Indian Women and Sister Nivedita: A Campaigner of Female Education

Abstract

The word sustainable means capable of being maintained or continued at a certain level. Development of a sustainable world depends on the progression and thriving of the human race. Human is comprised of both men and women. However, the latter has generally been silenced, disregarded, deprived and ignored. Now a day, the term women empowerment is widely used to enhance the status of women by giving them the opportunity to manage their lives and take their own decisions. Education is an essential prerequisite for their empowerment. Gender equality and women empowerment is indispensable for sustainable expansion. In this context, this paper aims to focus on the dreams of Sister Nivedita about the future of her Indian daughters. Sister Nivedita believed that what India needed was education ‘more and deeper than any she had attained.’ Real education was self education. Education should not accentuate on individual growth but emphasize on the overall development of society and community. Women should be enabled to think about India. She should be prepared in such a way so that the world would feel proud to be associated with her. An Indian woman should not imitate an American or English woman. She should be Indianised before she would contribute for the nation. An educated woman would make a better home. Science, geography and history were, according to Nivedita, the three components of modern education. Women should widen their intellectual capacity in these three disciplines as men.The school should be an integral part of life for both an Indian boy and an Indian girl. Women education should aspire to broaden their mental and spiritual excellence simultaneously. Importance should be attached to training in handicrafts and varied physical professions keeping in mind India’s traditional art heritage. To this day, when Indian women are victims of violence, atrocities, ignorance, illiteracy and devoid of freedom, Sister Nivedita’s ideals and reflections on Indian women is pertinent even today and pursuing her vision would facilitate to construct a regenerated motherland with women taking a leading role in education and policy making.