Role of Women in Kerala Freedom Struggle*

The women of Kerala have played their role in the political movements in all the three areas (Travancore, Cochin, Malabar) of the state. It was particularly during the Civil Disobedience movement of the early thirties that women came out of the seclusion of their homes and took an active role in politics. They broke the ban on meetings, processions, picketing etc and courted arrest and imprisonment for the first time. During the period when Congress Committees had to be dissolved in the wake of the ban imposed by the Government on the organization the leadership of the movement went into the hands of duly appointed ‘Dictators’. A number of women leaders like A.V. Kuttimalu Amma, Mrs. L.S. Prabhu, Mrs. Gracey Aaron, Kunhilakshmi Amma, Easwari Ammal, C. Kunhikavu Amma etal came into the limelight and some of them even functioned as ‘Dictators’ Women’s Conferences came to be held along with the usual Political Conferences and this helped to ensure the increasing participation of women in the national movement. The first such conference was held along with the Vadakara Political Conference of 1931 and it generated a lot of enthusiasm.

Women belonging to middle class Hindu families, orthodox Namboodiri illams and affluent Christian families actively participated in the picketing of shops selling foreign goods and liquor and courted arrest. They also participated in the movement for eradication of untouchability as is evidenced by the fact that 77% of those women who took part in the referendum on the issue of temple entry at Guruvayur expressed themselves in favour of the proposal. A sensational event of early1932 which involved the arrest and conviction of Mrs. L.S. Prabhu when she was asked in open court to surrender all her jewellery including the Tali or Mangalya Sutra in lieu of the fine imposed on her captured all India attention and brought into focus the increasing role of women in the freedom struggle in Kerala. The example of the women of Malabar was followed in Travancore and Cochin as well. Accamma Cherian, Rosamma Punnoose and Annie Mascrene played a notable role in the struggle for responsible government in Travancore.

*Excerpt from Kerala and Freedom Struggle, Prof. A Sreedhara Menon