As part of our blog series about women medical pioneers, meet Kadambini Ganguly. She was one of the first Indian female doctors who practised with a degree in modern medicine. Read on to find out more about her life and work.
Early Education
Kadambini was born on 18 July 1861 in a part of India that is now Bangladesh. The upper caste Bengali community in which she lived was opposed to women’s education.
But her father was headmaster of Bhagalpur School and co-founder of India’s first women’s rights organisation. He allowed Kadambini to attend his school and supported his daughter’s further education.
After primary school, Kadambini attended India’s first college for women, Banga Mahila Viyalaya, which subsequently became Bethune Girls School. On leaving school Kadambini sat the entrance exam for Calcutta University and passed.
However, the all-male institute refused to accept her because she was a woman.
Bethune College
Recognising Kadambini’s potential, her former schoolteachers appointed a mentor to teach her Philosophy, Mathematics, History and English, thus creating Bethune College.
The college initially consisted of only one student, Kadambini, and her lecturer. But she was soon joined by another young woman, Chandramukhi. Both were awarded BA degrees in 1883, becoming the first two women in India to graduate with university degrees.
Upon graduation, Kadambini married her college teacher, Dwarkanath Ganguly. Their union caused a scandal as he was 17 years her elder.
Like Kadambini’s father, Dwarkanath Ganguly was a passionate leader of women’s emancipation in India, and he encouraged her to pursue a medical degree. This was unprecedented for any woman in India, let alone a married one.
Calcutta Medical College
Once again, Kadambini was refused admission to Calcutta Medical College because of her gender. Determined to overcome misogynistic barriers, the couple fought for her place amidst much resistance from staff and students.
Kadambini was finally accepted and completed her medical studies in 1886. Despite achieving excellent marks across all areas of the curriculum, one of the tutors repetitively failed Kadambini in his subject.
He was vehemently opposed to women in medicine and failure in this area resulted in her being unable to receive a full MB medical degree.
Nonetheless, Kadambini graduated from Calcutta in 1886 with a Graduate of Bengal Medical College Degree, becoming the first Indian educated female doctor.
Public Response
Newspapers were scathing, questioning her academic credentials, and even calling her a “whore.” Furious, her husband took them to court and had one editor fined Rs100 and imprisoned for 6 months.
News of this bright, determined young woman also reached Florence Nightingale who was clearly impressed. She wrote about Kadambini in a letter to a friend:
“(She) has already passed what is called the first licentiate in medicine and surgery examinations and is to go up for the final examination in March next. This young lady, Mrs. Ganguly, married! After she made up her mind to become a doctor! and has had one, if not two children since. But she was absent only thirteen days for her lying-in!! And did not miss, I believe, a single lecture!!”
Medical Career
Kadambini was offered a position as a doctor at the newly founded Eden Hospital, created by the Lady Dufferin Fund – an initiative to improve women’s health, childbirth and spread the acceptance of Western medicine thus establishing a closer link between Great Britain and India.
However, the other female doctors working there had been educated at European Universities and considered Kadambini less qualified.
Having never been one to give up, Kadambini left her children in the care of her elder sister and boarded a ship bound for the UK. She enrolled in Edinburgh’s Royal College of Physicians and gained triple qualifications of
- Licentiate of the College of Physicians, Edinburgh (LRCP)
- Licentiate of the College of Surgeons, Glasgow (LRCS) and
- Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Dublin (LFPS)
With these in hand, she returned to her family in India where she worked as a gynaecologist and started her own private practice. In 1895, she became physician to the Queen Mother of Nepal.
Women’s Rights
A mother of 8 children and a dedicated doctor, Kadambini also played an enormous role in India’s women’s right movement.
She was one of 6 representatives in the first female delegation of the 1889 Indian National Congress and helped organise the 1906 women’s conference in Calcutta.
In 1915, Kadambini shamed Calcutta Medical College’s practice of not allowing women to study there at a major medical conference. Her powerful words led to a change in their admissions policy.
Kadambini conducted her final operation on a female patient on the morning of 3rd October 1923. Shortly afterwards she returned home feeling tired and passed away that evening.
Thanks to her ceaseless pressure on the glass ceiling of women’s freedom, Kadambini was able to effect real change during her lifetime. Her astounding tenacity paved the way for many more women in India to achieve greatness.
