The Indian suffragettes

In 1918, British women over the age of 30 with property won the right to vote. It wasn’t until 1928 that women had the same voting rights as men. Though few women of Asian descent were involved in the British suffrage movement and even less those of African descent, most of them were not credited for their participation and crucial role in the movement.

The suffrage movement, for Indian women, was closely linked with their fight for independence against British colonial rule.

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. She was born in London on 8 August 1876 to Bamba Muller, an Egyptian woman of German and Ethiopian descent and Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire who was exiled to England.

Sophia joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1909 and was an active part of the Women’s Tax Resistance League. They argued that women should not have to pay taxes as they do not get to vote. Due to her aristocratic background, she could often get away with not paying taxes, a privilage that other Indian women did not have.

In 1909 Sophia was a leading member of the movement for women’s right to vote and funded various suffragettes groups. Though her primary interest was women’s rights in England, she supported the cause in numerous countries.

Along with Emmeline Pankhurst and other activists, Sophia led one of the suffrage demonstrations in 1910. They went to the House of Commons wanting a meeting with the Prime Minister but were expelled. Many of the women were seriously injured and the incident became known as Black Friday.

Lolita Roy

Lolita Roy was a social reformer and suffragist born in Calcutta, India in 1865. When she moved to London around 1900, she became active in activist associations for Indians. In 1910 she became president of the London Indian Union Society and played an influential role in the Indian section of the suffrage movement.

In June 1911 there was a suffrage coronation procession through London where some Indian women were invited to take part. Lolita was one of the women and can be seen on the left side of the picture above. The Indian women who participated were often objectified as they were encouraged by the British women to wear saris for the suffrage processions.

Lolita was highly involved in supporting women’s right to vote in India. She petitioned the British government and took part in public speeches in support of the Indian women’s suffrage. She also worked with the All-India Women's Conference, a Dehli based NGO tackling women’s rights issues and improving education for women and children.

Cornelia Sorabji

Cornelia Sorabji was a lawyer, writer and social reformer born on 15 November 1866 in Nashik, in the Bombay Presidency, British India.

She was the first woman to graduate from Bombay University and the first woman to study Law at Oxford University. Cornelia was also the first to practice law in India and Britain. She did not directly participate in the suffrage movement, but she advocated for women’s rights as well as the right to vote.

In 1902 she petitioned to the India Office for women to practise law and for women and minors to have female representation in courts. It is said that when women were allowed to practice law in 1923, she represented over 600 women and minors, sometimes doing so at no cost.

Bhikaji Cama

Bhikaji Cama was born in Bombay on 24 September 1861 and was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement. She played an important role in India’s struggle for freedom and women securing equal rights.

Due to her participation in nationalist activities during her stay in London in the early 1900s, she was told that she would be prohibited from returning to India unless she signed a statement promising to refrain from continuing her activities. She refused and decided to relocate to Paris where she co-founded the Indian nationalist organisation Paris India Society. Bhikaji would smuggle weekly magazines to Indian activists,funding them and supporting them through her writings.

Bhikaji was also passionate about her support for gender equality. While she was in Egypt in 1910, she stated, 'I see here the representatives of only half the population of Egypt. May I ask where is the other half? Sons of Egypt, where are the daughters of Egypt? Where are your mothers and sisters? Your wives and daughters?'

It is through their travel, correspondence, petitioning, marching, and publishing that a range of Indian suffragettes were able to ensure that Indian women’s rights were not overlooked either in India or other parts of the world.

Dr. Sumita Mukherjee

Sources and Further Reading

• Aina Khan, How Indian women contributed to the suffrage movement, Aljazeera, February 2018
• Nikhat Hoque, Meet 7 Indian Suffragettes of the British Suffrage Movement, Feminism India, February 2019
• Suffragette City 100