Explained Books | Women and the conservative Right: an analysis | Explained News,The Indian Express

The answer to the question posed by the book Women, Gender and Religious Nationalism — why women advance the agenda of the Hindu right despite its conservative views on gender — is complex.

The power of the women’s vote is clearly recognised by most parties in India, including the BJP. The Narendra Modi government has repeatedly positioned itself in support of “nari shakti” or women’s empowerment, citing decisions such as the criminalising of triple talaq in 2019; the changes in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act in 2021 that made abortion access easier; the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign for the education of girls; LPG connections to poor women under the PM Ujjwala Yojana; the extension of paid maternity leave to 26 weeks; and permanent commission for women officers in the Army.

Scholars have, however flagged a dissonance between the government’s seeming attitude towards women’s issues, including economic and educational issues, and the ideological position traditionally espoused by the Sangh Parivar. The answer to the question posed by the book Women, Gender and Religious Nationalism — why women advance the agenda of the Hindu right despite its conservative views on gender — is complex.

Edited by Amrita Basu and Tanika Sarkar, the first two sections of the volume trace the long process through which women (and, to an extent, girls) were given space in the predominantly masculine worldview of the Sangh, particularly through storytelling, and how leadership roles — albeit in a small measure — were opened up for women in the BJP.

The section on women’s participation in Hindu militant organisations examines how community and neighbourhood mobilisation — “social work” — is used to transform the “ideal” Hindu homemaker into a street fighter.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/women-and-the-conservative-right-an-analysis-8290335/


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