23th September 2019
Exhuming the legacy of someone as extraordinary as Gauri Mishra is not easy. Her demise on August 17 has been entirely overlooked. It is not easy to explain this amnesia or indifference. One of the best-known figures in Madhubani, Bihar, she had a fearless and an indomitable approach towards supporting impoverished women. She took upon herself to question orthodoxies of every kind and was the go-to person for every woman battered by violence.
One of the strongest voices against regressive gender politics of the ‘80s and the ‘90s, she was part of an upswell of activism against gender violence and sexism. Her freedom of thought and invincible spirit was infectious. Posted in Bihar during that time as the head of women’s empowerment programme, Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), I found myself visiting her karmabhoomi, Madhubani, repeatedly for a quick dose of inspiration.
Born in 1933, Gauri married Dr Bhavanath Mishra of the Darbhanga Medical Hospital when she was a teenager and studied for a few years in England. She started her work life as an academic interested in gender issues. In 1974, the Committee on Status of Women presented its watershed report Towards Equality, that confirmed the worst fear of sceptics. The report combined with nationwide protests on the custodial Mathura rape case and an avalanche of dowry deaths, resulted in the emergence of several tightly-knit women’s organisations.