Women empowerment…. This women empowered herself when mere survival of women was difficult

Abha Gupta. Dated: 9/19/2017 11:17:12 AM


ER ABHA GUPTA
Jammu, Sep 18
Today we have thousands of Indian women lawyers, both in India and the Diaspora. But how lonely and frustrating must it have been to be the first and to try and change society?
Here’s How India’s First Woman Lawyer, Cornelia Sorabji Opened Law for Women in 1924! She was the first female graduate of Bombay University to be admitted to the Allahabad High Court. In 1889, she became the first woman to read law at Oxford University, and also the first Indian to study at any British university. Born in 1866, Cornelia Sorabji, was India’s first woman lawyer.
Cornelia had a series of firsts to her credit. She was the first female graduate of Bombay University to be admitted to the Allahabad High Court. In 1889, she became the first woman to read law at Oxford University, and also the first Indian to study at any British university.Last but certainly not the least, she became the first woman to practise law, not only in India but also in the whole of Britain.
Those were the days when women were not given admission in the university on the grounds that no woman had ever been to university. But Cornelia was the only one among the lot to finally get entrance and matriculated at the age of 16.
At college, it was an everyday sight to see boys slamming classroom doors in her face to sabotage her chances of attending lectures. Having topped her batch, Cornelia was expecting a scholarship to England for higher studies. All her hopes came crashing down when she was refused the award just because she was a woman!
Being a woman the doors of law studies were shut to her. ‘You can only read English Literature,’ she was told. It wasn’t until the arrival of the influential academic and philosopher Benjamin Jowett that things changed for Cornelia.
He arranged for her to read Law by getting a special Law course devised.
He was among the English petitioners who helped her receive special permission by Congregational Decree to take the Bachelor of Civil Laws exam at Somerville College, Oxford, making her, yet again, the first woman to ever do so in 1892.
Her homecoming in 1894 marked yet another defeat. The then Chief Justice in Bombay passed an order telling legal practitioners to not to employ a woman. Her hope of working as a solicitor crashed to the ground.
Despite having completed her postgraduate degree from Oxford, Cornelia felt undertaking an undergraduate degree in Law from the Bombay University would help alleviate her grievances.
Even though the British Raj were adamant to not let a woman lawyer practice in the Bombay presidency, the Maharajas were welcoming. But despite being offered the opportunity to become an advocate for the royals, they gave her only frivolous cases.
One such case included fighting for an elephant who stole bananas from a grove. The Maharaja himself was the culprit & the judge. The case was staged for sheer pleasure, as they watched a woman lawyer put up a fight.
By 1899 Cornelia was still tirelessly fighting for her right to be recognised as a barrister for five years. When nothing worked in her favour, she dedicated the next five years of her life inventing a role.
At the moment, the plight of the purdahnashins or secluded women in the country was unbearable. These were women, who according to Hindu law, wore a purdah(veil) and were forbidden from communicating with the outside male world. She decided to become a legal advisor to the British Government on the state of secluded women.
During the next 20 years of service as a practising lawyer, she helped over 600 women and orphans fight legal battles, sometimes charging them nothing at all!
The major issue for these women in purdah, child brides and widows was, that all the inherited property they had, could only be used while the heirs were alive. They could access no control in case any of their children died. This made it a common for fraudsters to con these women and kill their children to seize their property.
Cornelia not only protected them against fraud and murder attempts but also set helped them experience freedom in ways unknown to them.
She got six of them trained as nurses. The purdah still existed, but for women who hadn’t seen the world outside their family since the age of 4, it was a huge milestone.

 

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