ঔপনিবেশিক বাংলায় নারীবাদী চিন্তাভাবনার গতিপ্রকৃতি: মেয়েদের কলমে
Abstract:
The social reformation movement of Bengal in nineteenth century revolved mainly around the livelihood of women. Though the position of women was closely associated with this but the society did not feel the necessity of taking the opinion of women; it rather expected their silence, lack of awareness and inactivity. So initially, the male reformers took prominent role in this reformation movement. Overall, the movement of women’s liberation was initially detached from the decisions of women. But the educated women of that time did not accept this kind of silence expected by society. They raised their voice breaking this silence. From the late nineteenth century they expressed their opinions in public through their writings and the print media. In this article, I want to investigate the role of feminist consciousness of Bengali women of the period by analyzing their letters to editors and essays that got published in Bengali periodicals in the colonial period. At the same time, I will try to understand and focus on the dynamic nature of the thought process of Bengali Women because women of that time could not adopt any one-line approach as a strategy to fight with patriarchy. Sometimes they expressed their rebellious voice of protest against patriarchy; at other times they collaborated with male voices, or even followed the path of patriarchy as a strategy. Though sometimes their voices appeared to be in chorus with men but they did not fail to expose the distinct authenticity of their own arguments. In this paper I aim not just to search the ambitious, rebellious voice of women, but intend to focus on the thought processes of Bengali women by which one may identify their consciousness and subjective approach towards gender equality.
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