How India's First Woman Doctor Successfully Healed A Country's Mindset

You know the story. You know the twists. 

Life isn't fair.

She lives in a land where women have no legal say. 

Life isn't fair.

She is married before she crosses the age of 10. Her husband is 30 and a widower. She has no say in the wedding. 

Life isn't fair.

She is 14 when she gives birth to a baby boy. A boy who will have more rights than her as he grows up. 

The baby dies on the 10th day due to lack of proper medical care. 

Life isn't fair.

Heartbroken but determined now, she wishes to become a doctor to heal others like her who have minimal access to medical aid. She learns new languages, leaves her hometown and applies to various schools. She is turned away by all. She is 15. 

Life isn't fair.

Her husband - rough but broadminded - seeks the aid of foreigners to help her dream come true. Their words, written in the gardens of colonized India, find their way to an international magazine and are read by a woman in America awaiting her dental appointment. She is impressed and looks to help the girl attain her dream. This is not met favourably by the locals in India who persecute the wayward girl and her husband for dreaming of being anything more than subservient to society. She is not yet 16. 

Life isn't fair.

The fever begins. It is accompanied by bouts of bodyache, headache and breathlessness. Her body is forsaking her. 

Life isn't fair.

She addresses the community to explain why she needs to do this. How Indian women would respond better to a woman doctor. Her words touch the hearts of a few across the country but she remains ostracized by those around her. 

Life isn't fair.

Years pass and her health continues to deteriorate. An opportunity arises and she takes it, leaving her home country and traveling abroad to join what was only the second women's medical program in the world. She is 18. Her ailment is diagnosed to be tuberculosis. Tuberculosis in a time where death is a certainty. 

Life isn't fair.

She does not give up. She studies hard and surpasses everyone's expectations, graduating as a doctor at 21. She receives a grand reception on returning to India, the first Indian woman doctor of modern medicine. She is duly appointed the physician in charge of the women's ward at one of the country's most prestigious hospitals. Her dream to make the lives of women and children in India healthier has finally begun. She is 21. She is still 21 months later when she dies of tuberculosis. 

Life isn't fair. 

The set of cards dealt by life to Dr Anandibai GopalRao Joshi held no favours for the young girl. Every step was a struggle and there was heartbreak aplenty right till the very end. 

And yet, this is a story of triumph... of a woman whose choices 137 years ago at a mere 14 years old changed India. This is the story of how Dr Anandibai GopalRao Joshi succeeded.

Today, you don't think twice before walking into the OPD of a female physician. You don't hesitate when you see a female anaesthesiologist and surgeon come out of the operation theatre to talk to you. Female gynaecologists and radiologists? But of course! Dermatologists & ophthalmologists? Naturally. Microbiologists, pathologists, forensic doctors, urologists, neurosurgeons... there is simply no super specialty in India that doesn't have an Indian woman doctor. Each one of these women have faced their own individual struggles and earned their degrees alongside their male peers... something that means nothing to you today but was considered sacrilege here in India less than 5 generations ago.  

And that is where Dr Anandibai succeeded. 

Anandibai was an anomaly in the 1880s, the only female Indian doctor of modern medicine. Today, females constitute 50 percent of those joining the medical field every year. Every one of us - at some point or the other in our lives - have been treated or watched our loved ones treated by a female doctor. 

That is where Dr Anandibai succeeded. 

Hated by her own countrymen for daring to want to be more than just a child bride, when she died she was treated as a national icon by the same nationals for her courage. A 21 year old woman changed India's perception of what a woman could do.

That is where Dr Anandibai succeeded. 

Many good men and women have fought their entire lives to change the way patriarchal society thinks. It's easy to say that 2023 is no 1883 and we live in a modern, free thinking society. Except we don't. Not in many parts of the world, not in many parts of our own country. You don't have to look too far to see the discrimination and belittling mindset that is still present in our everyday conversations. 

Today, on yet another Women's Day, it is important to understand that this day isn't just about the colourful posts and warm greetings. It is about acknowledging the struggles that exist for women even today because of the unfair world around them and helping them rise to the best of their abilities, even if it means breaking rigid concepts, both around us... and often within us. 

This fight for women to be considered equal in a world that regresses to traditional patriarchal concepts at the first sign of any change is a long drawn, often unfair one. But it is one that must continue, nonetheless, even if it seems futile to us right now.

Why? Because every time a woman successfully breaks down a stereotype, she inspires a million more to be better than they ever imagined possible. Just like India's first woman doctor did, nearly 140 years ago.

Having learned from, watched from afar as well as worked beside women doctors whose skills far surpass my own, I can honestly say that the country owes a debt of gratitude to Anandibai.  

Dr Anandibai did not get to heal even a dozen patients before she passed away. But her strength against all odds made sure that crores of Indians since then have been healed by the kind nurturing hands and sharp minds of women doctors.  

That is where Dr Anandibai succeeded... in healing a country's mindset.

Author's Note:

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.

This blog post is also part of the Women’s Day Blog Hop, themed on She: A Tribute to Her, hosted by Swarnali Nath