Meet Dorothy Jinarajadasa. That’s her in the middle. Born in 19 March 1881 as Dorothy M. Graham to an Irish family in Kensington, she grew up to be be feminist, a suffragette, and a theosophist. In November 1916, she married Sinhalese theosophist and freemason Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa, who finished his studies at Cambridge and was a close disciple of Charles Webster Leadbeater, the famous theosophist. Jiddu Krishnamurti and Bhagawan Nityananda attended the wedding. The couple moved back to India. Mr. Jinarajadasa took up the work of spreading theosophy and freemasonry in the Americas, as well as India. Ms. Jinarajadasa founded Women’s Indian Association (WIA) in Adyar, Chennai on 8 May 1917 together with Annie Besant, Margret Cousins, Malati Patwardhan, Ammu Swaminathan, and others to improve the lot of Indian women. Members of Tamil Madar Sangam (Tamil Ladies Organisation) joined en masse. Ms. Jinarajadasa’s hard work was paid well as in the next five years WIA grew to 43 branches, 20 centres and 2,300 members across India. Women’s leaders like Kanubehn C Mehta of Surat joined WIA on their own initiative. One of the top issues for WIA was women’s suffrage. Ms. Jinarajadasa started to advocate Edwin Montagu, a Jewish radical liberal in the British Cabinet, serving as Secretary of State for India, from her first year of work. She had formidable support from Indian National Congress (INC) leaders like Sarojini Naidu, who led a women’s delegation to advocate women’s franchise with Montagu in 1917, and Saraladevi Chaudhurani, who presented the resolution for women’s franchise in Delhi Congress in 1918. Dame Millicent Fawcett, a leader of the English suffragette movement also pitched in from her end. #suffrage #suffragette #thamendment #vote #womenshistory #votesforwomen #suffragist #womensrights #womenssuffrage #votingrights #suffragecentennial #herstory #history #womensvote #suffragettes #feminism #americanhistory #equality #womenshistorymonth #that #years #women #alicepaul #suffragemovement #womenvote #susanbanthony #feminist #centennial #suffragettecity #fuckpatriarchy (at New Delhi, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFTmEW-pje5/?igshid=bbmsxp5utygt
