An Introduction to the Early Malayalam Women’s Magazines

Abstract

Malayalam magazines for women are usually analysed as an adjunct to mass media studies or as part of the larger cultural sphere of Kerala. There are very few studies on the twenty-five or more magazines published for women in colonial Kerala as a field in itself. Women’s magazines published during the colonial times focused more on their education and progress than providing entertainment. In Kerala, they were also owned, edited, and authored by some of the early feminists. As such these magazines provide a vibrant women’s history different from the canonical history of Kerala. The ideas and issues discussed in the magazines informed and shaped the public sphere in Kerala for decades into the future. This paper is in the form of an exploratory study of the field. It probes the intended readers, the writers, and the concepts and topics that were under discussion in early Malayalam women’s magazines.