By Swathi Chaganty
Picking one quote, one scene, one incident, or one doctor from
Lady Doctors – The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine by Kavitha
Rao, a journalist, and author, is a difficult task. Does one talk about
Anandibai’s mature balancing act between her eccentric husband’s expectations
and her own choices, or Kadambini Ganguly’s fight for native lady doctors’
against the rising tide of European lady doctors brought into India? Or does
one talk about a young firebrand woman called Rukhmabai who went toe to toe
against the orthodoxy of the time and called out child marriage and later went
on to play an important role in dealing with the plague in 1895, Gujarat? Or
Himabati Sen’s battle against sexism and rigid religious dogma and customs
while having a forty-year-long career in medicine? Or the Edinburgh Seven in
the mid to late 19th century who contributed towards the lives of our
protagonists?
Anandibai Joshi, Kadambini Ganguly, Rukhmabai Raut, Haimabati
Sen, Muthulakshmi Reddy, and Mary Poonen Lukose, all of whom have little to no
works written or developed on them. Only a small percentage of people - from
their own communities - are aware of their legacy, and an even lesser
percentage of people are aware of the circumstances in which they dared to become
doctors. This roughly 300-page book is a tribute to these women of our past.
While books, plays, and a recent movie on Anandibai Joshi have been made
available in popular culture, Haimabati Sen's dairies had come to light several
decades after her death, and Muthulakshmi Reddy was the only one to have two
memoirs to her name. Rukhmabai Raut’s clinics in Gujarat are active even today.
Muthulakshmi Reddy’s Cancer Institute aka Adyar Cancer Institute, established
in 1952, is a pioneer in cancer research in Asia; and Mary Poonen Lukose’s,
tenacity laid the foundations for much of the public health system of Kerala
and compulsory vaccination in our country. However, in reality, in a country of
over a billion, very few knew the existence of these immensely talented women.
Born and brought up in late 19th and early 20th century India
amidst political and social churning, facing child marriages, child widowhood,
innumerable prohibitions established in the garb of taboos and offenses to
religion and society, lack of access to health and medical assistance sensitive
to their needs, each one of these women faced immense struggles. Even after
overcoming a difficult childhood with the help of handful of well-wishers, in
the form of either a supportive husband, father, social reformer, progressive
compatriot, some well-meaning missionary, royal, or western liberal of the
time, their lives had never been easy. Battling casteism, patriarchy, sexism,
and racism was the norm. In addition to that, ‘mobilizing’ marginalized
communities and ‘advocating’ for better health, sanitation, medical assistance,
and female reproductive health among the people, challenging unscientific
practices and beliefs, was an uphill task. And if work-life balance is
complicated for working women in today’s day and age in our country, these lady
doctors had seen it all; and they may have some radical views to share with all
of us.
The uniqueness of this book is the nuance, respect, and
sensitivity with which it presents our protagonists, the complexities of those
times, the politics of colonialism and social reform, and the philosophies of
well-known political and social reformers who had a bearing on the lives of
these women – positive and negative. The book gets even more thrilling from a
historical point of view as the 20th century rolls in. Muthulakshmi Reddy and
Mary Poonen Lukose, not only continued with their professional responsibilities
as doctors but also took on much-needed political, and governance duties and
campaigns. Did you know a version of ‘Votes for Women’ campaign in India also
had its place in our political discourse?
Through the journeys of these lady doctors, we meet some more
incredible women of that time, some were their contemporaries, some their
ideological opponents but progressives in their own right, and some who came
much before them but all of them inspired and contributed to the making of
India as it is today and built a larger legacy towards humankind. Cornelia
Sorabji – first female graduate from Bombay University and the first woman to
study law at Oxford and social reformer, Pandita Ramabai – educationist and
advocate for girl child education, Sarojini Naidu – poet and freedom fighter,
Ammu Swaminathan – famous Gandhian and one of the early Constituent Assembly members,
Annie Beasant – theosophist and Home Rule activist in the Indian freedom
struggle, Krupabai Satthianandhan – famous writer and the first woman to enter
Madras Medical College, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi – ruler of Travancore and advocate
of women’s involvement in medicine, law, and politics, Abala Das – medical
graduate, social reformer and educationist, and wife of Jagdish Chandra Bose.
The mention of her famed husband is intentional, for we know of him and his
contribution to science but hardly ever heard of his wife and her work. Rose
Govindarajulu – a doctor with several medical degrees and a thirty-three-year-long
career ending way back in 1920! The history of our country is much richer than
we know and are taught. Just imagine a room with Muthulakshmi, Mary Poonen,
Sarojini Naidu, Annie Beasant, and Ammu Swaminathan, how electrifying it must
have been!
Lady Doctors is an opportunity for bibliophiles, history nerds,
parents, development sector professionals, educationists, teachers, medical
practitioners, and students, to learn about these incredible women and share
their stories with our future generations. Read it, gift it, suggest it,
recommend it. Add excerpts of these books as chapters in our language
textbooks; or give them the deserved place in our history textbooks next to
Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Raja Ram Mohan
Roy, for these women were the catalysts for some of the larger social reforms;
have multiple copies of this book in school and public libraries; or introduce
them to students of science and medicine. As Kavitha Rao, stated, "…We
rightly eulogise C.V. Raman and Jagdish Chandra Bose, but never the unsung
women who fought far greater odds with unbelievable courage." It is time
we correct that.
