EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN INDIA: ROLE OF DR. AMBEDKAR AND E.V. RAMASWAMY NAICKER

Abstract

India has witnessed a remarkable transformation in the position of women from Vedic period, Medieval Period, Mughal Era, Post-Colonial period till Modern Times. The overbearing social rules and dogmas were codified and enforced on women by upper class
society during Mughal Period and later in British regime. This resulted in polygamy, child marriage, illiteracy, discrimination etc. the order of the time. The need for protection of women from atrocious attacks of invaders made patriarchal social structure even more
strangulating females. In the wake of Modernism in India, the social reformers such as Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotirba Phule strived hard to bring out a new awakening in the society. They tried to awaken the consciousness of then society and pleaded for equality among the gender. Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar was one of the leaders who documented and institutionalized the codes for equality and human rights for women in Indian. E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker, popularly known as ‘Periyar’, was a great social reformer and a leader in South India. In 1928-29, he initiated a rationalist movement called ‘SelfRespect Movement in India’. He challenged Brahmanism through Self-Respect Movement in 1928, which was considered a major discourse in Dravidian society. He formulated a coherent concept of gender, whereby the women were provided with space to redefine, accommodate and advance their concerns from democratic perspective. The present paper aims at exploring contributions of social reformers for the betterment of women in India.