Savitribai phule

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule (3 January 1831 10 March 1897) was an Indian

social reformer and poet. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she
played an important role in improving women's rights in India during
British rule. The couple founded the first women's school at Bhide Wada in
Pune in 1848.[1] She also worked to abolish discrimination and unfair
treatment of people based on caste and gender.
Career as a social reformer
Statue of Savitribai Phule and her husband, Jyotirao Phule

Savitribai worked as both an educational reformer and social reformer,

especially for women. During the 19th century, arranged marriages before
the age of maturity was the norm in the Hindu society of Maharashtra.
Since mortality rates were high, many young girls often became widows
even before attaining maturity. Due to social and cultural practices of the
times, widow remarriage was out of question and therefore prospects for
the young widows were poor. The 1881 Kolhapur gazetteer records that
widows at that time used to shave their heads, and wear simple red saris
and had to lead a very austere life with little joy.[4] Savitribai and Jyotirao
were moved by the plight of these girls. They organized a strike against
the barbers to persuade them to stop shaving the heads of widows.
[citation needed]

Also, these helpless women, with no way to refuse this treatment, were
easy prey for sexual exploitation, including rape, often by male members
of the extended family. Widows who became pregnant would resort to
suicide or killing the newborn for fear of being ostracized by the society.
[citation needed] Once, Jyotirao stopped a pregnant lady from committing
suicide, promising her to give her child his name after it was born.
Savitribai accepted the lady in her house and helped her deliver the child.
Savitribai and Jyotirao later adopted this child and named him
Yashavantrao. He grew up to become a doctor. Savitribai and her husband
established a center for caring for pregnant rape victims and delivering
their children. The care center was called "Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha " (
Infanticide prohibition house). Savitri ran the home and considered all the
children born in the home her own.[citation needed]

Moved by the treatment of the untouchables, who were refused drinking

water meant for the upper caste, the Phule couple opened the well in their
own house in 1868 for these communities .[citation needed]

Tiffany Wayne has described Phule as "one of the first-generation modern

Indian feminists, and an important contributor to world feminism in
general, as she was both addressing and challenging not simply the
question of gender in isolation but also issues related to caste and
casteist patriarchy."[2]