ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the voices of protest, resistance and struggle through different phases in ‘herstory’. Issues like domestic violence cannot be comprehensive unless the efforts are grounded in the historical, cultural and social reality of Indian women. The Bhakti movement, beginning from the 12th century, marked the beginning of a process that led to a questioning of discrimination at various levels. Mahatma Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule believed that since men and women were born of the same Creator, there was no need of discriminating between them, as both are equal. The tribals mounted an armed struggle against the police, revenue officers, exploitative landlords and moneylenders in 1960 in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The period between 1975 and 1980 saw the formation of women’s groups on issues such as beauty pageants, eve teasing, dowry deaths especially by immolation, rape and other forms of violence.
