Savitribai Phule: India’s First & Original Women’s Rights Activist

Savitribai Phule can only be defined as India’s OG Feminist. She was the first female teacher of the first women’s school in India and turned her life into something we all are still thankful for. She was a woman with dreams and desires of not being big or famous but making other women feel big, and she was making these dreams come true with the support and help of her husband, Jyotirao Phule.

Phule started her mission at a day and time when women were considered mere objects in a house, whose sole existence revolved around her family and kitchen. But she rose above this and fought against the caste system and the society, as well as pushed the women around her to do the same. Phule wanted to make education a necessity and to be treated as an equal opportunity for every and anyone.

Born on 3rd January 1831 in Naigaon, Maharashtra, she was married to Jyotirao Phule (who was then 12) at the age of 9. She didn’t come from a progressive family but was later on surrounded by many. After their marriage, she was educated by her husband who was also training her to become a teacher. All of this education and hard work, helped her to become India’s first female teacher and headmistress which was new and groundbreaking for many.

The couple spent their entire life to fight for equality, a fight that is still going on, and reached certain levels of success. They were against child marriage, initiated the practice of marriage without dowry and supported widow remarriage. They defied the rules set by the society, more than 180 years ago. Their compassion towards each other and towards the betterment of the society was incomprehensible, however, it worked. While some supported them, some just hated their gut and they even went to some sick extent to justify their stigmatised orthodox thinking. Savitribai was time and again appreciated for many for her work, even the British government honoured the couple for their work towards women’s education.

It baffles me, that a woman was fighting against and for the same issues, almost 180 years ago, that a woman today is. We have come a long way in terms of technology and infrastructure advancement, but a girl goes through these issues, even today, in certain parts of our country. However, her contribution hasn’t gone unnoticed, she is and will be the epitome of necessary and equal education for many.

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3 January 2017
Jyotsna Amla