Kali for Women was an independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1984, it is widely regarded as the first feminist publishing house in India and one of the earliest in the Global South. The press focused on publishing scholarly, literary, and activist writing by and about women in South Asia.
| Name | Kali for Women |
|---|---|
| Type | Independent book publisher |
| Focus | Feminist writing, women's studies, South Asian women |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founders | Urvashi Butalia, Ritu Menon |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
| Successor imprints | Zubaan Books; Women Unlimited |
| Country | India |
Kali for Women was founded by Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon in New Delhi in 1984. The press emerged from the broader Indian women's movement of the late 1970s and 1980s and sought to make feminist scholarship, fiction, and testimony accessible to readers in India and beyond. It published in English and supported translations from Indian languages.
By the early 1980s, women's studies as a discipline was taking root in Indian universities, and autonomous women's groups were active across the country. However, opportunities for publishing feminist research and writing within mainstream Indian publishing remained limited. Kali for Women was set up to fill this gap, drawing on the editorial experience of its founders, both of whom had worked in academic and trade publishing.
The press built a list across several areas, including:
Notable titles associated with the press include works dealing with Partition, women's labour, and feminist theory in the Indian context. The list featured authors such as Kamla Bhasin, Vandana Shiva, and a range of academic and literary writers from across the subcontinent.
In 2003, the founders amicably wound up Kali for Women and established two successor publishing houses, both continuing the feminist publishing tradition:
The Kali for Women backlist was divided between the two new imprints, which have continued to reissue and expand on its catalogue.
Kali for Women played a foundational role in shaping feminist publishing in India. It provided a platform for women's writing at a time when such voices were under-represented in Indian publishing, and contributed to the institutional growth of women's studies in South Asia. Its archive of titles is widely cited in academic courses on gender, history, and South Asian literature, and the press is frequently referenced as a model for independent feminist publishing in the Global South.