Abstract

On the advent of 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, this paper aims to revisit the philosophical messages of Swami Vivekananda on women and empowerment. Organized in three separate sections, this paper tries for an in situ reading of Swami Vivekananda’s utterances and writings on women in section 1 to situate his vision in the broad socio-political context of his time, and amidst his personal life-experiences. For, I agree with many feminist philosophers that the lived, situated context of experiences mold them, make them what they are, and is an integral factor in coloring our ‘gaze’ on an issue. In section 2, salient points from Swamiji’s vision of women will be presented gleaned from his various speeches, writings, and epistles. The amalgamation of the normative, absolutist elements from Hindu orthodox system with his own bold, radical ideas in his outlook will be pointed out; and will be argued for as a characteristic of his era. In the last section this paper aims to highlight his message of spiritual equality for enriching the contemporary discourse of empowerment.