Do you know, what is the most common issue of Indian Feminists?
They usually accused the Indian social system, especially the Manu smriti for the so-called backwardness of Indian Women. It is a common chest-beating when they claim that India’s Women have not been ‘visible’ in our history, they are treated more like an object of men’s desire. Their role has been ignored in the upliftment of our society, Fight for independence, Dalit movement, and Ambedkar movements.
Per Indian Feminists, those women are the torchbearer of Feminism, who show their skin, who abuse Males, who make obnoxious remarks against Indian culture, festivals, etc. It has been portrayed as if India is a nation of people, who don’t respect their women. However, the truth is certainly not what has been propagated by India’s pseudo feminists. Today we will share the stories of a few Indian women, who worked really hard and give up everything to change the narrative.
Anandibai Joshi – India’s first female Western Medical Practitioner
She married off at the tender age of 9, his husband was 20 years older than her. His Husband was a progressive person, who encouraged Anandi to cry on with her studies, and even send her abroad to complete her medical studies.
It is said that Joshi was determined to become a doctor, because of the untimely death of her 10-day old baby, when she was was just 14. At that point in time, medical care was not that easily available in India, she took a resolve to become a Doctor and overcame incredible obstacles of caste, social tradition, and a lack of money and connections, to travel to America and apply for admission to WMCP (Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania).
In 1885, when Anandibai Joshi graduated, she received a congratulatory letter from Britain’s Queen Victoria, who was also Empress of India at that point in time. Joshi was appointed as a physician-in-charge of the female ward at the Kolhapur.
At the age of 21, she was died due to tuberculosis. However, she is still remembered for her heroic feat and her achievements. She was among the very few who break all the shackles and achieved something which was unheard of then. She preserved her ethos, culture, and religion, hence she is forgotten by the Indian Feminists.
Savitribai Phule – India’s first female teacher
Savitribai Phule was another pioneer for Girl’s education in India, she established the first school for girls in the country, located in Pune. She was married off at the young age of nine to Jyotirao Phule. Her husband helped her to complete the education.
She also enrolled in two teacher’s training programs. The first was at an institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar. The second course was at a school in Pune. Then she went on to become the headmistress of a school in Pune and became India’s first female teacher in 1848. She worked tirelessly throughout her life for women’s rights, fighting against caste and gender discrimination. However, the current feminists won’t remember her, due to some obvious reasons.
Justice Fatima Beevi – India’s First Supreme Court Judge
Justice M. Fatima Beevi was appointed as the first female Supreme Court Judge in 1989. She started her career in a lower court of Kerala, she later became Chief Judicial Magistrate, then a permanent Judge of the Kerala High Court in 1984.
Lt. General Punita Arora – First Lt. General of Indian Armed Forces
Lt. General Punita Arora became the first Indian woman to be appointed to the second-highest rank, Lieutenant General of Indian Armed Forces, and later the first Vice-admiral of the Indian Navy. She joined the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune, in 1963. She has an illustrious career, where she has been awarded 15 medals in her 36 years of career in the Indian Armed Forces, combining both the Indian Army and Indian Navy.
She moved from the Army to the Navy as the Armed Forces Medical Services has a common pool, that allows medical officers to switch from one service to another.
Kiran Bedi – India’s First IPS Officer
She needs no introduction, she is undoubtedly the most popular Indian woman of our times. She joined the Indian Police Service in July 1972 and became the first woman IPS officer. She also became the Civilian Police Advisor in United Nations peacekeeping operations. Bedi served on a number of posts, excelling in every role before voluntarily retiring in 2007 and currently working as the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Priya Jhingan – India’s First Army Officer
We are sure, not many people know about her. She decided to join the Army, but women were not allowed to join the Indian Army at that time. In 1988, she a letter to the Chief of Army Staff, and asked him to consider inducting women into the Army. Her request was finally accepted in 1992. She became the first lady cadet to join the Indian Army in 1993. Army honored her courage and given her an enrolment number 001 for being the first woman to enlist in the Indian Army. Priya is an experienced trek leader and a qualified skier too.
Chhavi Rajawat – India’s first Female Sarpanch
Chhavi is the first woman Sarpanch of India, she hails from Soda village of Rajasthan. She completed her studies at the famous Lady Sri Ram College and then completed her MBA from Pune. She decided to participate in the administration at the grass-root level, to bring change in the lives of people. She has been working to equip her village with roads, toilets, solar power plants,, and drinking water solutions. She is working really hard for making her village a model village, she is also working to mitigate the gender bias in society.
Dhanya Menon – India’s first Cyber crime investigator
Dhanya is India’s first cybercrime investigator. She did complete her studied in Cyberlaw and she began conducting Cyberlaw training workshops for corporates and government departments. Then she started working on cybercrime complaints and started solving them, and become a professional cybercrime investigator. She is presently working with over 400 schools across the country to spread awareness about cybercrime and also devising ways to mitigate such crimes.
Chetna Sinha – Founder of India’s first rural bank for Women
She is known for founding the first rural bank in India. She founded the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank and the Mann Deshi Foundation, which is known for providing rural women access to formal financial institutions. She is an experienced farmer, hence she has adequate knowledge about the ground reality and that’s why she was able to offer the solutions for the same. She has won the prestigious Forbes India Leadership Award 2017 for being an entrepreneur with a huge social impact.
Ira Singhal – India’s first ‘Divyang’ Women who topped Civil Service exam
She was the first woman with a disability, who topped the Civil Services exam in 2014. She successfully cleared the exam in 2010, but she was not considered for the posting due to her disability. She filed a case with the Central Administrative Tribunal against this anomaly and the decision came in her favor. Then she was posted as an Assistant Commissioner in the Customs and Excise Department of the Indian Revenue Services (IRS). She opened the gate of opportunities for people with disabilities, and since then we have seen multiple candidates with disabilities getting Civil Services posts.
Tessy Thomas – Missile Woman of India
She is known as the ‘Missile Woman of India’, as she was the first woman to head an Indian missile project. She had played key roles in many strategic projects, including the development of the Long-Range Ballistic Missile(Agni 4 and 5). She went on to become the First Director of the Missile Laboratory. She has the unique distinction of heading all three Missile Laboratories of the Missile Cluster (ASL, DRDL, RCI) of the DRDO. Well, isn’t this the true feminism?
We have countless such examples, where women have thrashed their perceptions and achieved their status and rightful place in society with their hard work and determination. These Women never cried for Equality or Feminism, they have earned it, and earned it really well, and maybe that is the reason why Indian Feminist prefer to ignore their achievements and look for their idols in Bollywood and Intelligencia, who often use Feminism for their own vested benefits.
In our opinion, the Feminism word is quite misunderstood by our people. Feminism should be the movement to empower Women, not to demean Males or other section of the society. It is certainly not the movement to play the victim card, it should be the way to embrace your ethos, respect your culture and then ensure the power is equally distributed among all.
The above Women personalities exactly did the same, they never cried foul, they never cuss the male patriarchy unnecessary, they kept working hard and secured their place in the society, they became the inspiration for many. I think that’s the correct method of propagating the Feminism, may be that’s why they are not liked by the ‘pseudo feminist’.
