Women in most societies have been treated unfairly by patriarchal institutions. They were not allowed to study, not permitted to be financially independent and not encouraged to take decisions that affect their family. India had (still has) the same problems it had when it was a British colony.
At the time, most debates revolved around the rights of Indian women. On top of the list were issues such as women’s education, widow remarriage, abolition of Sati and other such regressive Hindu social customs. Many western scholars contributed significantly to the debate. Several well-known Indian “reformers” and “public intellectuals” also contributed to the debate. Lala Lajpat Rai was among those who made his views very clear on the rights of Indian women.
Most westerners thought women in India were subject to slavery because of their gender. For instance, in her book Mother India, the American author Katherine Mayo said India was at the hands of the British because Indian women were abused by men. The British used this narrative, too. According to them, the way Indians treat their women is one of the major factors that ruined Indian society.
Women activists, such as Savitribai Phule and Fatima Begum, made significant efforts to educate Indian women. However, this did not sit well with Indian men. Threatened by educated women, Indian men, many who were regarded as erudite and scholarly, argued that women who refused to be assigned to domesticity were the real reason for the social crisis. This sat well with the dominant view of most Indian men: that is, a woman’s place was in the kitchen, away from politics and public life.
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