The Position of Women in Indian Life

DURING the course of several visits to the West, both to Europe and to America, I was naturally struck by the difference between the position of woman in English and in Indian public life, as represented by her share in the organizations for human welfare in the two countries. The cooperation which exists between Western men and women in public affairs is practically unknown in India. Public matters in India are almost entirely in the hands of men, and the reason is not far to seek, because the useful organizations for human welfare, in which women co-operate with men in the West, hardly exist in India, and where they do technically exist, their influence is scarcely felt. What can be the reason for this great difference? Should the Indian woman continue to be isolated from all public affairs? What is the remedy, and how is it to be applied? These were the questions that each succeeding visit to the West brought with ever-increasing force to my mind, and I often wondered whether I could do anything to awaken my Indian sisters from their lethargy of ages, to enable them to take their proper place in Indian public life.