For centuries, the word “man” was construed to mean all human beings, male or female. Hence, using “mankind”, “early man” and other such words and phrases to include all genders was (and continues to be) fairly common. Few paused to consider that the inclusive thing to do would be to use “human” or “humankind”, and not make all others a subgroup of men.
It was Hansa Mehta who pointed this out. As a result of her intervention, in an extremely important document the word “man” was dropped, ushering in a new era of gender inclusivity in language.
World War II, with its widespread loss of life and destruction of property, resulted in the birth of the United Nations Organization (UNO, later UN) in October 1945. The aim of the UN was the achievement of world peace, friendly relations among nations and international cooperation to solve the problems of humankind. Along with this, the UN also resolved to work to ensure that individual rights were protected and that the worth and dignity of every human being was guaranteed. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), drafted by the UN Human Rights Commission and adopted by the members of the UN in December 1948, was the core document to guarantee this.
Hansa Mehta was the Indian delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission. She was instrumental in changing the language of Article 1 of the UDHR. The first sentence was changed from “All men are born free and equal in dignity and rights” to “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, at her intervention. It was an important step for gender equality.
In other parts of the UDHR too, Mehta’s imprint is evident. In Article 2, which talks about freedom and rights to all without any distinction and in Article 7, which is about equality before the law, she ensured that women’s rights were protected.
Hansa Mehta was born on 3 July 1897 to an extremely distinguished Gujarati family. Her father, Manubhai Mehta, was a professor of law at Baroda College when Hansa was born. Later, he became dewan of the princely state of Baroda (1916–27) and the prime minister of the princely state of Bikaner (1927–34). Her paternal grandfather, Nandshankar Mehta, was a distinguished author, who wrote the first Gujarati novel Karan Ghelo (1866).
None of the accessible sources on the internet mention the name of Mehta’s mother. This is perhaps a good indication of the status of women in India at that time. It is from such circumstances that Mehta emerged to become a champion of women’s rights.
Mehta graduated with a degree in philosophy from Baroda and went to England in September 1919 to study journalism and sociology at the London School of Economics. In London, Mehta met Sarojini Naidu, who drew her into the suffragist movement, which was fighting for the right of women to vote (eventually granted in the United Kingdom in 1928). With Naidu, she travelled to Geneva in June 1920 as a member of a delegation of Indian women, to attend the eighth conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, in which women from thirty-nine nations participated.
In 1922, Naidu introduced Mehta to Mahatma Gandhi while he was imprisoned at the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad. Mehta was then working in Bombay for the cause of women’s education. This was Mehta’s first meeting with Gandhi and as she later wrote in her book, Indian Woman, she was “visibly moved”.
In 1923, Mehta travelled alone to the United States. It was a convention-defying act, as women then were almost always accompanied, usually by a man. Her mission was to understand the working of women’s colleges there in order to take back ideas to India. Over the next few months, she visited a number of colleges, studying them and also ascertaining whether they would offer scholarships to Indian women who might be interested in applying there. In September 1923, on her way back to India, Mehta stopped in Tokyo briefly. During her stay, a mighty earthquake hit Tokyo and the hotel she was staying in was one of the few buildings that was undamaged. It was a lucky break indeed!
Mehta was elected to the Bombay Schools Committee in 1926, in recognition of her contribution to women’s education.
In 1928, Hansa Mehta and Jivraj Mehta, a doctor who had been Baroda’s chief medical officer and was then dean of the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Bombay, decided to get married. This created a scandal in the community since they were of different castes. Maharaja Sayaji Gaekwad had to intervene to persuade Hansa’s father to agree to the marriage.
In 1930, on Gandhi’s advice, Mehta led the first batch of the Desh Sevika Sangh (National Women’s Volunteer Organization), established earlier that year, in a satyagraha against foreign cloth and liquor shops. The Desh Sevika Sangh was a wing of the Rashtriya Stree Sabha, which was closely connected with the Congress. It encouraged people to opt for swadeshi goods, picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor, and laid a lot of emphasis on making khadi (handspun cloth made of cotton).
Mehta’s involvement in the salt satyagraha got her a three-month jail term. Released in March 1931 as a result of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Mehta and her husband were arrested again in 1932. Funnily enough, Dr Mehta was not involved in politics at that time. His “crime”? Being married to an active political person!
After her release, Mehta plunged into political activism again. She became vice-president of the Harijan Sevak Sangh, a project that loomed large in Gandhi’s priorities, more so after the Poona Pact which he and Ambedkar concluded. The Harijan Sevak Sangh was founded in 1932 to work for the eradication of untouchability and the upliftment of the depressed classes.
Since Gandhi believed caste needed to be addressed at the societal level and needed to be kept out of the ambit of politics, the Harijan Sevak Sangh was an important part of his life from 1932 onwards. Mehta’s work in this organization occupied much of her time for the next few years.
In 1937, Mehta contested the Bombay Presidency legislative elections and was elected. She chose to contest from a general seat, not one reserved for women. She was appointed parliamentary secretary of the health and education department. During her tenure, she made the decision that universities would no longer oversee school education in the province. Instead, a secondary school examination board would take charge of schools—this is the system all over India today.
The ministries constituted in the 1937 elections in the different provinces resigned in September 1939 in protest at Britain’s unilateral decision to declare India at war against Hitler’s Germany. The Congress leadership opposed Indian involvement in World War II and launched the Quit India Movement in 1942.
By 1945, it was clear that the war was ending and Indian independence was inevitable. Mehta was elected the president of the All India Women’s Conference, which had been founded to fight for women’s rights and improve women’s education, in 1946. She made her mark very quickly. She was instrumental in drafting the Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties, which made a strong case for women’s equality. Among its path-breaking demands were equal pay, equal educational rights, equal distribution of property and equal application of laws for marriage and divorce.
In 1947, Mehta was appointed as Indian delegate to the UN, and she also became a member of the Constituent Assembly.
In the Constituent Assembly session on 14 August 1947, after Nehru’s historic “tryst with destiny” speech at the stroke of midnight, it was Mehta who presented the national flag on behalf of the women of India. The flag was unfurled by Rajendra Prasad, the chairman of the Constituent Assembly.
Mehta’s greatest contribution in the Constituent Assembly was to the cause of women’s rights. She served on the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights, with Ambedkar, Minoo Masani (Bombay Presidency) and Amrit Kaur. She spoke out in favour of a uniform civil code, a demand that did not go through. The Uniform Civil Code is a proposal to implement personal laws for citizens, which apply to all citizens equally regardless of their religion. Back then and even today, the personal laws of various communities, especially regarding marriage, divorce and the status of women are governed by their religious scriptures. Mehta’s contention was that religious laws had always restricted women. She also reiterated her demand for equal property rights and a woman’s right to divorce.
As one of only fifteen women members in the Constituent Assembly, her constant demand for equal rights for women shaped the nature of the Constitution.
Excerpted with permission from 10 Makers of the Indian Constitution, Karthik Venkatesh, Duckbill.
