Author: Dilshad Haque
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/Bijmrd/04090015
Abstract: Women’s scientific and professional activities constituted forms of nationalist agency even when they did not take the form of direct revolutionary or political action. Although the history of India’s freedom struggle has largely emphasised the contributions of revolutionaries, political leaders, and prominent male scientists who were directly involved in nation-building programmes during the colonial period, the contributions and experiences of Indian women in science have received relatively limited attention in discussions of social reform, nationalism, and nation-building. They made significant contributions through scientific work, education, social reform, labour welfare movements, and medical practice, thereby influencing broader social, political, and nation-building processes. This article explores their scientific and professional agency in relation to nationalism. It argues that, beyond their professional and social roles, these women constructed distinctive voices and spaces for themselves within colonial society. They challenged the social restrictions and oppression imposed on women. Although they were not necessarily directly involved in revolutionary or political activities, their professional work, scientific practices, and active participation in social reform movements constituted significant forms of national agency. Their resistance to institutional discrimination and their cultivation of scientific consciousness created broader platforms for nation-building. Hence, the freedom struggle cannot be critically analysed solely through the lens of direct revolutionary and political activities. A broader perspective must also include the social, professional and scientific activities of Indian women, as well as their literary interventions through science, which contributed to the making of modern India.
Keywords: Scientists, Indian Freedom Movement, Nationalism, Gender, Science And Society, Colonial India.
Page No: 129-142