Perhaps one of the most iconic feminists to grace this country, Savitribai Phule was an incredible badass. But so many years later, 188 to be exact, the extent of her badassery might be lost on a lot of people. So, on her birth anniversary, January 3, let’s take a look at who she was and her path-breaking work.
- She was the first female teacher in India at the age of 17, in 1848 (flashback to when I was 17, angsting my way through zero contribution of any form to society, trying to get my curfew extended to midnight).
- Set up and ran a bunch of schools for girls from oppressed communities.
- Fought for the rights of widows, including organising a Barbers’ Strike to stop the shaving of heads of Hindu widows.
- Opened a well for people from the lower caste in her own house—an act of vehement defiance against the concept of untouchability.
- Supervised inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.
- Started the Mahila Seva Mandal (a women-led organisation, a revolution at a time when the purdah system still dominated most Indian households) to create awareness amongst women about their rights.
- Wrote a bunch of amazing books (Kavya Phule, Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar) while also working for the rights of the oppressed.