First practicing woman doctor in India, first Indian woman to study medicine in the US, and first Hindu Indian woman to step foot in the US are just a few of Anandibai's "firsts."
Growing up in Kalyan, India in the late 19th century, Anandibai probably had a modest outlook for her future, as most Indian women did. Living in an era where her culture oppressed their most vulnerable left Anandibai few opportunities to pursue anything other than motherhood. Indeed, at the early age of nine, she was married to a man nearly 20 years her senior, as was custom during her time, and at 14 had her first child. However, due to a lack of medical care in her region, the child died ten days after its birth. This was a turning point for Anandibai, who recognized a need for reliable medical care for women and became determined to be the one to fix it.
Strangely enough, Anandibai's husband, Gopalrao Joshi, was a progressive thinker for his time and supported women's education. He was very excited at the idea of Anandi becoming a doctor, and attempted to enroll her in several missionary schools with no success. They decided to move to Calcutta, where Anandibai was able to learn Sanskrit and English. With still no success in enrolling Anandibai in any sort of school, in 1880 Gopalrao decided to write to a well-known missionary institute expressing his wife's interest to study medicine in the US. This letter was published in Princeton's Missionary Review, and led to a friendship between an American woman named Theodicia Carpenter and Anandibai.
In Calcutta, Anandibai was beginning to suffer from a strange illness. She was weak, breathless, and sometimes feverish. However, when Gopalrao was transferred to Serampore by his postal service job, he decided to send Anandibai to the US alone to pursue her education. She agreed despite her poor health, intent on setting an example for Indian women.
Before departing India, Anandibai spoke at Serampore College Hall, expressing her plans to attend college in the US to become a doctor. She explained the struggle she experienced in giving birth without medical assistance, and insisted that Indian women felt extremely uncomfortable with male OB-GYNs. She went on to explain that even women midwives did not have proper medical training in India, and that they had extremely conservative views that were often harmful. Despite India's initial censure of Anandibai, her speech gained publicity throughout the country and support began unexpectedly pouring in.
In the US, Anandibai stayed with Theodicia and decided to apply to Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, the second women's medical college in the world. She was accepted and began attending at age 19. By this point she had garnered international attention as an Indian woman rejecting her social position to pursue higher education, and because of her fame India was forced to accept her as well. As she began her studies, however, her health began to worsen, and she was diagnosed with tuberculosis soon after.
Nevertheless, she completed her program in March 1886; her thesis topic was "Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindus" and utilized both Hindu texts and American medical textbooks. Her graduation was celebrated around the world, and even Queen Victoria sent her a congratulatory message.
Anandibai returned to India in late 1886 and was immediately welcomed grandly and appointed physician-in-charge of the female ward of Albert Edward Hospital.
Unfortunately, her physician work did not last long. Anandibai died of her illness in early 1887 at age 22. Despite her early death, Anandibai's impact on India's perception of women has not gone unnoticed. Her story has inspired millions; several films and TV shows have been made of her life, along with a handful of biographical books. Not only that, but India has finally acknowledged her influence on the early modernization of Indian medicine.
Anandibai's story is one of triumph over an oppressive culture. Her tragic death came too soon, but even so young she was able to affect the entire ideology of her home country. She has been immortalized in modern history as an example of determined feminine power.
For more reading on this fabulous female figure, check out the links below:
by India Today
by Dr. G. B. Deglurkar for Heritage India
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