#cornelia sorabji

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CORNELIA SORABJI // LAWYER

“She was an Indian lawyer social reformer and writer. She was the first female graduate from Bombay University, and the first woman to study law at Oxford University. After returning to India after her studies at Oxford, Sorabji became involved in social and advisory work on behalf of the purdahnashins, women who were forbidden to communicate with the outside male world, but was unable to defend them in court since as a woman, she did not hold any professional standing in the Indian legal system. Hoping to remedy this, Sorabji presented herself for the LLB examination of Bombay University in 1897 and the pleaders examination of Allahabad High Court in 1899. She became the first female advocate in India but would not be recognised as a barrister until the law which barred women from practicing was changed in 1923.”

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[vintageindianclothing]

Being the first and only woman law student at Oxford, Cornelia Sorabji found the male dons patronizing. She wrote of one of them: ‘I wish he would treat me like a man and not make gallant speeches about my “intellect” and “quickness of perception”....He is frightfully apologetic, too, and wonders if he is not wasting my time when coaching me.’ She put up with his ‘eccentricities in consideration of his mental value’. Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: The Story of Indians in Britain 1700-1947.

The painting featured in the post is from Sorabji’s Sun Babies [studies in the child-life of India] and depicts the “wives and mothers of the Parsi priesthood weaving the sacred thread” sketched for Sorabji by a friend.

Cornelia Sorabji: 15 November 1866 - 6 July 1954.

[madhushaala]

Celebrating the 151th birthday of Cornelia Sorabji

Cornelia Sorabji (15 November 1866 – 6 July 1954) was an Indian woman who achieved several notable firsts: the first female graduate from Bombay University, the first woman to read law at Oxford University[1] (indeed, the first Indian national to study at any British university[2]), the first female advocate in India[3], and the first woman to practise law in India and Britain.

-Wikipedia

An extraordinary lady 

[krishnickfitness]

Cornelia Sorabji – The First Indian Female Advocate and the First Indian National to Study Abroad

In the 21st century, it is quite common for women to take the legal career and there exist many famous female lawyers in India. However, the present scenario would quite create terror in the background of 19th century India. Women were quite not welcomed at every other educational event, and they were certainly not being encouraged to take a male-dominated field as their career option. Raising…

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Cornelia Sorabji - the first woman to practice law in India and Britain. Cornelia graduated from Oxford law in 1892

[celebratingamazingwomen]

Cornelia Sorabji (1866-1954) achieved a number of significant firsts in her native country of India and abroad. She was the first female graduate of Bombay University, the first female lawyer in the entire country, and the first woman to study law at Oxford University in 1889.

Her mother, a strong advocate of female education, had founded several girls’ schools in her native city of Pune. Upon being accepted to Oxford University, she became the first Indian national to study in the UK. She returned to India after her studies, and represented particularly women and minors in court, sometimes pro bono.

[catapultbooks]

Seriously, Sita, you must drop this nonsense. I am sorry that I let them educate you.

So comments a husband to his wife in Love and Life Behind the Purdah, Cornelia Sorabji's 1901 book. Sorabji was India's first female lawyer, and a feminist writer of short stories. Have a peek at her collection, digitized here.