Here Are Some Things To Learn and Know From Kadambini Ganguly, India’s First Woman Doctor
Dr Kadambini Ganguly was one of India’s first female doctors and an active participant in the 19th-century women’s rights movement. Here’s all you need to know about her.
It was the year 1886, and India found its first female doctors in Kadambini Ganguly and Anandibai Joshi. Joshi graduated from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in the US but unfortunately couldn’t practice due to her untimely death in 1887.
Ganguly was born Kadambini Basu in Bhagalpur, Bihar in a Brahmo family in 1861. The family belonged to Chandsi, Barisal, which is now in Bangladesh. She came from an upper-caste Bengali community that followed Brahmo doctrines and did not support women’s education. Despite this, Kadambini received an English education at Brahmo Eden Female School and then at Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya, which merged with Bethune School. She was the first woman to pass the entrance examination of the University of Calcutta.
After graduating from Bethune College with a degree in Fine Arts (FA) in 1882, Ganguly decided to attend Calcutta Medical College, but to her disappointment, women were not admitted to medical colleges back then. With her husband, Dwarkanath Ganguly by her side, Kadambini fought not only for herself but for all the women who wanted to pursue medicine like her. Despite many obstacles in her way, she finally graduated from CMC with a degree in western medicine. This was a time when society attempted to limit women’s freedom through practices such as child marriage, sati, and others. She was an inspiration for women to fight for their right to an education. Her efforts were instrumental in getting her alma mater, Bethune College, to offer graduation courses like Fine Arts to their students and continue to date.
Thereafter, she worked at Lady Dufferin Women’s Hospital for a while and then left for London for higher education. In her book ‘How India Wrought For Freedom,’ Annie Besant hailed her as a “symbol that India’s freedom would uplift India’s womanhood”. Even as a doctor, wife, and mother of eight children, Ganguly played an irreplaceable role in the women’s rights movement. She was one of six members of the first female delegation to the Indian National Congress in 1889 and helped organize the Women’s Conference in Calcutta in 1906. Through, she became a part of India’s struggle for independence. She also worked for the rights of the female coal miners in India in order to improve their working conditions and assisted her husband in condemning the exploitation of tea plantation workers in Assam.
Ganguly carved out a space for her in the medical field of male-dominated British India. She is an inspiration to women even today. As her campaign for women’s rights gained momentum, it did not sit well with many so-called “rule makers” of Indian society. She was heavily chastised, to the point where a Bengali magazine labelled her a whore, which is something that happens to women the moment they raise their voice. Her husband filed a case against the magazine and won when the editor was sentenced to six months in jail. Despite all the difficulties that barred her way, Ganguly never stopped. She fought for what she believed in and to make the country a better place for the generations to come. Her work for women’s empowerment teaches us the value of perseverance, dedication, and grit.
Ganguly was a dedicated doctor who literally worked till the day she died, even though she was suffering from high blood pressure. She came back home one evening after having performed a critical operation and passed away. She was 63 years old. To mark the 160th birth anniversary of Dr Kadambini Ganguly, Google honoured her with a doodle and tributes poured in for her on July 18th, 2021.
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