The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation (
NGO) based in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
. It was founded in 1927 by
Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tackle other women's rights issues. The organisation is the oldest nation-wide women's rights organization in India and has branches throughout the country. It is a member of the
International Alliance of Women.
History
The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) was founded in 1927 in
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
in order to promote women and children's education and social welfare.
Margaret Cousins had called for the creation of an organisation as early as late 1925 by writing to other women's groups and to friends to come together to discuss education for women.
The first meeting held in Poona saw 2,000 attendees who met at the Fergusson College Hall on
Poona University.
Most of the attendees were observers, but others were women that Cousins had brought together to help create the AIWC.
Amrit Kaur was one of the founding members of AIWC. One of the first secretaries of AIWC was
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.
Beginning in 1928, AIWC began to raise money to open the
Lady Irwin College of Domestic Science.
Also in 1928, the AIWC recognized that women's education couldn't be addressed properly without dealing with "harmful social customs." Women of the AIWC set up a committee to "watch and report on the progress of the Child Marriage Bill," and to also lobby politicians relating to the practice of
child marriage
Child marriage is a practice involving a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal, that includes an individual under 18 and an adult or other child.*
*
*
*
Research has found that child marriages have many long-term negative co ...
. Other issues that were tackled included giving women the right to
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
, to
inherit and to
vote
Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...
.
AIWC was registered in 1930 under the section XXI of
Societies Registration Act, 1860. (No. 558 of 1930).
AIWC created a journal, ''Roshni'', in 1941 which was published in both
English and
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
. The organisation was involved in lobbying
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
to pass new laws to protect women in India and also to help expand voting rights. A central office for AIWC was set up in 1946. Also in 1946, a "Skippo Committee" was set up to help provide villages with medical treatment. When India was fighting for
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
, many more radical members left the organisation in order to become "nationalist agitators."
The organisation also expelled members who were associated with
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
groups in 1948.
Activities and programmes
One of the initial main objectives of the AIWC was education of women, and it remains a primary concern today. The organisation's literacy campaign was intensified in 1996 by initiating non-formal education programmes for school drop outs and
literacy
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
programmes for adult woman with craft training through its branches. AIWC also operates
microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically do not have access to traditional banking services due to a lack of collateral (finance), collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credi ...
schemes and energy development for
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...
women.
AIWC has trained women in the use of
solar driers for hygienically storing food. They also help women find employment, are involved in health issues and the prevention of
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
.
Past presidents
This is a list of the past presidents of AIWC:
*
Maharani Chimnabai, 1927
*
Jahan Begum of Bhopal, 1928
* Dowager Rani of Mandi, 1929
*
Sarojini Naidu, 1930
* Dr.
Muthulakshmi Reddy, 1931
*
Sarala Roy, 1932
* Lady
Vidyagauri Nilkanth, 1933
*
Lady Abdul Quadir, 1934
*
Hilla Rustomji Faridoonji 1935
* Maharani
Sethu Parvathi Bayi, 1936
*
Margaret E. Cousins, 1937
*
Amrit Kaur, 1938
* Rani
Lakshmibai Rajwade, 1939
*
Shareefa Hamid Ali, 1940–41
*
Rameshwari Nehru, 1942
*
Vijayalakshmi Pandit, 1943
*
Kamladevi Chattopadhyay, 1944–45
*
Hansa Mehta, 1946
*
Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, 1947
*
Anasuyabai Kale, 1948
*
Urmila Mehta, 1949–50
*
Hannah Sen, 1951–52
*
Renuka Ray, 1953–54
*
Lakshmi N. Menon, 1955–58
* Raksha Saran, 1959–60
*
Mithan Jamshed Lam, 1961–62
*
Masuma Begum, 1963–64
* M.S.H.Jhabwala 1965–68
*
B. Tarabai, 1969–70
*
Lakshmi Raguramaiah, 1971–79
*
Sarojini Varadappan, 1981–85
*
Ashoka Gupta, 1986–90
*
Shobhana Ranade, 1991–95
* Kunti Paul, 1996–98
* Kalavati Tripathi, 1999–2001
* Aparna Basu, 2002–2004
* Manorma Bawa, 2005–2007
* Gomathi Nair, 2008–2010
* Bina Jain, 2011–2013
* Veena Kohli, 2014–2016
* Rakesh Dhawan, 2017–2019
* Sheela Kakde, 2020–2022
Other members
*
Kitty Shiva Rao
*
Indirabai Maydeo (Secretary 1953-54)
See also
*
List of women's rights organisations
*
National Council of Women in India
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
External links
AIWC Official Website
{{Authority control
1927 establishments in India
Liberal feminist organizations
Women's organisations based in India
Organisations based in Delhi
Organizations established in 1927
Women's conferences
1927 in women's history