Women, Education, and Politics: The Women’s Movement and Delhi’s Indraprastha College

Women, Education, and Politics explores the struggles and triumphs of women’s education and their participation in national politics in nineteenth and twentieth century colonial North India. The narrative is woven around Delhi’s Indraprastha College, a pioneering institution for women’s education in North India. Established in 1924, it was, in fact, the first women’s college in Delhi. Discussing the origins and development of IP College, the book explores the obstacles faced and surmounted by the movement for women’s education in India. The authors investigate the evolution of women’s education, the transition and change in the status of women, the growth in their self-confidence, and their responses and reactions to national events. Issues related to their identity and assertion also become objects of debate and inquiry in this first ever study of a major women’s institution in Delhi. The book examines a wide variety of sources including archival and private records, oral narratives (interviews), and newspapers and magazines. It will be useful for students and scholars working on issues related to gender, education and politics, and reform movements in colonial India as well as informed general readers interested in cross-cultural and comparative studies on women’s institutions and education.