In 2017, journalist and writer Kavitha Rao, currently based in London, was struck by a Google Doodle celebrating the life and work of Rukhmabai Raut (1864-1955), one of India’s foremost but forgotten women doctors. As she began digging, she encountered several “other ‘lady doctors’”, each with their fascinating story. Around that time, she also read Angela Saini’s best-selling book, Inferior, which explores the systematic exclusion of women from science. The same pattern, Rao noted, seemed to have played out historically in the lives of many brilliant women from the subcontinent. The title, Lady Doctors, may have a coyly anachronistic ring but the epithet is still in vogue (a search for “lady doctor” online will direct you to the nearest women physicians).

Source: Mint July 18, 2021 01:30 UTC