CONTESTING PATRIARCHY AND CASTE: A CASE STUDY OF SAVITRI BAI PHULE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65009/qtf29r94Keywords:
Patriarchy, Caste. Inter caste Marriage, Orphanage. Socially Reforming Education, Female. Subjectivity,,Abstract
This essay explores the subjectivity and agency of a woman in Western India who
relentlessly fought against patriarchy and the caste system. Not much has been written about
her. Savitribai was known only as the wife of Jyotirao Phule or a teacher of female education.
However, this article argues that Savitribai took patriarchy head on and fought against child
marriage, female infanticide, opened orphanages, worked for widow remarriage and female
education. She created her own identity by coming out of shadows of her husband and became
a bread winner and carried the mantle handed over by Joytirao Phule after his death. She was
far
ahead of nationalist discourse on women in 19" Century Colonial India.
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