Challenges of Women Volunteers and Activists in Women's Ngos in India: a Feminist Standpoint Analysis

Abstract

This dissertation is situated in the context of post-colonial understanding of feminism and the spread of the women's movement as a global phenomenon. It analyzes how urban middle and upper class women working in non-governmental organizations in Kolkata (India) construct a feminist praxis in terms of their everyday lived experiences as volunteers and activists, and as urban Indian working women in the non-profit developmental sector of Indian civil society. Can engaging in feminist activities, gender empowerment and developmental projects be a viable career choice for educated urban Indian women? Another critical issue revolves around the conception of 'feminism' among women volunteers and activists in a non-western setting. Testimonies from twenty one women forms the crux of the data collected via semi structured bilingual interviews and participant observation. Using literature primarily from the U.S and India, I use Feminist Standpoint Analysis as a theoretical framework to examine the social, cultural and organizational challenges that these women face in their personal and professional lives. By studying the testimonies of these women, the study is able to examine alternative processes of agency and change in order to define challenges and motivations of middle and upper classes of Third World women volunteers and activists, by offering a new set of lenses for viewing the gender-stratified Indian civil society that is by and largely documented by men. Finally, this study offers current knowledge and research on the conception of feminism among women volunteers and activists in a non-western setting and how they construct the image of a feminist. It offers directions for research in transnational feminism, International Women's Movement, Womanism and Social Inequality Studies. In keeping with the methodological commitments of revolutionary pragmatism, this study also helps to develop a new image of Indian women as active agents of change, rather than just suffering victims in a globalized framework.