The Memoirs of Dr. Haimabati Sen: From Child Widow to Lady Doctor

This extraordinary account, the longest and most detailed memoir yet discovered by an Indian woman born in the nineteenth century was originally written in Bengali. This intimate autobiography, rich in details of a society in transition, was written by one of India’s earliest ‘native’ women doctors. Though a child widow, driven from pillar to post, Haimabati nourished an ambition for higher education, eventually trained as a medical practitioner, and became the ‘Lady Doctor’ in charge of Hughli Dufferin Hospital for Women. Haimati’s memoir illustrates the predicament of a woman determined to earn an honorable living in a man’s world.