International Women’s Day 2025 | Tarabai Shinde: an ode to the woman who questioned

Discover the real story of Tarabai Shinde, a Marathi feminist activist challenging patriarchy and societal norms in the 19th Century.

It is the late 19th Century, more specifically around the 1880s. Imagine you are living in Maharashtra, and one fine day, amid your daily reading and conversation, you get to know about a young widow somewhere away from Maharashtra being given execution orders. Intrigued, you try to understand the incident better and stumble upon a “controversial” Marathi work called Stri Purush Tulna (‘A Comparison Between Women and Men’). And for the first time, you hear the name Tarabai Shinde!

It’s not a made-up tale, but the real story behind a Marathi feminist activist who protested against patriarchy and the caste system in the 19th Century. At a time when women were not even given an opportunity to educate themselves, Tarabai Shinde, born in 1850, stood out as a voracious reader, well-versed in both classical and modern literature. Homeschooled by her father, Bapuji Hari Shinde, who was a head clerk in the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Revenues and a radical thinker, Tarabai was taught Marathi, Sanskrit, and English. According to the societal norms back in the day, Tarabai got married at a very young age. However, a matriarchal system was followed post-marriage, and her husband came to live in her household. This was not the only privileged move she could make; she also decided not to have children. In that era, this was a strong choice she made considering the societal taboo that existed against childless marriages.

While being a strong advocate of feminism, Tarabai was also a member of the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Finding Community), a social reform organisation founded by Jyotirao Phule that sought to end social inequalities. Through her association with the social activists Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, Tarabai dived deeper into advocating against various social evils throughout her life.

In 1882, a Marathi newspaper, ‘Pune Vaibhav,’ published an article regarding a young widow (supposedly named Vijayalaxmi) who was accused of killing her child born out of wedlock to avoid societal shame. A victim of child marriage and early widowhood, Vijayalaxmi’s story was not an isolated event.

It was an era where widows were expected to avoid colourful clothes, shave their hair, and isolate themselves from family and all events. They had no agency, even over matters concerning their own wellbeing.

This was found to be blatant double standards in the eyes of Tarabai Shinde, and she penned down what is believed to be the first modern Indian feminist written work that talked against the hypocrisy that was happening in society.

The pamphlet is a critique of patriarchy and was very controversial for its time in challenging the scriptures themselves as a source of women’s oppression, a view that continues to be controversial and debated today. It included various societal issues of women and the oppressive patriarchal system that exists, like ‘marathmole’ (referring to a practice of secluding women or covering them in purdahs) and prevention of remarriage.