Understanding "The White Woman’s Burden": British feminists' involvement in Indian women's feminist movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Abstract

Derived from the term “The White Man’s Burden”, the term “The White Woman’s Burden” has been used widely by historians and academics to discuss how British feminists felt obliged to help Indian women due to imperialists sentiments they held. Despite being a common concept in the study, there has been a lack of scholarly research which has the specific purpose of breaking down the concept to identify how the concept manifests itself differently based on the British feminist. This thesis intends to understand how and why the concept of The White Woman’s Burden” differed among different feminists, namely Josephine Butler, Annie Besant, and Eleanor Rathbone.