ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

Domesticity and Gender Relations in the Late 19th Century Bengal: The Educated Men, the Bhadramahila and Their Kitchen

Gender is a social construct that has given birth to differences between people biologically as well as culturally. Differences and complexities between the masculine and feminine gender has reached every aspect of the society including domestic field. This in turn has sometimes created complex relations between the two genders and has been a turning point in the path of socio-cultural History. The paper tries to focus on the relationship between Bengali men and women during the late 19th century traversing over kitchen. This period is pertinent as the society was going through certain socio-cultural changes due to the influence of colonial authority. Men were found to rise up as urban educated middle class who showered their knowledge within the domestic household in the form of instructing the bhadramahila about her kitchen and domestic chores.