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@article{201992,
        author = {Manvi Yadav},
        title = {Reimagining Political Activism through Gender in Colonial and Postcolonial India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {12},
        pages = {7679-7683},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=201992},
        abstract = {This paper investigates the connection between gender and political activism in colonial and postcolonial India, examining the significant role played by women and gendered identities in nationalist, anti-colonial, feminist, and subaltern movements from the nineteenth century to the present. It contends that women’s participation in political struggles was not simply secondary to nationalist agendas; instead, gender became a crucial arena through which issues of colonial domination, social reform, nationalism, and citizenship were debated and redefined.
Adopting an interdisciplinary historical perspective informed by feminist historiography, postcolonial theory, and subaltern studies, the study analyzes women’s involvement in social reform campaigns, Gandhian movements, revolutionary politics, anti-caste activism, post- independence feminist organizations, and contemporary forms of resistance. The paper also argues that although colonial and postcolonial states created certain opportunities for women’s political engagement, they continued to sustain patriarchal structures in different forms.
By exploring both continuities and changes in political cultures across the colonial and postcolonial periods, the study demonstrates how women activists reshaped discussions surrounding rights, citizenship, caste, labour, sexuality, and democratic participation. In doing so, the paper contributes to existing historiography by emphasizing intersectional perspectives, regional variations, and the recovery of marginalized women’s voices and experiences within Indian history.},
        keywords = {},
        month = {May},
        }