Women Social Reformers of India

 

In the 19^th century India, religion plays a pivotal role in the social life and as a result, religious systems and principles of social organization cut across each other. The social reform movement which manifested during the nineteenth century had both social and religious tinge and the movement aimed to combat superstitions, attacked idolatory, polytheism and hereditary priesthood.  By and large, one such area, where a lot of evils had crept in was with regard to the position and status of women. Reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, IshwarchandraVidyasagar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, JyotibaPhule, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, EVR Periyar, Ambedkar and others understood that ignorance and backwardness in the society was responsible for hindering its progress and development.  This realization was reinforced when they came into contact with the Europeans and found that life was very different in other parts of the world. 

As a result, the British Era had brought in some changes in the socio-political and economic structure of the Indian society. In addition, the Christian missionaries who came to India criticized and questioned many our social and religious practices and started propagating against the evil practices like sati, female infanticide, seclusion of widows, child marriage, polygamy, devadasi system and so on.  Many of their ideas were accepted by our reformers. The desire to reform the society was so strong that these reformers were then ready to face challenges as well as resistance from the orthodox Indians. They started several movements such as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society, Aligarh Movement, Ramakrishna Mission and so on. According to them, society should be based on the concepts of liberty and equality both for men and women and this was possible only by the spread of modern and scientific education especially among women.  As an outcome in the social sphere, the reformers aimed at reforms in caste system, equal rights for women, widow remarriage and a campaign against child marriage and infanticide.

In this background, it is important to mention here that issues relating to women’s are societal, hence any man or woman or an organization of men and women or organizations exclusively meant for women can play a role and take up the cause of women. In a male-centered society of the 19^th century India, wherein even the cause of women were to take up by a few of the male reformers, encouragingly there seemed to have been a few women social reformers boldly ventured upon working exclusively for women and turning them conscious of their rights.  Women social reformers were inspired by the urge for the social uplift of their fellow sisters. This video will highlight on the contributions made by the prominent women social reformers of India such as Sunanda also known as Maharani Tapasvini, Pandita Ramabai, Swarna Kumari Debi, Rani Shurnomoyee, Ramabai Ranade, Rama Devi, Devi Nani Bala, Basanti Devi Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Rani Gudiallo, Annie Besant, Sister Nivedita and a host of others.

1.      1.      Maharani Tapasvani

·         Belongs to Belur (Arcot, South India)

·         Niece of Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi

·         Opened a Sanskrit Pathashala (Sanskrit School) known as Maha Kali Sanskrit Pathashala.

·         Took interest in the education of girls and furthered the cause of women’s education in Bengal.

·         She continued her work of imparting education to women in Calcutta till her death in 1907.

 

2.      Pandita Ramabai Saraswati

·         Belongs to Maharastra.

·         She was a scholar, educator and women’s rights activist of 19^th century India.

·         In Pune, she founded AryaMahilaSamaj and the branches of which came to be found all over Maharashtra.

·         She wrote the book, “The High Caste Hindu Woman” where she denounced patriarchy and the treatment meted out to widows by society.

·         In 1858, Ramabai Association was organized with headquarters in Boston and this contributed a certain sum of money to support high caste Widow’s Home in India.

·         In 1889, she started the ShardaSadan in Bombay to provide asylum to the destitute high caste widows.

·         Ramabai had embraced Christianity and the Sadan received generous financial help from missionary activities.

·         She advocated for the presence of women in medicine and demanded that there should be more women in the medical field for some treatments for women required the presence of other women.  This argument of her even reached Queen Victoria during that time.

·         By 1900, the PanditaRamabaiMukti Mission had more than 1500 residents and it is active even to this day.  It provides housing, education, vocational training and medical services, for widows, orphans, blinds and many needy groups.

·         She was a truly remarkable woman who pioneered women’s education and championed women’s rights and empowerment, leading by an example.

 

3.      Savitribai Phule

·         She belongs to Maharashtra and was the first female teacher of the first women’s school in India.

·         She relentlessly fought against the dominant caste system and worked towards the upliftment of the marginalized.

·         She brought about many social reforms and contributed a lot towards the empowerment of women in Indian society.  SavithribaiPhule started MahilaSevaMandal in 1852, which worked for raising women’s consciousness about their human rights, dignity of life and other social issues. 

·         She went on to organize a successful barber’s strike in Mumbai and Pune against the prevailing practice of shaving of widow’s head. 

·         On 28^th January 1853, the first ever infanticide prohibition home of India was started by SavithribaiPhule. She also opened a care centre named ‘BalhatyaPratibandhakGriha’ for pregnant rape victims and helped them to deliver their children. 

·         In 1863, first ever orphanage home was started by JyotibaPhule and SavithribaiPhule, which gave protection to pregnant widows. 

·         On 28^th January, 1866 Vishnushastri inspired by Phule’s movement opened an institution to promote widow remarriage and it was named as PunarVivahtojakMandal. 

·         Savitribai also took over SatyashodakSamaj after Phule’s death, and presided over the meeting in 1893 of the Samaj at Saswad in Maharashtra.

·         Every woman in India today owes SavithribaiPhule for fighting towards women’s education in India during the British rule. The University of Pune is renamed after her – and it is now known as SavithribaiPhule Pune University.

 

4.      Swarnakumari Debi

·         She was Debendranath Tagore’s fourth daughter from Calcutta.

·         Her first novel, “Deep Nirman” was published when she was 18.  She wrote 25 books in Bengali, including short stories, plays and text books.

·         In 1886, she started the “SachiSamiti” which devoted to the cause of social welfare.  The aim of the Samiti was to help the helpless orphans and widows.

·         In 1927, she was awarded the Jagattarani Gold Medal by Calcutta University.

·         She and her daughter, Hiranmoyee worked together in the Hiranmoyee Widow’s Industrial Home in Calcutta.

 

5.      Rani Shurnomoyee

·         She belongs to Cassimbazar in Murshidabad.

·         Though she was an uneducated lady, her financial help without distinction of caste, creed or religion, encouraged spread of education in the state.

·         In Rajshahi she maintained an Anglo-Vernacular school for the education of her tenantry.

·         She gave help to many schools on monthly basis wherein poor students, widows and orphans received her special care. 

·         During the famine of 1866, a sum of Rs.200 was paid by her for the building fund of the Indian Association which was established in 1876.

·         In 1886, she opened a hostel for the women students of the Grant Medical College, Calcutta were fifteen girls were benefitted from it.

 

6.      Ramabai Ranade

·         She belongs to Satara district and was married to Justice Ranade who later won fame as a social reformer.

·         She met PanditaRamabai in 1882 and became an active member of the AryaMahilaSamaj and its meetings were conducted at her house.

·         She started a Hindu Ladies Club and opened classes illiterate women and widows. 

·         RamabaiRanade also established the SevaSadan Nursing and Medical Association where widows and girls volunteered to work at Sasoon Hospital, Pune.

·         In Pune, she led the agitation for compulsory primary education for girls.

·         She wrote a book entitled “Reminiscences” now regarded as a Marathi Classic.

·         When the suffrage movement came to the fore in India, she supported the cause and presided over meetings demanding the right to vote.

 

7.      Francina Sorabji

·         Her main interest was education and she wanted to bring the children of all classes and communities into common schools. 

·         She started her social service in the villages.

·         FrancinaSorabji established three schools for girls in the Bombay Presidency. One of them was for the girls, another for Muslim girls who were not allowed to attend regular schools and a third 6 for the training of women teachers, the only one of its kind at the time in Western India.

 

8.      Rani Lady Harnam Singh

·         She was from the royal household of Kapurthala state in the Punjab.

·         Pioneer woman in the Punjab in the field of social reforms.

·         Writing to one of her friends she says: “India’s greatest need is the proper education of our women”.

·         She started an Infant Welfare Centre at Jalandhar and also started sewing and knitting classes for women.

·         She founded a Ladies Club in Shimla.

9.      Rama Devi

·         The Grand Old Lady of Orissa belongs to Banka Bazaar in the Cuttack town.

·         She was married to GopabandruChoudhury, a Deputy Magistrate who emerged as one of the most trusted and sincere followers of Mahatma Gandhi. 

·         Ramadevi was ever present by the side of her husband in all his activities.

·         She was in favour of widow remarriage and denounced child marriage.

·         Her writings were widely read and appreciated by all and she was also an eloquent speaker and her speeches were heard with rapt attention.

 

10.  Devi Nani Bala

 

·         She belonged to Bally in Howrah and sought shelter in a Christian Mission at Aria-dana across the River Ganges. 

·         Later on Jugantar (revolutionary association) had shaped her destiny and she actively joined the revolutionary group.

·         All her adult life, she had been an ardent patriot, sturdy and spirited revolutionary but sweet in nature and always eager to serve people.

 

11.  Basanti Devi Das

·         She belongs to Calcutta and was married to Chittaranjan Das, who was a Barrister then.

·         She played an active part in Non Co-operation Movement as a result of which she was arrested, along with her sister-in-law, Urmila Devi on a charge of advocating the use of ‘khaddar’. 

·         She was her husband’s constant companion, and provided the natural impetus to his followers during their untiring welfare work.

·         It was Basanti Devi who was partly responsible for the motivation of her husband joining the national movement even at the cost of sacrificing his stupendous fortune.

 

12.  Vijayalakshmi Pandit

·         She belongs to the city of Prayag now called Allahabad and was named Swarupkumari. She was the sister of our first Prime Minister of India, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru.

·         She married RanjitPandi who renamed her Vijayalakshmi, meaning “conquering Goddess”.  They both joined Indian national movement under Mahatma Gandhi.

·         She was the only woman member of the Allahabad Municipal Board and in that capacity she started adult literacy classes and night schools in simple huts.

·         The first mobile library was commissioned by her with the help of a few rich people.

·         She became the India’s first woman and cabinet minister of big Indian province.

·         As President of the All India Women’s Conference, she was instrumental among others, passing resolutions demanding immediate codification of Hindu Law giving Hindu women the right to inheritance and divorce.

·         She established “Children’s Homes” all over India during the outbreak of famine.

·         She was invited by the American friends to undertake a lecture tour and her speeches were very effective, the public demanded that she continue.

·         She is the only Indian woman who had led delegations, including the one on Human Rights to the United Nations.

 

13.  Rani Gudiallo

·         She belonged to the North Cachar hills of Nagaland.

·         She had first got involved in the struggle for independence when she was 13, and started mobilizing villages into Satyagraha campaigns in Manipur district in 1925. 

 

14.  Maharani of Travancore

·         There were regions in India where women were not the subjects to be uplifted by men, but were the rulers and decision-makers and they themselves wrote the destiny of women. The Maharani of Travancore was a fine example of this.

·         As the ruler, she administered her estate astutely and was widely praised for her acts. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi in 1925, she opened all the streets of Travancore for all castes and religions.

·         She opened the first Girls’ School and raised the women’s College to the level of 1st Grade.

·         She appointed the first woman in India as the head of the Legislative Council of Travancore.

·         The Maharani of Travancore was an example of an empowered woman, who not only worked to empower other women, but also ruled the destinies of men in an astute manner.

·         She was truly the symbol of an empowered and enlightened woman, not under the guidance of a man. Her narrative counteracts all images of the carefully constructed backward India being taken forward on the road of progress by men.

 

15.  Annie Besant

·         Annie Besant was an Irish lady, she was so much concerned about the upliftment of Indian women.

·         In 1874 by delivering a lecture on 'the political status of women' she had shown her keen interest in the emancipation of women welfare.

·         During 1890's, she defended the different Hindu social customs and also countered the efforts of Indian social reformers, who had been working to improve the social status of women and that's why in 1893 she invented a "Theosophical society".

·         She was a Victorian radical whose outspoken views included advocacy of women's rights and opposition to British imperial policies.

·         Annie Besant’s dedication towards the education of Indian girls or women was truly shown in 1898 where she established Central Hindu College in Benaras, by giving training to boys in their Hindu heritage along with the fusion of western scientific knowledge.

·         Later on she opened another school for girls at Benaras namely Girl's school (Besant KanyaMahavidyalaya). She opened this school as she firmly believed that women's emancipation could be achieved only after the removal of illiteracy among the women.

·         She believed that Indian greatness will not be able to restore until the Indian womanhood could be able to obtain a larger, a freer and a fuller life.

·         Views of Annie Beasant was quietly very impressive about the education of Indian girls and meanwhile shows her efforts, care about Indian women.

 

16.  Sarojini Naidu

·         She belonged to Hyderabad of a Bengali Brahmin family. Her father, DrAghorenathChattopadhyaya was an educationist and a leading scientist.

·         Naidu was a staunch supporter of women education, being a nationalist she became the supporter of women's right at very early age.

·         She also created awareness among the women for their political right and for this she organized and lead a powerful agitation in England on behalf of the women of India.

·         Women are not so different from one another as man is from another man. Women may form a sisterhood more easily because they are bound to every woman in the world by the common divine quality of motherhood.

·         All these sayings of Sarojini Naidu shows that she want that every woman now should raise themselves to be awaken for their social and political life. They should try to expose themselves to the world about their self-identity and that only could be possible by having the right kind of education. Education is very necessary as to liberate any individual. Educated women could play an important role in the development of a nation.

 

17.  Saraladevi Chaudhurani

·         One of the social reformers who worked in the welfare for Indian women.

·         She worked much to raise consciousness among women for education. Bharat Stree Mahamandal (the Large circle of Indian women) one of the organization of Sarla Devi was to promote female education.

·         The chief aim of the mandal was the spread of female education, apart from this Purdah system and child marriage were considered as the main obstacles to the education of women.

·         Only women were allowed to join this.

 

18.  Mahadevi Verma

·         She was born in Farukhabad in to an educated middle class family and was 'raised under the cultural tutelage of her mother and Westernised and reformist father. And although she was married off at nine, she was yet fortunate enough to continue her studies.

·         She was a well known and a distinguished poet, and renowned essayist of her time, especially she belonged to the twentieth century who frankly took up the women's issues which were publicly debated in the United Provinces much later than in other parts of the country.

·         MahadeviVerma from her very famous work, ShrinkhalakiKadiyan, mainly describes the situation of Indian women who were mainly subjugated and marginalized and also keep ignorant from what they needed.

·         Mahadevi was a social worker too. In 1932, she became the principal of the PrayagMahilaVidyapeeth. She usually spends her weekends in the villages of Allahabad as to give elementary knowledge and basic teaching about hygiene to rural children.

 

19.  Miss Booth

·         Miss Booth, head of the Gorakhpur branch, Zenana Mission and in charge of five Zenana Mission girls school.

·         She believed that Purdah system hinders the forward movement and as far as possible reading and writing should be taught by visiting teachers.

·         Another major drawback is the early marriage in the education of women and parents still desiring seclusion for a girl of 11 or 12 and sometimes even at 10 years of age, so zenana teaching should be encouraged.

·         She was in favour of zenanateaching, this will help a lot to women to pay more focus on education. Later she focused that primary education was in more demand among the people as there is a growing desire to include more needle work and knitting in the curriculum of the girls.

 

20.  Sister Nivedita

·         Sister Nivedita was a social activist and educator who worked to uplift the women of India during the freedom struggle. She is one of the most iconic women in Indian History who played a major role in the nationalist movement.

·         Her real name is Margaret Elizabeth Noble.

·         Her meeting with Swami Vivekananda in the winter of 1895 changed her life completely. Vivekananda’s principles and beliefs influenced her deeply.

• In Calcutta, Swami Vivekananda taught her about the history, culture, and traditions of India. She vowed to lead her life as a Brahmacharini on 25 March 1898 and was given the name Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda, which means “the dedicated one”.
• Sister Nivedita was dedicated to the cause of educating girls and caring for poor patients.

• During the plague epidemic in Calcutta, she cared for patients, cleaned up the area, and encouraged the youth to partake in community service.  She inspired the youth to fight for the cause of India’s freedom through her lectures. It is also said that she provided financial support and even leveraged her contacts to get information from government agencies, to forewarn freedom fighters.
• Sister Nivedita’s book Kali, the Mother motivated Abanindranath Tagore who painted Bharat Mata. In her memory, many schools and colleges have been named after her and the government of India issued a postage stamp in 1968 to commemorate her work.

Conclusion

Male and female social reformers mentioned above were the iconic figures whenever there is a talk on any issues related to women. Because they really wanted to see women’s progress in life. And also wish that they should move forward in life and educate themselves as education is considered an essential part for an individual to move ahead in life. Now let us discuss some of the persons of United Provinces who showed their keen interest in the progress of women education. These people are not famous as reformers, but here their names are important as they really wanted that their women of India should progress in life.

The above discussions make it clear that the pitiable condition of women invited the reformers to decry and carry out propagation for the upliftment of women for a long period. However, in the 19th century very strong and practical steps were taken by the social reformers to mitigate the social sufferings of women. The women had the realization that their social sufferings were intertwined with their economic dependence and joint family system, but first they wanted to remove their social disabilities and enhance their health and social status. Thus, efforts created awareness on the necessity of elevation of women economically and then socially. The sustained work of the missionaries resulted in the creation of educated community even in the lower strata of the society of Punjab. Women became teachers, nurses; government officials and even missionary assistants. Thus, the whole of public opinion for female education was set in motion in the end of the 19th century. However, the 19th century social reform movements with the help of British government continued with the new idea of rehabilitation of the affected women in the 20th and the present century.

 

References 

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15.  http://veronetwork.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/religious-reform-movements-in-modern-india-2/

16.  https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/socioreligious-reform-movements-and-reformers-in-india-a-complete-overview