1st Edition

Gender, Women and the Indian Emergency, 1975-1977

By Gemma Scott Copyright 2025
204 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

204 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

India’s State of Emergency (1975-1977) is one of the most controversial moments in the country’s history since independence. During this infamous 21-month period, Indira Gandhi’s government suspended constitutional rights, postponed elections, censored the press and arrested opposition, as well as instituting aggressive slum clearance and coercive sterilisation campaigns. Over the last 20 years,... Read more

Introduction

Chapter 1

‘When a child suffers the mother suffers too’: the Emergency’s gendered narratives

Chapter 2

‘All the minorities are with us’: representing support for the Emergency

Chapter 3

‘My wife had to get sterilised’: the gendered politics of population control under the Emergency

Chapter 4

‘We fought back, we retained our spaces’: women resisting the Emergency

Chapter 5

‘Here in the jail it is a lot of fun’: political prisoners in Maharashtra

Conclusion

Appendix

Bibliography

Biography

Gemma Scott completed her AHRC-funded PhD research on the Indian Emergency at Keele University in 2017. She has held fellowships at the Library of Congress (DC) and Institute for Historical Research, London. Her research interests span postcolonial Indian history and women’s activism, and she currently works in International Research Development at Keele University.