This digital library is an initiative of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), that became an All India organisation in 1981 at its first conference in Chennai. Today, it is the largest women's organisation in the country. Its historical antecedents can be traced to the movements against British Imperialism, and the quest for a just and equal world. This perspective led to the emergence of several women's organisations like the Mahila Atmaraksha Samiti in Bengal, the Parel Mahila Sangh in Maharashtra, and others. Women of connected with progressive ideological and socialist political organisations also participated and led trade union and peasant movements, laying the important foundations for the foundation of an organisation like AIDWA. As is evident the AIDWA has a rich and important legacy, which can be told through its historical and contemporary documents.
To this end the AIDWA has begun to digitize its documents, and is making some of these documents public through this digital library. Over time, the library will feature the documents of its Conference, since the time of its foundation. Browsers will also find the organisational magazines (Equality and Samya) from their inception on this website. Apart from this, the library will contain other important documents. These documents contain a wealth of interesting and original materials on the life and times of the democratic women's movement in the country. We hope that researchers, activists, and those interested in the Indian women's movement will find the website useful.
We also request the users of these documents to cite them appropriately User will be required to register to download and open documents in order to verify that they are using them for academic or social purposes, and not for commercial use. Anyone wanting to access the physical documents may fill the contact form.
