In 1970s the renewed women's movement in India was known as Autonomous women's movement because it was ______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Autonomous from political parties
Option (2) Autonomous from political parties — Correct. In the mid-1970s there was a renewal of the women’s movement in India, its second phase. The new groups were called autonomous because they were ‘autonomous’ or independent from political parties, unlike the women’s organisations that had links with parties. It was felt that political parties tended to marginalise issues of women.
Note: The lines on the autonomous women’s movements, in the section ‘Post 1947’ of the chapter ‘Social Movements’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter and its account of the renewal of the women’s movement in the mid-1970s are still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “Post 1947 … An issue that is often raised is that if there was an active women’s movement before 1947, what happened afterwards? One explanation has been that many of the women activists who were also involved in the nationalist movement got involved in the nation building task. Others cite the trauma of Partition responsible for the lull. In the mid–1970s, there was a renewal of the women’s movement in India. Some call it the second phase of the Indian women’s movement. While many of the concerns remained the same that there were changes both in terms of organisational strategy, as well as, ideologies. Apart from organisational changes, there were new issues that were focussed upon. For instance, violence against women. Over the years, there have been numerous campaigns that have been taken up.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…There was the growth of what is termed as the autonomous women’s movements. The term ‘autonomy’ referred to the fact that they were ‘autonomous’ or independent from political parties as distinct from those women’s organisations that had links with political parties. It was felt that political parties tended to marginalise issues of women.…” |