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https://feminisminindia.com/2017/03/31/kamala-das-essay/#:~:text=Though%20she%20never%20formally%20associated,have%20the%20freedom%20of%20choice.

Introduction:

Feminism comprises of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women . It
relates to the belief that women should have the same social, economic and political rights as that of men.
Feminism comprises of a number of social, culture and political movements, theories and moral
philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for all.

History:

The term feminism originated from the French word “feminise” coined by the utopian socialist; Charles
Fourier and was used in English during 1890’s for seeking equal political and legal rights of women
movement. Feminist political activities have been concerned with issues such as individuals autonomy,
political rights, social freedom, economic independence, domestic violence, abortion, and reproductive
rights, divorce, workplace rights (including maternity leave and equal pay), gender stereo types,
discrimination, sexism and objectification.

Prime minister, Indira Gandhi while addressing the all India Women’s conference in 1980 said, “I have often
said that I am not a feminist yet in any concern for the unprivileged, how I can ignore women who since the
beginning of history, have been dominated over and discriminated against in social custom and by in-laws.
We need women to be more interested, more alive and more active not because they are women but
because they do comprise half of the human race.”

Overall the main purpose of feminist movement was and is to provide women same rights as that of men
as rights to fair wage, right to marriage or divorcee at will, property right and mainly the right of equality
with equity. Feminism is thus a struggle for equality of women, an effort to make a woman like a man in all
aspects.

The history of feminism consists of mainly three waves:

The first wave was in the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, primarily concerned with
gaining equal rights for women, particularly the rights to suffrage. The second wave was in the 1960s
and 1970s when protests were centered around women’s inequality not only in the context of women’s
political rights but in the areas of family, sexuality and work. Second-wave Feminism has existed
continuously since then, and continues to coexist with what is termed third-wave Feminism. The third
wave of feminism extends from the early 1990s to the present. The movement arose as a response to
perceived failures of the second-wave. Third-wave feminists often focus on “micro-politics” and
challenge the second-wave’s paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females.

In the Indian context we can see the rise of feminism and the women’s movement in two distinct
phases, the pre-independence era and the post-independence era.

In the Indian context, while the women’s movement is a much earlier phenomenon, the term Feminism
is a modern one. Patriarchal Indian society shows ideal women as warm, gentle, dependent and
submissive human being. In recent times, the status of women has been undergoing a rapid transformation
in all parts of the world and so the proper portrayal of woman is crucial in every field of the life. In pre
independent India, lack of education and scientific temperament in masses along with blind following of
medieval traditions and orthodox religious practices were the main reasons for suffering of the women.
Although many efforts have been done by various stakeholders for removing gender disparity after
independence yet women continued to be the victim of several forms of discrimination even after
independence.
In the pre-independence era, the women’s movement began as a social reform movement in the
19th century. At this time, the western idea of liberty, equality and fraternity was being imbibed by our
educated elite through the study of English and the contact with west. This western liberalism was
extended to the women’s question and was translated into a social reform movement. In the post-
Independence period during the first few decades, the major concern was for overall economic growth.
This was immediately followed by another decade, which witnessed an increased concern for equity
and poverty alleviation. Gender issues were subsumed in poverty related concerns and there were no
such specific programs, which aimed at women. In the post-independence period, the women’s
movement has concerned itself with a large number of issues such as dowry, women’s work, price rise,
land rights, political participation of women, Dalit women and marginalized women’s right, growing
fundamentalism, women’s representation in the media etc. Women of 21st century can’t be pressurized
to obey the traditional concept of womanly behaviour. Things are changing and more need to be changed.

Role of Literature in feminism with special reference to the poem “An introduction” by Kamala Das:

Feminist theories intervene in the processes of the world and of the academy so as to reveal gender-biases
in the reading, writing and teaching of literature. Certain concerns of feminist theories have a continuing
relevance like the recognition that education is integral to the emancipation of women - literally and
metaphorically -as per Mary Wollstonecraft who was its early formulator in eighteenth-century England.
Anxieties about the need of economic and artistic independence for women are voiced by Virginia Woolf in
the England of the nineteen-twenties. The anxiety that woman is viewed as 'Man's Other' rather than as an
independent human being with her own rights and needs animates the work of Simone de Beauvoir in
post-war France. Gynocritics, a model of women's culture has been developed by Elaine Showalter in the
American academy over the nineteen-seventies and eighties.

The international context of feminism however opens up to an area of dissatisfaction. Contemporary

Indian feminist writers feel the inadequacies of Western feminist theories and the need to develop models
of their own that are more culturally sensitive. Western feminists exploit other cultures for evidence to
support its theoretical projects. Ultimately Western feminism evolves a theory that it markets as
universally acceptable. Contemporary Indian feminisms demand a more radical recognition of factors of
cultural difference such as region, religion and class.

'An Introduction' by Kamala Das is a poem which acts as a means to open up areas of challenge and
development in Indian feminisms .

Kamala Das was one of the most prominent feminist voices in the postcolonial era. She wrote in
her mother tongue Malayalam as well as in English. To her Malayalam readers she was Madhavi
Kutty and to her English patrons she was Kamala Das. On account of her extensive contribution to
the poetry in our country, she earned the label ‘The Mother of Modern Indian English Poetry’.
Whatever she wrote her pan always wanted to capture some of the most problematic issues of
Indian society, particularly the burning problems of women. She has also been likened to literary
greats like Sylvia Plath because of the confessional style of her writing. Her writing consisted of
vivid descriptions of menstruation, puberty, love, lust, lesbian encounters, child marriage, infidelity
and physical intimacy. She
introduced her readers to the concept of female
sexuality, nonexistent until then.
Whatever Kamala Das decided to do in her life stirred a controversy in her home state. In her later
years when she decided to turn from writing to painting, her nude paintings caused yet another
furore. So did her decision to conversion to Islam and to be called Kamala Surayya in the late
1990s.Though she never formally associated herself with the feminist movement or described
herself as one, she was a feminist in many ways. She never let anyone deter her from doing what
she wanted to do by constantly rebelling against the system with her work. She created for herself
a space to have the freedom of choice. She dared to find her voice in a society that actively tried to
shut it down and she used that voice to express her experiences of the feminine sensibility that
were universal in many ways. This makes her fiercely feminist in every sense of the word.

AN INTRODUCTION:

Constituency of the poem :

The fact that the poem “ An introduction” uses blank verse in English suggests that its target audience is
urban and middle-class since in India Western cultural models are accessible chiefly to these categories of
people. As its title suggests, the poem is an introduction to, say, the position of Indian women to a non-
Indian audience. For these reasons it might seem to accept rather than challenge the cultural assumptions
of gynocriticism.

Content:

'An Introduction' poses essential and disturbing questions. It begins by showing how - in post-
independence India - to be a woman is to know that structures of power operate away from oneself: 'I
don't know politics but I know the names/ Of those in power, and can, repeat them like / Days of the week
or names of months, beginning with/Nehru ... I think it is a serious comment that highlights the
inadequacies of the development both of power-structures and of women's movements in India.

The poem goes on to ventilate the issue of language. Here again I think the defence made by Das is
courageous. I think she exemplifies not just the artist insisting on her creative autonomy over her medium
and material but also the woman refusing to allow the critical establishment to dictate to her. After all if
feminist theories are a protest against the patriarchies of the academy and the world which prescribe to a
woman what she is to say and how she is to say it, I think Das's comment is gutsy. 'Don't write in English,
they said, / English is not your mother tongue. Why not leave /Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, /
Every one of you? Why not let me speak / Any language I like? The language I speak/ Becomes mine, its
distortions, its queernesses /All mine, mine alone.' Child-abuse, prostitution and rape are explored in the
poem. I think the notion of women as constituting a class -indeed an oppressed class - is addressed in this
way by the poem. Why should economic and regional factors alone be taken as determinants of class ?

Das has established a reputation as a lyricist who defies the traditional taboos placed on upper-class
married Indian women, specifically the taboo against candid sexual expression.'

The direction taken later by Indian feminist movements has been toward greater pluralism.There has also
been a growing involvement in the empowerment of dalit women and a corresponding interest in dalit
women's writing.

In the Indian context, while the women’s movement is a much earlier phenomenon, the term Feminism
is a modern one. Hence, to conclude, it is the women’s movement in India that has been the force
behind the long struggle of women’s advancement from subordination to gender equality and finally to
women’s empowerment. The cause for women’s freedom was first espoused by enlightened males
who had imbibed liberal ideas. Up to the twenties of the last century the struggle was carried on by men
and women followed. It was only after Gandhiji’s entry into politics, when the nationalist movement
under his leadership was transformed from a middle class movement into a mass movement, that
women themselves for the first time raised their voice against the disabilities from which they suffer and
questioned and struggled against not only the British rule but patriarchy itself. In the process, women
secured many rights and social freedom and realized many other rights as grants. Though a lot still
needs to be achieved and there are various impediments in making this reality available to a large
section of women, the women’s movement has brought women’s issues center stage and made them
more visible, contributing immensely towomen’s struggle for equality.