{"id":32800,"date":"2024-11-27T17:44:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T12:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=32800"},"modified":"2024-11-27T17:44:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T12:14:02","slug":"role-women-members-played-in-the-constituent-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/27-11-2024\/role-women-members-played-in-the-constituent-assembly","title":{"rendered":"Role Women Members Played in the Constituent Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Modern India, GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On Constitution Day (November 26), President Droupadi Murmu recalled the role women members played in the Constituent Assembly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 299-member Assembly had 15 women members, including prominent figures such as Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>But it also had lesser-known women from diverse backgrounds who participated in debates on gender, caste and reservations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Contribution by Women in the Constituent Assembly<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ammu Swaminathan (1894-1978): <\/strong>She contested Central Legislative Assembly elections on a Congress ticket from Madras in 1945 and then became a member of the Constituent Assembly.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She strongly opposed the restrictions imposed on widows, such as shaving the head and renouncing jewellery, after seeing her mother\u2019s experience.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Annie Mascarene (1902-1963): <\/strong>She was born in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram) in a Latin Christian family, considered to be at the lowest rung of the caste system. Despite her social status, she went on to study and teach law.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She actively campaigned for a government based on a universal adult franchise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Begum Qudsia Aizaz Rasul (1909-2001): <\/strong>Despite being part of the Muslim League, she was among the few members opposing separate electorates based on religion. Her views on the idea of Pakistan were more complex.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dakshayani Velayudhan (1912-1978)<\/strong>: She was the first Dalit woman to graduate in science in Cochin (now Kochi) and the first Dalit woman in the Cochin Legislative Council.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She disagreed with Ambedkar on the need for separate electorates, saying the provision went against nationalism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Renuka Ray (1904-1997): <\/strong>A meeting with Gandhi in 1920 led her to quit college and join the freedom struggle, where she went door-to-door to raise awareness.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She represented women\u2019s organisations in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1943 and then became a member of the Constituent Assembly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rajkumari Amrit Kaur:<\/strong> The first Health Minister of independent India, she was also a member of the Constituent Assembly.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She was deeply involved in the discussions on social welfare, healthcare, and education, with a focus on women&#8217;s health and social issues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kamla Devi:<\/strong> A noted social reformer and freedom fighter, also participated in the Constituent Assembly.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>She was an advocate for women&#8217;s rights, particularly in areas of education, social reform, and the empowerment of women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Muthulakshmi Reddi:<\/strong> She worked on issues related to the rights of women, including the legal reforms concerning marriage and divorce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of Women Participation in Constituent Assembly<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The inclusion of women in the Constituent Assembly signaled the recognition of women as equal partners in the democratic process and nation-building.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They advocated for Women\u2019s Rights and Social Justice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Advocated for the inclusion of gender equality in the Constitution with the Article 14, 15 and 42.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Hindu Code Bill, which sought to provide equal rights to women in marriage, divorce, inheritance, and property, was influenced by the ongoing discussions and activism by women leaders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/recalling-stories-of-women-who-helped-draft-the-indian-constitution-9692313\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Constitution Day (November 26), President Droupadi Murmu recalled the role women members played in the Constituent Assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32801,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32800\/revisions\/32801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}