Colonialism, nationalism and colonialized women: the contest in India

Abstract

British colonialism justified the conquest of India by granting itself a “civilisation mission”, and using women situation in this country as a proof of the “degenerate and barbarous” nature of their customs based on religious tradition. Nationalism reacted building a reformed tradition, which allowed the preservation of India cultural identity (spiritual) while at the same time adopted part of West contributions (material). This construction included a new gender model in which middle class women were invested with the representation of the modern national culture. In this way they could be considered, in a new male domination system, as superior to the traditional women, to the Western women and to the low class women as well.