A Space Within the Struggle is a collect of essays that reflects on the participation of women in various movements in India during the 1960s and 1970s. The essays try to consciously articulate the “women’s issues” among many urban and educated middle class women to evaluate the space carved by women in various agitations questioning the development policies that were impoverishing marginalised communities. As opposition to the agitations which were mainly against industrialization and agricultural capitalisation, spearheaded by radical left, because of which the historic relationship between working class and women’s movement(s) could be established, and Gandhinian Sarvodaya, because of which documentation of women’s right at National level could take place, these agitations were brutally repressed by state.
Attack on anti- women bias in national policy against invasive reproduction, family planning technologies, legal structures against women, sex based discrimination at private and public sphere, controlling of women’ sexuality by the means of rape of lower class/ caste women by upper class/ caste were made.
Nevertheless, women, who had been activate participants of people’s movement, came to the forefront, their voices were not just being heard but were acknowledged as well.
The book contains essays assessing the involvement of women in various struggles where personal experiences of women are shared in various parts of India. The first essay by Ajitha during the Pulpally action raises the question regarding the way participation of women has been conceived by the left in various struggle. She questions about the way women’s movement was taken for granted and indexed only for propaganda.
U Vindhya evaluates the social structure of Srikakulam district and make an attempt to explain that the loosely constructed patrilinear pattern of tribal organisations had an impact on the patriarchal norms of leadership. Even though women were involved in mass movements, they were restricted from the decision- making roles similar to the experiences of women in the Assam Movement.
The Bodhgaya Math shows how in the struggle of women’s right related to land, not only did feminist perspective challenged the male ideology but also manifested the male- female relationships in productive relations. A similar evaluation is narrated by Sathe in regard to the tribal movement in Dhulia where issues like sexual harassment, arrack, violence were raised. Even the assessment done by Ilina in Chhattisgarh narrates the sexual harassment face by women in work place.
In the Shetkari Sangathana in Maharashtra, Omvedt elaborates the struggle in the mobilization of women for political expressions and demand for panchayat for women. Chhaya’s study on the bidi workers in Nipani shows how women related issues were not given much importance. The Chipko Movement gives a history of its origin in the Gandhian Movement and entrance of women in the environmental issues.
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