DR ANANDI GOPAL JOSHI

AS AN EXAMPLE OF
WOMEN DOCTORS IN
INDIA
By Simranjit Singh, Id no. 2260
 CONTENTS
Introduction................................................................................................................................1

Research Methodology...............................................................................................................2

A brief life sketch of Dr Anandi Gopal Joshi.............................................................................4

Socio Economic Challenges Faced by Early Women Doctors...................................................6

Historiography on Life Writing of Anandi Joshi........................................................................8

Patriarchy and Imperialism in Practise of Medicine................................................................11

Conclusion................................................................................................................................15

Bibliography.............................................................................................................................17

0
 INTRODUCTION
In nineteenth century and most part of twentieth century there were strict restrictions on entry
of women into public sphere. Home was seen as their only domain and were confined to that.
Stepping out of home was a huge challenge for women. The male members of the family
exercised total control over their lives. The only exposure of girl child to outside world was
the basic schooling which they received from their fathers or at nearby school. This period of
education was usually cut short by pre puberty marriage. It depended on the husband if he
liked to continue his wifes education.

Anandi Joshi was born in such circumstances. Overcoming numerous such difficulties, she
went onto become the first woman doctor of India. Joshis short life and great achievements
have been written about extensively for different reasons. Joshi represents a personality
which is contradictory for its conformist and at the same time feminist facets. Writers of
different ideologies have utilised this contradictory nature of Joshis personality for
promoting their own viewpoints and respective agendas. This makes Joshis life and the
writings about it an interesting subject of historiography. Joshis life presents to us various
social realities of her time and also the history of western medicine in Colonial India.

A study of life of early women doctors gives us insights into the evolution of western
medicine in India. The evolution of western medicine exposes us to various socio-political
realities of nineteenth and twentieth century. Western medicine was brought in during
colonial rule and the effects of the colonialism on it can be observed till date. The way
medicine evolved under colonialism still has an impact on gender relations within the
profession. It affects the power relations within the profession and determines various aspects
like choice of specialisation and attitude of professionals of different genders towards each
other.

This paper starts with a study of life of Dr Anandi Gopal Joshi and through her various socio
economic aspects of medical education for women have been brought up. The contributions
of early women doctors to the field of medicine have also been brought up to rebut various
stereotypes and patriarchal notions. The third part of the paper gives an analysis of various
accounts that have been written about life of Dr Joshi. The paper ends with a study on gender
relations within the field of medicine. The way gender affected the evolution of professions
and its professionals has been elaborately discussed.

1
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Aim- The aim of this paper is to find out contributions of early Indian women doctors to the
evolution of field of Indian medicine and to analyse the way history of these women has been
written about. The paper also aims to look at gender relations within the medical profession.

Objective- The objective of this paper is to find reasons behind use of different ways of
history writing about life of Dr Joshi and to know how historical evolution of the field of
medicine affects gender relations within the profession till date.

Scope and limitation- The primary importance for historiography has been given to the
accounts written about Dr Anandi Gopal Joshi. As Dr Joshi is the main subject of this paper,
more importance has been given to women doctors of colonial India and practice of medical
profession during colonial rule.

The limitation of the research is its dependency on translations rather than reading of original
Marathi accounts written about Dr Joshi

Sources- The researcher has used text of speeches and letters written by Dr Joshi and
translations of the prominent biographies of Joshi as primary sources. The criticism of these
biographies by feminist historians have been used as secondary sources. Various articles and
essays on practice medicine in India have also been used.

Methodology- The researcher has used radical feminist perspective to analyse the sources
and events.

Research Questions

1. Who was Dr Anandi Gopal Joshi? Who were the other women doctors during the colonial
period?

2. What were the contributions, concerns and pursuits of the early women doctors? What
socio-economic challenges did they face?

3. How have the biographers and historians written about life of Dr Anandi Joshi? Why have
different writers written about her differently?

4. How does gender affects relations within medical profession?

5. How has gender affected evolution of medical profession in India?

2
Mode of Citation

The NLS guide to uniform citation has been used in this paper.

3
 A BRIEF LIFE SKETCH OF DR ANANDI GOPAL
JOSHI
Dr. Anandi Gopal Joshi (Jamuna-her childhood name) hailed from a family of a landlord.
Born into a Brahmin family, her socialisation was similar to her contemporaries. As a girl
child was unwelcomed in any family, she was brought up under strict discipline by her harsh
mother.1 Her father had enrolled her into a nearby school. At the age of nine, she was married
to Gopalrao, a widower, who was 17 years elder to her and worked in Postal department.
Because of his eccentricity and social reform ambitions, Gopalrao started educating Joshi at
home and sometimes sent her to govt. schools or Christian missionary schools. Joshi soon
mastered Sanskrit and English. In order to eliminate any kind of family pressure or hindrance
to Joshis education, Gopalrao obtained transfer to other places.2 At other places, though Joshi
continued her education but the society and people around used to harass her by passing lewd
remarks and sometimes even pelted stones.3 Subsequently, Gopalrao sought transfer to
Bengal where the British had opened up postal department jobs for women. He thought of
making Joshi, the first high-caste working woman. However, it was Joshis nationalist
inclination and Gopalraos bad rapport with British officials that ended this ambition. 4
Subsequently, Joshi got impregnated at the age of 14 and lost her infant to unavailability of
proper healthcare. It was this accident that made her decide to take up medical profession. 5
Gopalrao, who was always eccentric about womens education readily accepted her decision.
As she knew that medical education offered in India was inferior when compared to the West,
she decided to go abroad to fulfil her ambition.6 As the cost of medical education abroad was
substantial, Gopalrao wrote to missionaries for seeking financial assistance to fund Joshis
1 M. Kosambi, A Prismatic Presence: The Multiple Iconisation of Dr Anandibai Joshee and the
Politics of Life-Writing, 16(35) AMERICAN FEMINIST STUDIES, 159 (2001).

2 Id, at 165.

3 C.H. Dall, THE LIFE OF DR. ANANDABAI JOSHEE: A KINSWOMAN OF THE PUNDITA RAMABAI,
65(1888)

4 M. Kosambi, The Meeting of the Twain: The Cultural Confrontation of Three Women in Nineteenth
Century Maharashtra, 1(1) INDIAN JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES, 2 (1994).

5 Dall, supra note 3, at 78.

6 Dall, supra note 3, at 97.

4
education. It was Gopalraos letter written to Dr. Wilder that brought them help not from Dr.
Wilder but from someone who they had never heard of. The person was Mrs. Theodocia
Carpenter of the New Jersey, USA. Mrs. Carpenter came across Gopalraos letter to Wilder
which the latter had published in Missionary Review. A letter of Mrs. Carpenter offering her
support began an affectionate conversation with Joshi. It is this conversation through letters
that has helped biographers to write about her. After lots of delay caused by negotiations for
the costs of travelling with various shippers, it was decided that Joshi will go alone to the
USA. Finally, in 1883 she sailed alone to New York in company with a few American
Missionary women who unsuccessfully tried to convert her to Christianity.

Soon, with the help of Mrs. Carpenter she was admitted to Womans Medical College of
Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. Here, cold climate, inadequate nutrition because of her strictly
vegetarian Brahmanical diet, and the rigours of medical studies led to further downfall in her
health which was already descending after premature pregnancy. The cloths, diet and old
stove used for heating worsened her tuberculosis. She graduated in March 1886 and took up
internship at Boston for practical experience but could not pursue it. At that time her health
was deteriorating fast and she was fortunate to be offered a post at a hospital by princely state
of Kolhapur.7. She could not treat herself and was denied treatment by white doctors who
were aboard the ship. As soon as she arrived in India her already failing health could not be
recovered and she died a month before her twenty second birthday.8

Other than Dr. Anandibai, a few well known women doctors during colonial rule were Dr.
Gurubai Karmakar, Dr. Kadambini Basu, Dr. Rukhmabai and Dr. Haimabati Sen. If we look
into the social background of these women. All of them came from upper class and upper
caste households. Till the initial few years, most number of doctors hailed from non-Hindu
and non-Muslim groups. One of the reasons behind this was strict sexual segregation in these
communities. Other reasons include the earlier initiation of reforms among other groups like
Christians, Brahmos etc. The other common feature among the women doctors was that they
joined the profession to work for some cause and all of them had strong political opinions.
Most of them were married in childhood and had reformer husbands and fathers. Doctors
like Gurubai, Kadambini etc. were well known in their regions and a few worked intensively
during epidemics. Dr. Rukhmabai was even given the title of Kaiser-I-Hind for working

7 Dall, supra note 3, at 175.

8 Dall, supra note 3, at 195.

5
during plague.9 In twentieth century too, women like Muthulakshmi Reddy (founder Cancer
Research Institute, Chennai), S. Padmavati (pioneer in establishing first Cardiac Cath Lab)
and Dosibhai Dadabhoy (pioneer in cancer treatment) made great contributions to the field of
Indian medicine. There are many other contributions too but as the theme of this paper is
different, they have not been discussed here in detail.10

9 T. Abraham, Celebrate 150th anniversary of Rakhmabai Raut Nationwide, THE TIMES OF INDIA
(November 22, 2014), available at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Celebrate-150th-
anniversary-of-Rakhmabai-Raut-nationwide/articleshow/45235651.cms (Last visited on April 7,
2017).

10 M. Bhadra, Indian Women in Medicine: An Enquiry Since 1880, 41(1) INDIAN ANTHROPOLOGIST,
17 (2011).

6
 SOCIO ECONOMIC CHALLENGES FACED BY
EARLY WOMEN DOCTORS.
The women who wished to pursue medical education required a huge amount of financial
support. This was because no medical college was offering courses to women. Also, the
courses offered in India had less value and offered lesser prospects, therefore students had to
move abroad to gain better education.11 Mostly, the financial support was provided by
Christian missionaries who had their own purposes behind it. It was no coincidence that in
the initial years, most of the women who pursued medical education had converted to
Christianity.12 As the demand for women medical professionals grew, the Colonialists
founded Dufferin fund to support women who wished to pursue medical education. A degree
was so expensive that Dr Kadambini Basu had to satiate with licentiates only..13

When the women entered public sphere, men felt that they were losing control over women
and the latter would compete with them. Therefore, they used various ways to prevent other
women from following these women. The traditionalists accused Dr Kadambini of being
wanton and wayward.14 Such accusations were common for many women who stepped into
public sphere. In her letter to Mrs. Carpenter, Joshi explains that there was lots of public
opposition and tactics such a teasing and shaming used to prevent Hindu woman from going
for education. In her letter to Mrs. Carpenter, she explained, whenever people saw her with
books, they stared at her and asked uncomfortable questions and while staring they passed
remarks and laughed at her. Some even threw pebbles at her.15

As teaching was mostly done by male teachers, families were reluctant to send their
daughters to medical schools and colleges. The profession was restricted to upper classes
because of the costs involved. Other challenges were conditions imposed by the family

11 M. Sood and R.K. Chadda, Women in Medicine: A Perspective, 17(2) INDIAN JOURNAL OF
GENDER STUDIES 277, 290 (2010).

12 Bhadra, supra note 10, at 14.

13 M. Karlekar, Anatomy of a Change: Early Women Doctors, 39(3/4) INDIA INTERNATIONAL

CENTRE QUARTERLY, 95 (2013).

14 Id, at 105.

15 Dall, supra note 3, at 87.

7
members. For example, Joshi was chastised by Gopalrao from adopting the American way of
clothing and eating.16 A few outspoken women like Rakhmabai were threatened to be
excommunicated by their community. She was forced to obtain a transfer to other city. She
was very radical in her approach towards social norms and religious customs. This was the
reason she was harassed by her community members while Joshi who was a conformist
towards many patriarchal norms was given a grand welcome by her community. 17 This
explains that if a woman sought to educate herself and step into public sphere, she could do
so only by conforming to patriarchal norms and values. Another important challenge for
women doctors was dealing with family responsibilities. For instance, Haimabati was
subjected to abuse by her husband even though she was the sole earning hand of the family.
She suffered merely because she spent a few more hours in hospital work and neglected
household duties because of that.18 Kadambini Basu dropped the idea of further degrees as
she could not stay away from family for long.19

16 Dall, supra note 3, at 110.

17 M. Kosambi, The Meeting of the Twain: The Cultural Confrontation of Three Women in
Nineteenth Century Maharashtra, 1(1) INDIAN JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES , 2 (1994).

18 Sood and Chadda, supra note 12, at 296.

19 Karlekar, supra note 14, at 102.

8
 HISTORIOGRAPHY ON LIFE WRITING OF ANANDI
JOSHI
The first step in writing history of women is locating and preserving the sources. 20 The most
authoritative as well as foundational work on the life of Dr Anandi Joshi has been written by
Caroline Dall. The biography was based on the letters and speeches of Joshi. Though Dall
was a feminist but the gaps left by the letters and her interview were filled by her orientalist
view of British Indian society and its women. This can be said on the basis that Joshis dress
and her ornaments were given undue significance in the biography. Such descriptions are not
expected in a feminist account.21 Her account is also filled with racist statements and there are
comments on Joshis skin colour. Dalls prejudices become more apparent when she says
Joshi was more truthful than any common Hindu. In addition to this, the significance given to
Gopalrao is also another way of pushing feminist orientalist agenda. 22 Despite these
shortcomings, the amount of agency attributed to Joshi compensates for this. Also, we must
recognise that she adequately highlighted her achievements. It is said that it was merely a
strange coincidence that Dalls biography gave an international dimension to the project of
Anandibais iconisation when Ramabais book was selling widely across the world. 23 The
iconisation had started because the elite did not want a convert like Ramabai should become a
model of educated womanhood. Joshi typified orthodox Brahmin womanhood. This was the
reason that even male Brahmin writers and journalists did not hesitate in popularising her.

The image of Joshi as presented by Kashibai Kanitkar is also fragmented. On one hand she
shows consciousness about gender socialisation but on the other she writes off Joshi as a
dutiful wife. One great contribution of Kashibai has been bringing out the letters written to
Gopalrao which Dall was unable to find. These letters give a great insight into her personal
views which cannot be seen in her letters to Carpenter and her speeches. This helps us to
know that Joshi was not as submissive as portrayed in other accounts. Kashibai displays Joshi
20 G. Forbes, WOMEN IN COLONIAL INDIA: ESSAYS ON POLITICS, MEDICINE AND HISTORIOGRAPHY, 145,
(2005).

21 M. Kosambi, Anandibai Joshee: Retreiving a Fragmented Feminist Image, 31(49) ECONOMIC

AND POLITICAL WEEKLY 3189, (1996).

22 Kosambi, supra note 4, at 7.

23 Kosambi, supra note 17, at 17.

9
as an inspiration to both men and women and presents her as a role model. Presenting
Anandibai without much importance to Gopalrao was not done because Kashibai viewed her
life in the role of wife-mother. This led to presenting her as an obedient wife and mixing
woman as agency with woman as victim. Even in similar accounts such as Lilavatis
Daughters, Joshis independent image has been presented only subtly.24

In later biographies, the feature of total agency was replaced by an image of tragic martyr- a
woman who achieved education to serve her country.

Decades later to this, the most famous work by S.J. Joshi found its prominence. The account
is written using very selective sources out of Kashibais account. He presents Gopalrao as a
visionary husband and Anandibai as a wife who fulfils his vision. The novelist seemed to be
so impressed by Gopalrao that he had overlooked Joshis strong character. This changed the
theme of biography entirely.25 The focus is on an angry oppressive husband and a cringing
dominated Anandibai.26 Gopalrao has been presented as a sole force behind Joshis success.
Gopalraos jealousy and changed attitude once she reached America has not been highlighted.

Other than these accounts, there are accounts which became famous because of the resources
of its publisher. Such accounts include mainstream web portals and organisations such as the
NCERT. As these accounts are written or presented without using the methods of feminist
historiography, they are much similar to the account written by S.J. Joshi. Gopalrao is shown
as a progressive man entirely disregarding the fact that he consummated his marriage with
Anandi at an early age when Joshis puberty had just set in. The content of Joshis letters to
Gopalrao are not highlighted in order to avoid presenting feminist views of Anandibai. Joshis
cloths and diet in America are shown in a positive light, however these should not be seen as
a part of her nationalistic tendencies but as compromise of social status and personal feminist
views. She used to wear a sari and in initial days the Marathi style of saris did not even cover
her calves. Mrs. Carpenter even tried to convince her to wear skirt and blouse, however she
declined it saying Goplarao would not like it. This should be seen as trying to live within the
patriarchal framework set by her husband rather than seen as a nationalist stance. 27 It is
Joshis anti-feminist image which is depicted more by writers This can be stated on the basis
24 LILAVATIS DAUGHTERS: STORIES OF INDIAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS, 15(R. Godbole and R.
Ramaswamy, eds. 2008).

25 V. Davtar, The literary Scene in Marathi in 1968, 13(2) INDIAN LITERATURE, 67 (1970).

26 Karlekar, supra note 14, at 100.

10
of the articles put out by mainstream newspapers of her times. For example, The Mahratta
newspaper wrote just about her achievement and preserving of religious-traditional values. 28
This was done in order to place her within the patriarchal structure only. As noted above, the
writers were not afraid of doing this, simply because even if a women was inspired, her
family would not had allowed her. As we have noted earlier that women who outspoken and
had strong political stand were the only ones who became doctors. Therefore, when a role
model like Anandibai is subverted and presented within the patriarchal structure, the women
who lack strong political will would not challenge the patriarchal framework and would
eventually withdraw after submitting to patriarchal norms. Joshis condemning of violence by
Gopalrao and her views on gender equality were never discussed. This was also done in order
to have parallel role model to women like Pandita Ramabai and Rakhmabai. However, at the
same time, we must recognise that even within the orthodox patriarchal structure she was
able to carve out a place for herself but that again takes away from Anandibai a chance of
being an emancipatory role model.

In short, Joshis portrait in history is typical example of inserting a few feminist elements into
a patriarchal narrative that shows women doing traditional female roles as an ideal woman.
The image of independent, intelligent and an empowering role model has been subverted in
order to fit her into a model of an ideal wife who conformed to traditional norms and values. 29
Joshis reformist and nationalist image was overridden by strong patriarchal conditioning and
values of ideal wife. Though the letters to Gopalrao show her consciousness about patriarchal
norms but conformist attitude fragments her image. On one hand, her contradictory views and
practices valorised the patriarchal ideal and reinforced the belief that even a highly educated
and capable woman must not cross conventional boundaries. On the other hand, it also
enabled her to carve out a new space for women within the patriarchal framework.30

27 S.Sharma, Exploring Ideas: Early Marathi Fiction by Women, 39(5/6) SOCIAL SCIENTIST,
67(2011).

28 Kosambi, supra note 1, at 165.

29 Kosambi, supra note 1, at 170.

30 Kosambi, supra note 17, at 20.

11
 PATRIARCHY AND IMPERIALISM IN PRACTISE OF
MEDICINE
Many societies still identify profession of a doctor as a male profession. Spread of modern
healthcare was empowering for women as they soon realised that they had a right to control
some aspects of their body. It was against this realisation that the conservative male in
profession and outside were arguing. Among men, there was an ideological commitment to
conservatism and entrenched patriarchy even if it was against the institution of medicine. 31
The women on the other hand wished to make a social clout to move towards emancipation.
This is the reason women did not demand entry into male dominated clerical jobs which did
not help in making any social clout. 32 The contemporary journals and anonymous letters to
editors highly criticized the move to allow medical education for women. One journal also
argued that women were better fit to be nurses and would serve the country better than lady
doctors. The reason behind such opposition was the fear of competition and jealousy.33 An
argument against womens medical education was also that women had less confidence in
women and would prefer to be treated by male sex only. Male professionals went to the
extent of giving biological theories stating that women were inherently weak and their
intellect was not congenial to understand pure Science. Even, resolutions were passed to
prevent women from writing medical examination. However, this opposition slowly subsided
as men thought that women would work as subordinates only. Their belief became reality
later. Some teachers did not allow women enter into class. Dr Joshi had stated in her speech
that male faculty was conservative and misogynist. 34 A few of them were conservative
enough to be vindictive towards female students. 35 Haimabati Sen wrote about the misogynist
attitude of the male faculty. The Calcutta Medical Faculty and Council of Medical Colleges

31 G. Forbes, No Science for Lady Doctors: The Education and Medical Practice of Vernacular
Women Doctors in Nineteenth Century Bengal in WOMEN AND SCIENCE IN INDIA: A READER, 16(N.
Kumar ed., 2009).

32 P. Anagol, THE EMERGENCE OF FEMINISM IN INDIA, 1850-1920, 113 (2017).

33 Karlekar, supra note 14, at 98.

34 Dall, supra note 3, at 45.

35 S. Mukherjee, GENDER, MEDICINE AND SOCIETY IN COLONIAL INDIA: WOMENS HEALTHCARE IN

NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY BENGAL, 145 (2017).

12
argued that enrolling women would produce half educated professionals and degrade purity
of the profession.36 Female doctors had to follow the dictates of male civil surgeons.
Haimabati Sen who worked at a Zenana hospital had pointed out that lady doctors and
midwives were nothing more than pawns in the hands of male doctors. 37 Male doctors
condescended and were cynical of female doctors abilities. Haimabatis senior used to harass
her and even send goons to spy on her. Some were even harassed by local influential men.
Pramilabala Roy successfully sued a local zamindar.38 the end of their life.

Once women acquired medical education, they were discriminated in work allotment and
salaries. In 1888, when Kadambini joined as a doctor, she was paid a generous amount of Rs.
300 a month. Many women doctors due to lack of prospects left the job and started private
practice which gave them better status and money. Even when they were given a designation,
they were under constant supervision of a male surgeon who often undesirably interfered
with their work. As very few colleges offered degrees to Indian women and the lack of much
support of Dufferin fund, most Indian women were able secure certificate degrees only, they
had to work in subordination of men or British women. Hospital assistants had no
opportunity to practise and gain experience. As most of these assistants had no access to
journals and conferences, it is also doubted that they even knew of any advancements and
experimentation.39 Many women hospital assistants were sexually harassed by male civil
surgeons. Many male surgeons condescended them and considered them to be nothing more
than a midwife. Dr Haimabati Sen writes that for a surgery in which she assisted, the male
surgeon earned one thousand rupees out of which rupees fifty and rupees hundred were paid
to her and midwife, respectively.40

Another challenge for Indian women doctors was racism. The discrimination was
institutionalised by Dufferin fund and creation of hierarchy under Women Medical Service.

36 Sood and Chadda, Supra note 11, at 280.

37 Bhadra, supra note 10, at 25.

38 S. Ray, Women Doctors Masterful Manoeuvrings: Colonial Bengal, Late Nineteenth and Early
Twentieth Centuries, 42(3/2) SOCIAL SCIENTIST, 59 (2014).

39 A. Sagar, A Glass Ceiling or Glass Cage? Re-examining Women in Medicine in WOMEN AND
SCIENCE IN INDIA: A READER, (N. Kumar ed., 2009).

40 A. Burton, Contesting the Zenana: The Mission to Make Lady Doctors for India 1874-85 in
WOMEN AND SCIENCE IN INDIA: A READER, (N. Kumar ed., 2009).

13
Indian doctors were also appointed only to district hospitals rather than prominent urban
based hospitals where they could had gained better experience. The European doctors had a
lot of assistants at their disposal and their work was limited to emergency cases and
supervisory work. Indian women doctors were given less incentives and made to work for
longer hours in order to make tougher for them to remain in profession. The British women
doctors thought of Indian women doctors as inferior and did not respect any special
indigenous skills they had.41 The Women Medical service had very little scope for Indian
doctors as unlike British doctors very few of them had degrees and licentiates.

Patriarchal norms were even reflected in selection of specialities by women doctors. Most
women joined the specialities that were less demanding and were conventional. This was
primarily because most female professionals had to fulfil family responsibilities besides
putting in long working hours. Some specialities like cardiology require long term training
and social norms like marriage, child rearing etc. compelled women to give up their ambition
as career intensive years for such speciality coincided with their age of marriage and child
rearing.42

Patriarchal norms are also reflected when some fields like orthopaedics are considered
masculine because the procedures and tools require physical strengths. Another such field is
of surgery as it requires ruthless work, long hours and hard attitudes. The field of surgery
continues to be associated with masculinity and women due to this and reasons mentioned in
the previous paragraph could not join this field.

In addition to above mentioned reasons, sexual segregation and female seclusion are other
reasons for womens entry into specialities such as gynaecology and obstetrics. Interestingly,
other reason is the touch taboo-psychiatry, gynaecology, radiology, obstetrics and other such
fields were generally chosen by women while fields like surgery which involved touch were
not. This again reflects patriarchal customs determining choices. Other field generally taken
by women was paediatrics. This might have to do with womens role as a mother.

41 G. Forbes, Medical Careers and Health Care for Indian Women: Patterns of Control, 3(4)
WOMENS HISTORY REVIEW 515, (1994).

42 A. Guha, The Masculine Female: The Rise of Women Doctors in Colonial India, c. 1870-1940,
44(5) SOCIAL SCIENTIST, 49 (2016).

14
In pursuit of recognition, female doctors not only aped their male counterparts but also
became the part of same technocratic structure that was founded by men. 43 The influential
notion of masculinity in western medicine was reflected when the female doctors sought to
identify themselves with a standardised and impersonal medical profession rather than
integrating the dhais and the traditional knowledge making it a more inclusive female driven
service. This way they stepped into the same hierarchical order associated with male
controlled profession of western medicine.44

The preceding paragraphs rebut the argument that western medicine and medical education
were introduced for the cause of Indian women who had to suffer because of gender
seclusion. Though, the colonial intervention in medicine improved the situation somewhat,
but at the same time, it helped serve its imperial motive of accommodating British women
doctors in India and prevent them from competing with their male counterparts in the Britain.
The policies of Dufferin fund and institution of Women Medical Service were serving racism
and imperialism. These policies even further marginalised the Indian women medical
professionals and used Indian women to marginalise the traditional dhais even further.
Therefore, almost completely vanishing the traditional system of medicine.

43 M. Lal, The Politics of Gender and Medicine in Colonial India: The Countess of Dufferins Fund,
1885-88 in WOMEN AND SCIENCE IN INDIA: A READER, (N. Kumar ed., 2009).

44 S. Ray, Women Doctors Masterful Manoeuvrings: Colonial Bengal, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth
Centuries, 42(3/2) Social Scientist, 65(2014).

15
 CONCLUSION
The life of Dr Anandi Gopal Joshi reveals that entering public sphere and a male dominated
profession was really difficult for any woman. On one hand, they had fight inside home and
on the other with society, both of whom were deeply entrenched in patriarchy. Any effort by
women to compete with men was met with backlash from a jealous and threatened male
community. It was personal initiative of women and some support from male members that
helped them come into public sphere. Though these male members were inclined towards
reforms however, very few were in favour of complete breakdown of the patriarchal system.

It is this point that has not been highlighted by many historians and biographers. Instead of
recognising the fact that it was more of a strong personal and independent will that helped
women like Dr Joshi enter the public sphere, biographers have reduced her to someone who
was much dependent on her husband, Gopalrao. Gopalrao has been given a central place in
almost every account. It is this fallacy on the part of biographers that takes agency from Dr
Anandibai. This presents her as a tragic romantic martyr rather than a strong independent
woman which she really was. Dr Anandibai held strong feminist views which she rarely aired
in public but can be found in her letters to Gopalrao. However, in order to avoid her portrayal
as a strong intelligent woman, these letters have not been given much significance in most
accounts. The biographers have been using her contradictory image and hiding patriarchy
behind image of a woman who respected and conformed to tradition. The other image of
Anandibai as reflected in her letters to Gopalrao is not highlighted as that depicts her sense of
self consciousness and ability to question patriarchal norms. Joshis former image has been
exploited to such an extent that she was projected parallel to more radical women like Pandita
Ramabai and Dr Rakhmabai.

The problem of avoiding the use of a feminist perspective in history can also be seen in the
way medicine has evolved and has been practised. In the nineteenth century, medical
profession was predominantly a male domain. In its practise, patriarchy and male dominance
was enforced in a very institutionalised manner. Male professionals even gave scientific
theories to support their argument against entry of women into this field. Gradually, this
opposition subsided and India was chosen by the colonialists to accommodate British women
professionals. However, conservative and misogynist attitude of male professionals did not
change. Many a time women professionals were harassed and most of them were given only
subordinate posts. In addition to this, social norms and customs reduce the prospects for a

16
female doctor. British policies which were seen as a facilitator for Indian women
professionals rather helped in their marginalisation. It also served their imperial motive of
destroying traditional system of Indian medicine and make way for spread of western
medicine. The way western medicine was and is practised still affects the choice of speciality
among both male and female professionals.

Thus, it stands firmly established that history writing about women in medicine and practise
of medicine have been influenced by patriarchal norms.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
1. A. Datta, Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (1987).
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6. G. Forbes, The New Cambridge History of India: Women in Modern India IV. (2008).
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3(4) Womens History Review (1994).
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Anthropologist (2011).
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International Centre Quarterly (2013).
5. M. Kosambi, A Prismatic Presence: the Multiple Iconisation of Dr Anandibai Joshee
and the Politics of Life-Writing, 16(35) American Feminist Studies (2001).
6. M. Kosambi, Anandibai Joshee: Retreiving a Fragmented Feminist Image, 31(49)
Economic and Political Weekly (1996).
7. M. Kosambi, The Meeting of the Twain: The Cultural Confrontation of Three Women
in Nineteenth Century Maharashtra, 1(1) Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 2 (1994).
8. M. Sood and R.K. Chadda, Women in Medicine: A Perspective, 17(2) Indian Journal
of Gender Studies (2010).

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9. S. Ray, Women Doctors Masterful Manoeuvrings: Colonial Bengal, Late Nineteenth
and Early Twentieth Centuries, 42(3/2) Social Scientist (2014).
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