Women between Empire and Nation: Representation of Women in English and Vernacular Newspapers

Priyanka Sharma

Women between Empire and Nation: Representation of Women in English and Vernacular Newspapers

Author(s)	Ms. Priyanka Sharma
Country	India
Abstract	The term “representation” carries significant political and ideological resonance. In the context of colonial India, the representation of women becomes a crucial site for examining how power was articulated and contested. Both imperialist and nationalist forces engaged in distinct yet intersecting projects of representing women. On the one hand, the British colonial state employed the figure of the woman to justify its rule in India, simultaneously redefining notions of modernity, domesticity, marriage, and femininity. On the other hand, nationalist discourses articulated a more culturally rooted representation of women, embedding them within ideas of tradition, morality, and Indianness. This paper examines these contrasting modes of representation through a comparative study of English and vernacular newspapers. Focusing on The Pioneer and Aaj—newspapers aligned with imperialist and nationalist ideologies respectively—the study interrogates the period between 1920 and 1940, a phase marked by intense ideological struggle within the colonial public sphere. During this period, newspapers functioned not merely as vehicles of information but as active ideological apparatuses, constructing narratives that sought to normalize particular worldviews while delegitimizing competing ones. Further, the paper critically analyzes how both newspapers instrumentalized the figure of the woman to assert ideological superiority, which constitutes the second major theme of this study. Whether through representations of social reform, domesticity, or civic virtue, women emerged as symbolic sites upon which the contest between imperial “modernity” and nationalist imagination was staged. By tracing shifts in representational patterns and narrative strategies over time, this paper aims to reveal how gendered symbolism was deployed to strengthen ideological positions and consolidate discursive power within the colonial public sphere.
Keywords	Representation; Imperialist; Nationalist; Indianness; Newspaper Aaj; Newspaper Pioneer; Modernity; Women
Field	Sociology > Archaeology / History
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 2, March-April 2026
Published On	2026-04-10

View / Download PDF File

E-ISSN 2582-2160

doi

CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.

IJFMR DOI prefix is
10.36948/ijfmr

Downloads

Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form Cover Page Vol 8 Isu 2 Cover Page Vol 8 Isu 1 Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 6

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Women between Empire and Nation: Representation of Women in English and Vernacular Newspapers

Share this