Anna Chandy: Woman Leaders of Kerala Renaissance

Anna Chandy (1905-1996)

Anna Chandy is thefirst female Judge in Indiaand thefirst Woman High Court Judge in the Commonwealth countries. She fought relentlessly for the women's rights and is widely known as the first generation feminist of India.

In 1927, Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bai, the regent of Travancore made a revolutionary decision to open admissions for women Trivandrum Government Law College.

Anna's life underwent changes after she had enrolled for a PG course in theGovernment Law College in 1927after her family's strong opposition.

She had to suffer many insults and humiliations in the male-dominated classrooms of the law college. Despite that, in1929,she completed her course with distinction and became thefirst woman law graduate of Kerala.She enrolled in the bar council in the same year and started her career as a criminal advocate and became very successful.

Along with her successful career, she started fighting for the women's right to equality and widow remarriage. In1930, Anna Chandy started publishing aWoman's Weekly Magazine called "Shrimati" in which she not only published the women's rights but also discussed topics like "Equal Wages." Shrimati was the first woman's weekly magazine published in Malayalam.

In the 1930s, she entered politics and contested in elections for theSree Moolam Popular Assembly aka Travancore Vidhan Parishad (Travancore Legislative Council). The first attempt was a dismal failure due to the smearing attempt by the political opponents that questioned her credibility. But in1931, she won the election andwas selected as a member of the assemblywhere she continued relentlessly her crusade for the women's rights for 2 years.

Anna, a firm believer in equality, thought it unfair to exempt women from the death penalty, and in 1935, she fought strenuously against these unequal provisions of law.

In the year1937, Anna Chandy was appointed as theFirst Female Munsif in the Travancore by Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, the Dewan of Travancoreproving her staunch opponents that women are capable of making logical decisions. Subsequently, she was promoted as theDistrict Judge in 1948.

The merger of theThiru-Kochi with the Malabarhappened onNovember 1, 1956.After that, Anna Chandy was appointed as theFirst Woman of a High Court (Kerala) in India as well as among Common Wealth Nations on 9 February 1959.

After her retirement on 5 April 1967, she joinedNational Law Commission. She published her autobiography,Atmakatha in 1973and passed away at the age of 91, in 1996.

First Kerala Woman Judge– Anna Chandy(1937, District Judge (munsif) Travancore by the Dewan Sir CP Ramaswami Iyer.(Previous Year PSC Question – Assistant Town Planner, 2015, Computer Operator, Information & Public relations, 2016)First Women’s Magazine Weekly in Malayalam discussing women's rights–Shrimati.Thanks for reading!!!