Periyar's Propaganda for Property Rights of Women: a Way to Women's Empowerment

Abstract

A galaxy of social revolutionaries and a few reform minded elites emerged in the Nineteenth Century to weed out societal obstacles that stood in the way of women's emancipation and development. Of all the reformers, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy (E.V.R.) alone attacked for the first time, the ideological basis of the "enslavement of women" in society. E.V.R took up the cause of women as his life mission right from the day when he entered the public service. E.V.R. in his long crusade against injustice singled out women. He thought against child marriage, Devadasi system, unequal marriage alliances, widowhood, ignorance and illiteracy of women E.V.R wanted to reinforce his ideology on women rights through platform and press media. Through propaganda tour and platform speeches, and through the social organizations like Self - Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. E.V.R. courageously met the forces of orthodoxy and reactionaries .E.V.R. showed keen interest to focus the meetings in which thoughts related to women welfare were touched. He said that "If we give a share of our property to our daughters, the daughter- in -laws will also bring in their share of property to our family. In such a case, there will not be any profit or loss in the family.¹¹ Thus, E.V.R. drawn the attention of the masses to the point that the people should recognize  the rights of women to property.