Thursday, November 09, 2023
Lady doctors: many hurdles faced by these trailblazers
The notes that follow do have some spoilers. They are unlikely to impair the reading experience, but if you are absolutely averse to spoilers and are definitely going to read the book, then give this a skip.
The deeply researched book, set in the late 19th century when the first Indian Lady Doctors entered hospitals, talks about the pressures faced by the first few women doctors of India. The idea of women going out of the home and 'breaking' the traditional mould of mothers and homemakers was alien to society. Balancing profession with motherhood and homemaking remain contemporary concerns - but the biggest barrier back then was : overcoming the hurdles placed by child marriage. Females would get married by age 12, and after that there was little interest from the new 'guardians' in the kid's long term development and growth. The other hurdle back then was menfolk feeling threatened by competent women.
On a sidenote, some of the above hurdles are probably common in other contexts too (beyond just the rise of professional women); habits such as sticking to tradition, insecurity of one group with the rise of other.
Doctors aside, the book also casts light on the deplorable state of women. In the absence of birth control and family planning, women would give birth to double-digit number of children, which would necessitate medical attention. However, women patients would not get adequate treatment because they would not be taken to the male doctors, and most of the doctors were male. This situation existed even after medical science had advanced to the extent that vaccines were available (eg: Small pox vaccine was invented in 1796). There was an important section early in Salman's Rushdie's celebrated novel Midnight's Children, which exploited this situation to dramatic effect in creating a romance between Doctor and elusive woman patient, who he was not allowed to see.
It struck me as remarkable that all these hurdles faced by women doctors was in the second half of 19th century, which is barely 150 years ago- just 3 generations before today.
The author's presentation of her subjects is balanced. The book is not what is called a 'hagiography', where the biography or autobiography is extremely positive about the subject person and the mistakes or wrongs of the subject are not talked about. There is indepth analysis of one of the ideological stands taken by one of the subjects which has a negative outcome on a strata of society.
The author Kavitha Rao's context setting notes are nice. She enters the narrative gently, adding some historical context or her own perspective. For example, when talking about Khulna (in present day Bangladesh) where one of the Doctors was born, she talks about the past (building of the 60 dome mosque) and the future (massacres of the Bangladesh war) of Khulna. The tales of Lady Doctors are told over the backdrop of the freedom struggle, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gandhiji both make an appearance.
The first women doctor had a slave driver husband, who forced her to study. Beatings were also administered. Was her life better off due the slave driving? Perhaps. However, she was a torch bearer for future generations of lady doctors. So, most people like her husband, even if they have some overwhelmingly negative trait, might also have some positive trait which might help society. So the situation is a bit like the Dominican republic dictator, who is talked about in the book Collapse. He was authoritarian and ruled with an iron fist, but then he was very protective of the environment. Today, although Haiti and Dominican Republic are small countries on the same island, Dominican Republic is one of the largest economies of the region while Haiti is one of the poorest. So, people have both positive and negative.
However, these women , especially Haimatbai, led difficult lives. Haimabati lived a life of utter poverty throughout. Hats off to them for creating the trail through the thicket, braving all the thorns, and making it easier for the future generations to walk.
Labels: Books
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
