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Herabai Tata

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Herabai Tata
Born1879 (1879)
Bombay, British Raj
Died1941(1941-00-00) (aged 61–62)
Other namesHerabai A. Tata, Herabai Ardeshir Tata
Occupation(s)women's rights advocate, suffragist
Years active1911-

https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C3402861?account_id=196403&usage_group_id=1338161 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.12542/page/n111?q=%22Herabai+Tata%22 https://archive.org/details/editor_ijasrd_2325/page/n1?q=%22Herabai+Tata%22 https://archive.org/details/WomenInIndianSociety/page/n9?q=%22Herabai+Tata%22 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.279506/page/n964?q=%22Herabai+Tata%22 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.34106/page/n33?q=%22Herabai+Tata%22 https://parsikhabar.net/events/commemorating-zoroastrian-and-indian-women-in-the-british-suffrage-movement/18713/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/41855712?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=A84XBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT435&ots=v-Ze3Cl_w1&dq=Herabai%20Tata&pg=PT436#v=onepage&q=Herabai%20Tata&f=false https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=JfxdDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT109&ots=C5InJR2E6O&dq=Herabai%20Tata&pg=PT181#v=onepage&q=Herabai%20Tata&f=false https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/the-indian-suffragists-claiming-their-rights-in-britain-and-india/ https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&lpg=PA95&ots=2u1uH0dDpP&dq=Herabai%20Tata&pg=PA95#v=onepage&q=Herabai%20Tata&f=false https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=eflGAQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=South%20Asian%20Resistances%20in%20Britain%2C%201858-1947&pg=PA106#v=snippet&q=tata&f=false http://www.lse.ac.uk/about-lse/lse-leading-women/biographies/herabai-mithan-tata http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/herabai-tata https://www.routledgehistoricalresources.com/feminism/essays/race-empire-and-the-making-of-western-feminism https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C1639819?account_id=196403&usage_group_id=1338161 https://www.asian-voice.com/News/India/Remembering-the-first-ever-Indian-female-barrister-in-the-UK https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=3g5uAAAAMAAJ&q=Herabai+Tata,+1879-?&dq=Herabai+Tata,+1879-?&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO0u6MqvzlAhXGjFkKHU90BWQQ6AEINjAC https://gdc.gale.com/gdc/artemis/NewspapersDetailsPage/NewspapersDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=DVI-Newspapers&docIndex=1&source=&prodId=TTDA&mode=view&limiter=&display-query=OQE+Herabai+Tata&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&windowstate=normal&currPage=1&dviSelectedPage=&scanId=&query=OQE+Herabai+Tata&search_within_results=&p=TTDA&catId=&u=wes_ttda&displayGroups=&documentId=GALE%7CCS286594241&activityType=BasicSearch&failOverType=&commentary= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39398762/a_strong_appeal_22_october_1919/ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41284162?searchTerm=Herabai%20Tata&searchLimits= Herabai Tata (1879-1941) was Indian women's rights activist and suffragist.

Early life

Herabai was born in 1879 in Bombay, which at the time was in the British Raj. At the age of sixteen, she was married to Ardeshir Bejonji Tata[1][Notes 1] an employee at a textile mill. The family were Parsis. On 2 March 1898 the couples' daughter, Mithan was born in Maharashtra.[2] They soon moved to Phulgaon, near Nagpur, where Ardeshir worked at a textile mill as an assistant master weaver.[5] He was progressive in his thoughts on women's education and hired tutors to help Tata in her wish to further her education.[6] Taking a position in a mill in Ahmedabad, the family remained there until 1913, when they relocated to Bombay, where Ardeshir managed a mill.[2]

Activism

In 1909, Herabai became interested in Theosophy and began attending conventions in Adyar, Madras and Benaras. At the 1912 convention in Benaras, she met Annie Besant,[7][1] who had become president of the Theosophical Society Adyar in 1908.[8] In 1911, while vacationing in Kashmir with her daughter, Tata met the suffragist, Sophia Duleep Singh. Charmed by her enthusiasm for the cause and after reading the literature Singh later sent, Tata became active in the fight for women's enfranchisement.[7][9] In 1916, discussions about Indian Home Rule began to escalate and the Montagu investigations began.[10] Edwin Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India traveled to the country with the aim of soliciting opinion on a limited devolution of British power.[11]

That same year, Margaret Cousins founded the Women's Indian Association in Adyar to create a vehicle for women to influence government policy. The organization focused on equal rights, educational opportunity, social reform, and women's suffrage. Founding members included Tata, as well as S. Ambujammal, Annie Besant, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Mary Poonen Lukose, Begam Hasrat Mohani, Saralabai Naik, Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, Muthulakshmi Reddy, and Mangalammal Sadasivier.[12] Tata would be named the general secretary of the organization.[13] Wanting to secure an audience with Montagu, Cousins sent an application to present the political demands of women. When it was approved, on 15 December 1917,[11] Sarojini Naidu led a deputation of 14 leading women from throughout India, including Tata, to present the demand to include women's suffrage in the new Franchise Bill under development by the Government of India.[10][14][15]

When the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms were introduced in 1918 no recommendation was made for women's enfranchisement.[16] Suffragists were very active in drawing up petitions[17] and published updates about the struggle in Stri Dharma, urging support for women's political empowerment as a part of the anti-colonial movement against Britain.[18] In 1918, the provincial legislatures in Bombay and Madras passed resolutions to eliminate the sex disqualification for voting,[17] and women gained the endorsement for suffrage from the Indian Home Rule League and the All-India Muslim League.[19] When the Indian National Congress convened in December, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani presented a resolution to the Congress to grant suffrage, which was taken under advisement pending the outcome of consultations with the remaining provincial legislatures.[20]

The Southborough Franchise Committee was tasked with developing the electoral regulations under the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms.[21] Though they accepted petitions from throughout India, they only spoke with women in Bengal and Punjab.[22] The Southborough Report published in April 1919 acknowledged that educated women might be qualified, but concluded that overall women were not ready for the vote, nor would conservative sectors of society support their enfranchisement.[22][23] In July women in Bombay organized a protest meeting and when Lord Southborough sent his report to the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons the Bombay Committee on Women's Suffrage sent Tata and her daughter Mithan to give evidence along with Sir Sankaran Nair.[10][22][24]

She was one of the participants of the 8th Congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance held in Geneva, Switzerland.[25] International Woman Suffrage News - Friday 05 August 1921 International Woman Suffrage Alliance Late News p 176 Herabai Tata advised that the Legislative Council of Bombay passed a women's suffrage resolution

Death and legacy

Tata died in 1941.[26] Much of her legacy was overshadowed by her more famous daughter[4], but writer and activist Rita Banerji said Tata was one of the central figures in the fight for suffrage in India.[27] Geraldine Forbes, distinguished teaching professor of history and director of the women's studies department at the State University of New York at Oswego,[28] called Tata the "real soldier" in the campaign for women's enfranchisement in India.[29]

Notes

  1. ^ Some references indicate that her husband was from the influential, industrialist Tata family,[2][3] while others disclaim the familial relationship.[4]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Mukherjee 2011, p. 111.
  2. ^ a b c Mukherjee 2018.
  3. ^ Anand 2015, p. 338.
  4. ^ a b Doctor 2018.
  5. ^ Mankekar 2002, p. 200.
  6. ^ De Souza 2009.
  7. ^ a b The Open University 2015.
  8. ^ Sweet 2010.
  9. ^ Anand 2015, p. 339.
  10. ^ a b c Mukherjee 2011, p. 112.
  11. ^ a b Forbes 2004, p. 92.
  12. ^ Kaur 2019, p. 143.
  13. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 8.
  14. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 179.
  15. ^ Deivanai 2003, p. 113.
  16. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 182.
  17. ^ a b Forbes 2004, p. 93.
  18. ^ Tusan 2003, p. 624.
  19. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 183.
  20. ^ Forbes 2004, p. 94.
  21. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 184.
  22. ^ a b c Forbes 2004, p. 95.
  23. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 185.
  24. ^ Odeyar 1989, p. 186.
  25. ^ International Woman Suffrage Alliance 1920, p. 15.
  26. ^ Singh 1986, p. 73.
  27. ^ Banerji 2014.
  28. ^ Kanafani 1999, p. xi.
  29. ^ Forbes 2004, p. 97.

Bibliography


Category:1879 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Mumbai Category:Indian feminists Category:Suffragists

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