Marginalized, Mobilized, Incorporated: Women and Religious Nationalism in India, 1915-2015

FAIN: FT-265166-19

Rina Verma Williams
University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH 45220-2872)

Research and writing leading to publication of a book on the history of women's participation in Hindu nationalist movements in India.

What is the role of women in religious nationalism and other conservative populist movements? I place this urgent contemporary question into historical perspective by examining Hindu nationalism in India. Most studies ask why women participate in such movements; I suggest we must first understand how they participate and how their participation has changed historically. My project compares the role of women in Hindu nationalism in three time periods. In the early 1900s, when the movement was founded, women were marginalized despite the attempts of some to participate; in the 1980s–90s some women mobilized into the streets in support of the movement; and today, women have become routinely incorporated into it. But traditional gender ideologies that confine the role of women to private spheres of home and family remain fundamentally unaltered in the movement. Ultimately, I argue, Hindu nationalism has benefited from women’s participation more than women have benefited from participating.

Associated Products

Substantive Representation of Conservative Women: Crafting A Research Agenda (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Substantive Representation of Conservative Women: Crafting A Research Agenda
Author: Malliga Och
Author: Rina Williams
Abstract: As political scientists grapple with how to understand and explain the rise to power of self-identified populist movements around the globe, we argue that the role of conservative, religious, and/or non-feminist women—understudied in the field as a whole—becomes ever more critical as a lens to understand and explain how populist movements come to power. Much of the research on the politics of conservative, religious and/or non-feminist women has been pioneered outside the discipline of political science. We argue that gender scholars of political science—in particular those who are studying the role of women in populist movements—have much to contribute to our theoretical and empirical understanding of the rise, and the effects, of populism in global and domestic contexts. In fact, we would argue that these phenomena cannot be adequately understood or explained without attention to the role of women in such movements. To address this gap, this roundtable brings together scholars doing leading-edge research on issues of substantive representation of religious, conservative, and non-feminist women across a range of countries and regions, all of which have experienced the recent (within the last five years) electoral success of populist movements, and/or have grappled with right-wing populist political movements and discourses holding significant sway in their political landscapes.
Date: 8/31/19
Conference Name: American Political Science Association

Inconsistent Allies: Women’s Issues, Feminism and Religious Nationalism in India (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Inconsistent Allies: Women’s Issues, Feminism and Religious Nationalism in India
Author: Rina Williams
Abstract: The alarming rise of conservative populist movements in democracies around the world raises critically important theoretical and policy questions for scholars of women and politics. Gender scholars have much to contribute to our theoretical and empirical understanding of these dynamics in both global and domestic contexts. Because the participation of women lends an air of legitimacy to such movements—and an air of empowerment to women—it is urgent to understand the role of women and gender in populist movements. The role of gender and elections in Asia remains underexplored as a lens through which to understand these global political trends. In India, the growing participation of women in the BJP has correlated with increasing electoral success of the party. But as the descriptive representation of women in the party has grown over time, we do not know how if at all the party’s stances on women’s issues (substantive representation of women) have changed, and how they have aligned (or not aligned) with the priorities of feminist scholars and activists in India. A key part of the BJP’s strategy to incorporate women involves challenging feminist claims to represent Indian women and their interests. This paper thus seeks to explore whether and how the descriptive representation of women in religious nationalist politics in India corresponds to changes in the substantive representation of women, and to feminist positions on the substantive representation of women. Have the BJP’s stances on women’s issues changed as women have become increasingly incorporated into the party? How do the BJP’s positions on women’s issues differ from or correspond to feminist positions?
Date: 8/30/19
Conference Name: American Political Science Association

Marginalized, Mobilized, Incorporated: Women and Religious Nationalism in Indian Democracy (Book)
Title: Marginalized, Mobilized, Incorporated: Women and Religious Nationalism in Indian Democracy
Author: Rina Verma Williams
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=9780197567227
Primary URL Description: WorldCat entry (9780197567227)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780197567227

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