Women's Reform and Social Legislation
Reformers and the British government worked together to end sati, child marriage and the ban on widow remarriage, and to open schools to girls.
Major social legislation
| Year | Act | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1795, 1804 | Infanticide Regulations | Female infanticide declared illegal (Bengal). The Female Infanticide Prevention Act (1870). |
| 1829 | Regulation XVII | Abolition of sati (Bentinck), after Ram Mohan Roy's efforts. |
| 1856 | Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act | Legalised widow remarriage (Vidyasagar). Passed under Canning, drafted by Dalhousie. |
| 1872 | Native Marriage (Civil Marriage) Act | Marriages by civil ceremony without religious rites, for those who did not follow any recognised faith (Brahmo marriages); minimum age 18 for boys, 14 for girls. |
| 1891 | Age of Consent Act | Raised the age of consent for girls to 12 (Malabari's campaign; Tilak opposed it in principle as interference). |
| 1929 | Child Marriage Restraint (Sarda) Act | Minimum age of marriage 14 for girls and 18 for boys (in force April 1930). |
| 1937 | Hindu Women's Right to Property Act | Gave widows a share in property (Deshmukh). |
| 1947 | Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act | Led by Muthulakshmi Reddi. |
Education of women and women's bodies
- Bethune School, Calcutta (1849); Savitribai Phule's school in Pune (1848). Sharada Sadan (1889) was set up by Pandita Ramabai, who also founded the Arya Mahila Samaj (1882) and the Mukti Mission (1896).
- Kadambini Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu were among the first women graduates (1883, Calcutta University).
- Women's Indian Association (1917) (Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins), National Council of Women in India (1925) and All India Women's Conference (1927).
- Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain worked for Muslim girls' education (school at Calcutta, 1911; Sultana's Dream, 1905).
- Muthulakshmi Reddi was the first woman legislator (Madras Legislative Council, 1927).
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from standard sources such as NCERT, Bipan Chandra, Spectrum and official records. Historians differ on some dates, figures and interpretations, so check your exam syllabus and a standard textbook. Found a mistake? Tell us.