Women as Objects: Gendered Violence and Predicament during the 1947 Partition

This article delves into the harrowing experiences of the women during the partition of 1947. The partition is characterized by unprecedented violence committed by the men of the society on every faction of the society. Women’s bodies became a symbolic site where men fought for the assertion of religious supremacy and to avenge the killings of their co-religionists. This paper focuses on how women were thought of an object of retaliation during partition, and subjected to some of the unimaginable abuse, including abduction, rape, and forced conversions, all of which underscored the gendered nature of Partition violence. This paper even delves into the prospect of how the gendered violence was a tool to suppress the women, and to push them back to dark, where they will be left with no meaning and purpose to their life, and stripping them of agency and dignity. It further sheds light on the deep-seated patriarchal structures which denies women the decision-making power over their own lives, even as they bore the gravest burdens of communal conflict. By foregrounding these silenced voices, the study aims to illuminate the intersections of gender, violence, and power in the partition narrative