Proto Feminist

Reading Tagore's views on women was interesting. If the world were ideal, women could in fact have their energy centered at home and have the family drawn towards it. 

He offers a nuanced perspective on gender that reflects aspects both consistent with feminist thought and limitations typical of his times. Tagore recognizes the creative, spiritual, and societal power of women, suggesting that their role is far beyond mere decoration or dependence. He admires woman as the symbol of “Shakti, the creative power,” and argues for harmony, respect, and the need to rectify inequalities between men and women. He is vocal in critiquing the economic and social disadvantages women suffer in their relationships and acknowledging the suffering caused by a lack of freedom (for which men are to blame).

At the same time, Tagore emphasizes inherent differences between men and women, warning against erasing distinctions and praising woman’s unique role in cultivating home and nurturing relationships. He sees women’s influence as spiritual, artistic, and essential to maintaining the human dimension against material ambitions. There is a truth to this when one considers how material ambitions have got more our more out hand in tandem with women acquiring freedom and equality. No one in the family until is holding the spiritual center. Adjusted to his era, it makes sense that he does not directly argue for social, economic, or political equality in the modern feminist sense. His vision elevates the feminine ideal and calls for liberation from oppression, couched in language that sometimes implies women’s place remains fundamentally within the sphere of home and harmony.

Tagore displays proto-feminist sympathies: he acknowledges women’s suffering due to male power structures, condemns “barbaric” social regulations, and celebrates women’s spiritual agency. However, his framework remains rooted in essentialist and idealized views of gender. He comes across as a  progressive thinker on women’s issues for his time, advocating dignity, freedom, and respect for women, but not fully embracing the egalitarian, activist platform of contemporary feminism. In this essay, he seems to hint and at will go wrong with society when women step out the realm of home and harmony