Ideology of The Founding Members of The All India Women’s Conference

Abstract

The All India Women’s Conference is a women’s organization established in the colonial period to discuss the various hindrances that confronted the spread of education among Indian women as literacy levels among them were abysmally low. The organization observed that unless various social impediments like child marriage and purdah were removed, the spread of education among Indian women would be limited. The organization while focussing on education, widened its field of work in order to attain women empowerment and thus benefited the society at large. It was in 1926 that one of its founders, an Irish lady, Margaret E. Cousins, gathered together some of the eminent women of India, to discuss the various problems that confronted Indian women. While tracing the origin of the organization, it becomes necessary to go into the thoughts and ideas of Margaret E. Cousins, Muthulakshmi Reddy, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur as they were the founder members of the organization and also helped in the formulation of its aims and objectives. A brief sketch of their contributions and ideologies is given below.