All India Women's Conference
Also called: AIWC · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) was a national organisation of Indian women founded in 1927. At first it worked to spread education among girls. It soon widened its aims and campaigned for women's legal rights, such as a later age of marriage, women's right to vote (franchise) and other social reforms. Its leaders included Margaret Cousins and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. It shows that, during the Gandhian era, women organised for their own rights and did not only take part in the freedom struggle.
Example
The AIWC backed the Sarda Act of 1929 (the Child Marriage Restraint Act). The Act fixed a minimum age at which girls and boys could marry.
Don't confuse with
- Women in the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930): this was mass protest against British laws, such as making salt and picketing shops. The AIWC was a lasting organisation that worked for social and legal reform.
Related concepts
- All India Kisan Sabha
- Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
- FICCI
- G.D. Birla
- Jamnalal Bajaj
- All India Trade Union Congress
- Communist Party of India
- Meerut conspiracy case
- Women in the civil disobedience movement
- Women's Indian Association