At a time when medicine is a highly sought-after career for Indian women. it is hard to imagine what it was like for the pioneers. The story of how firmly they were bound in fetters of family, caste and society, and how fiercely they fought to escape, needs to be told. In Lady Doctors, Kavitha Rao unearths the extraordinary stories of six women from the 1860s to the 1930s, who defied the idea that they were unfit for medicine by virtue of their gender. From Anandibai Joshi, who broke caste rules by crossing an ocean, to Rukhmabai Raut, who escaped a child marriage, divorced her husband and studied to be a doctor; from Kadambini Ganguly, who took care of eight children while she worked, to child widow Haimabati Sen, who overcame poverty and hardship-these women had a profound and lasting impact. And in their forgotten lives lie many lessons for modern women.
In truth, the compelling stories of these radical women have been erased from our textbooks and memories, because histories have mostly been written by men, about men. In an immensely readable narrative, and with impeccable research, Lady Doctors rectifies this omission.
It was 24 February 1883. A diminutive eighteen-year-old girl stood up before an entirely male audience in the town hall of Serampore, West Bengal, seeking approval for an unprecedented plan. Her presence by itself was worthy of notice. At the time, women did not leave their homes-certainly not to address men. But what this solemn young woman was saying was even more unusual. She was announcing her intention to sail across the ocean, breaking caste rules and courting ostracism, to study medicine in the US. Alone. The first Indian woman to ever do so. The girl was Anandibai Joshi, who would eventually become India's first woman doctor. On that crucial day, she gave such a convincing performance that her speech was later turned into a pamphlet. 'Why do I go to America?" she asked. 'I go to America because I wish to study medicine. The want of female physicians in India is keenly felt in every quarter.' Anandibai went on to explain that the restricted freedoms allowed to Hindu women in India, and the harassment she had faced as she walked to school, made it near impossible for her to study in India. To continue to live as a Hindu and go to school in any part of India is very difficult."
The maverick Anandibai was followed by other fearless women. Kadambini Ganguly battled colonialism and defamation as a 'whore' to become India's first practising doctor, all while bringing up eight children. Rukhmabai escaped the marriage she had been forced into as a child by divorcing her husband, unheard of for Hindu women at the time. They made medicine an acceptable profession for women, and later, even a respectable one.
Little is known of these unsung women, commonly called 'lady doctors'. They do not appear in our textbooks or museums, and have been largely left out of Indian history. A crater on Venus is named after Anandibai, but not a single road or school in India. Anandibai and Rukhmabai have had biographies written about them in Marathi; Rukhmabai was the subject of a 2017 film by Anant Mahadevan and, in 2019, Sameer Vidwans directed a Marathi film about Anandibai. Nevertheless, these women are hardly household names across India, in the way that Sarojini Naidu or Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi are.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
Hindu (905)
Agriculture (121)
Ancient (1083)
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Architecture (550)
Art & Culture (908)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (522)
Cookery (169)
Emperor & Queen (531)
Islam (221)
Jainism (308)
Literary (842)
Mahatma Gandhi (366)
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