Medical Education and Emergence of Women Medics in Colonial Bengal

In the existing narratives the wider colonial contexts of institutionalization of western science and medicine and growth of curative medicine, changing patterns of education and health services for women, the broader social impact of growth of women’s medical education etc. have received scant attention. So this analysis focuses on the growth of medical education for aspirant female medics in order to bring out the complexities in the relationship of medicine, gender, politics of colonialism and social reforms in colonial Bengal. It would essentially involve analyses of the evolution of colonial policies regarding medical education as well as gender and of indigenous views and activities regarding modernizing Indian society. [Occasional Paper No.37]