Reclaim, resist, reframe: re-imagining feminist movements in the 2010s

The study analyses the intersection of youth movements and feminist movements that has emerged in India since the 2010s. Focusing on five movements and campaigns, the study analyses the commonalities across them in terms of their mobilisation, methods of protest, and their goals. With their sites of mobilisation spanning online and offline spaces, these movements have had significant impact on public discourse on women’s rights and bodily autonomy, and systemic inequality and discrimination against women in university spaces. The study argues that we are currently seeing the real-time development of a wave of young feminist movements in India that is distinct in its methods and spaces of mobilisation, protest strategies, and membership, and has rapidly grown from feminism ‘lite’ into one that is highly political and conceptually nuanced in the face of significant backlash from oppositional forces as well as potential supporters.