If millions of girls today are going to school, choosing what they want to study and deciding where they want to work, It is because of the tireless fight of these pioneering women who fought against all odds to clear the path for them.
Amar Chitra Katha pays tribute to all those indomitable women who lit the way, for Indian women, with the fire of their spirit.
The Path-Breakers
Pandita Ramabai – Changing the lives of child brides and widows
Anandibai Joshi – First lady doctor
Rukhmabai – Inspired the ‘age of consent’ act
Muthulakshmi Reddy – First Woman Legislator
Anasuya Sarabhai – Pioneer of the labour movement in India
Janaki Ammal – First Indian woman botanist
Anna Mani – First woman meteorologist
Ramabai could recite 18000 Shlokas from the Bhagat Purana but her learning, her true understanding of the scriptures did not give her the freedom to break any of the cruel rules prescribed by a patriarchal system for Brahmin women, particularly for widows.
Muthulakshmi Reddy got the permission of the Maharaja of Pudukkottai to study in his college but when she would walk on the road she was pelted with shoes for daring to study!
14-Year-old Anandibai Joshi lost her infant son at birth because women could not go to male doctors. Instead of succumbing to her sorrow, the young girl made up her mind to become a doctor herself.