Abstract

This work examines the politics surrounding Indian women’s rights, illustrating how it deeply intertwines with historical narratives of marginalization and resistance. In the context of the struggle for independence from colonial rule, women's rights got enmeshed with maternal rhetoric, thereby triggering gendered notions of citizenship. The dominant rhetoric contemplated by colonial narratives and orthodox nationalist discourses framed citizenship through the prism of patriarchal motherhood to deny women control over their reproductive roles, intertwining it with the nation to symbolize Mother India. Despite their active participation in the freedom struggle, contributions to drafting the Constitution, and efforts to secure their citizenship rights, maternalism is systematically exploited to exclude women. Yet for ages, individually and collectively, women have consistently fought to reclaim their rights as citizens, striving towards feminist mothering. This work unravels these complexities of marginalization and resistance. It claims that feminist agency persists in diverse forms and calls for the reassessment of maternal politics besides rethinking legal and policy measures to support women’s ongoing struggle for citizenship rights.

Keywords

Motherhood, mothering, colonialism, nationalist discourse, citizenship, feminism

Introduction

In Decolonising the Mind, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o (1986) explores the hegemonic aspects of colonial domination highlighting how imperial rulers inflict violence and deployed language and ideology to undermine local traditions. He wrote, “The bullet was meant for physical subjugation. Language was the means of spiritual subjugation.” Simultaneously, the orthodox nationalist discourse in the non-Western world emerged in response to colonialism and perpetuated hegemony through the language of oppression to silence the voices of the oppressed, rendering them invisible. In short, both the colonial rulers and conservative nationalists deployed regressive masculine ideologies to marginalize women.

Spivak (1988) in 'Can the Subalterns Speak?’ noted how the voices of 'brown’, 'black’, or 'women of colour’ have been muted throughout the intellectual discourse. She argued that colonial power displayed paternalism while portraying colonizers as saviours of colonized women in need of rescue. Patriarchal ideology has systematically negated the feminine realities and suppressed the 'herstory’. Moreover, while writing history, women’s role has been overshadowed by the reification of male supremacy (Butler, 2011).

Rather, every aspect of women's lives, including their reproductive abilities and sexuality, has been manipulated to uphold an androcentric worldview. The authoritarian patriarchal regimes worldwide exert control over maternalism by legitimizing marital rape, prohibiting divorce, demonizing reproductive freedoms, and criminalizing abortion. Rich (1976:68) writes, "The idea of maternal power has been domesticated. In transfiguring and enslaving woman, the womb — the ultimate source of this power—has historically been turned against us and itself made into a source of powerlessness".

In colonial India, to justify colonization, the British rulers portrayed young mothers as victims of their own culture to paint the image of a backward nation. In response, the orthodox nationalists symbolized women as "Mother India," idealizing them as the embodiments of national virtue and sacrifice. In this contestation between colonial and nationalist perspectives, women's voices were suppressed. Both these narratives by the colonizers and nationalists depicted women through regressive ideologies to diminish their agency, reducing them to mere tokens reproducing future citizens (Sarkar, 1992).

Neither women’s demands nor their needs could be integrated into these regressive notions around maternalism (Forbes, 1996). These dominant narratives prioritized males as liberal subjects and relegated women as mothers, wives, or daughters. These politics of exclusion erased women's significant contributions to the freedom struggle, their involvement in drafting the Constitution, shaping laws, and rights advocacy. Despite their active engagement, women’s efforts were overshadowed by dominant discourses. However, since ancient times, women have advocated for their rights rooted in feminist principles of justice, seeking to redefine citizenship (Nigam, forthcoming).

Drawing from James Scott’s (1985) notion of everyday resistance, this work explores the complexities of women’s oppression and resistance during colonial times and in post-colonial India. It dwells on questions regarding the treatment of women as second-class citizens in the dominant discourse. Why are women glorified as mothers and yet otherized in reality? Why did the state, in colonial and post-colonial India, define women’s rights through the prism of patriarchal family relationships, particularly motherhood? Why has the state negated women’s agency while disregarding their claims to equal citizenship? How does the dominant narrative continue to marginalize women, and how have women contested this subjugation while deploying constitutional and feminist frameworks striving towards feminist mothering?

While briefly examining the historical context and several case studies, this work demonstrates that mothering is a subversive site where women as mothers, single mothers, non-mothers, and citizens have challenged the power of the authoritarian states to reclaim their citizenship rights by evoking the rhetoric of politico-legal rights and maternal appeals. Instead of conforming to the patriarchal norms, they have reimagined feminist approaches to mothering (Nigam, 2024a). Rejecting their portrayal as symbols of sacrifice for nationalistic or patriarchal purposes, women have resisted oppressive narratives to redefine mothering as a source of strength. While doing so, they reshaped the dominant narrative to imagine an inclusive and just society (Nigam, 2024b). This work suggests examining the debate on women’s rights in the non-Western world through the layers of the discourse embedded in history alongside the feminist narrative rooted in the constitutional framework. It claims that feminist agency persists in diverse forms and proposes rethinking legal and policy measures to support women’s ongoing struggle for citizenship rights and to enable conditions fostering empowered mothering.

The Politics of Motherhood and Mothering

In many indigenous societies, women's reproductive capacity is imagined as a source of power that shapes their status and identity. While rejecting the notions of male supremacy, these societies view maternity as a positive and empowering experience. In Myth, Religion and Mother's Rights, JJ Bachofen (1967) explores the idea of matriarchal clans where mother's rights are central. These societies embody the concept of maternal rule, where women are considered influential matriarchs, and lineage is traced through them.

Thapar (2023) noted that matriarch societies existed in certain Indian regions, as evidenced by practices of bride price and the worship of mother goddesses as the symbol of power or Shakti. Further, the report Towards Equality (CSWI Report, 1974) observed the presence of matrilineal communities in North East and South West of India, particularly in Meghalaya, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. In some areas, matrilineal societies continue to thrive today. For instance, matriliny exists among the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya, where women hold significant roles in public spaces, although patriarchy works subtly (Rathnayake, 2021).

In contrast, within patriarchal societies, several scholars have distinguished between oppressive motherhood and feminist mothering. Fineman (1991) describes male-dominated motherhood as "a colonized concept" where a woman’s experience is defined and shaped by regressive principles. Rich (1976), in Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, argues that patriarchal motherhood is a reductive social construct imposed to control women. It fails to acknowledge the complex women’s experiences, reducing them to vessels or containers to produce babies. This subjugation of female reproductive tasks is evident in many traditional societies, where a child's identity is legally and customarily tied to the paternal family.

Patriarchal motherhood otherizes women by appropriating their roles, identities, and contributions. For centuries, societal prejudices have minimized women’s efforts co-opted their achievements, erased their contributions, and given credit to men. Consequently, women’s work is appropriated in the guise of the "father" of science, the "father" of the Constitution, the "father" of literature, and so on. This misogynistic framework relies on paternal principles to erase a woman’s role under the pretext of sacrifices for her children, family, community, and nation. Additionally, this masculine approach ignores the fact that wars, violence, trauma, and suffering are primarily the result of male-dominated decisions in contrast to the feminist principles that focus on peace, justice, and care.

Nevertheless, several feminist scholars have demonstrated that focusing on motherhood prioritizes the role of women as caregivers, not as citizens endowed with economic, political, and social rights (Dietz, 1985; Phillips, 1991). In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir argued that the idealization of motherhood discourages women from pursuing meaningful careers and personal advancement. Additionally, caregiving is associated with women’s invisible labour leading to their exploitation (Tronto, 1993). Moreover, in capitalist economies, women are increasingly forced to choose between their careers and maternal roles (Kadoglou and Sarri, 2013). Caught between the demands of family, work, and motherhood, they struggle to break through the glass ceiling and face the penalties of motherhood (Kahn et al., 2014).

However, this debate on women’s economic rights being overshadowed by maternalism often overlooks the situations of pecuniary compulsion faced by women in Third World countries. In these contexts, women as mothers and subalterns, are compelled by their specific circumstances to ensure the survival of their families while also advocating for their rights. Trapped by the constraints of marriage and motherhood, with limited education or employment opportunities and no available support, for many, maternalism is not a matter of choice. In situations of absence of a husband due to illness, divorce, abandonment, or death, they were forced to fend for themselves and their children (Nigam, 2024a). This agency was evident in cases like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and many similar situations described below. In such circumstances, motherhood moves beyond the private sphere and into the public domain, transforming into empowered mothering where the personal becomes political.

Moreover, in the context of Black mothers as caregivers, bell hooks (1984) argued that the early criticisms of maternalism by white feminists were unfair, as they excluded a large segment of women from the feminist movement. This narrow constriction of feminism affected poor and non-white women because mothering served as a site of positive affirmation for them. By condemning maternalism, these feminist perspectives overlooked how it could serve as a source of strength and identity for marginalized women. She explained,

“At the beginning of the feminist movement, feminists were harsh critics of mothering, pitting that task against careers which were deemed more liberating, more self-affirming. However, as early as the mid-'80s some feminist thinkers were challenging the feminist devaluation of motherhood and the overvaluation of work outside the home.” (Hooks, 2000: 76)

Furthermore, Hooks (1984) illustrated how Black mothers redefined family work as humanizing labour, which affirms a woman's identity as a caring individual. She argued that feminist mothering can be liberating, positive, and revolutionary. While work can provide financial independence, she explained that the capitalist culture fosters sexism, competition, antagonism, and alienation. It fails to meet deeper human needs. She emphasized that women’s liberation cannot be found solely while pursuing economic independence but through reclaiming the value of caregiving.

O’Reilly (2008) in Feminist Mothering has deconstructed mothering from a wider perspective to explain the concepts of feminist and empowered mothering. According to her, the former resists and refuses patriarchal motherhood while the latter widens its scope to focus on a mother’s position of agency, authority, and autonomy. Maternalism, therefore, is viewed as a site for activism, where mothers fulfill their selfhood through work, activism, friendships, relationships, and hobbies by involving the larger networks to make it compatible with paid employment. O'Reilly (2004) explained that feminist mothering dismantles patriarchal narratives to create space for counter-narratives of maternalism. She introduced the term "matricentric feminism," based on women’s agency as mothers (O’Reilly, 2016).

Hence, different from patriarchal motherhood, feminist mothering is a complex and multifaceted concept that prioritizes inclusion and justice. Embedded in the maternal framework, it is dynamic, emancipatory, and can be a site for feminist activism (Roberts, 1993). Collins (2000) elaborated on Black mothers’ experiences to demonstrate that mothering is a political category. Feminist mothering is entrenched in feminist consciousness and focuses on preservation, growth, and acceptability. It is a key to social change capable of transforming family and society (Chodorow, 1978; Ruddick, 1989). Hence, an inclusive feminist theory must consider women’s diverse experiences, specifically in post-colonial societies, which entails explicit nuances considering the socio-economic and political context.

Comparing Global Practices of Motherhood and Mothering

Yuval-Davis (1997) observed how women globally have been subordinated by men. The role assigned to them is solely that of carriers and transmitters of core patriarchal values. This repressive ideology reduces women’s reproductive capacity and caretaking role as tools for serving nationalist ideas or ‘patriarchal militarism’, rather than viewing women as autonomous individuals (Kaplan, 1994). Motherhood is debased by glorifying women as "mothers of the nation" while relegating them to vessels producing future soldiers.

For example, in Israel, women were construed not as citizens but as "Hebrew Mothers," serving the nation by producing future citizens (Stoler-Liss, 2003). Similarly, under Nazi Germany, political participation was reserved for men while women were confined to domesticity to raise racially pure Aryan children (Garvey, 2020). The Nazi regime had reduced womanhood to essentialism as epitomized in the slogan Kinder, Küche, Kirche (Children, Kitchen, Church), where women's lives revolved around motherhood, household work, and religious observance.

This emphasis on women's reproductive duties to serve the nationalist ideals was also evident in East Asia during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Japan, Korea, and China, the ideology of "Good Wife and Wise Mother" encouraged women to excel in domestic skills and fostered the moral and intellectual development necessary to raise strong, obedient children for the nation (Choi, 2020). These examples illustrate how the dominant patriarchal ideology limits women’s role as self-sacrificing and devoted wives and mothers while negating their role as autonomous citizens. Rebellious women were described as dangerous in this framework.

Similarly, in the Indian context, historically, maternalism has been distorted by patriarchal forces to reduce a woman's identity to merely her biological role as a womb, a symbol of self-sacrifice, or a passive entity (Bhattacharji, 1990) On the one hand, motherhood is glorified while simultaneously, gender inequities operate to suppress women (Olivelle, 2005). Rooted in the religious text and scriptures, maternity is idealized while negating women’s realities (Krishnaraj, 2010). For instance, Manusmriti noted, “Woman was created for the exclusive purpose of giving birth, to men for the continuation of the line” (Bhattacharji, 2010: 57)

During the colonial era, women’s citizenship and motherhood became a site of contestation over national identity and autonomy. The dominant narratives pushed by colonial and nationalist discourses focused on ‘modernization’, however, their interpretation was limited (Nair, 1991). These patriarchal narratives highlighted the ‘women’s question’ but never asked what women needed or wanted (Forbes, 1996:12). The maternal politics got enmeshed in these rhetorics to visualize an ideal Aryan woman who produces sons to protect the mother nation. This regressive ideology shaping gender relations consists of a complex fusion of Victorian morality, indigenous Brahminical patriarchy, and the nationalist response to colonization (Forbes, 1996). These androcentric approaches ignored the complex realities and framed women's citizenship through the lens of patriarchy while working in tandem to reinforce each other, advancing masculinist agendas (Keatings, 2011).

In the post-colonial nation, the dominant discourse propagated by the Hindutva ideology, rooted in Brahminism, continued to portray women as subordinate to men. This reverting rhetoric gained prominence under the current regime that aimed to impose the idea of Hindu Rashtra. It casts women primarily as mothers reproducing the theocratic nation, making them central to the agenda of right-wing women's organizations (Menon, 2010). By linking religion to nationalist politics, this degenerating approach invokes the concept of dharma (sacred duty), urging women to participate in nationalist activities "to honour Bharat Mata by establishing India as a Hindu nation." (Menon, 2010: 11)

In recent years, with the increasing communalization and politicization of religious identities, multiple patriarchies operate to suppress women. Coercive policies such as two-child norms have been pushed by the state leading to unintended consequences such as unsafe abortions, female foeticide, and reduced access to reproductive care while fostering the communal divide (Dash, 2021). Motherhood in the totalitarian Hindu Rashtra is shaped by the idea of ‘the mothers of the race’ to demean both Hindu and non-Hindu women. Similar to Nazi ideology, which created the duality of racism and sexism and superior versus inferior mothers (Bock, 1983), in India, the fundamentalist binary of Hindu and Muslim women manifests to threaten social integration and weaponize motherhood to create a divide. This division is evident in the anti-women call demanding Hindu women to have three kids while projecting Muslim women as those ‘only making kids’, to fuel a divisive narrative (Shah, 2024; Deccan Herald, 2025).

In contrast, the constitutional and feminist frameworks aimed to position women as equal citizens while shaping the idea of empowered mothering. Rooted in the human rights approach, the constitutional values advocate for dismantling entrenched social hierarchies, including caste, class, and gender. Despite being confined to the domestic sphere, women actively participated in the freedom struggle, contributed to the drafting of the Constitution, and fought for their citizenship rights. Progressive feminist politics over the century has demolished the dominant discourse constructed by the oppressive layers of colonialism and nationalism to transform the narrative of patriarchal motherhood into a political one. In short, feminist activism, on a macro level, has demanded women’s citizenship rights, while on a micro level, feminist mothering reframed maternalism to emphasize women’s agency.

Patriarchy, Hindu Rashtra, and Bharat Mata

Despite the expansion of the progressive rights-based framework globally, religious sentiments, mysticism, and divinity have all been intricately woven into the fabric of spiritualism to shape the concept of theocratic nations (Roy, 1937:1). Such an authoritative framework glorifies women as mothers while denying them humanity. For example, in India, the Mother Earth or Goddess is worshipped through various rituals and traditions. Mother, as an asexual figure, is associated with Shakti, the divine power (Mayaram, 2016). Interestingly, this maternal figure is also visualized as the source of afflictions such as smallpox or chickenpox; and the healer of these very maladies. Hence, the maternal concept is enmeshed in patriarchal structures, where it is controlled and suppressed by male-dominated systems.

Brahminism, the ideology promoted by upper-caste, orthodox traditions, subordinates women, emphasizes male supremacy, and denies women their freedom while regulating their sexuality and fertility (Nigam, 2016). It views women as sinful, deceptive, wicked, fickle, and sexually insatiable (Chakaravarti, 1993). Consequently, it prioritizes the virginity of unmarried women and the chastity of wives. However, it cannot ignore a woman’s reproductive capacity. Therefore, Brahminism elevates women’s status as mothers. A Hindu upper-caste woman is valued primarily for her reproductive role in this hierarchical order. However, this motherhood is devoid of power and construed only as a mere carrier and preserver of patriarchy. She is expected to ensure blood purity, maintain caste hierarchies, and safeguard family honour. This framework values the mother of a son while otherizing the mother of a daughter.

Also, the patriarchal presumptions consider the father as a ‘provider’ and, therefore, superior to handle the role of a guardian. While quoting an ancient Indian mythological text, Dube (2001) explains that this discrimination against the mother was nudged into the socio-cultural imagination through the concepts of ‘seed’ and ‘land’, with women seen as passive incubators and not the owners of wombs. This theory negates their reproductive labour. In such a framework, children belong to their fathers. Their identity is construed through men.

In the nineteenth century, the British rulers criticized the downgraded status of Indian women by highlighting practices like Sati (widow immolation), child marriage, polygamy, purdah, and female infanticide. Several male reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar considered this critique a symptom of decay. They initiated movements to end primitive practices and ‘uplift’ the status of women. They prioritized women’s education but never addressed the structural oppression. Also, deeply affected by their colonized status, the orthodox nationalists invoked the idea of a mythical "golden past" to justify women’s high status in ancient Vedic society. This narrative suggested that women’s status declined due to external influences such as the emergence of Buddhism and Jainism, and the invasion by the Mughals in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

In 1923, VD Savarkar in Essentials of Hindutva propounded the idea of rendering complete dedication to one’s Fatherland (Pitribhu) and Motherland (Matribhu) and linked it to Punyabhu (Holy land) merging the notions of religion, heterosexual family, and sacredness with nationalism. Further, in ‘Bunch of Thoughts', MS Gowalkar (1966) glorified the nation as a sacred motherland, intertwining the concept of territorial nationalism with the imagery of the divine mother. He besought women to be ideal mothers who teach their sons the idea of Hindu nationalism and desist from being modern or Western. This masculine ideology limited women’s existence to domesticity denying any transformation of gender relations (Dixit, 2013).

As per this regressive approach, the motherland must be protected by women warriors who fulfill their roles as mothers, leaders, and professionals (matrutvam, netrutva, and >kartutva). This idea of motherhood intersects with nation-building in three ways. One, women bear sons who defend the nation as soldiers; two, as primary caregivers, they socialize future citizens and warriors; and three, mothers manage homes and train children in patriotism (Banerjee, 2003). Similar to ideas propagated during the Nazi regime, this ideology confines women’s role as producers and nurturers who impart patriotism to their children (Venugopal, 2016).

Brahminical ideology deepens the gendered divisions by categorizing women into binaries of good versus bad, nationalist versus anti-nationalist, and respectable homely women versus vulgar street women. Those who challenged these norms or defied traditional "values" were ostracized. The purpose is to silence women's voices and isolate them. An autonomous woman who thinks, questions, and resists is a threat because she disrupts the patriarchal narrative framed by upper-caste men.

Bharat Mata and her Saviour Sons

During the interwar period, women emerged as a distinct political category. When progressive leaders such as Pandit Nehru, Gandhi, and Ambedkar envisioned a free secular nation, simultaneously orthodox nationalists projected their vision of Hindu Rashtra grounded in communal ideology. Both these frameworks relied on the mythical imagery of Bharat Mata as a symbol of the mother nation to forge anti-imperialist unity, though each interpreted it differently (Agarwal, 2019).

In Discovery of India, Pandit Nehru (1945:53) referred to peasants and workers and explained that “Mother India was essentially these millions of people, and victory to her meant victory of people.” According to Nehru’s vision, Mother India symbolized Indianness, cultural diversity, and secularism as the foundational principles of the nation-state. In contrast, Dr Ambedkar rejected the idea of Mother India deeming it as anti-women. He advocated for giving women their rightful dues and coined the term Bhaishkrit Bharat (Outcast India) to highlight the fractured Indian reality composed of multiple identities (Singh, 2017).

Contrary to this progressive vision, the regressive Hindutva framework exploited and instrumentalized women's roles as mothers to reinforce a narrow patriarchal idea. In this conception, women were expected to embody selflessness and a nurturing role. This masculine narrative objectified women portraying them as a glorified symbol of nationalism (Gupta, 2021). It linked religion with patriotism and depicted the nation as a Goddess (Menon, 2012). Connections were drawn between the nation's honour and the purity of female bodies while positioning men as the protectors of that honour. This metaphor was constantly evoked linking it with maps, language, and cows to design the nation because of its malleability, effectiveness, and emotional appeal (Gupta, 2001).

This nationalist motherhood was expanded to legitimize the idea of a theocratic nation-state, consolidating Hindu national identity and fostering a masculine nationalism. Several nationalist leaders such as Kiran Chandra Banerjee and Bipin Chandra Pal visualized Bharat Mata as an idol that expresses the idea of Hindu Rashtra. DN Jha (2016) explained that the vocabulary of Bharat Mata was not eternal but emerged only in the late nineteenth century, particularly with KC Bandopadhyay’s play Bharat Mata. Daniyal (2016) contended that the image of Bharat Mata was first deployed in Bengal in 1875 when Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed Bande Mataram, which became an anthem against British hegemony. Later in his novel Anand Math, Chattopadhyay hailed the motherland as a goddess. In 1905, a painting by Abanindranath Tagore titled Banga Mata visually embodied this idea and was widely used during the Swadeshi movement.

Aurobindo Ghosh, while explaining patriotism, referred to the map of India in 1905 and stated, “Do you see this map? It is not a map but a portrait of Bharat Mata: its cities, mountains, rivers, and jungles form her physical body. All her children are her nerves, ....” (Daniyal, 2016). This fusion of divinity, motherhood, and nationalism played a crucial role in shaping the vision of the mother nation as a body and political project, symbolized by the map of Bharat Mata draped with a saffron flag to consolidate the idea of the Hindu nation (Sumathy, 2001). This iconic depiction illustrated the concept of a unified India, or Akhand Bharat, encompassing Afghanistan, Myanmar, Tibet, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

As a symbol of national purity and honour, Mother India became a construct that restricted women to rigid roles, reducing their identities to mere functions within the family and the nation. This myth of Bharat Mata marginalized women, erased their agency, and portrayed them as an ‘idealized, stylized and ultimately passive figure’ (Sumathy, 2001: 110) This discourse idealized the mother as an asexual symbol of femininity, with the dyad of a mother and son becoming central. This masculine dominance reflected a vision in which neither women were portrayed as daughters, nor non-Hindu men were considered as sons. The narrow imagination of Bharat Mata became inherently tied to the Hindu upper-caste male elite, excluding women, minorities, Dalits, and Adivasis.

This conceptualization of Bharat Mata has been further manipulated in post-colonial India by those propagating Hindutva ideology. They aggressively exploited this iconic symbol to foster communal division while inflicting violence upon those who refuse to chant the slogan "Bharat Mata ki Jai." (Jha S, 2016). This fundamentalist discourse weaponized the theocratic imagery of Mother India to incite communal conflicts. The coercive imposition of loyalty to such symbols has shaped a new narrative on patriotism and nationalism entangled with violence (Thakurta, 2016). This obsession has even led to petitions calling to rename India Gate to Bharat Mata Dwar (Parashar and Roushan, 2025).

Ironically, in a country that proudly chants "Hail Mother India," the everyday reality for women is a stark contradiction. Women endure relentless violence in public spaces and private spaces and face severe assaults in conflict zones such as the Northeast, Naxalite areas, and Kashmir. In short, in the Hindu Rashtra propagated by the current regime, the nation has waged an ongoing war on women's bodies, their sexuality, labour, and reproductive rights in the guise of hailing Mother India (Nigam, 2024c).

The Colonial Discourse and the Politics of Mother India

In The Sexual Contract, Carol Pateman argued that Western political theorists while asserting their masculine power, created a political order where men dominate to legitimize the subordination of women. Pateman contended that these power relations influenced democratic discourse, where the male fraternity upholds the masculine bond to preserve and expand its supremacy. She called this dynamic the "story of women’s subjection." The underlying purpose of this structure, she argued, is to consolidate men’s exploitative power over women’s sexuality and labour, reinforcing a fraternal order.

This idea of citizenship is much more complicated in the Indian context because of its fusion with the history of colonization. Colonizers, guided by Victorian ideology, replicated their oppressive discourse in the colonies, where patriarchy was already deeply entrenched while reinforcing caste and gender hierarchies. They portrayed Indian culture as savage, barbaric, uncivilized, deceitful, and sexually perverse, requiring civilizing interventions. Moreover, British rulers argued that the native women not only suffered at the hands of men but also were oppressed by “the entire body of scriptural canons and ritual practices,” which they claimed rationalized such atrocities within a framework of religious doctrine (Chatterjee, 1989). Colonizers highlighted the ‘woman’s question’ as a crucial tool of exploitation to justify their coercive intervention (Chakravarti, 1990). Colonialism was framed as a civilizing mission while the colonizers positioned their ‘higher morality’ in stark contrast to the perceived degradation of Indian women (Forbes, 1996).

Sinha (1995) argued that the colonizers evoked the contours of masculinity to distinguish between the ‘masculine Englishman’ and ‘effeminate Bengali’ native as the historically constructed categories. The natives were portrayed as savages who lacked self-control compared to the manly and civilized Englishman. These effeminate Indian men’s characteristics were reconstructed over the period by the colonizers. This war against the perceived backwardness was also evident from the book Mother India by Katherine Mayo (1927). Relying on the argument of the victimhood of women, she deemed Indian men unfit to govern their nation. Her work reinforced the imperialist narrative that denies “less ‘civilized races” their right to self-rule.’ (Sinha, 2000).

Reflecting the Eurocentric perspective, she portrayed India as a hypersexualized society, where motherhood was forcefully imposed on young girls (Teed, 2003). She highlighted practices such as purdah, female foeticide, and forced widowhood and reinforced this grim metaphor with census data, police records, hospital statistics, and official reports. Her claims repudiated the Indian nationalist’s efforts to revive the golden past (Sinha, 2006). Mayo (1927:16) argued, “Inertia, helplessness, lack of initiative and originality, lack of staying power and sustained loyalties, sterility of enthusiasm, weakness of life-vigour itself – are all traits that truly characterized the Indians not only of today but of a long past history.” Through these assertions, she questioned the masculinity of native men (Thapar 1993).

Mayo's book sparked a global controversy, raising critical questions about the political and social ramifications of colonial rule in India. Men were outraged. They viewed her work as an attack on their pride and dismissed it as imperialist propaganda (Wilson, 1997). Her motives, credentials, and observations were fiercely questioned. Gandhi referred to it as a "Drain Inspector’s report," while Tagore wrote an extensive rebuttal. Several reports and films were created to counter Mayo’s arguments. This controversy became a broader debate on Home Rule, ignoring the women’s condition.

In response to the imperial description of vulnerable Indian women and Mayo's accusations of backwardness, conventionalists adopted a different approach than earlier reform initiatives. They inverted Mayo’s metaphor to present the ideal of "Mother India" as a revered, divine figure symbolizing national pride. In the battle between colonizers and the colonized, the female body became a tool for representing the nation’s culture. Patriarchal notions were invoked to craft women’s political image as self-sacrificing mothers. This gendered portrayal served to "otherize" women, relegating them to passive roles.

The Nationalist Discourse and the Idea of Bharat Mata

Enloe (1989) remarked, “Nationalism has typically sprung up from masculinized memory, masculinized humiliation, and masculinized hope.” Similarly, the dominant Indian discourse systematically denied women their control over motherhood by intermixing maternalism with nationalism. Traditions critiqued by the colonial rulers were reinvented with the construction of ‘a new woman,’ ensuring the reification of male supremacy. Nationalists selectively appropriate Western modernity to defend conventional norms. They celebrated domesticity as a last reserve saved from the onslaught of colonization (Sarkar, 1992).

Emotions were fused in the nationalist project where domesticity became sacred and a mother was reduced to a patriotic object (Sarkar, 1992). Motherhood was idealized as a symbol of national pride while neglecting women’s issues, where women were portrayed as moral guardians of society (Mani, 1987). Men, in contrast, were visualized as the sons and protectors of the nation (Forbes, 1996). This regressive framework stripped women of agency, manipulating the maternal construct to serve the nationalist political agenda (Bagchi, 1990). Instead of recognizing women's autonomy, the nationalists co-opted women’s participation in the independence struggle to assert national identity. Within this framework, women's rights were restricted, therefore, this essentialized patriarchal discourse was vehemently resisted by women (O’Hanlon, 1995).

Chatterjee’s (1993) analysis of cultural nationalism in nineteenth-century Bengal explored how nationalists projected their superiority by creating a dichotomy between the ‘inner’ spiritual, pure, superior, and feminine world of the home (ghar), and the ‘outer’ material world (bahair) consisting of science, technology, and democratic ideals. Nationalists argued that while the West had conquered the material world, it had failed to dominate its spiritual culture (Chatterjee, 1989). They attempted to control the domestic sphere and positioned the family as a key site of resistance. This view presented Hindu culture in alignment with liberal, humanitarian values, in contrast to the Western model (Thapar, 1993). It emphasized addressing the "women’s question" internally, without colonial interference.

These dichotomies of feminine and masculine, inner and outer, spiritual and material, home and the world, all crafted the image of a middle-class respectable ‘new woman’ (bhadramahila) and compare her with an English woman (memsahib) and a common woman on the street such as the prostitutes, washerwomen, maidservants, and street vendors. This categorization bifurcated women as good and bad. The conventionalist norms portrayed ordinary women as ‘coarse, promiscuous, vulgar, sexually promiscuous, devoid of moral sense, loud, and quarrelsome’. She lacked the gentleness and refinement of the new woman who was educated, disciplined, and responsibly fulfill her familial duties. This formulation of the new woman remained subservient to patriarchal norms. It essentialized traditions to alienate the masses.

Nationalists designed regressive norms to control women’s mobility. They defined the role, status, and position of a new woman based on patriarchal virtues such as morality, sacrifice, modesty, chastity, virginity, purity, honour, devotion, loyalty, and decorum. As the custodians of family unity, preservers of spiritual identity, and defenders of cultural integrity, women were expected to embody these oppressive ideals while remaining rooted in limited roles. The conventionalists, thus, invented a new hegemonic patriarchal order distinct from the indigenous or Brahminical patriarchy that had existed before (Chatterjee, 1989).

However, Sinha (2006) challenged Chatterjee’s views by highlighting that when orthodox men critiqued Mayo’s book, several subaltern movements, such as the Self-Respect Movement in Madras demanded reforms to address gender, caste, and class hierarchies. However, these contentions were ignored because of the rising communal politics. Sinha (2000) argued that the Mayo's propaganda led to a crucial reshaping of women’s collective agency in colonial India, allowing them to reimagine women as equal citizens and rights-bearing individuals. The women’s movement effectively refashioned the feminist discourse, which marked a significant "rupture in the history of the empire.”

The organized women’s collectives expressed their outrage against Mayo’s propaganda, critiqued it, and acknowledged the need for social reform. Women's organizations passed a resolution recognizing the conditions presented in the book while condemning its "misrepresentations and false generalizations" (Sinha 2006: 141). Globally, they engaged with transnational networks including the League of Nations (Parr, 2021). Nationally, they mobilized agitations against Mayo's propaganda suggesting that imperialism itself was to blame and that Indian women, in collaboration with the national leaders, were in the best position to address their issues. Their protest rearticulated the ‘woman question’ to expose the myth of benevolent imperial paternalism and undermined colonial legitimacy.

Mayo’s Controversy and the Child Marriage Law

The controversy ignited by Mayo’s propaganda led to political transformations and had cascading political consequences in colonial India. While Mayo aimed to expose backwardness, her narrative was challenged by the native women inadvertently revealing the shortcomings of the imperial rulers as a civilizing force. This change was evident in the push for the child marriage law, where women from various backgrounds united to demand legislative reform. The mounting pressure to enact the child marriage law exposed the colonial state's inaction and resistance to progressive reforms.

The women’s organizations forced the reluctant colonial state to enact the Child Marriage Restraint Act (or the Sarda Act) in 1929 as a penal measure to regulate the age of marriage. This law was applied to women across communities, regardless of caste, class, or religion. Although they criticized the bill as deeply flawed, women’s collectives played an instrumental role in organizing the campaign for passing this law, positioning it as a strong response to the "Mother India" controversy (Sinha, 2000). They framed their stance around women's health and actively commented on the proposed bill, lobbying, and petitioning for approval (Forbes, 1996:88).

When women’s organizations advocated for this law, the Hindu upper-caste orthodox nationalists hindered their efforts to legalize equality and attempted to reinforce prevailing hierarchies. They articulated their opposition to raising the age of consent by citing Shastras (Hindu treatise). The women representing the All-India Women Conference countered this argument by demanding new Shastras (Nair, 1994). Similarly, the Muslim leaders sought an exemption from applying the law. However, women intervened actively to shift male dominance by advocating for an inclusive nation (Forbes, 1996).

This activism contributed to the emergence of women as agents capable of demanding their political rights. It illustrated that women no longer had to mediate their rights through their communities. Instead, they could directly approach the state. Additionally, this debate raised crucial questions regarding the dynamics between the colonial state and its subjects, especially how it utilized caste, kinship, culture, and religion to shape this relationship. Following the enactment of the Sarda Act, women’s activism expanded beyond the issue of marriage to demand reforms in inheritance laws besides equal rights for working women.

Women’s Activism and Political Participation

During the early twentieth century, the ‘woman as a political category’ emerged across communities. Masses of women played an active role in the freedom struggle. They engaged in diverse activities such as spinning khadi, writing articles, making posters, organizing prabhat feris (singing songs to evoke patriotic sentiments), providing shelter and care to those hiding from British authorities, participating in demonstrations and satyagraha, and picketing foreign clothes and alcohol shops. They actively participated in various movements such as the Non-cooperation movement (1920-21), the Civil Disobedience movement (1930-31), and the Quit India movement (1942). Some were tortured and imprisoned by the colonial rulers (Thapar, 1993).

Women’s activism contributed significantly to drawing them out of the "private" realm providing them with opportunities to participate in public events (Desai, 2006). Through their participation, women realized their strength. Even otherwise, the home became a primary site of struggle where women critiqued the patriarchal norms through writing autobiographies, stories, poems, paintings, songs, and other artifacts. They critically debated the prevalent socio-legal situation. The dominant discourse negated this agency of women and overlooked their roles and contributions in the freedom struggles. Yet, through their actions, women persistently advocated for liberation.

During the interwar period, three organizations emerged. The Women’s Indian Association (WIA) formulated in 1917 by Annie Besant demanded women’s education and political representation. The All-India Women’s Conference (AIWC) by Margaret Cousins in 1927, parented by WIA, conducted anti-purdah agitation, and the National Council of Women in India (NCWI) established in 1925 by Lady Aberdeen, focused on eliminating social, economic, and legal disabilities. Collectively, these networks mobilized to demand gender equality in stark contrast to the earlier reform movements, which focused on the upliftment of women (Kapur, 1996). They raised key questions regarding women’s education, reform of Hindu law, and women’s suffrage (Khullar, 2005). Though they were criticized for being elitist, these organizations shaped the feminist discourse (Forbes, 1996).

Throughout the 1930s, the AIWC passed a series of resolutions that demanded a right to divorce for Hindu women besides equal rights to property and inheritance. It condemned polygamy and marriages between older men and minor girls. In 1939, women’s collectives in their report titled Report of the Sub-Committee on Woman’s Role in Planned Economy, reimagined the Indian woman as a complete, self-sufficient individual and proactive citizen. Led by women leaders such as Hansa Mehta, this report was inspired by the Declaration of Fundamental Rights, adopted by the Indian National Congress in Karachi in 1931. It noted,

“... We do not wish to turn a woman into a cheap imitation of man or to render her useless for the great tasks of motherhood and nation-building. But in demanding equal status and equal opportunity, we desire to achieve for woman the possibility of development under favourable circumstances of education and opportunity, and while so doing, urge upon the State its responsibility towards women in this respect.” (p.88)

The Report recognized patriarchy within the household, economy, and society as oppressive and called for social, legal, and administrative measures. It advocated for women's financial independence, equal pay for equal work, recognition of the economic value of household work, and, crucially, their recognition as equal citizens. Amrit Kaur (1946) referred to this as "constructive citizenship," emphasizing that only a citizen who fully enjoys her rights can effectively contribute to the progress of society.

Building on this Report, the Indian Woman’s Charter on Rights and Duties was prepared in 1945 by Hansa Mehta, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, and Lakshmi Menon, under the aegis of the AIWC. Through this Charter, they reformulated the "woman question" to emphasize their identity as right-bearing citizens rather than daughters, wives, or mothers. This Charter challenged the public-private binary and also outlined the duties of women, which included the responsibility to get educated, fight against social evils such as child marriage, purdah, and polygamy, and work toward world peace. It became a foundational document in the campaign for women's rights in India and abroad (UN, 1946).

Despite their exclusion from the political discourse, women in colonial India created a space for subversion and resistance ((Nigam, 2025). These feminist actions exposed the colonizers’ hollow paternalist claim of being the protectors of womanhood. Similarly, women refuted the claims of nationalists who invoked the lens of spiritualism as against Western modernism. Therefore, Indian women resisted both colonial paternalism and fraternalism when colonial rule colluded with elite men to enhance masculinist control over women (Keatings, 2011).

Women’s Participation in the Making of the Constitution

A Constituent Assembly was set up to draft the Constitution consisting of 299 men and fifteen women. Though underrepresented, women raised their voices to make multiple feminist demands and played a significant role through their direct and indirect contributions (Scaria and Nigam, 2016). Women's participation in the Assembly was linked to their vital role in the freedom struggle and pre-independence nationalist politics. The writing of the Constitution was a radical action towards liberation whereby the makers refuted the colonial logic of natives being incapable of self-rule. Based on democratic and egalitarian ideals, it forbids discrimination and paved the way for affirmative action.

Through issuing statements, submissions, petitions, and feminist criticisms of drafts, women members ensured that socio-economic and political inequalities were addressed. Some took part in the sub-committees and used the constitution-making process as a platform to advocate for women's equality. Those affiliated with the WIA or the AIWC strategically used their position to indicate women’s oppression. Substantively and symbolically, they played a crucial role in realizing the goal of gender justice (Keatings, 2011).

The women members contributed significantly to the drafting of the Preamble and emphasized the significance of the provisions related to fundamental rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy. They played an active role in the debates surrounding measures to empower marginalized groups, including the prevention of forced labour, trafficking, untouchability, the Devdasi system, discrimination against minorities, and state control over religious institutions. In their speeches, they also highlighted issues related to the electoral system, the judiciary, the strengthening of local bodies, and various other matters (Rajya Sabha Secretariat, 2012). By explicitly raising questions about gender, caste, and minority, they challenged exclusion and aimed to foster democratic norms. They critiqued the way the indigenous hierarchies were bolstered by the British. For instance, Hansa Mehta while drafting the resolution of Women’s Role in Planned Economy in 1939, demanded,

“(a)…woman’s place should be equal to that of a man. Equal status, equal opportunities, and equal responsibilities shall be the guiding principles to regulate the status of women whatever the basis of society in the Plan; (b) Woman shall not be excluded from any sphere of work merely on the grounds of her sex; (c) Marriage shall not be a condition precedent to the enjoyment of full and equal civic status and social and economic rights by a woman; (d) the state shall consider the individual as the basic social unit and plan accordingly.” (p 225)

While advocating for rights, Mehta (1951) argued that a balance has to be maintained with the duties. She explained,

“A life of duties without rights means the existence of a slave; while rights without duties mean a state of anarchy i.e., more license than freedom. It is only where rights and duties are properly balanced and integrated that we can get an ideal society where freedom in the true sense of the term can flourish.”

The contentious battle in the Constituent Assembly over the mythification of motherhood took place but giving rights to mothers was not preferred. The property rights and the guardianship rights vest with men. For instance, Kamaladevi, a member of the Constituent Assembly while framing the Charter on Women’s Rights and Duties advocated for the recognition of women’s work at home. She argued,

“…To state blandly that woman produces children and rear them, cooks food, cleans, washes, is not enough. According to the industrial economy, she produces labour power, and labour power is basic, for without it none of the other kinds of power can be made to operate. But that too is not good enough. The housewife is as much of a working woman as a factory worker.” (Chattopadhyay, 1944)

However, in post-colonial India, for decades, the role and contribution of these women members in the Constituent Assembly remained obscured. Chetan (2022) referred to them as ‘missing mothers’ because their contributions were erased from history. He wrote, “‘Missing Mothers’ serve as a reminder of the sexism inherent in the constitutional discourse which is suffused with paternalist metaphors and patriarchal prejudices, and reclaims space for feminist politics”. Ironically, the women aimed to eliminate inequality however, the dominant majoritarian narrative acted to subordinate them.

This suppression of women’s voices and their needs by the dominant discourse was also reflected during the codification of the Hindu laws. Colonial rulers interpreted the local laws in a biased manner. Similarly, the codification of the Hindu law based on the Rau Committee Report was rejected. The Hindu Code Bill suggested sweeping changes in personal laws to eliminate gender disparities. However, when presented in 1949, this bill faced immense opposition and was finally withdrawn (Basu, 2001). Pandit Nehru, the then-prime minister, later fragmented the bill into four laws: the Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, and the Hindu Succession Act. These acts were passed between 1952 and 1956. These family law reforms were constructive, but they failed to eliminate patriarchy as they prioritized the internal self-regulation of religious communities (Chaudhary, 2016). In post-colonial India, despite the progressive spirit of the Constitution, women’s relation to the state is mediated through the collective interest of a particular community and not as an individual citizen (Nigam, 2019).

Therefore, the report Towards Equality in 1974, observed that women’s status has not improved but declined since independence. It noted that the laws have failed to mitigate the problems as the masses of women remained unaware of their rights. This report indicated that merely attaining freedom from colonial rule has not altered the power relationships in the hierarchical society. Specifically, for the peasant women, workers, Adivasis, and various marginalized sections, the quest for Azadi remained unfulfilled.

The subalterns, therefore, were compelled to evoke the vocabulary of constitutional rights as the moral compass to counter the subjugation and introduce empathy, humanity, and compassion. More importantly, in many situations, women have evoked their depoliticized identities to negotiate with the sexism inherent in the law, state, and society while reclaiming their rights from the claws of patriarchy. While asserting ‘personal is political’ women have challenged the public-private binary. Consequently, over the decades, this visibility of women in public spaces increased because of the foundation for women’s rights laid down by the constitution makers. Tharu and Niranjana (1994) highlighted the presence of women in anti-arrack struggles, anti-Mandal agitations against reservations in the government service, the promotion of contraceptives in the family planning programmes, and the emergence of militant female figures. This reimagining of maternalism has contributed to a nuanced critique of patriarchy to advance ideals of justice.

Feminist Mothering Not Patriarchal Motherhood

The totalitarian regimes construe a nation where either a mother is idolized or visualized as a vulnerable figure. This chauvinist ideology fails to consider women as citizens bestowed with rights. However, as mothers and citizens, women have acted to reclaim their identity reshaping the concept of feminism and citizenship. They have continuously resisted authoritarian regimes as evident from their everyday battles for peace, fights against corporations, and many such defiance. Maternity became a subversive site where women’s activism altered the conventional understanding.

For instance, protests such as the Chipko movement, anti-alcohol agitations, anti-dowry protests, outrage against sexual violence, battles against giant corporations, movements against anti-people policies, movements demanding better laws, and many documented and un-documented struggles depict how feminist agency asserted citizenship rights. Beyond the class and caste hierarchies, women fought against the mighty state apparatus. The battles in cases such as the murder of Nitish Katara, Jyoti’s gangrape in Delhi in 2012, the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student, the disappearance of Najeeb from JNU premises, the tough struggles by Soni Sori, Bilkis Bano, and Zakia Jafri’s for justice, and in many similar cases, women as mothers and non-mothers have directly challenged the oppressive system. Through such resistance, they challenged the hegemony of the androcentric state and non-state actors to dismantle patriarchy and all forms of oppression. As mothers, their desexed identities became salient and equipped them with leverage as an ‘antidote to the state’ (Cetinkaya 2020). Their struggles demolished the traditional narratives of motherhood to redefine it through the feminist lens, rejecting the idea of motherly sacrifice for the nation. Instead, they promoted a vision of inclusive mothering.

Furthermore, in the event of state-sponsored violence and human rights violations including forced disappearances, many women protested because they were frustrated by the system. These protests were neither linked to any political parties nor these mobilizations were based on ideologies. Most of these mothers were ordinary women. Some were traditional homemakers who hardly participated in any public events earlier. They lacked prior experience. Yet, in the traditional cultures, through their resilience, they claimed their moral authority against oppressive regimes (Malik, 2020). They relied on apolitical non-violent methods to publicly challenge the oppression. Most of the agitations show how women as citizens engaged in civil disobedience to demand the state’s accountability in the face of brutalities (Sen, 2017).

A compelling example of feminist mothering can be found in the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the largest environmental disasters. The catastrophic leak of toxic Methyl Isocyanate gas, caused by Union Carbide’s negligence, disrupted everyday life, yet the government favoured the corporation. Many women faced precarious situations where their husbands were either too ill to work or had lost their jobs, forcing them to seek employment. Those traditionally living behind the purdah were compelled to find new survival mechanisms. Stearney (2010) highlighted how these women accessed the public sphere and mobilized support to demand the accountability of the state and the corporate giant. Through their participation in the workforce, women discovered a shared collective identity and became outspoken activists. As mothers, they navigated the complexities of public visibility while maintaining their domestic roles and advocated for justice. Their struggles continue to date as they claim that the successive governments in the USA and India have protected the offenders (Business Standard, 2024). Recently, they protested against the state’s negligence in failing to dispose the tonnes of hazardous waste contaminating the groundwater and leading to serious medical problems (France24.com, 2025a).

Moreover, the struggle by Naga mothers in North-East India depicts how women as mothers fought against the state’s brutalities. In July 2004, Manorama, a young woman, was abducted at midnight from her home in Manipur, brutally gang-raped, and murdered by the personnel deployed under the Armed Force Special Protection Act. The Naga mothers were outraged. Twelve of them marched naked to the Assam Rifles headquarters carrying a banner “We all are Manorama’s mothers…come rape us”. (Pandey, 2017). Defying all stereotypes, they confronted the security forces (Bhonsle, 2016). Their motivation was intensely emotional. Most of them were Meira Paibis or activists from poor families. They depicted a bond of feminine solidarity (Misri, 2011). While positioning themselves as Manorama’s mothers, they claimed respectability and legitimacy. Their protest forced the Assam Rifles to vacate their base. However, years later, the mothers claimed their fight continued because no action was taken against the culprits. Instead, the Army harassed the protestors’ families. Yet, their protest has led to a decrease in the cases of extrajudicial killings and shaped the growth of the civil rights movement in the area (Sirur, 2021).

This mix of emotional appeal and just reasoning was also evident in the women’s rebellion against the negligent state. On August 13, 2004, Yadav, a notorious serial rapist and criminal was killed by women in the open courtroom of the District and Sessions Court in Nagpur (Mehta, 2005). Despite being arrested multiple times, Yadav was repeatedly released on bail (Kristof and WuDunn, 2009). On the day of his death, the women marched to the court, determined to seek justice. Within minutes, Yadav was dead. The post-mortem report revealed multiple wounds and injuries. The police alleged this killing was an act of gang rivalry and arrested women on the charge of murdering Yadav. However, women remained unapologetic. Rather, they expressed pride (Prasad, 2005). They framed the killing as a spontaneous, emotional outburst and a direct response to the state's failure to act against Yadav’s reign of terror. This act of mutiny symbolized not just a personal reckoning with injustice but a broader defiance of a system that had failed to ensure dignity. In 2014, the Nagpur court let off all the accused (NDTV.com, 2014) In 2022, a document series ‘Murder in a Courtroom’ by Netflix depicts how power dynamics operate within society and the legal system to deny justice, and the ways women countered this oppression by collectively channelling their anger.

Multiple such actions of resistance by women highlight the state’s failure to protect the rights of the oppressed. For instance, in December 2019, a significant protest erupted. Led by mothers and grandmothers, it took a stand against the Citizenship Amendment Act and police brutality (Nigam, 2020b). The protest was a peaceful, creative response to the growing fascism, hate, and polarization fuelled by the majoritarian state. It began in a small lane in Delhi and spread across the country, where participants united by the common cause of defending the "idea of India." It halted after a hundred days due to the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. The women protested at their risk. Their choice of strategy was deeply symbolic. Their claims were broadly democratic and also resonated emotionally. However, the majoritarian state retaliated and arrested several students while undermining their right to dissent. The police arrested Safoora Zargar, a research scholar for her alleged involvement in the 2020 Delhi riots. This act sparked an outrage. She was released on bail after two months on humanitarian grounds, while several students including Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Usmani, and Sharjeel Imam, are still languishing in jail (CJP, 2024b).

Meanwhile, in 2020, another major agitation unfolded as farmers launched a protest against the controversial farm laws that undermined their livelihoods and harmed the rural communities. These laws aimed to liberalize the agricultural sector but disregarded the democratic norms while failing to address agrarian distress including farmer debt and suicides (Jain and Suresh, 2021). In response, many mothers and grandmothers, working as agricultural labourers and marginal farmers joined the movement (Nigam, 2021). Their participation highlighted how maternal activism shapes the struggles for justice. The protest continued to date as the protestors evolved innovative strategies to raise their demands (Jagga and Siwach, 2025). The protestors faced backlash yet their resolve stands strong (Business Standard, 2025a).

Women have also challenged the taboos and stigma surrounding mensuration countering the idea of ‘purity’ projected by the dominant Brahminic ideology through protests, campaigns, and litigation. Demanding their right to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala (Indian Young Lawyer Women’s Association v. State of Kerala, 2018) to the Happy to Bleed campaign (BBC News, 2015), all such actions depict how women have challenged the exclusionary ideologies and actions. Also, protests in cases of increasing sexual violence have continued over the past few years whereas in various cases, the protestors have demanded the accountability of the state (CJP, 2024a). In many such situations of active defiance, the patriarchal model was inverted and substituted with a democratic model by relocating power.

In all such actions, grassroots maternal activism has directly confronted patriarchal structures, advocated for socio-legal reforms, increased economic opportunities, and political representation. Also, many single mothers have approached the courts to demand their guardianship rights. Mandal (2019) noted that outside patriarchal families, the phenomenon of single motherhood is expanding, where the courts have accorded them legal recognition not only through biological relatedness or intentionality but through the function consisting of labour of parenting.

Nigam (2024a) elaborated on how single mothers’ households have challenged the hegemonic ‘male breadwinner and provider’ model besides countering the overriding idea of heteronormative ‘family’ in a conservative society. She contended that when the efforts by the reformers failed to elevate the status of single mothers, individual women utilized their agency compelling the courts to recognize the diverse family forms. Through these battles, they have pushed for a liberal interpretation of the guardianship law to uphold the interests of mother and child (Nigam, 2024b). Not only in India but also as immigrant mothers, women have fought battles against foreign states, as seen in the case of Sagarika Chakraborty, portrayed in the film Mrs. Chatterjee versus Norway.

Imagined as the ‘protagonists’, it is through their ‘battles for equality’, that mothers as subalterns play a significant role in altering the ‘systems of inequality’ to force social transformations (Herklotz and de Souza, 2021). These examples show that mothering is not a monolith concept. When the state and society denied mothers their citizenship rights, women fought hard to shatter the conservative norms. They asserted their right to reclaim mothering as a site of power, choice, and agency rather than an obligation imposed by patriarchal norms.

This constellation of changes over the century shows how individually and collectively, women have fought to reclaim their dues. They articulated their agency to shape the language of rights despite obstacles in an intensely patriarchal society to alter socio-political relations. These gradual and cumulative changes became possible when millions of Dalits, Adivasis, and Bahujan women refused to integrate with the dominant idea of Hindu Rashtra. They critiqued the regressive ideologies that portray them as passive. For instance, through movements such as Pinjra Tod (Break the Cages) women struggling for a safe campus challenged the dominant nationalism. They explicitly rejected patriarchal motherhood embodied in the notion of Bharat Mata. Through their slogans such as Ma se Azadi Ma ki Azadi (Freedom from the mother, freedom of the mother) they reframed gendered roles. In a Facebook post titled No Nation for Woman, the Pinjra Tod (2017) activists asked,

“In a context of frenzy where everyone, from the right to the left, joins a race to assert who is the 'true nationalist' of them all, Soni's blackened face, Manorama's bullet-ridden dead body, Kawasi's ejected uterus, begs us to ask the question: can the nation, any nation really ever belong to women? What is this nation built and held together (integrated?) by the rape and torture of women? Does the control, surveillance, and violence on women's lives, bodies, and desires underlie the very core of what comes to constitute nationalism and the nation? Are masculine and patriarchal notions inherent to the imagination and construction of the nation? We have heard a lot about the contradiction that plays out when the Sanghi brigade relentlessly threatens 'mothers' and 'sisters' with sexual abuse alongside exhalations to 'Bharat Mata'. However, a more crucial question that we need to ask is: Why is India a mother, why is Bharat a Mata? Why this engendering of the nation?”

Menon (2017) noted, “While rejecting the Nation altogether or reclaiming it from Bharat Mata, these unruly daughters remind us that the Nation does not precede its people, but is shaped by them.” Collectively, these interventions point to a broader shift in how women are beginning to see and define themselves, challenging the patriarchal order that has historically excluded them. These actions reflect a desire to build a society where women are not just symbolic mothers of the nation but are active citizens.

Maternal Politics Today

With the rise in authoritarianism and increasing backlash against women’s rights worldwide, the resistance is also growing. Across countries, women are resisting in novel ways to counter fascism (France24.com, 2025b). Similarly, in India, when Hindutva politics is dismantling citizenship rights, women are agitating for their rights. They have adopted innovative strategies to occupy physical and digital spaces to hold the state accountable in the cases of violence against women (Business Standard, 2025b), bullying (The Hindu, 2025), police atrocities fuelled by majoritarian hate (Sharma, 2025), resisting the Nuclear Power Plant (Vombatkere, 2025), fighting corruption and alcoholism (Dogra, 2025), battling for clean air (Kumari, 2025), protesting for livelihood (Industriall-union.org, 2025) land rights (Mehta, 2025) and demanding better wages (Mathew, 2025). In conflict zones such as Manipur, women resisted, requiring the state to restore peace (ANI News, 2025). In all such scattered actions, women are reclaiming their rights of self, their children, and their communities.

In the face of a failing education system, frequent exam cancellations, systemic corruption, and limited job opportunities, young women are being pushed into marriage and motherhood while defying the laws (Rahman, 2025). With few avenues to pursue their aspirations, they had no choice but to resist as individuals and collectives and fight countless daily battles to reclaim their dues. This spirit of defiance rewrites the grammar of justice in the face of authoritarianism and offers an alternative vision of democracy in contrast to the dominant narratives.

Feminist Interventions for an Inclusive, Rights-Based Order

Horowitz’s (2004: 55) account of empowered mothering asserts the importance of women’s agency. In the non-Western context, this agency situates itself in diverse feminist interventions to challenge orthodox norms. Feminist efforts have questioned the traditional gender roles to transform maternalism from a tool of patriarchal control into an inclusive force for social transformation. This work demonstrated that with the altering socio-economic milieu, as the patriarchy reasserts itself virulently, the feminist discourse expanded to encompass range of voices, consolidating the concept of inclusive citizenship.

Moreover, the South Asian feminist movement is shaped by factors like religion, traditional norms, colonialism, and precarity, making the discourse on women's rights more complex than the Western liberal rights framework (Bagchi, 2017). In India, on the one hand, maternalism, shaped by imperialism and nationalism, contributed to a patriarchal order based on exclusion; simultaneously, the discourse on feminism and citizenship are deeply intertwined in historical contexts. This egalitarian perspective is rooted in an inclusive rights-based order that refutes the conception of women as the wives, daughters, or mothers of the nation but sees them as equal individuals with inherent rights.

However, these manifold interventions are not monolithic but emerge from the efforts of women hailing from diverse backgrounds, each negotiating with patriarchy in a distinct way. Their rebellion in reclaiming maternal agency from the grip of patriarchy represents a broad spectrum of feminist approaches that defied conventional ideas of feminism. They have challenged the dominant politics surrounding maternal discourse to demand their dues, confronting heteronormative family ideals, refuting the oppressive ideology, and rewriting the stories of emancipation. They have challenged the systematic oppression that restricts their autonomy and questioned the unjust practices. Though this transformative process is not linear, it marks a significant shift in how women negotiate patriarchy.

Over the centuries, women have redefined maternalism beyond its biological function, positioning it as an act of defiance that intersects with justice and citizenship. By reclaiming motherhood from the clutches of patriarchy, women have not merely challenged the gendered roles, they are reshaping the citizenship framework. Through multiple rebellions, they have dismantled the exclusionary discourse that has historically confined them to symbolic roles. Gerda Lerner, an American historian, noted “Women have a history; women are in history.” Considering the above discussion, this work adds that ‘women make history’.

Towards a Comprehensive Framework

The million mutinies by women as non-mothers, mothers, and citizens are emblematic of feminist re-imagination as reflected in the songs of protest by South Asian women (Women Democratic Forum, 2020). This work calls for reassessing maternal politics from the feminist perspective to facilitate conditions to support this agency of women. To counter dominant narratives and strengthen the concept of feminist mothering, the state must establish a comprehensive empowerment framework that addresses the axis of intersectionality while also refining legal structures, re-evaluating socioeconomic policies, and creating a robust support system to uphold women’s dignity. This consolidation of rights and economic means allows women to choose between having or not having children.

Moreover, many demands outlined in the Charter of Rights and Duties framed by the women’s organizations during the freedom struggle remained relevant but unmet. For example, significant efforts are needed to acknowledge the value of household work, ensure women's rights to marital property, and classify marital rape as a criminal offense. One of the founding mothers of the Constitution, Hansa Mehta in her speech on 19, December 1946, stated,

“What we have asked for is social justice. We have asked for that equality which alone can be the basis of mutual respect and understanding and without which real cooperation is not possible between a man and woman. Women form one-half of the population of this country, and therefore, men cannot go very far without the cooperation of women.”

Hence, to ensure women’s safety, uphold the rights to equality, and create enabling conditions that facilitate them to enjoy their rights, India needs to develop a comprehensive framework. Also, continuing dialogue around women’s rights is a key to creating an inclusive and just society.

As the work participation rate for single mothers is lower, especially with young children, gender-responsive interventions and a comprehensive social protection system are needed. In Nordic countries, significant investments in family policies are made. Substantial expenditure on social insurance and coordinated wage settings has stimulated productivity and innovation while strengthening social capital (Mogstad et.al. 2025). Adopting similar policies in India, such as flexible and decent work opportunities, subsidized daycare, parental leave policies, emphasizing the role of both parents in raising children including the larger support network, universal health care, free education, and strong unions, enable enhanced participation of women in the workforce.

To strengthen the legal framework, this work emphasizes the need to recognize the diverse family structures emerging in modern times. The family laws related to marriage, divorce, guardianship, and inheritance require a critical review through a feminist lens to reflect the changing realities. It is also crucial to recognize and protect women's sexual and reproductive rights. Opposing anti-women sterilization policies is essential. Laws and policies should be reassessed from a rights-based egalitarian perspective. Eliminating patriarchal structure is vital to pave the way for democratic family norms.

Women in abusive relationships or conflict zones often have limited access to remedies. Therefore, specific policies are needed to support their rehabilitation. Despite legal provisions for maintenance, receiving financial support remains difficult as men often refuse to comply with court orders. During divorce or separation, women struggle to assert property rights. The law should recognize their invisible contributions within the family. Additionally, discrimination in the job market requires targeted intervention. Ensuring access to income and support services such as childcare, short-stay homes, women’s hostels, educational assistance for children, and skill training are important to ease financial burdens.

Supporting mothers in rural areas and urban slums by providing citizenship education, skills, and job opportunities is essential for building resilient communities. Prioritizing land and housing rights for women, and offering robust public health and education, including safe abortion and maternal care, are crucial for advancing gender equality. Employment generation and land transfer initiatives should be designed with a gender perspective. Strengthening women’s bargaining power through social transfers ensures a decent standard of living. Achieving economic self-sufficiency is key to feminist mothering. The work calls for rethinking the diverse realities of women, recognizing their challenges, resistance, strength, and agency to create a just environment where they can exercise their voice and agency.

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