Women's Role in Women Education: A Case Study of 19^th Century's Bengal (India)

The application of post modern concept ‘objective observation’¹ in regard to analyse or interpret ‘gender based action’ of all historical development sensnared me to choose this topic to weigh up all women who were concerned and engrossed in female education in Nineteenth century's Bengal. Recently there is a talk among the scholars that women's history should shot to comprehend women on their own terms and would need detecting unexplored information as well as reinterpretation from a new perspective. However, the concern of female education which initially received substantial attention by the male dominated social reformers (both the Native and the European) in Nineteenth Century’ Bengal has already been given considerable recognition by the social scientists through different writings. But the significant involvement from the female section (both the Native and the European) in that particular field has not yet been properly travelled around or thrash out. There are few major researches done by social scientists² to envisage or enlighten this issue, but no one ever comes across the subject of individual women's role in women education in Nineteenth century's Bengal as a whole - distinctly and accordingly. So, here in this paper, first, my endeavour is to providea contemporary critical background that basically led to the general development of female education in Bengal. And then, I switch over to sketch out all the female personnels (from nineteenth century) either European or Indian who laboured (individually or collectively) for the progress of female education. And finally, what was the magnitude and exposition of female education, what were the obstacles, and how far they got success are the main questions that I am supposed to answer in an intelligible way.