Throughout the period of colonial rule, a certain degree of tension prevailed between advocating reform for women and addressing specific disabilities of Hindu or Muslim women in personal law and representation. This tension reflected the dynamics of the women's organisations and the overweening compulsions of the dominant political elites. For the Muslim League, support for women's rights demonstrated Islam's superiority, while the Congress viewed it as part of the nationalist project of state building, which included improving the status of women. Women's organisations, for the most part, lacked the influence necessary to set the policy agenda in arenas of personal law or political representation and remained dependant on political allies among the nationalist and state elites.
