Kamini Roy
Bengali writer and feminist (1864–1933)
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Key Takeaways
- Kamini Roy (12 October 1864 – 27 September 1933) was a Bengali poet, social worker and feminist in British India.
- Early life Born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basunda, then in Bakerganj District of Bengal Presidency and now in Jhalokati District of Bangladesh, Roy joined Bethune School in 1883.
- Kadambini Ganguly, the country's second female honours graduate, attended the same institution in a class three years senior to Roy.
- In 1894, she married Kedarnath Roy.
- Speaking to a girls' school in Calcutta, Roy said that, as Bharati Ray later paraphrased it, "the aim of women's education was to contribute to their all-round development and fulfillment of their potential".
Kamini Roy (12 October 1864 – 27 September 1933) was a Bengali poet, social worker and feminist in British India. She was the first woman honours graduate in British India.
Early life
Born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basunda, then in Bakerganj District of Bengal Presidency and now in Jhalokati District of Bangladesh, Roy joined Bethune School in 1883. One of the first girls to attend school in British India, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Sanskrit honours from Bethune College of the University of Calcutta in 1886 and started teaching there in the same year. Kadambini Ganguly, the country's second female honours graduate, attended the same institution in a class three years senior to Roy.
Nisith Chandra Sen, her brother, was a renowned barrister in the Calcutta High Court, and later the Mayor of Calcutta while her sister Jamini Sen was the house physician of the Nepalese royal family and the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. In 1894, she married Kedarnath Roy.
Writing and feminism
She picked up the cue for feminism from a fellow student of Bethune School, Abala Bose. Speaking to a girls' school in Calcutta, Roy said that, as Bharati Ray later paraphrased it, "the aim of women's education was to contribute to their all-round development and fulfillment of their potential".
In a Bengali essay titled The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge she wrote,
The male desire to rule is the primary, if not the only, stumbling block to women's enlightenment ... They are extremely suspicious of women's emancipation. Why? The same old fear – 'Lest they become like us'.
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