feminine fiction includes Chak Number 36 and her collection of stories, Kacche
Resham si Ladki.
Very few writers have been able to convey the violent ambiguities of communal conflict
with as much force and conviction as has Amrita Pritam who has lived through the
horrors of that event. Both as a victim and as an acute observer of the violent, bloody
times, Pritam comprehended only too well the anger, pain, bitterness, paranoia and
secret fears of each person caught up in the turmoil and bloodshed of this period. One
of her most widely acclaimed novels, Pinjar is set against the backdrop of partition and
revolves around the loss of identity experienced by the protagonist, Puro, who
eventually emerges as a champion of other oppressed women. Despite being a fiction
writer, Pritam's descriptions ofthe horror of partition are more incisive and realistic
than most newspaper accounts of the time. Pinjar belongs to the genre of partition
writings, such as those by Saadat Hasan Manto, where metaphors of "violence, the sense
of dislocation, loss of identity, and the explosive hatreds of religious intolerance,"
formed the core of the writings. 77
She has to her credit twenty-four novels, fifteen collections of short stories and twenty-
three volumes of poetry. Her works have been defined as a 'woman's lyric cry against existential
fate and societal abuse', and have been widely translated. She was conferred the D.Litt. Degree by
five universities. She is the first woman recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and was
honored with Padma Shree in 1969. Two of her novels have been made into films. She received
the Vaptarow Award in 1980 and the Bhartiya Jnanpith Award in 1982.

76
Nilsson, "Women in Contemporary Indian Literarure" 114-115 ..
77
Stephen Alter, "Madness and Partition: The Short Stories of Saadat Hasan Manto," in A/if: Journal of
Comparitive Poetics, Volume 0, Issue 14 madness and Civilizationlai-Junun wa ai-Hadarah (1994), 99.

35
Dalip Kaur Tiwana

Dalip Kaur Tiwana was born on May 4, 1935 in Village Rabbon of Ludhiana district in a well-to-
do land-owing family, she was educated at Patiala. She had a distinguished academic career,
getting a first class first.M.A., and the first woman in the region to get the Ph.D. degree from
Punjab University in 1963, Dr. Dalip Kaur Tiwana joined the Punjabi University at Patiala, as a
Lecturer and then went on to become Professor and Head ofthe Department ofPunjabi and Dean,
FacultyofLanguages. Dr. Dalip Kaur's literary career as a creative writer commenced with the
publication of her first book of short stories Sadhna in 1961, which was declared the best book in
its genre by the Department of Languages, Government of Punjab. Her finest work, by far, is the
novel Langh Gaye Darya (The Waters Flows down the Rivers, 1990). She emerges as the highly
potent narrator of the life and times of the royalty ofPatiala, and of those who work for them.
Tera Kamra Mera Kamra (Your Room My Room) are the anthologies of her stories where she
excels in narrating the woeful tales of deserted women. Most of her stories have been translated
into English, Hindi and Urdu and published in various journals.

She produced seven collections of short stories before switching over to novel-writing, in
which art-form she was destined to achieve great eminence. Dr. Dalip Kaur Tiwana is
universally regarded as one of the leading Punjabi novelists of today and has published twenty
seven novels, seven collections of short stories, the first part of her autobiography and a literary
biography She has won awards, both regional and national, and is widely translated author. Her
second novel Eho Hamara Jeevana won her the Sahitya Akademy Award in 1972. Department
of Languages, Government of Punjab, conferred the "Nanak Singh Puruskar" on her novel Peele
Patian di Dastan in 1980 and "Gurmukh Singh Musafir Puruskar" on her autobiography Nange
Pairan da Safar in 1982. The autobiographical piece is a personal and deeply moving account of
woman's struggle towards intellectual and emotional self-realisation in a hostile environment. It is
a testament of faith born of deep a convictions. For her outstanding contribution to Punjabi
literature, Dr. Dalip Kaur received the "Shiromani Sahityakar" award from the Punajb
Government in 1987, the "Best Novelist of the Decade" award from Punjabi Academy, Delhi, in
1994 and the "Kartar Singh Dhaliwal" award from Punjabi Sahit Academy, Ludhiana. She was
among the distinguished Sikh personalities who were honoured on the occasion of the
Tricentenary Celebrations of the Birth of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1999.

Like Amrita Pritam's autobiography Kala Gulab, Tiwana's Nange Pairan da Safar also
states that the story of women in every country that are written down by authors like them are far

36
 outnumbered by stories that are not written on paper but rather on the bodies and minds of
women. While Dalip Kaur Tiwana generally writes about the conventional Indian women bound
by tradition. Her writings reflect the pain and sorrows of the lakhs of desperate Indian women
who consider death to be the final solution to their problems. In an interview, she says that she is
not a rebel and further elaborates that the woman writers of today do not understand the
difference between revolt and deviation, they talk of revolt as a means of taking a step forward
but do not know whether it will benefit their cause or not. This statement captures the character
ofTiwana's writings, she masks strong feelings and uses softer tones of voice as compared to
Amrita Pritam, Ismat Chughtai or Mridula Garg, while voicing her feelings against oppression of
women.

AjeetCour

Ajeet Cour was born on November 16, 1934 in Lahore, Pakistan. Having begun her writing career
as a romantic, she has matured into a realist. Her short stories portray the unequal situation of
women in human relationships, suffering from under-privileged positions in relation with their
husbands and lovers. As reflected in her stories and autobiography, she was raised within a
household atmosphere of gender discrimination, and I feel that this loss haunted her for the rest of
her life and throughout her works she projects a woman's failure to find a home instead of merely
a house.
The Indian culture has always revered the soul and moral values in its in society and
literature however, physical hunger and sexual desire in a subject that is still not easily expressed
or accepted by writers and readers respectively. In this light then, Ajeet Cour's literature
represents a bastion of courage and honesty echoing the frank and candid style reflected in
Krishna Sobti, Qurratulain Hyder and Mridula Garg's writings. Ajeet Cour's famous story,
"Faltu Aurat" represents her own life experience being described from the perspective of one
who has been the 'other woman' in an affair with a married man.
Primarily a fiction writer, Cour has nine collections of short stories and two novels to her credit.
She got the Sahitya Akademi Award for her fine autobiographical work titled Khanabadosh (The
Gypsy, 1982). The fact remains that the thin line dividing her autobiographical work and her
fiction is rather flimsy. While Khanabadosh is admittedly an autobiography, her collection of
short stories, Savimi Chidian (Sea-green Sparrows) and Qasaaibaaraa (Slaughterhouse) house on
some key episodes of her own life. Amongst all the biographical writings in Punjabi, Ajeet Cour's
work is distinct in its highlighting the various contours of her career.

37
 She is also known to have pioneered the art of writing novelettes in Punjabi. She has
authored seventeen books of fiction and two volumes of autobiography. The first volume
Khanabadoush was selected for Sahitya Akademi Award, and the second volume is called
Koorha Kabarha. This autobiography amazes one with its honesty, and the simplicity with
which the inost searing and tumultuous events in one person's life are described.
From such a beginning, her life moves on to a first, true love that is lost on account of a
trivial misunderstanding, a violent, bitter marriage that leaves her with two young children to
support, the death of a beloved child and the loss, again, of love when at last she seems to have
found it. Ajeet Cour's story is, in the final analysis, one of courage, hope and a sort of happiness,
as she finds her eventual refuge in herself. For me her writings represent women's inner strength,
which stays with them whether they acknowledge it or not.
Like her protagonists, Ajeet Cour herself has as emerged as a crusader for women's issues
thus displaying commitment and a courage to act on her convictions. She has many awards to her
credit including Shiromani Sahitkar Award, 1979; International lATA Award, 1984; Sahitya
Akademi Award, 1985; Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, 1989; Punjabi Sahita Sabha Award,
1989. At present she is chairperson, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi.

Bacltint Kaur

Her date of birth is not certain, she often questioned her mother about it but could not elicit a
78
definite answer. She was married when she was in the fourth standard and then worked towards
her Matriculation, Bachelors and Masters degrees slowly and steadily in between working,
managing the household, raising children and writing. Her strength and resilience is visible in the
way she survived her grandmother's attempt to murder both her and her mother for having borne
a girl child. Her writings are characteristically known to be highly reflective of life's cruel
realities. She writes in Punjabi about the poignant truth of women's realities in a highly sensitive
and realistic manner. Simplicity is the hallmark of her writings as she does not glamourize or
wrap the truth in soft tones, she states facts as they are, having lived through a lifetime of
economic deprivation, being the only writer under study who had to work as a child and as a
young woman for her survival and that of her family and even had to live in a smalljhuggy or a
hut in a shanty settlement, her writings have nothing to hide, as she is not dependent on other
sources to find out the truth about poverty and deprivation, she has herself lived through it. Her
writings tend to be autobiographical in nature and she rem~mbers the constant struggle and hard
work that she had to endure when she had to work for 18-19 hours per day at the Delhi Milk

78
Bachint Kaur, Pagdandiyan, (New Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1995), 25.
38
 Scheme, which she had to quit once she ceased to be a student and joined Brightways, (a
departmental store) to become a saleswoman. Her focus is mainly on economically lower stratas
of society and then within that class, she writes about women, who suffer double indemnity being
marginalized for both heir gender and class. Her main writings consist of short story collections
such as, A teet Se Samvad, Khure Hue Rang, Longa Di Kyari, poetry collections include Bahut
Nede, Ik Balauri Hanju and her novels include Maati, Zinda Pal Murda Pal and her highly
moving autobiography has been published under the title of Pagdandiyan. She has been
honoured by Sirjandhara, a literary society.

Urdu Language Writers

lsmat Chughtai

Ismat Chughtai whom I regard as Amrita Pritam's counterpart in the world of Urdu literature, was
born in Badayun,(UP) in 1915, and passed away in 1991. Ismat Chughtai grew up largely in
Jodhpur where her father was a civil servant. She had to fight for her education before she was
allowed to obtain a bachelor's degree from Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow. She is one of
the pioneers of Urdu fiction and began her literary career with short stories, which were published
in popular journals. She has written several novels, Terhi Lakeer is her masterpiece. She was an
excellent storyteller, laying bare the terrain of feminine sensibility. "Lihaaf'' was the story which
shot her into fame, it is included in lesbian anthologies all around the world. Its lesbian theme
brought her both notoriety and fame. She was charged by the British government with obscenity,
but won the case because her lawyer argued that the story could be understood only by those who
already had knowledge of lesbianism, and thus could not be a corrupting influence. She belonged
to an era when sex was discussed among women in whispers, the only means they had of coping
with their suppressed sexuality. However, Ismat's stories have been called not just photographs,
but x-rays, capturing in writing the psychology, sexuality and exploitation of women who were
oppressed whether they be housewives or prostitutes. 79
Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai is a strong example of the importance of women's literature.
Grappling with conservatism in the Muslim communities in India and Pakistan, Chughtai began
writing in the 1940s, a time when women were not considered acceptable as fiction writers. She
dispensed with the typically misrepresentative models of women in literature and crafted often

79
Syeda S Hameed and Sughra Mehdi, eds. , Parwaaz: Urdu Short Stories by Women. (New Delhi: Kali
· for Women, 1996), xvi and 41.
39
 radical and always richly detailed portraits of women's spaces in Indian Muslim homes. Chughtai
very successfully molded spaces in which women can speak outside the lines of history, which
have traditionally denied them any voice. Through her artful use of humour, truth, and anger,
Chughtai earns her keep as a sympathetic sculptor of women's space in literature. She was an
active member of the Progressive Writers Association, the most significant Urdu
literary movement of the twentieth century which ushered in a new era of free
80
thinking in Indian Literature. Her prominent writings include her autobiography
Kagaz Hai Pairahan, novels such as Terhi Lakir, and stories like Chotein, Gainda,
Kaliyan, Chauthi Ka Joda, and Chhui Mui.

Qurratulain Hvder

Born in 1927 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Qurratulain Hyder is one ofthe most celebrated of Urdu
fiction writers. A trendsetter in Urdu fiction, she began writing at a time when the novel was yet
to take deep roots as a serious genre in the poetry-oriented world of Urdu literature.
Hyder is another literary legend of her time. She began her writing career at a very young age
with romantic stories. Her writings are said to merge the feudal and the colonial without any
quarrel between the two. She writes with deep insight and empathy mainly about the elite society
and therefore has earned the reputation of being bourgeois from her critics, who feel that her
writings only reflect the concerns of the upper classes. Her astute study of human nature and the
width and breadth of her knowledge and scholarship enable her to depict on a massive canvas,
cultural, religious, linguistic, class and ethnic issues on a massive canvas spreading across the
entire human civilization. 81 82

A prolific writer, she has so far written some 12 novels and novellas, four collections of short
stories and has done a significant amount of translation of classics. Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire),
her magnum opus, is a landmark novel that explores the vast sweep of time and history. It tells a
story that moves from the fourth century BC to the post-Independence period in India and
Pakistan, pausing at the many crucial epochs of history. She received the Jnanpith Award in 1989
for her novel Aakhir-e-Shab ke Hamsafar (Travellers Unto the Night). She received the Sahitya
Akademi Award, in 1967, Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1969, Ghalib Award, 1985, Jnanpith
Award, 1989, and was conferred Padma Shri by the Government of India for her outstanding

80
Shabana Mahmud, "Angare and the Founding of the Progressive Writers' Association," in Modern
Asian Studies, Volume 30,Issue 2 (May, I 996), 447 and 454.
81
Ibid. , xiii-xiv.
82
Qurrutulain Hyder, The Sound ofFalling Leaves (New Delhi: Sahitya Academy, I 994)
40
 contribution to Urdu literature. Hyder perhaps began the trend of feminist literature in India,
which sought to rewrite the patriarchal worldview and challenged the set order.

Jeelani Bano

Jeelani Bano was born in 1936 in Badayun (U.P.) but later moved to Hyderabad and is the
daughter of the poet Hairat Badayuni. (Despite having lived in Hyderabad all her life, I feel that
her writings do represent same ethos and emotions felt by women of rural UP or urban Delhi that
is found in the other writings under study.) She graduated in the Arts and completed her M.A.
after her marriage to a scholar oflslamic Studies. Bano's writing career spans roughly the last
thirty years, beginning with a collection of short stories, Roushni Ki Minar. Her novels include
Jugnu Aur Sitarey, Nirvaan, Gudiya ka Ghar among others. Jeelani Bano's writings decry that
even 50 years after the country achieved independence, majority of the women are still illiterate
and backward. She argues that owing to the indifferent attitude of officials, most government
policies aimed at the uplift of women are not being properly implemented. Bano, who has
penned nearly 20 novels in Urdu on the subjugation of women in the State, has focused on social
evils like female infanticide and harassment of women at the work place. She has received
several awards, including the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1985.

Challenges {aced hv women writers

Historically writing has been both a means of empowerment and a source of anxiety for women.
Feminist scholars of earlier writers who were women agree that when women embark on a
writing career, they have more obstacsles to overcome before they can write than their male
counterparts. Some scholars believe that it was a path of thorns even for the more successful
women writers. For instance, scholars of eighteenth and nineteenth century British women
writers assert that women who attempted to write suffered considerably from the incompatibility
between the contemporary definition of writing and the socio-cultural ideals offemininity of their
time. Writing, considered to be an act of self-assertion, was a trait supposedly alien to the ideals
of femininity of the time. 83
The writers studied for purpose of this research also echo this view, their writing act breaches the
ideals of femininity composed of their wifely and motherly roles. They are threatened not just by
men but rather by men in their own family, to stop writing because this act exposes the dirty linen

83
Tomoko Kuribayashi and Julie Tharp, eds. , Creating Safe Space: Violence and Women's Writings, (New
York: State University ofNew York Press, 1998), 3-5.
41
 of the family and brings out the vulnerabilities and insecurities that the woman might feel being
part of that family and society, this could mean an attack on the joint family system, or the feudal
wealth system or other exploitative businesses which the men in the family might be running, but
are brought under attack by the women of the family. For instance Chitra Mudgal was threatened
by her son for writing against feudal sources of wealth and lifestyle. 84 In the following section I
will discuss the problems faced by writers, whose roles as mothers and wives act as hurdles in the
way of their writing and the later part of this section will address the issue of censorship with
regard to women's writings.

Wltv is it difficult (or women to write?

Writer Maitreyi Pushpa said that for a long time, although it took women quite a few years to
come out of their houses and begin working in offices, factories and institutions, their roles were
stereotyped -they chose jobs of nurses, gynecologists, clerks and school teachers. They always
solicited the support of the males in the family for their security. She said that through years of
struggle women had turned issues related to their lives into political issues and been able to force
the media to highlight the incidents of oppression of women as never before. She also emphasised
that women had to bear a lot of harassment and torture to bring about this change. 85
Maitreyi Pushpa said that now that women have come to carve out a niche for
themselves, the patriarchal forces are challenging them: 'either stay within the confines of your
homes or face more severe attacks'. She said that as women were speaking out against the
treatment being meted out to them, they are being targeted for attacks more and more- the
institutions which are supposed to provide protection and support to women have been the worst
perpetrators of crime against them, especially the police and judiciary. She said this has served to
suppress the movement of women, to terrorise women into submitting, to create an atmosphere of
insecurity for them and force them to return to the confines of their homes. She said the forces of
right reaction and patriarchy were challenging women to prepare themselves for sterner battles in
the days to come, or just get co-opted by the system. However, Pushpa hopes that the new
86
generation would take up the challenges ofthe day.
In an interview with Gopi Gajwani for The Little Magazine, .Krishna Sobti reminisces that
her mother had told her that "the family takes all," in appears that in a way she was regretting not

84
Chitra Mudgal, "Naitikta Ki nai Vyakhyaen Uthain," interview by Nilima, Literate World, February,
2002. Electronically Available:
http//:www.literateworld.com/Hindi/2002/sakshatkar/feb.sakshatkarfeb08.htm
85
Maitreyi Pushpa, "Women's Empowerment- Declarations, Ground Realities and Tasks Ahead,"
Liberation, (February, 2002.)
86
Ibid.
42
 87
having achieved more in life or utilized her potential to the fullest. Sobti refuses to be called a
feminist because she doesn't believe in hostility between men and women. "The magic of the
world is that only a man and a woman can procreate!" When asked why she never married, Sobti
beamed and replied that "when I write, I write with vairag bhava! (abandon) You can't write as a
hobby. You can only write when you don't have other responsibilities." 88 Therefore she never
married, because marriage and family places a lot of constraints on women's lives and therefore
on their writing. And Krishna Sobti shuns regimentation of any kind, she claims that she even
allows freedom even to her characters, so they can speak out her silences and hence the kind of
drudgery that comes with marriage, family and housekeeping would have intruded upon her
writing, especially since she is used to waking up entire nights writing and prefers to sleep during
the day. Writers have their own random schedules, family ties and responsibilities of children put
constraints on this flexibility and freedom, on women, although not so much on men, therefore
there are more men writing in the world than women.
For most writers within my study, marriage, motherhood and the family encompass
women and affect their writing, for better or worse. Mangala Godbole, a woman writer from
Maharashtra, likens her creativity to a raincoat, she says that for her creativity is like a raincoat.
When she enters her house she hangs the raincoat outside the front door. And then she longs for
the day when that raincoat becomes her skin, but, she laments, it hasn't happened yet. A common
grievance amongst writing women who ate married and have children is of inadequate time and
space for creative writing in their busy, tiring lives as working women, wives and mothers.
89 90
Godbole asks, "Where does a woman writer find the luxury of such time and space?"

87
Krishna Sobti, interview by Gopi Gajwani, The Hindu, (Sunday, February 3, 2002.)
88
Krishna Sobti, "An Incorrigible Litterateur," interview with Sagarika Ghose, in Outlooklndia.com
Electronically Available at: .
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname= 19981130&fuame=profile&sid= I
89
Ritu Menon, "The Guarded Tongue: Women's Writing and Censorship in India," in Women's World:
Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development.
Electronically Available at: http://www .wworld.org/programs/regions/india.htm
This article was reproduced courtesy ofThe Hindustan Times, Delhi. The National Colloquium of Gender
and Censorship was supported by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, but was the
culmination of a series of 10 workshops on 'Gender and Censorship' supported by WACC
90
Here I am reminded of a beautiful thought by Writer Judith Oritz Cofer, who expresses her views on the
challenges faced and surmounted by women writers and artists as follows:
The true artist will use her creativity to find a way,
To carve the time, to claim a kitchen table, a library carrel,
If a room ofher own is not possible. She will use subterfuge
Ifnecessary, write poems in her recipe book,
Give up sleeping time or social time, and write.
From: "The Woman Who Slept with One Eye Open: Notes on Being a Writer," quoted in Marilyn Kallet
and Judith Ortiz Cofer, eds., Sleeping with One Eye Open: Women Writers and the Art ofSurvival,
(London: University of Georgia Press, 1999.)

43
 In addition to the above there are some peculiar problems that women writers face, as
distinct from men. An age-old gender-division of labour leaves women with little time to write at
all, let alone write with freedom. Women writers also lament the lack of space and time to devote
to their writing. Very few women write every day and were able to write uninterrupted. Others
write in the early hours ofthe morning before the demands of the day, or in the shadows of late
evening when their families' sleep. Very few men would be constrained in such a way, juggling
their profession with housework, feeding, caring for the young, the elderly and infirm. Yet eighty
percent of the women at the workshop support their families with income from their writing. 91
The pitfalls of combining marriage and a writing career, cautioned against by Krishna
Sobti are visible in the life and writing career of Maitreyi Pushpa. When asked as to why she
started writing so late in life, Maitreyi Pushpa, who first started writing 10-12 years back at the
age of 45 replied that for any writer who is a woman (assuming she is married) the first priority
lies in marriage. She reflects on the present times, where the new generation of women has
multiple priorities, especially where education and career are concerned and compares her age,
when immediately after independence, girls were educated in order to make them eligible for
marriage to an educated young man. Pushpa remembers her mother and says that she believed
her daughter will have to toil less if married in an urban househdld, therefore she decided in
favour of educating her. Barring a few women of that age who became teachers, fewer still
became doctors, rest became simply homemakers. She writes that being educated, running her
own household and enjoying the assurance that her children will all be educated was enough.
Writing was thus ignored in favour of other household chores and with the air of a martyr, she
assumed responsibility for the family's welfare. The certificates were locked up in cupboard, and
it was assumed that the mission of her life was to take care of home, husband and family.
However, she ensured that her daughters will be well educated, and finally these 'new women'
92
acted as the catalysts who forced their mother to write and send her stories for publication •

Hence a woman who stood at the edge 'old' and 'new womanhood' and raised daughters to be
'new women' was ultimately pushed into becoming a 'new woman' by the 'the 'new women' she
herself had created.
Similarly Dalip Kaur Tiwana also admits that she has faced problems because she is a
woman and a writer. In an interview, she reminisces that, "when I entered the field of literature,

91
Maria Del Nevo "Women's Writes" in collaboration with the Women's World-Asmita project report.
Electronically Available at: http://www. wacc.org.uk/publications/action/225/womens writes.html
92
Maitreyi Pushpa, interview with Rajesh Ranjan, Literate World, (April, 2002.)
electronically available at: http://www .Iiterateworld.com/hindi/2002/sakshatkar/apr/sakshatkarapr 19 .htm
44
 there were few women in it."93 This clearly highlights two important aspects of women's
experience as writers, firstly it exposes social and legal repression and secondly it reveals the
strong stand women have to take in order to hold on to their position as marginalized beings in a
literary world and to continue writing and getting their works published.

Women, Writing and Censorship

When it comes to women writers, censorship changes many colours, and exists in covert forms,
while on the surface, India is said to have little to no censorship, especially compared to our
neighbours Bangladesh or Pakistan. In India, we proclaim and claim that we have freedom of
speech, and that it's a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. However, one only
needs to be reminded of incidents such as the censorship against Ismat Chughtai's "Lihaaf' which
was censored under the British government, continuing on through the arrest of Mridula Garg for
her novel Chitkobra and coming up right until today with the censoring ofDeepa Mehta's Fire, or
the attack on Ajeet Cour's Academy in Delhi, to realize the extent of censorship that exists over
women's creativity, most notably in the literary world. Although there is very little formal
censorship, that is, censorship by the State in India, however, writers feel that they increasingly
have to be 'careful' and:be mindful of what they say. This is so because street censorship has
usurped the power of the State and taken it upon itself to police people's expression. Or rather, as
Mridula Garg says, pithily, 'the more regressive the State, the more aggressive the mob'.
Well-known Hindi writer, Mridula Garg, identified four kinds of censorship that women
commonly experience: political, socio-cultural, familial, and internal or auto-censorship. Political
censorship almost always follows cultural, and self-censorship certainly does so. In her view,
cultural censorship is probably more insidious and powerful than all the others, because it
pervades all social institutions; for women, in particular, it introduces a powerful duality between
the individual and the writer. Speaking for herself, she said that she had never experienced any
censorship by her family. What troubles her is something else: she finds that she is torn between
the cerebral/ masculine and emotional/ feminine dichotomy; drawn more to the former, she says
her identity as a "woman writer" is thrown back at her by critics and the literary establishment,
who tend to devalue it for this reason. The tension between gender and writing is ever present
and, despite herself, she finds she censors what she writes. 94

93
Dalip Kaur Tiwana.
Electronically Avail able at: http://infobankofindia.cornlwomen/socialworker/files/DalipKaurTiwana.htm
94
Maria Del Nevo "Women's Writes" in collaboration with the Women's World-Asmita project report.
45
 In her autobiography, Kaghaz Hai Pairahan, Ismat Chughtai writes that during the period
after her controversial story "Lihaaf' was published, she told a male critic that "God has made
you a man, I had no hand in it and He has made me a woman, you had no hand in it. You have the
freedom to write whatever you want, you don't need my permission. Similarly I don't feel any
need to seek your permission for writing the way I want to."95 Chughtai had been much harassed
by repeated interrogation by the police and the journey to Lahore to be presented before the
magistrate and by being labeled as the lesbian writer that later in life, she claimed regret over
writing this story.
In late July 2001, over 65 women writers from 11 languages met in Hyderabad, India, at
a most unusual gathering, to discuss not only the many faces of censorship in India, but its
peculiarly and particularly gendered dimensions as well. It dwelt, not on their writing, per se, but
on the circumstances in which they write, and are read and written about.
At this conference, an attempt was made to see how gender-based censorship, "embedded
as it is in a range of social and cultural mechanisms that invalidate women's experience and
exclude them from political discourse, is far more pervasive and far more difficult to confront
than official suppression" and to see how critical the silencing of women, and the use of
systematic force to ensure that silence, is to the maintenance and perpetuation of patriarchal
power. 96
Across age and language, caste, creed and community, urban and rural women who write
prose and poetry, songs and serials, short stories and novels, essays and autobiographies, talked at
length about how and why they write; what they write, and the form they write it in; why they
can't write what they'd like to or why they don't; where and how they publish, and how they relate
to the literary establishment and the market in their particular language or regional context. And
how almost anything or everything they write is filtered through the family, community, society,
culture and politics.
Taboos on what is permissible as subject matter exercise a powerful negative influence.
Moreover, since there exist no active networks of women writers, women are usually more

Electronically Available at: http://www.wacc.org.uk/publications/action/225/womens writes.html

95
lsmat Chughtai, Kaghazi Hai Pairahan, translated from Urdu by Prof. M. Asaduddin, in Manushi Issue
110. .
96
The Gender and Censorship Project in India is the most ambitious program Women's WORLD has
undertaken. It is a ten-language partnership project with Asmita, an activist women's organization located
in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Asmita's program includes legal assistance for women in distress;
networking and campaigns, particularly around violence against women; training, popular education and
outreach; and research, publications and cultural work. The Gender and Censorship project was designed
and led by a five-woman team: Ritu Menon ofWomen's WORLD (co-founder ofKali for Women, the
oldest women's press in Asia); Vasanth Kannabiran and Volga, two leading members of Asmita; and the
feminist writers Ammu Joseph and Gouri Salvi. The purpose ofthe project was to study the role and
influence of censorship on Indian women's writings.
46
vulnerable to attack, and are compelled to defend themselves individually and in isolation. The
question of censorship then becomes particular, one woman's misfortune rather than a cultural
societal bias that is deeply gendered. 97

An important aspect of censorship is that free speech belongs to the mainstream, and if
you're on the margins or if yours is the voice of dissent, your speech is censored.98 A range of
other constraints operate in culture and society, inhibiting not only one's freedom of speech, but
of association and mobility as well, as 'a women's writing is her gesture', said Bengali writer
Nabaneeta Dev Sen, 'and like all women's gestures it is subject to all sorts of social codes'. 99
There were a few dissenting voices, which said they were not subjugated to any kind of
censorship or curbs on their expression as women. They were writers, and like other writers,
were free to choose what they wrote about and how they chose to write about it. These views do
in fact represent part of the reality, because not all writers are suppressed or censored, yet the
almost unanimous final claim of the writers at the conference was that 'a woman's life is
100
censored from start to finish, and if not censored then severely edited'.
The household or familial dimension impinges on women's writing in ways that are
deeply gendered and internalised. Although, as Telugu writer Satyavathi says, "we avenge the
censorship we face in reality through our writing," any number of women censor themselves
through fear of how their families or communities will react. Censorship often takes place within
the home, where manuscripts may be destroyed, suppressed or altered by husbands, parents, or
siblings because of what they reveal about 'family secrets'. 101
Fathers or husbands may also appropriate the work of their daughters or wives because they
do not wish them to have an independent identity and feel that the work of women in their family
belongs to them. The objection is often very violent. One Tamil writer reminisced that her ex-
husband broke her right wrist for daring to write a poem about their divorce, and many others

97
Ritu Menon, "The Guarded Tongue: Women's Writing and Censorship in India," in Women's World:
Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development.
Electronically Available at: http://www. wworld.org/programs/regions/india.htm
This article was reproduced courtesy of The Hindustan Times, Delhi. The National Colloquium of Gender
and Censorship was supported by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, but was the
culmination of a series of 10 workshops on 'Gender and Censorship' supported by WACC
98
Nabaneeta Dev Sen, WACC: The Tongue Set Free, in Media and Gender Monitor
Electronically Available at: http://www.wacc.org.uk/publications/mgm/1 0/tongue.html
99
Ibid.
100
WACC: The Tongue Set Free, in Media and Gender Monitor
Electronically Available at: http://www. wacc.org.uk/publications/mgm/1 0/tongue.html
101
WACC: The Tongue Set Free, in Media and Gender Monitor
Electronically Available at: http://www .wacc.org.uk/publications/mgm/1 0/tongue.html
47
 spoke about the physical abuse they suffered in their marital home, because oftheir writing. 102
These writers wonders whether at a meeting of male writers issues of censorship in the
home by mothers, wives, sisters or daughters would have been brought up quite the same way?
Would their poetry have been dismissed as Telugu feminist poetry was, for being 'full of body-
consciousness but lacking in social consciousness'? Would their persons and personalities become
an inextricable part oftheir texts? Would they be promised publication by powerful editors in
return for sexual favours?
This last question refers to the market pressures and forces which make publication,
especially for new, upcoming women writers difficult. When writing about controversial subjects
like sex and sexualitY, these writers are told that women from decent families should not talk
about such subjects. But the market and literary establishments have their own subtle and
unremarked forms of censorship, and equally subtle manipulations that sometimes barely conceal
outright bias. More than one writer said she had been advised by literary 'well-wishers' to avoid
certain subjects (feminist poetry, sex, politics, religion) if she wanted to be published - but if she
was arrogant enough to persist the attacks could be vicious.
Mridula Garg, for example, was arrested on charges of obscenity in 1979 for her novel
Chitkobra, in which her heroine could derive no pleasure from sexual intercourse, who described
it as mechanical and repetitious. And so the thread that ran through most of the discussions was
disconnection: the disconnection between what women said and what they wrote; between their
spoken words and their silences; between their husbands' and fathers', apparent encouragement
and support, and their explicit, disapproving silence when a norm was violated. Between women
as the subject matter of writing, and women as subjects and writers.
"A woman's life is censored from start to finish, and if not censored, then severely
edited," none of the writers thought that this statement was either incorrect or exaggerated.
Rather, on closer examination, and lengthier discussion of the circumstances in which women
read and write-and are read and written about-it appeared that the very concerns that seem to be
common to all writers, male and female, are gendered in ways that can, and often do, silence
women. Take the question of language, said one writer. There is no way a woman can use swear
words in Hindi, because they are specifically and abusively anti-women; to use them would be to
deliberately endorse their derogatory intent.
When asked which subject they found the most difficult to write about the majority said: the
family. To write honestly about it was almost impossible. And so this "household dimension" of
women's writing itself becomes a powerful form of censorship. Apart from having to
accommodate their writing to the demands of domesticity, women have to deal with the most

102
Ibid.

48
 intimate and deep-seated patriarchal prejudices within the home. As Urdu writer Azra Parveen
said, "Censorship is nurtured in the home," and women are often willing self-censors. If not
willing, then unwitting, and if neither of these, then they submit for the sake of sheer survival.
Like Chitra Mudgal, Maitreyi Pushpa and Ajeet Cour, Bachint Kaur also faced
censorship from within her family. Bachint Kaur says that she had no freedom to meet with other
writers, publishers or other individuals from the literary world, and was not allowed to invite
anyone home. She recalls an instance in her autobiography, Pagdandiyan, where her husband
threatened to break the household objects and even physically assault her in case the publisher
whom she was about to serve tea stayed in their house a moment longer or if he ever came to their
house again. 103
Almost every writer present said she had not been able to write about those subjects that
involved the family, or those that they might object to as reflecting negatively on them. Limited
to safe, remote subjects, working in a hostile environment and living under the threat of being
charged with dishonouring family name, this leads to a kind of self-censoring which these women
apply over their own creativity.
Sudha Arora, a writer, has expanded on the way in which the pressure of the family
forced her to practice a form of self-censorship. She explains that she stopped writing after
marriage to prove herself a good housewife. When she took it up again 12 years later she found
herself automatically censoring her own writing, abandoning her autobiography. "I never write in
104
love, always in anger. I write a lot, but not what I want to write," she said. I write a lot, but not
what I want to write," said Sudha Arora who gave up writing for 12 long years after her marriage,
in order to prove that she was a good housewife. The "good girl syndrome" again. When she
resumed her writing, she found she was censoring herself so spontaneously that she abandoned
the autobiographical novel she was working on. Now she writes on topics from which she can
distance herself. Her newspaper articles, radio scripts and stories are all to do with women, but
safely remote from her own experience. To write honestly, the women agreed, was almost
impossible and to write about the family was the most difficult. Maitreyi Pushpa has not even
been able to begin writing her autobiography, and Chitra Mudgal as I mentioned earlier, was
forbidden by her son to write her autobiography in the name of the family's honour.
In this regard, a significant phenomenon noticeable in the literature under study is that
many times the protagonists couch their observations in circumlocutions which make them more

103
Bachint Kaur, Pagdandiyan, (New Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1995.)
104
Maria Del Nevo "Women's Writes" in collaboration with the Women's World-Asmita project report.
Electronically Available at: http://www. wacc.org.uk/publications/action/225/womens writes.html
49
palatable to their families. 105 And drawing from the views of authors regarding their families'
censorship, it is quite apt to say these circumlocutions are in fact circumlocutions of both author
and protagonist. They both choose to hide the content of their minds from the people with whom
they share their lives. Certainly, "to speak one's mind" involves an assumption of power which
has made men and consequently, the writer women in their family uneasy. As stated above, the
women themselves begin censoring themselves and their protagonists, who in turn are living and
acting in the same world as their creators are. While writing about overt and more often covert
forms of social conflicts grounded in the fact of sexual difference, especially within the highly
sensitive context of the family, these writing women find their way out of any possible conflict
through a circuitous route of creative avoidance. While there are writers like Krishna Sobti,
Mridula Garg, Ismat Chughtai, Ajeet Cour, who have written freely, frankly and candidly about
family, sexuality and other such controversial matters, however, still writers like Shivani, Usha
Priyamvada, Dalip Kaur Tiwana tend to couch, and be slightly ambivalent in their opinions and
observations by expressing them in a softer language and tone of voice.
Another important issue that arises in this discussion is that where writers who are
women are concerned, there are certain literary forms which are more permissible than others.
Urdu writers present at the conference felt that poetry is the preferred form for women because it
allows concealment. But Malayalam poet Sugatha Kumari thinks it may be tolerated in women
because, 'society considers poetry a harmless activity, like buying a silk sari'. Furtherm0re,
novels more difficult because they need extended periods oftime, a luxury few of the writers
106
present enjoyed, however, while short stories are easier to write, they're harder to publish.
Most writers present at the conference are accredited with an impressive number of
publications and have wide readerships. But despite their success and the fact that Hindi offers a
well-developed publishing and distribution system they have suffered from an unsympathetic and
insensitive critical environment, a lack of good women literary critics. Mridula Garg said that her

105
In her study of Jane Austen's novel, Persuasion, Julia Giordano also makes the observation that women
about Austen's heroines are used to circumlocuting their views in order to make them more acceptable to
their families. However, while Austen was writing in the nineteenth century, such observations can still be
made about contemporary twentieth century Indian women's writings which are written in a couched
manner, to avoid strong reactionary measures from family and acquaintances.
Julia Giordano, "The Word as Battleground in Jane Austen's Persuasion," in Anxious Powers: Reading,
Writing and Ambivalence in Narrative by Women, eds., Carol J. Singley and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney,
(New York: University ofNew York Press), 107-123.
106
Ritu Menon, "The Guarded Tongue: Women's Writing and Censorship in India," in Women's World:
Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development.
Electronically Available at: http://www.wworld.org/programs/regions/india.htm
50
book Chitkobra was so tarnished by descriptions of it being "pornographic" and "obscene" that it
was impossible for anyone to then attempt to discuss the literary merit of her work. 107
The lack of support among women themselves was recognised as unfortunate. To this
group of writers not known for their involvement with the women's movement, Chitra Mudgal's
warning that: "as long as women cannot forge solidarity with other women, we cannot think of
ourselves as either free women or free writers," came as an impassioned cry to unite and
challenge the silencing that threatens their livelihoods. 108
Sobti sees protest as a way of life for herself. She says that at writers' meets, she notices that
other than women, no one is interested in talking of women's writings. Sobti emphasizes that
men have been writing for years and years, whereas for women writing is a new art and this gives
their work a sense of freshness which is born out of protest. Men see this as a attack on their
well-entrenched patriarchal models and this worries them because, she argues, that men still
would like to see women only in terms of princess, mother, whore and wife. 109 Studies on
women writing in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean concur that women authors are
often disregarded by male critics, which means that they are effectively excluded from official
literature. 110 In a study on American feminine playwrights, author Sally Burke refers to the
warning issued by feminist writers and critics that "the possibility of silencing (women) writers
because they do not 'write right' is a danger to which feminist critics should be particularly
11
alert." 1
For most women writers in the country, writing remains an isolated, solitary activity, often
surreptitious, generally unacknowledged and undervalued. Although the number of women
writers may well run into some thousands, they are still invisible, encounter all manner of
obstacles in expressing themselves freely, and experience many forms of direct censorship simply
because they are women. Examples of this range from an outright ban on reading and writing and
denial of access to education to censorship by the market which decides which women can be

107
Mridula Garg, "Feminist Hoon, Feminist Writer Nahin," interview with Rajesh Ranjan in Literate
World, February 2002,electronically available at:
h~://www.literateworld.com/hindi/1 002/sakshatkar/feb/sakshatkarfeb 15.htm
10
Maria Del Nevo "Women's Writes" in collaboration with the Women's World-Asmita project report.
Electronically Available at: http://www. wacc.org.uk/publications/action/225/womens writes.html
109
Krishna Sobti, Interview with Katha. Katha, Online Journal.
Electronically Available at: http://www.fictionindia.com/interview.htm .
110
Mineke Schipper, ed., Unheard Words: Women and Literature in Africa, the Arab World, Asia, the
Caribbean and Latin America, (London: Allison and Busby, 1984), 7-18
This cross-national and multi-cultural study of women's writings shows that in African nations, the work of
women is still seldom if ever included in the well-known collections of critical essays. In East Asian
literary circles, writings have to be exceptionally good and often must have an extensive literary career
behind them before they are given the attention regularly accorded their male counterparts.
111
Sally Burke, American Feminist Playwrights: A Feminist History, (New York: Twayne Publishers,
1996), 193.
51
 published and when; as well as to all kinds of self-censorship which often comes into play even
before any external silencing takes place. In between lie the constraints placed on women by
families, communities and society in general. All of these militate against women's ability and
freedom to realise their potential as creative, productive and responsible members of society,
actively engaged in progressive social change.
But it's not all gloom and doom, or, as some would say, whine and whinge. 112 The fact
that so many women persist with their writing in the face of so much resistance, means
something. It means, principally, that the dissenting voice will not be easily crushed. In other
words, women recognise that writing is a subversive activity in patriarchal cultures, especially
when it is gender conscious, but refuses to be gender-bound.
Additionally, censorship emanates from many sources, and is chameleon-like: what was
proscribed yesterday may be prescribed today, but equally, what is permitted today may be
silenced tomorrow. In this age oflnternet and electronic sources of information and
communication, the point of censorship- by the State, street, family, community or society - is
not to keep people from accessing a particular work, it is to keep them from expressing or
creating it in the first place. And this is why we need to redefine it better to be able to resist it.
Women writers are resisting, therefore their characters are also resisting and subverting
patriarchal order and vice versa, since the characters are rebelling and subverting, it represents the
writers' and the readers, active as well as latent desires to fight patriarchal codes that regulate
women's lives.

Whv Writing Represents a Rebellion {or Some Writers?

Unequal Childhood:

In the above section, the writers share their individual experiences with censorship and control at
home. Interestingly, may writers experienced censorship on their habits, behaviour and on their
very life itself, right in the childhood. Hence what these writers expereicned later on with regard
to their writings, their lives were already exposed to that kind of censorship from an early age
itself. While writing certainly does not represent a direct rebellion for every writer, for instance
Krishna Sobti claims to write because she enjoys it and denies even writing in the height and
depth of emotions in rage or protest. (Even though to the readers, her characters might represent

112
Ritu Menon, "The Guarded Tongue: Women's Writing and Censorship in India," in Women's World:
Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development.
Electronically Available at: http://www. wworld.org/programs/regions/india.htm
52
 subversive and rebellious figures.) She recalls a very happy and secure childhood and that reflects

.
in her writings too, because she seldom writes about childhood gender discrimination .
There are other writers under study however, who have not been so fortunate. Although the
writings under study address all the major issues pertaining to women, themes such as the
conventional education imparted to girls and boys and various kinds of gender discrimination that
encourages a faulty upbringing of male and female children are themes which recurred
throughout my study., The writers perceive these problems, observe the responses oflndian
women towards these problems and then give their own perceptions about the issues. An analysis
of these perceptions unravels the various images oflndian women standing at what can be
considered as the crossroads of their existences at the level of the community and the individual.
Here I would like to briefly mention the leading writers whose works bring up the subject of
gender discrimination tiem and time again.
Ajeet Cour's collection Qasaaibaara has stories which are autobiographical in nature, where she
herself is the narrator and the narration itself is a reminisce, a childhood memory, family legend
or a travel account. Gender bias in the upbringing of girls and boys is a recurring theme of her
writings. "Pehli Udasi" is one such story which is the author's recount of her childhood and as
the title suggests, the first ever memory she had of her sadness. 113 Her autobiography,
Khanabadoush, refers to incidents like not being allowed to raise the curtain and look out through
the balcony, because as her maternal grandmother informed her, "girls don't do such indecent
things" Her paternal grandmother also played a role in restraining the child's personality and
normal healthy growth. She told Ajeet Cour that/butter and paranthas (slightly fried Indian bread)
were meant for boys and not for girls. 114 These same incidents are referred to in her story "Pehli
Udasi."
Ajeet Cour was raised in Lahore as the daughter of a doctor. However, contrary to expectations,
she did not have a liberal upbringing, her father although highly educated, was not open-minded
enough to treat his two different sex offspring equally. Cour remembers that there were different
rules for herself and her brother Jasbir, who was about 2 years younger than her. Born to be a
writer, even as a child, she displayed a great depth of emotion and a vivid imagination to go with
it. She spun tales in her head about her imagined abandonment by her birth parents and her
subsequent adoption by her present family, where she felt like a "cuckoo's baby in a crow's
115
. nest." Like Cour, many girls go through these kinds of restrictions in life and a sharp
realization that they are girls begins to grow within them, they come to acknowledge the fact that

113
Ajeet Cour, "Pehli Udasi," in Qasaibaaraa, (New Delhi: Kitabghar Prakashan, 2002.)
114
Ajeet Cour, Khanabadoush, (Delhi: Navyug Publishers, 1982.)
115
Ibid. , 160.
53
 being girls, a greater part of life is prohibited to them, while their brothers, being boys are free to
do as they choose. They are physically human but are forced to a limited existence, they are in
Cour's words, "wingless birds." 116 Such feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness with the state of
affairs leads to resentment where restrictions such as girls don't go out, girls don'tjump around,
become accusations, which sound like you are a girl, so you cannot go out, you are a girl so you
can't raise the blinds and look out into the street, you are a girl so do not speak to anyone outside
the family. Such accusations breed a deep-seated set of beliefs within the girl child of her own
inferiority, of the restrictive nature of her existence and might lead to revolt though not
immediately, but often later in life.
Ajeet Cour's life is also representative of one such revolt, where she ignores family
loyalty to expose society's double standards in raising their children. She unhesitatingly uses her
own family as an example of such discriminatory behaviour and proves that the notions of
separate spheres are planted in individuals' minds right from their childhood. Ajeet Cour
compares such parents as raising their girls as the Japanese raise 'bonsais,' or miniature trees. 117
These trees are planted in small containers and their roots and branches are regularly trimmed to
keep the plant small in size even after attaining maturity, in this way huge trees such as Banyan,
Acacia, Peepul etc. can become drawing room adornments. Metaphorically speaking, girls
raised in gender discriminatory households are like 'bonsais,' whose growth is stunted and whose
development is curbed. Their personality and individuality is repressed as they are forcibly
molded into the stereotypical role of a daughter, wife, daughter-in-law, mother and sister, who are
all obedient, self-sacrificing and born to serve others.
Like Cour, Chitra Mudgal also reminisces about a childhood based on gender
discrimination. In an interview she says that she hails from a feudalistic family that controlled 32
villages, so it was a wealthy family and her father being a Naval commodore was an educated
man, still the traditional-minded feudalistic living pattern was part of her life. Despite the
presence of the strong economic and academic background of her father, her brothers were sent to
study in a convent or a missionary school, whereas, the sisters whose education was not regarded
that important, since they were to be married and sent to another household after all, were
therefore admitted to the government run Central school. 118
Amrita Pritam also claims to have experienced repression with regard to her talents and
hobbies as a young girl in Lahore. She recalls that she had been learning dance under the famous

116
Ibid. , 162.
117
Ibid., 163.
118
Chitra Mudgal, "Chitra Mudgal: Fighting for the common man through literature," interview with
special correspondent, Meghdutam
Electronically Available at: http://www. meghdutam. com!authtemp. php?name=auth7.htm&&printer=O
54
 dancer, Tara Chowdhry for almost a year when Tara Chaudhry wanted to include Amrita in her
dance troupe which was to visit to the Punjab and other provinces. Amrita's family did not permit
her to do so and thus Amrita could not become a dancer.
Her next venture was to be an instrumentalist and she began to train on the sitar. She then started
playing the sitar on the Lahore station of All-India Radio and the programme was well-received.
She gave monthly performances and as was the practice in those days her photo with her sitar was
flashed on the front page of the radio's official magazine Awaz. The practice was that spare
copies of the title picture were also supplied to the bookstalls. Many of the shopkeepers,
particularly cigarette vendors, used to display her photograph. Amrita's family resented it and
Am rita had to face the music. Hence for no fault of hers, she interests were thwarted and laid to
119
rest. Finally, writing became the only avenue open. Even then, her father, himself a famous
devotional poet did not approve of her love verses, and insisted that she write about love for
God. 120
Bachint Kaur too became a victim of gender discrimination, in fact probably earlier than
any other writer, as her grandmother almost succeeded in killing her as a new born infant. Hence
a11 these writers use their writings as a medium to express themselves and the injustices meted out
to them. They appear to expose parents and family members around the country who consider.
daughters as less valuable, in fact some times of no value at all other than becoming their mothers
helpers at home. Hence writing for these writers is a rebellion against years of discrimination
and unequal treatment and a vehicle for bringing about social change.

Marginalization of 'Women Writers'

Writer's Aversion to tlte Term 'Woman Writer'

My study of these writers will be incomplete without an explanation of the usage of the term
'woman writer', which as I will argue, is highly prejudiced and irrational, its implications for
women who write and how they react to this term. Since this division and the resulting
marginalization ofworrien in a field that has been dominated for centuries by men, rests on the
basis of sex and gender, therefore before I delve into this discussion on a highly controversial and
sensitive issue (at least for the women), I would like to very quickly clarify with the help of a few
scholarly works on the subject, the meanings attached to the concept of gender.

119
Jameel Ahmad Paul, ed., Savair International, (Lahore: Azam Manzi!, 2001.)
Dawn, (March 200 1,) The Internet Edition
Electronically Available at: http://www.dawn.com/200 1/03/02/fea.htrn
120
Amrita Pritam, Rasidi Ticket, (New Delhi: Nagmani Prakashan, 1976.)
55
 The opening words of Simone de Beauvoir's historic book, The Second Sex, originally
published in 1949, capture the essential characteristic of gender, "One is not born, but rather
becomes, a woman." 121 Gender is a socially rather than a biologically constructed attribute-
people are not born with but rather learn the behaviours and attitudes appropriate to their sex.
Gender is much more than a psychological attribute. It involves a person's sexuality, which has
both a private and public dimension, and must always be understood in the context of particular,
and ch~nging, social relations between men and women. 122 Modes of consciousness and self-
consciousness, identity and experience, personality and subjectivity are constructed in response
and reaction to the pressures of a given historical moment and are neither self-sustaining nor
perennially "male" or "female." Femaleness is neither the "natural"' property of women, nor an
eternally subversive "other," nor even, beyond a point, the product of a special experience. It is
not an essential, homogenous quality at the core of all women waiting to be discovered once
social oppression and repression are removed. Like maleness, femaleness is not a fixed
inalienable quantity: it is rather a mode of social being and so a historically specific value
which can be redistributed and reformulated. 123 It is clear that social grounding of gender is
related to issues of everyday life. Physical attractiveness, the division of house-hold labor,
parenting and who does it, emotional support and who gives it; children's gender exchanges
on the playground, adults' job experiences, sexual abuse in college and elsewhere--these are
examples of issues that have everything to do with how we construct gender identities and
family I ife. 124

Hence the essence of these different connotations of gender imply that it is a fluid entity
without a fixed set of ideas and beliefs. I will proceed with my analysis of the debate surrounding
the concept of 'woman writer' against the backdrop of the above definitions of gender.
According to Rosalind Marsh, a scholar of gender and literature, the highest praise that
can be accorded to a writer who is a woman, is that she is a 'poet' rather than a poetess, a 'writer'
rather than a 'woman writer' . 125 During a meeting with Krishna Sobti, one of the first things she
126
said to me was, "I am a writer who happens to be a woman. I am not a woman writer." Ms.
Sobti was very emphatic about the difference between the two concepts and insisted on the
significance of using correct verbiage. This view is echoed, although in even stronger terms by

121
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, (New York: Vintage, 1997.)
122
David Granddol and Joan Swann, Gender Voices, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989), 7-9.
123
Kumkum Sangari, "Of ladies, Gentlemen, and 'The Short-Cut,"' in New Literary History, Volume 19,
Issue 3, History, Critics, and Criticism: Some Inquiries (Spring, 1988), 713-737.
124
Stephen R Marks, "The Art of Professing and Holding Back in a Course on Gender," in Family
Relations, Volume44, Issue 2 (Apr., 1995), 144.
125
Rosalind Marsh, ed., Gender and Russian Literature: New Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996), 14-15.
126
Krishna Sobti, interview by author, March, 2002, New Delhi.
56
 novelist Cynthia Ozick's passionate assertion that the term "woman writer is meaningless
nevertheless it remains a fact of social and linguistic realities. 127 This implies that the term writer,
by itself is not generally applied to women and that they are customarily referred to in terms,
which are 'feminine' counterparts to the supposedly 'masculine' designation of writer.
Interestingly, both Hindi and Punjabi have neutral as well as gendered terms for
describing different genres of writing. While the terms 'poet' and 'poetess' are 'Kavi' and
'Kavyitri', respectively, and writer can be translated both as 'Lekhak', a writer who is a man, and
'Lekhika~, a writer who is a woman. The terms for storywriter and novelist are gender neutral,
these are 'Kahanikar' and 'Upanyaskar', respectively. Similarly, Urdu dictionaries too have
gendered terms for writers of poetry, Shayar and Shayra, although nowadays Shayar is fast
replacing the use of Shayara even for women poets. Like Hindi and Punjabi, there are two
different terms for male and female writers, Adeeb and Adeeba and finally storywriters and
novelists are described in gender-neutral tenns as Ajsana Nigar and Novel Nigar.
One explanation for this line of thought is that the dominant trend in mainstream society
and culture, especially literary culture has been a masculine one. All writers whether men or
women have been raised within the mainstream cultural discourse of society and therefore,
women who write also want to be part of this literary mainstream, instead of being relegated to a
marginalized side stream of literary expression. These writers are a part of mainstream Indian
literature and should be'acknowledged as such. Their literary identity as writers precedes their
gender identity as women. This view is being accepted and voiced implicitly by contemporary
writers, who are women and prefer to see themselves as individuals before they see themselves a

.
women. Such writers take pride in their choice of humanistic themes transcending the narrow
range of those considered typical of 'women's literature'.
The writers I am studying as part of my research have also written about subjects not very
closely related to women's gendered experiences, these issues include the study of other
marginalized groups such as the lower castes and classes. Thus these writers are not just creators
of social dramas but also raise economic and political issues in their works. However, this is not
to negate the view of western feminist critics that believes that gender, along with other factors,
such as age, nationality, religion, ethnicity, education and experience cannot fail to exert some
influence, if only subconsciously, on a writer's work. 128 As Virginia Woolf once proclaimed, "A
woman's writing is always feminine; it cannot help being feminine; at its best it is most feminine;

127
Wendy Larson, Women and Writing in Modern China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998),vii.
128
Rosalind Marsh, ed., Gender and Russian Literature: New Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996, 14.
57
the only difference lies in defining what we mean by feminine." 129 However, the view that
emerges after a preliminary survey of literature by these writers, who happen to be women is that
there is no monolithic or essentialist image of feminine literature. The image, which is created
after reading the myriad works written by these prominent writers of Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, is
one, which is characterized by such variety and difference that it opens and defamiliarizes the
very notion of gender around which my study is organized. 130 This study brings out the impact of
the sex-gender system on women's writing and highlights the specific literary contexts and plot
structures, within which India women have historically found themselves. However, the most
important revelation of all has been that these writers have created literature, which embodies the
multidimensional sense of womanhood, or rather womanhoods.
The writers under study display an aversion to being called women writers. 131 This
aversion to the use of the term "woman writer" has common ring to it, as women writing the
world over feel that they are writers first and their being women is incidental to their writing.
Sobti says she's never followed the conventions of a "woman writer". "I am a writer who
happens to be a woman. But for me writing is not gendered. It's a bisexual act. When I write I'm
conscious oftwo personas, man and woman." 132 Similarly, when asked whether she visualizes
herself as a woman writer, Dalip Kaur Tiwana replied, that a writer has no gender, but she does
feel that because of their sensibilities, women might be closer to some concerns. 133 The manner
in which a woman and a man relate to child is different. Similarly, the relationship a woman has
with her creative work is different from the one a man has. She further says that modern women
commit the mistake of thinking that they are the same as men, while they are equal, they are not
same. She insists that culture and conditioning make them different. 134
Krishna Sobti's sentiments about not being a woman writer, rather being a writer who is a
woman, are echoed by Mridula Garg when she claims that "I am a feminist but not a feminist
writer." 135 She insists that men and women can be Marxist, or feminist, or belong to any other
group but writing cannot be compartmentalized in this manner. She further elucidates that when
she writes, Garg is simply a writer, who has elements of feminism, femininity and even to some
extent masculinity.

129
Virginia Woolf is quoted by Elaine Showalter in Elizabeth Abel ed., Writing and Sexual Difference.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp.14.
130
Edith Sarra, Fictions of Femininity: Literary Inventions ofGender in Japanese Court Women's Memoirs
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 12-13.
131
Krishna Sobti, interview by author, March, 2002, New Delhi.
132
Krishna Sobti, interview by author, March, 2002, New Delhi.
133
Dalip Kaur Tiwana, interview by Aruti Nayar, The Tribune, (Saturday, February 2, 2002.)
134
Ibid. .
135
Mridula Garg, interview with Rajesh Ranjan, Literate World, (February, 2002.)
electronically available at: http://www.literateworld.com/hindi/2002/sakshatkar/feb/salshatkarfeb 15.htm

58
 All these insistences, denials of being 'women writers' and rejecting the concept of a
genre of 'women's fiction' are indicative of the hardships that women in the literary world have
to face. They have to walk a thin line between writing like a man and thereby procuring for
. themselves a share of the mainstream literary tradition and writing as a woman and producing a
modern, contemporary subjectivity and sensitivity towards the issues closest to them at the risk of
demeaning their labour and having it classified as 'women's literature' and themselves being
reduced to the marginal status of being mere 'women writers'.
Interestingly, years later, after its publication, feminists were to criticize Krishna for
making Mitro, the protagonist of her most controversial novel, Mitro Marjani, choose the family.
What is pertinent here is that Sobti has never worked in the feminist frame-work as we
understand it. Sobti is too major a writer to be taken in by any such trap. The novel comes in the
sixties when feminism as a movement was yet to take shape. Then it was the case of a movement
needing writers to support it and thus feminists groups turning to the writings of say Ismat
136
Chughtai or Krishna Sobti who have an existence that goes much beyond the ism. However,
still she detests the term 'woman writer' because she appears to be a zealous guardian of her
11
freedom as a writer and as an individual. In her own words, I have always been my own person.
It is easier to exaggerate or simplifY the difference between people. My biological history says I
am a woman. History and individuals cannot ignore each other. I believe that your individuality
embraces our innermost uniqueness. And this individuality could be qualitatively different from
person to person. And this individuality could be qualitatively different from person to person,
not necessarily from male to female. I am a writer who happens to be a liberal, middle class
woman. I need to have my freedom for the smooth flow of my creativity. I see in myself a
creative writer who has total commitment to her creativity and art. 11

I am reminded here of the lines of a popular Taiwanese song which also reflects this kind
of dilemma,
"Who can tell me? Who can tell me?
137
Did we change the world, or did the world change me and you? "

These lines echo the response of women writers to the tradition of male bias against women who
have written rnd produced classics which have influenced thousands of readers, can be traced
back to the nineteenth century, when even Charlotte Bronte had to write under the pseudonym of

136
Krishna Sobti, A total commitment to writing, interview with Nirupama Dutt, The Tribune, (Sunday,
November25, 2001.)
137
"The Same Moon" (Yiyang de yueliang) is the theme song ofthe 1980s Taiwan film "Taking the Wrong
Bus" (Dacuo che).
59
 a man in order to get published and be read seriously. Women have been branded by male
writers and critics for over two centuries now. Ever since the American writer Nathaniel
Hawthorne dismissed the best-selling authors of his era as a "d--d mob of scribbling women,"
critics have echoed his opinion. Labeled "sentimental fiction," their work lies forgotten.
When not ignored it has been oversimplified. Historians examining "sentimental" novels as
artifacts of nineteenth-century popular culture arrived at wildly conflicting but equally
simplistic conclusions. One styled the female scribblers as "moral police" whose writing
tightened the bonds of domesticity. Another insisted they were feminist subversives whose
books were a "witches' broth" of resentment toward men. 138 Dalip Kaur also states in an
interview as to how some people react to her work without even reading it and dismiss it as
being about auraton ka rona dhona (women's sentimental nonsense ). 139 However, true to the
spirit of a woman who has to be brave to venture into a field that has traditionally been under
male hegemony, Tiwana further emphasizes that she is not bothered when she encounters such
reactions.
It is imperative to understand that as creators of literary pieces, writers have
specializations. While some write historical fiction 1 others specialize in science fiction.
Usually, the subject chosen by writers is that which they either have studied deeply, or know
about or most importantly, something which interests them, piques their curiosity, inflames
their desire to explore and excites them enough to want to share it with others, or incenses
them to the extent that they feel compelled to write about it and expose it to the world. From
this vantage point then, women are writers who write about subjects they know most about,
which they deal with on a daily basis. One. needs to place these writers squarely in the
intellectual and cultural context of their time. Not surprisingly, many of them emerge neither
as defenders of the domestic faith nor as feminist polemicists but as middle-class women,
trained to a destiny of domesticity, unexpectedly propelled by the popularity of their writing
onto the public stage. They chose as their subject, of necessity, the domestic world of
women. Their writings therefore, reflect childhood memories of inner quarters, of
grandmothers' spices and smells of kitchens and moth balls and talk of jewelry and silks.
They also write about burning issues which might be common humanity or reflect class
concerns but due to the second sex status of women, might be felt most acutely by female
members of society. Such writings are reflected in the creation of characters such as
sweepers, mid-wives, domestic help like cooks and nurse-maids.

138
Mary Kelley, Private Woman, Public Stage: Literary Domesticity in Nineteenth-Century America,
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.)
139
Dalip Kaur Tiwana, interview by Aruti Nayar, The Tribune, (Saturday, February 2, 2002.)

60
 Additionally, despite having the inside view on women and the concerns facing them,
by the virtue of being one of them, these writers address a wide variety of issues in their
writings. Moreover, these writers also write about current issues such as emigration,
nepotism, red-tapism, inflation, poverty, unionism and so on. Krishna Sobti's novel Yaaron
Ke Yaar, Ajeet Cour's "Qasaaibaaraa," and Manm.i Bhandari's Mahabhoj are all examples of
non-gender related writings among many other such works. Gender inequality is just one of
the subjects that they take up in their writings. I argue that even if all their writings are
gender-related, they still should not be side-lined as being "women writers." As explained
earlier, all writers usually have pet subjects, which move them enough to get them into the
writing mode and create literary pieces. These writers write about issues related to women
and gender differences. This does not imply that they should be simplistically classified as
"women writers." They could be called writers specializing in gender-related writing, or
gender-sensitive writers, but should not be reduced to the label of "women writers." They
are very much apart of mainstream writing, and should not be marginalized simply on the
basis of their gender, even more than the nature of their subject matter.
Just as everything a man writes is not centered on masculinity, searching for the women's
issues in everything written by a writer who happens to be a woman is thus a ridiculous
proposition. While many writings by a woman might be related to issues dear to her heart, or
issues she deals with everyday, this does not imply that everything she writes has to focus on
women's oppression or the woman vis a vis man. Admittedly, if a woman is writing, then her
sensitivities, her emotions and her attitude will enter her writing, however, it is erroneous to
assume that everything she writes will be woman centered or woman related. Such attitude
reflects a tendency to try to fit writings and writers into preset molds of feminist, leftist,
communist. Moreover, I strongly believe that even if women do write about women related
issues, this is no reason to marginalize them as 'women writers.' A writer who is a man, who
writes fiction about tribal societies, will not be labeled as a tribal writer, he will simply be a
writer. Then why is it the case that women, who are in fact writing about half of the world
population, instead of simply writing about a minority group I ike a tribe, should be pushed into a
minority status, why are they not allowed to remain in the mainstream of writing, instead of being
given narrow-minded labels.
Ifthe subject ofwriting forms the basis of such labeling, then Munshi Premchand,
Rabindranath Tagore, Balwant Gargi should be labeled as women writers, because their writings
have predominantly revolved around female characters. On the other hand, writings like Mannu
Bhandari's Mahabhoj and Krishna Sobti's Yaaron ke Yaar and other writings under the
pseudonym Hashmat should be enough to credit them the status of being simply 'writers' instead

61
 of a 'women writers'. Writing can be done from different perspectives, just as the writers
mentioned above employed narrative transvestism (men writing as first person female) and wrote
like and for women, similarly, even women can write from the perspective of a man. 140 The fact
that men who write on women-centered issues are not called women writers proves that literature
and writings cannot be a sound basis for labeling writers. A literary rule that does not apply to
men should most certainly not be applicable to a women. This leaves the only other basis of
discrimination and that is the actual gender of the writer. This basis can be negated on two
points, firstly, men who write are not marginalized as 'male writers', they seen as representing the
entire creed ofpeople who write and are simply called 'writers'. Then it is absolutely
discriminatory on the part of male writers and critics (and also those women who accept this
labeling), that women should not be able to earn the honour of being writers and be representative
of the entire profession of writing without a gender-bias, they are reduced to being a small
specialized, presumably narrowly focused group called 'women writers'.
Secondly, analysing other educated professions, such as teaching, medicine, engineering,
one finds that these professionals are not divided according to their sex or gender. A teacher is a
teacher, an engineer is an engineer, one does not refer to them as woman engineer or woman
teacher, then why is it that in the writing business, women are thus labeled and discriminated
against. Women are equals of men in all the fields mentioned above, equally qualified, hold
similar expertise and talent, and are representatives of their profession to the fullest' possible
extent without being pushed to a narrow corner. Similarly, women in the writing profession are
also equally qualified, in fact I would argue often even better than their male counterparts
consideringthe socio-cultural and religious barriers that they have to surmount and the daily
battles within the family and society that they have to face and yet they are able to write and
produce classics. Writing has traditionally been, like other public arenas, a men's sphere.
Women the world over, entered this profession quite late and yet have been able to make their
mark and move shoulder to shoulder and pen to pen with men, hence it is gravely erroneous, and I
would say extremely patriarchal and chauvinistic to limit women's creative accomplishments,
their writing skills and expertise and indeed their entire existence and identity within the narrow-
minded confines of the tag of 'women writers'.
Flannery O'Connor, the renowned American writer also shared the belief of the writers
under study regarding the marginalization of writers who incidentally are women as being women

140
This concept is developed by Madedeleine Kahn to describe the use by a male author of a first person
female narrator. As mentioned earlier, there are very few primary works authored by women and so most of
the fiction where the narrator is female has in fact been written by male authors. Madeleine Kahn,
Narrative Transvestism: Rhetoric and Gender in the Eighteenth-Century English Novel, (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1991.)
62
writers. Westling has aptly captured the spirit behind this belief of writers and their desire to be
treated as being part of the mainstream. Apart from their names, these writers do not want their
work to be easily identifiable as female. They like to think of their art as a force above or
outside conditions of gender. When they speak spoke of "the writer," they always
refer to an anonymous, ra.ther objective intellect whose personal life is irrelevant to
141
their work. The roots of this belief can be traced back to nineteenth century Britain, where
fiction by women proliferated the literary scene. 142 However, the primary decision makers in
publishing houses (publishers and publishers' readers) were men who shared a distaste for "femi-
nine" writing and contempt for the intellectual capabilities and aesthetic standards of female
readers. As a result of such discriminatory beliefs and policies, many female writings geniuses,
including Charlotte Bronte wrote under pseudonyms, just to ensure that their writing was
not victimized into obscurity and non-readership just because it was written by a
woman.
Lynn Sukenick, in her essay "On Women and Fiction," describes the uncomfortable
posture of all women writers in our culture, within and without the text: what I would call a
posture of imposture. 143 And she says of the role of gender in relation to the literary project:
"Like the minority writer, the female writer exists within an inescapable condition of identity
which distances her from the mainstream of the culture and forces her either to stress her
separation from the masculine literary tradition or to pursue her resemblance to it." 144

Women's fiction has traditionally been viewed as "transcending mere plausibilities,"

since women's forte is believed to lie in sensitivity. 145 Miller believes that to deny the credibility
of women's literature is to adopt the posture of the philosopher of phallogocentrism's
"credulous man who, in support of his testimony, offers truth and his phallus as his own
proper credentials." 146 Miller insists and rightly so that those credentials are more than
suspect. 147
While western feminist critics who espouse the view that gender, along with other
factors, such as, age, nationality, race, religion, ethnicity, education, experience cannot fail to

141
Louise Westling, "Flannery O'Connor's Mothers and Daughters," in Twentieth Century Literature,
Volume 24, Issue 4 (Winter, 1978), 510.
142
Gaye Tuchman, Edging Women Out: Victorian Novelists, Publishers, and Social Change. (New Haven:
Yale University Press, I989.)
143
Nancy Miller, "Emphasis Added: Plots and Plausibilities in Women's Fiction," in PMLA (Publication
ofModern language Association) Volume 96, Issue I (Jan., 198I), 46.
144
Ibid.
145
Ibid.
146
Derrida, Jacques. "Becoming Woman," trans. Barbara Harlow, Semiotext(e), 3, No. I (1978), I33.
147
Nancy Miller, "Emphasis Added: Plots and Plausibilities in Women's Fiction," in PMLA (Publication
of Modern language Association) Volume 96, Issue I (Jan., 1981), 47.
63
 influence, if only on a sub-conscious level, a writer's work, believe there is nothing wrong with
the terms "woman writer" or "women's literature." It is necessary to remember that Indian
women writers' denigration of the term "woman writer' or "women's literature," is a natural
product of their own repressive, patriarchal culture. The fact that such terms as "women's
literature" have a pejorative ring goes to prove that Indian women writer correctly perceive that
such labels denote inferiority in their culture. To be labeled as a "woman writer" itself
immediately denotes marginalization. They are simply no longer part of the mainstream
literature, they have been categorized as a minor sub-group of writers.

I would like briefly present the example of writers from outside India to provide a point of
comparison and conformity by providing international perspectives on the issue of being
addressed as the 'woman writer'. In China, with the onset of communism and the de-gendering
of society led to subsuming gender within literary circles too and weakened the category of the
'woman writer'. As a result, many Chinese women today refuse the label 'woman writer',
knowing well that the appellation implies a lyrical, useless nuqi, (femininity). 148 This was the
view of leftist critics in China in the early 1930s who argued that 'women's writing' was narrow
and over-emphasised human emotions. They fear being labeled as a 'woman writer' as would
mean that their work will be considered as less serious than that written from the standardized and
engaged, implicitly masculinized position of writer.
i

The feminine position has been virtually rejected by many contemporary women who
write such as Zhu Lin, Wang Anyi and Dai Qing and they outrightly reject the idea of 'woman
writer' or 'women's fiction'. Wang Anyi insists that she does not want to be studied as a 'woman
writer', and equates being a writer to being a male writer and being seen as a 'woman writer'
takes away the essence of being a 'real writer'.

Referring to a similar problem faced by Russian writers who happen to be women,

Rosalind Marsh writes that perhaps the biggest hurdle to a feminist reinterpretation of Russian
literature is the persistent lack of interest in women's literature as a disr.ursive genre within
Russia itself. Russian women writers and critics frequently deny that there is such a thing as
"women's literature." The highest praise, Marsh further writes that can be accorded to a Russian
woman writer is that she is a 'poet' rather than a 'poetess,' a 'writer' rather than a 'woman
writer.' 149 The author writes that women are seen as a subdivision of humanity, not as the main
class itself, whereas male is the norm, and the female is a class apart. Men are the rule, and

148
Wendy Larson, Women and Writing in Modern China, (Stanford :Stanford University Press, 1998),
199-200.
149
Rosalind Marsh, ed., and trans. Gender and Russian Literature: New Perspectives. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996),14-15.
64
 women are the exceptions to the rule. 150

The exclusion of women from the center of things has been quite a common occurrence not
just in literary circles, but in real life itself. In fact real life marginalization influences and affects
marginalization in literature and in literary circles. In the literature under study itself there are
numerous examples of marginalization of women, especially in cases of sexual and domestic
violence, however, the most outstanding example of marginalization is presented by Amrita
Pritam's Pinjar. This novel revolving around the protagonist Puro's life is set against the
backdrop of the partition and highlights how women end up getting marginalized in communities
and society, especially within refugee communities, or communities such as East Punjab or
Pakistan, where Puro, a Hindu girl was left all alone amidst Muslim men and women and a
Muslim culture, implies for them an existential exile within an exile. They are thrown on the
margins, from their already marginalized position within the mainstream society. This woman,
who was cast off by her family and left amongst strangers, whose cultural beliefs were alien to
her upbringing, felt that there was no place for her soul, to her mind, she in fact no longer had a
soul, therefore, she was simply a pinjar or a skeleton; She was an orphan of culture and history,
"she belonged nowhere." 151

This novel represents the physical dislocation and marginalization of a young woman, but
I also interpret it as a metaphor for the marginalization of women writing in a men's world.
Although the author might not have intended for this novel to be a statement on marginalized
writers, however, given the scheme of things where writers ofthe female gender are typified as
'women writers', this novel where a woman was marginalized in a patriarchal mode of life, is
representative of creative women and their writings who are sidelined and classified as a minority
which is situated apart form the mainstream body of literary writers and their writings.
This is the reason why writing women across literary cultures object to the use of the
term 'woman writer' because they see it and very correctly so as a deliberate attempt to sideline
their literary creativity when the truth is that men's writings can be as subject specific as women
and women's writings on the other hand_can revolve around a myriad other subjects and be free
from gender bias even when they might be writing about women and issues related t~ them.
Hence what being a writer who is a woman, but who does not consider herself a woman writer

150
Glazer; Miriyam. "Orphans of Culture and History: Gender and Spirituality in Contemporary Jewish-
American Women's Novels. In Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Volume 13, Issue 1 (Spring, 1994),
128-129.
151
Miriyam Glazer, "Orphans of Culture and History: Gender and Spirituality in Contemporary
Jewish-American Women's Novels," in Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Volume 13, Issue 1 (Spring,
1994), 127-141.

65
means is that the writers are gender-conscious, but not gender-bound. Hence while they are fully
aware of their gender, and do realize, accept it, however, they do not allow it to have a bearing on
their wrings when they write on non-gender or non-woman related subjects. Hence they are not
constrained by their biological or cultural conditioning as the female gender.

66
 The 'New Woman'

The common thread that runs through all the chapters of my study is the advent and
growth of the 'new woman' not just as an image, but rather as a framework for
women's way of life and changes at the level of attitude, outlook and thinking. This
'new woman' image forms a basic field of focus of my study. My research focuses on
the gendered experiences of women as portrayed by writers, who can be considered
'new women' writing in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu in post-independence North India.
Hence not only are the writers of my primary source material 'new women', but the
female protagonists that they create are also 'new women'.
By studying the portrayals of female characters in selected novels and short
stories by leading writers of these three languages, I will identify the various gendered
identities through which the writers have represented women as well as 'new women'
and their everyday realities. Before I go further in the discussion of this literature, it is
·essential to clarify the term 'new woman,' and delineate the principle tenets of this
figure at two levels, first in a theoretical sense and second in terms of testing these
theoretical principles in the 'new woman' description in literature by 'new women'
writers themselves.

The Cltaracterstics and the Rise o(the 'New Woman'

Writer Usha Nilsson, 152 who is formerly known as Usha Priyamvada and is one of the
writers under study has identified three characteristics of the 'new woman'.
According to Nilsson, these three features were previously absent from women's
mental make-up. I have briefly outlined these three characteristics of the 'new ·
woman' below. First, she possesses a strong sense of self-identity, she is a person in
her own right, regardless of the status bestowed on her by her father, husband or son.
She has the right and ability to make her own choices, judgments and decisions in life,
without succumbing to societal pressures. Second, she enjoys economic freedom as a

152
Usha Nilsson, "Women in Contemporary Literature: Revised Scripts and Changed Roles,"
in Bridging Worlds, ed. Sally J. M. Sutherland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)

67
 result of her access to higher education and employment opportunities. Finally, the
'new woman,' also has a sense of parity with men, such that she feels equal to them,
and acts as such without being aggressive or apologetic about it and this can be related
to the sexual sphere, where sexual liberation can be treated as a characteristic trait,
albeit superfluous in nature. These three attributes signifying the 'new woman,' rest
on the premise that she has the self-confidence and capability to give up the
preordained script of traditional social roles and make changes according to
circumstances. For example, the 'new woman' can switch or reverse gender roles and
assume the role of the breadwinner, which is traditionally a role assigned to men.
Although these characteristics are very useful in studying this concept, it does leave
out majority of women from the lower class who are either illiterate or not very
educated. To include these women and give them their rightful due for standing up
against patriarchy and creating their own personal space within a male dominated
society, I have introduced a fourth dimension to the image of' new woman'. This
aspect is not dependent on college education and professional careers, it comes from
within a woman, is a result of her circumstances and her personal grit and
determination to ask for her rights and work towards achieving them.
Keeping in mind that these components were essential to the making of the
'new woman,' it is remarkable that it was not until the nineteen fifties that the 'new
woman,' found her voice in literature. Nilsson attributes this development to the
unusual flowering of feminine talent. Additionally, the second wave of development
of gender and women's history in the late 1980s and early 1990s had been stimulated
by two related but essentially independent developments, the maturation of firstly,
social history as a discipline, whereby a significant landmark in the field ofwomen's
studies was achieved with the publication in 1974 of Towards Equality, the Report of
the Committee on the Status of Women in India, which concluded that large masses if
Indian women had remained unaffected by the rights guaranteed to them. It drew the
attention of scholars to the neglect in the social sciences of women's role and inputs.
The second reason for the development of women's history as a focus of study (as
referred to in another section in this chapter) was the growth of an active women's
movement within India and scholars were also influenced by the growth ofthe
153
feminist movement in the west. This spurt of literature was not limited to any one

153
Aparna Basu, "Women's History in India: An Historiographical Survey," in Writing
Women's History: Interntional Perspectives, eds. Karen Offen , Ruth Roach Pearson and Jane

68
 language or region, women began writing not only in English and Hindi, but even
vernacular presses were filled with material on women's issues and problems. Writers
who are women are naturally more attuned to the dilemmas and conflicts of women as
·often they write about social situations which they might have experienced first-hand.

Historical Development o{the 'New Woman'

While conceding the fact that the 'new woman' found a literary voice in the nineteen
fifties, it is imperative to point out that the process of creating this 'new woman,'
started long before that, in the late nineteenth century. During the course of the
nineteenth century, especially since the mid-nineteenth century, the patterns of Indian
women's lives began to change. In reality the concept of the "perfect wife" was being
redefined. Geraldine Forbes, 154 has outlined three new developments in women's
lives at this time. First, there were modifications and alterations in the activities
suitable for a female during different stages of her life. Second, the appropriate arena
for female activity was expanded. And finally, there was a new and growing approval
of individualism. As a result of the changes set in motion by the British conquest of
India, by the end of the nineteenth century, there were a number of women who,
according to Forbes, were "educated, articulate, mobile and increasingly involved in
public activities." 155 These girls attended educational institutions, social gatherings
other than family gatherings and new religious ceremonies. Thus these 'new women,'
as they were called, were part of a modernizing movement, which attempted to alter
the existing status of gender relations towards a greater equality between the sexes.
The writers that I have chosen for purposes of this study are also 'new women' who
began writing in the early 1950s and 60s, such as Krishna Sobti, Shivani, Ismat
Chughtai and Amrita Pritam, as well as the younger generation of writers, who had
started writing in the 1970s and 80s, such as Ajeet Cour, Prabha Khaitan, etc. Hence
these women represent two waves of 'new women', one representing the nascent age
of the 'new woman' era and the other representing a later, stage, where education and
career had been achieved by these women without much struggle, and therefore their
feminist demands went beyond these basic rights.

Rendall on behalfofthe International Federation for Research in Women's History

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991)
154
Geraldine Forbes, The NeW Cambridge History ofIndia: Women In Modern India
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) 28-31.
ISS Ibid.

69
 The Literary Characteristics of the 'New Woman'

Theoretically speaking, the appearance of the societal and literary figure of the 'new
woman' foregrounded the clash of perspectives on separate spheres, dege~eracy,
156
immorality, and women's rights. The 'new woman' narratives often challenge
society's most fundamental and sacrosanct vision of women, their desires, capacities,
and their worlds, particularly the worlds of marriage and family, within which they
might move, especially keeping in mind the Indian context of these 'new women'
writers and readers. While all these phenomenon are true and they did take place
with the so called 'advent ofthe new woman' however, my study of literature reveals
that this does not represent the entire reality of Indian women's lives in the 50 years
since independence. There are hardly any examples of women who encompassed and
achieved everything that embodies a 'new woman.' While most of the rural
countryside women remain unaffected by the 'new woman' phenomenon, which is
understandable, given the nature and scope of the activities and attitude changes
associated with the 'new woman', however, even the urban women are not completely
under the shade of this umbrella of being a 'new woman'. My experience with this
literature and the literary protagonists reflects that women attempt to be 'new women'
at least as far as getting a college education is concerned, however, from then on
begins the uphill struggle, where patriarchal strongholds within society as fathers,
husbands, family and men in general challenge her every step of the way to becoming
a 'new woman'. Hence the result is that most women are partial 'new women'. Some
are educated, some manage to go a step further and are both educated and financially
independent, yet others add sexual liberation to their 'new woman' attributes, but they
remain partially submerged within the sea of traditional patriarchal society.
This also goes to prove that the concept of the 'new woman' did not define
one objective reality, but symbolized different things to different people and different
I

writers. Literary descriptions of this exotic image differed throughout my study: The
.
'new woman' lived her own life and made her own decisions. The 'new woman' was
also well-educated and financially independent, her hallmark being personal freedom,

156
Patricia Murphy, "The Gendering of History in She," in SEL Studies in English Literature
1500-1900 Volume 39, Issue 4 (1999), 747-772.

70
at least in theory if not in reality. Some 'new women' rejected the conventions of
femininity and interacted with men on equal terms.
In the literature under study, there are broadly speaking three different kinds
of images of the various facets of the 'new woman' that can be delineated. Firstly, the
'new woman' is an educated woman, who is intellectually inclined and who is capable
of becoming financially independent. Secondly, the 'new woman' is an altruistic
crusader, who works for the upliftment of her under-privileged sisters and in general
works or has the urge to work for the deprived sections of the society. The final image
ofthe 'new woman' is one of negative shades, where the focus is on the sexual
liberation of 'new women' and how she is an anti-model for women to follow. While
I have addressed these images of 'new women' in the relevant chapters throughout my
thesis, and my attempt in various chapters throughout the thesis will be to answer the
following questions about 'new women':
Are mothers raising their daughters to be 'new women'?
Does being a 'new woman' ensure equality in marital relations?
Are men willing to become 'new men' in order to be able to accept and acknowledge
•
the advent and presence of 'new women' in their lives?
Are 'new women' really breaking away from the past?
Is society ready to accept 'new women' in its midst?
Is sexual liberation really helping women become happier 'new women'?
Are 'new women' themselves still steeped in orthodox traditions and superstitious
conventions? Or are they willing themselves to give up what is old, decadent and
subordinating?
Are 'new women' socially aware and professing desires and executing plans for
emancipating other less-fortunate women and trying to make 'new women' out of
them?
Are 'new women' more conscious of and sensitive to their maternal heritage and
culture? In other words, are they really 'new women' or at least trying to be 'new
women'?
Are the 'new women ' changing at the level of thinking, attitude and mindset, or is the
'newness' only skin deep?

Organizational Logic:

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The underlying theme of the study is broadly women's gendered experiences and
identities which are created by and at the same time encompass her familial,
economic, sexual, social and cultural circumstances. Therefore the chapters of the
thesis broadly follow a placement scheme which is arranged around a specific aspect
of women's lives. A few chapters have been clubbed together in the sense that they
are placed one after the other because they might be related to a single broader aspect,
this provides a wider vision and ensures a better understanding of the subject. 157

The first section of the thesis relates to women's social role and kinship ties.
The three chapters discussed here are "Gender and Motherhood," "The Mother-
Daughter Bond," and the "Relationship between the Mother and Daughter-in-law."
The first chapter brings out the different nuances within the concept of motherhood,
which is generally considered to be one homogenous, universal concept with a
uniform set of feelings. I however bring out conflicting views about motherhood and
so called maternal instinct, which I argue is not a natural instinct at all, rather it is a
social construct, taught as part of socializing and cultural conditioning of girls. I
briefly trace the traditional and nationalist views of motherhood in the Indian society
which saw woman essentially as a mother figure. I then discuss the changing trends
in the! portrayal of 'new woman' motherhood. I place special emphasis on the mother-
daughter relationship as represented by the writers under study. I discuss to great
length the advent of the 'new woman' in the role of both mother and daughter and the
influence of this development on the relationship between the older and the younger
woman. I argue that gender precedes generation and that despite generational and age
differences, mothers and daughters bond together because both are victims of male
dominance. Following this chapter I bring in the discussion of the other life-long
bond between women, that of the mother and daughter-in-law and contend that the
coming ofthe 'new woman' brings with it hope of a better relationship between the
two women.

157
I would also like to add that although the subject matter is arranged under sections, chapters
and topics, there are however, underlying connectivities and links between them which are
quite easily discernible. The relationship between family, economy, sexuality, violence, and
resistance are all aspects which combine to form the essential gendered experience and identity
of each woman in her own individual way based on the particularities of circumstances of each
ofthese factors. And women's experiences resulting from a combination ofthese various
facets influences their role in the creation of culture and its transmission to the future
generations.

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 Following this section, the study moves to the other most important aspect of
women's lives, economics. Reports and Statistics from organizations such as the
United Nations and the international Labour Organization show that women, who
make up half the world's population, account for almost two thirds of the total
working hours, while roughly one hundredth of the world's wealth and property is in
their hands. 158 Moreover, their freedom and potential are often limited not only by
material problems, but also by sets of rules that they must accept simply because they
are women. However, since women's work patterns differ from class to class, I have
addressed the issues of the lower, middle and upper class individually. Besides their
reproductive function, which most women have in common, the lower and middle
class women have the additional burden of double work day, as they are expected to
come home and perform their domestic duties of wife, mother and daughter-in-law.
In this light then, it is understood that housework is not regarded as "work", it is
simply something that women are expected to do and something that it is assumed,
they like to do out of their wifely love and maternal concern. Therefore, women who
do not participate in paid employment are not considered breadwinners even though
they contribute to household income through their activities and their saving skills. I
use statistical and literary evidence to refute this belief and argue strongly that women
are breadwinners too. For the sake of clarity, I have divided this chapter into three
parts, firstly focusing on gender and class and the double indemnity that lower class
women have to face being at the bottom ofboth the gender and the class hierarchy.
Next I discuss the concept ofbreadwinning. Then I go on to briefly study the
statistical data on this subject followed by the section based on my primary readings
to test the data-based hypothesis and gauge the validity of the conclusions arrived at
after the statistical study. I have questioned the general belief that breadwinning is a
male prerogative by focusing on 'new women': the educated workin& daughters and
the earning wives in the dual-earner households.

The next section engages with the issue of gender and sexuality and contains a
I
smaller sub chapter on adultery, a subject intricately linked with sexuality. The study.
delves on various aspects of sexuality such as marital and non-marital sexuality,

158
Mineke Schipper, Unheard Words: Women and Literature in Africa, the Arab World, Asia,
the Caribbean and Latin America, (London: Allison and Busby, 1984.)

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menstrual taboos, lesbianism and subversion of the sexual equation. I also study
women's adultery and interpret it as an act of women's resistance against generations
of male sexual domination.
The study of sexuality is followed by sexual violence such as eve teasing,
rape, child molestation and sexual harassment at work as part of the chapter on gender
violence. Another important these that rises out of the chapter is that of the much
hyped 'new woman's' sexual liberation, which as the writers insist, is not a liberation
after all. The other aspect discussed in this chapter examines the much hushed up, but
very much prevalent of domestic violence. The two main aspects of focus here are
psychological aggression and a sense of loss of personal control by both the aggressor
and the victim.
The following chapter, on Women Writing Culture is very special in its
emphasis on the cultural work performed by these 'new women' writers who are not
only aware ofthe culture of matrilineal heritage, but are also committed enough to
preserve it and spread it around. In this chapter, I emphasise that by incorporating
women's oral tradition, their folk culture, food preparations, pastimes and traditional
art forms, these writers are not just writing culture, they are also preserving the culture
of the bygone era. Hence what these women are writing is not just literature, but
culture itself. By focusing deeply on the oral tradition represented by generations of
women, I bring out the crucial role played women writers highlighting women's oral
sources, especially for women's historians as they enable those who are usually silent
in traditional history, to speak up, and move into the center of the narrative,
relinquishing their traditionally assigned positions of the margins of history and
historical analysis. Oral history thus becomes a means of demanding justice for
oneself in a society organized along masculine lines. And this chapter emphasizes
how women writers have played a great role in bringing these forgotten voices to the
forefront, by recording their compositions in their stories and novels, thus contributing
to the making of history and the transmission of culture.

The next chapter is perhaps the closest to my heart as it represents an

optimism that sometimes seems to get submerged under the tidal waves of marital
inequality, economic oppression, double workday, sexual exploitation, physical
vulnerability and domestic violence. My study of the protagonists oflndian literature
has forced me to do justice to their portrayals and therefore I could not simply

74
describe them as victims of patriarchal oppression. While this is true of most of their
experiences, however, there is a consistent streak of resistance and subversion within
these writings which made it imperative that in order to complete this study in a
comprehensive manner, I also present this aspect of their personalities alongside their
narratives of victimization. While admittedly men hold the power in society,
however, what my chapter on resistance and subversion explores is not whether
women have power, which is equal to or more than men, but rather what is the nature
of women's power, certainly, it is difft;rent in character from the one wielded by men.
Women's power is more secretly acquired, held in a disguised manner and exercised
most covertly. This chapter on Resistance and Subversion Strategies by women
shows how despite odds, women manage to work their way around subordination in
what is basically a patriarchal society. I have classified women's resistance into
active-passive, covert-overt, public-private and self-altruistic. The presence of so
many different ways of subversion prove women's resilience and determination to
create a place for themselves, watch out for their interests or those of their loved ones,
especially their daughters, sometimes without giving a whiff of a clue to the men in
the family. This chapter also brings out the one of the most shining aspects of the
'new woman' her altruism and the desire to emancipate her other less fortunate sisters.
Tied in to the theme of resistance, is the concluding chapter of the thesis,
which brings together strands from each chapter of the study and answers the set of
questions that have been raised in the introductory section on 'new women'. As a
final analysis to this long labour of love, sweat and tears, I end on an optimistic and
hopeful note that regardless of male reluctance to keep pace with changing times, it is
now a historical fact that the 'new woman' has arrived on the Indian social scene and
despite occasional setbacks to her identity, she is here for good.

I sincerely hope that this book will play a modest role in stimulating further
research not just in Indian literature but also in literatures of cultures outside India and
in particular about the position reserved for women. as well as the women writing
about them within those literatures. Such research from the focused point of the study
of gender through literary analysis has not been written about much, and hence it
becomes all the more necessary that a study may be conducted towards this direction.
This research proposes to take a step in such a direction and by following the
proposed pattern of study, aims to shed light on this crucial and meaningful aspect of

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gender history in Northern India. But even more importantly, it attempts to forge
another significant link in the shining chain of the history of women across the
cultures of the world.

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