Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, a women's activist and a social reformer.
The first lady doctor of India,
Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy (30 July 1886, Madras – 22 July 1968) was an eminent medical practitioner, social reformer and Padma Bhushan awardee in India (
the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India). She was the first woman legislator in India.
Muthulakshmi was appointed to the Madras Legislative Council in 1927 a nomination which marked the beginning of her lifelong effort to "correct the balance for women by removing social abuses and working for equality in moral standards". In stark opposition to the Brahma Kumaris sucking up the British Monarchy and their criticisms of "Dictator" Gandhi and the traitorous "Crow Race" of Congress, she was one of the women pioneers who stood for the cause of liberating India from the British.
The first female student to be admitted into a men's college, the first woman House Surgeon in the Government Maternity and Ophthalmic Hospital, the first woman legislator in British India, the first Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Advisory Board, the first woman Deputy President of the Legislative Council, and the first Alderwoman of the Madras Corporation Avvai Home.
Her life influence were Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu (
1879 - 1949, the first Indian woman to become the governor of an Indian state and the president of the Indian National Congress in 1925). They persuaded her to devote herself to uplifting women and children. Reddy worked for women's emancipation at a time when women were confined in the four walls of their room.
In 1914, she married Dr. Sundara Reddy on the demand that he promise to "always respect me as an equal and never cross my wishes."
By 1930, she had successfully worked to abolish the devadasi system, liberating women from the pernicious shackles of dedication (
and generally prostitution) of young girls to temples. Of the first three devadasi girls to arrive at a shelter she established, one of the girls later became a teacher, another a doctor, and the third a staff nurse.
Although it was initially set up for the protection and education of the liberated girls of the devadasi community, the Avvai Home transformed into a refuge for all women and children who sought protection and education: young widows who refused immolation, deserted wives with their little children who had nowhere to go, orphaned destitute girls, deserted babies and unwed mothers. It was a home to provide protection, food and accommodation without social or caste barriers. It was virtually an ‘open house’. Most of the women and girls who came had very little education and "mother" (Dr. Reddy) educated them in local schools. It grew to be a large educational unit, catering to the most underprivileged. By 1952, by the time the BKs were sitting doing nothing in Mount Abu, a Teacher’s Training Institute was established.
What a start contrast of what was possible as a women in India in comparison to the path of the Brahma Kumaris ... with some credit going to the enlightened support of her Father and the vision and independence of the then Raja of Pudukottai, Martanda Bhairava Thondaman, who overruled objections to allow her to enrol at college.
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