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feminism in india
TEXT BY TANVI SHARMA
In India, the presence of women in graphic design is largely undocumented. Howev- er, one area where women were ardently involved is the design of political posters.
After 1947, when India entered its postcolonial period, leaders and citizens began exploring graphic design as a tool for achieving social change. The Indian Constitution granted equality and freedom from discrimination based on gender,
and women from all walks of life began questioning the country’s traditional, patriarchal society. Collectives formed across India and published iconic imagery to bring attention to a variety of causes, from domestic violence to the practice
of female feticide, which uses sex deter- mination tests to favor male offspring. Posters served as conduits to get people acquainted with issues of marginalization under caste, class, religion, sexuality, age, ability, and gender and to suggest new ways to distribute power.
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The posters shown here, created in the mid- to late twentieth century, question gender oppression. As with many collec- tive and craft-based enterprises, most
of the creators of posters from India’s feminist movement are unknown. These women didn’t become famous designers, in part because design was not yet an industrialized or formalized occupation, much less a source of personal fame or prestige. They produced their work to communicate ideas in simple and direct ways, often using pictures instead of words to transcend the barriers of literacy in a multilingual, multicultural society.
The visual artifacts that have survived from this history bear witness to the cause of the oppressed. The posters shown are archived and documented online by Zubaan Books, a feminist pub- lishing house based in New Delhi. Zubaan initiates research and outreach projects concerning gender, feminism, and the women’s movement.
GOVERNMENT Written in Oriya, the headline of
this poster says, “When women become aware.” The illustration shows the transformation from a traditional power structure in an Indian village to
a female-centered one. In the first scenario, the panchayat (village government) is controlled by the
husband of the woman sarpanch (elected decision- maker). His wife, the sarpanch, is sitting on the ground next to him. After the “pattern of change” occurs, the situation reverses: the panchayat is headed by the woman sarpanch and her husband is sitting in the back, at the corner of the house.