HIRST, MELISSA PATTILLO.

This thesis examines the historical and ideological development
of Hindu women's social reform associations from their
inception in 1863 up to the women's enfranchisement movement
in 1917. Women's associations, founded by male middle class
social and religious reform organizations, sought to influence
public opinion against child marriage, polygamy, illtreatment
of widows, legal restrictions against women, and
the denial of education to women. The first independent
women's association, established in 1882, encouraged women's
education and facilitated women's movement into public life.
After 1900, women's associations were no longer exclusively
middle class oriented, and goals were extended to include
women's occupational training as woman's self-reliance grew
in popularity. Hindu women's social reform associations
utilized an extraordinary blend of tradition and western
liberal humanitarianism which quelled women's fear of departure
from normative social behavior as they created new roles
for women in Hindu society.