Volume : 9, Issue : 3, MAR 2023

DRA ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES

MAHATMA JYOTIBA PHULE : HIS ROLE IN WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

PARMOD KUMAR

Abstract

One of the most notable social reformers in India throughout the nineteenth century is JYOTIRAO GOVINDRAO PHULE. Jyotiba Phule rebelled against the unjust caste system of Hinduism. Many social and political philosophers launched movements against these systems and practices during this time. These intellectuals sought to improve women's status in social, economic, educational, and political spheres. These sociopolitical philosophers, including Mahatma Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and others, formed movements to promote equality for women, members of the underclass, and dalits. So, one of the first leaders who vehemently condemned gender inequity was Mahatma Phule. He truly was a remarkable thinker and truth-finder. He believed that only when each person sought the truth and changed as a result could human society stay content. He claimed that during British control, the common people had the chance to free themselves from the Brahmins' slavery. Caste and gender issues were raised by Jyotiba. He rose up in rebellion against the unfair caste system, which had long caused suffering to millions of people. Phule sought to construct a society based on the values of individual liberty and equality in place of the oppressive Indian social system, and he would have preferred to replace Hinduism with a global religion.  In India, Jyotirao Phule is regarded as a champion of women's education. In 1848, he and his wife Savitribai Phule established the first school for girls. He made significant contributions to the problems of women and advocated for widow remarriage and against child marriage. He brought up the issue of women's oppression, and his ideas on how to end it through women's own initiative and autonomy place him in the same category of other male feminist scholars.  In this essay, I try to analyses Mahatma Phule's ideas and his fundamental philosophy regarding the empowerment and educational efforts which were done by him for women in Indian society.

Keywords

AUTONOMY, CONTRIBUTION, EDUCATIONAL, EMPOWERMENT, INTELLECTUAL, PHILOSOPHY, WOMEN.

Article : Download PDF

Cite This Article

-

Article No : 23

Number of Downloads : 1412

References

1. Ahuja, Ram, Indian Social System. Jaipur: Rawat  Publications, 1993

2. Deshpande, GP, Satyashodhak: Play, Aurangabad: Saket Prakashan,1989

3. Deshpande, GP, Introduction; Selected Writings of Jyotirao Phule, New Delhi, Leftword, 2002.

4. Faizal, TK, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule: Enlightened Reformer of Indian education, Vidyawarta, Special Issue, January 2017

5. Gupta, NL, Mahatma Jotiba Phule: An Educational Philosopher, New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2008

6. Keer, Dhananjay, Mahatma Jotirao Phooley, Mumbai, Popular Prakashan, 2013

7. Mishra, Saraswati, Status of Indian Women, New Delhi, Gyan Publishing House, 2002

8. Mukherjee, Rudrangshu, Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India by Rosalind O’Hanlon, Social History, Vol. 11, No. 3, October 1986.

9. Pawar, Anil Digambar, The Study of Social and Educational Work of Mahatma Phule, PhD Thesis, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, Shri Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewala University, 2014.

10. Phadke, YD, Social Reformers of Maharashtra.

11. Rajni Bala and Navjoti, Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule: A Forgotten Liberator, International Journal of Basic and Advanced Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2012

12. Saini, Dharamveer, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Peasants: A Historical Study, Research Matrix: International Multidisciplinary Journal of Applied Research, Vol. 1, No. 6, January 2014.

13. Sirswal, Desh Raj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule: A Modern Indian Philosopher, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272303358