Ricerc@Sapienza

This brief discussion of the grass-root movements draw attention to how the leadership in women’s movements has spread among different social classes and categories and is no longer confined within the urban middle class. Women today are participating in the political life of the country in increasing numbers in order to reclaim their space in ‘half the sky’ as citizens of India. Grass-root women’s activism no longer merely looks for largesse from the government; nor are the subaltern women the objects of reforms for well-intentioned upper-classes. By assuming responsibility for their own destiny, these grass-root feminists have gained a new subjectivity and have successfully inscribed themselves into the present. Not only have they demonstrated considerable organizational skills and political acumen in their ability to negotiate with various stake holders, they have injected the women’s movement in India with a new energy and direction, as for instance highlighting the linkage between environmentalism and bringing into focus the question of women’s sexual freedom.