CONTESTING PATRIARCHY AND CASTE: A CASE STUDY OF SAVITRI BAI PHULE

ABSTRACT

This paper 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 19th Century Colonial India.

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