Allow Cookies!
By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies
The birth anniversary of Cornelia Sorabji, a torchbearer for women rights and equality in the early 1900’s is being celebrated by Google as the worldwide search engine dedicates the Google Doodle to Sorabji on her 151st birthday.
She was the first woman to have studied law at the Oxford University, and is remembered for her unparalleled contribution to the cause of bringing women on par with men as they were often deprived of their property rights due to legal illiteracy.
Sorabji was born to Reverend Sorabji Karsedji and Francina Ford who were champions for women's education in their own right and established several girls' schools in Pune. They were the ones who were her pillar of strength and encouraged her to pursue higher studies. She was born in Maharashtra’s Nashik, and was not only the first female to graduate from Bombay University but also a crusader for allowing women to work as lawyers in India.
When Sorabji first returned to India in 1894 after studying in Oxford, she took up the cause of securing the rights of the Pardanashin Hindu women who were most of the times holders of a large amount of property but could never exercise legal rights.
She is believed to have helped over 600 women and orphans in their legal disputes. He works, Between the Twilights and her two autobiographies, has a detailed account of these cases.
The first hurdle before her was a law that that barred women from practising as a lawyer. The glass ceiling was broken in 1923 after the law was challenged and she was given permission. She argued before the British agents of Kathiawar and Indore principalities but lost the case. Her journey had paved a way for all the future women lawyers of India
86540
103860
630
114
59824