INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF KAVITHA RAO’S “LADY DOCTORS…” IN HISTORIOGRAPHY OF WOMEN EMANCIPATION IN INDIA

Abstract

Kavitha Rao’s recently published work titled “Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine”, published in 2021, is a compilation of the stories of six women from 19-20 centuries who became the first practicing doctors in India. The aim of this research is to analyze this book in the context of women’s emancipation history in India. To achieve this goal, a historical criticism approach is utilized to interpret Kavitha Rao’s work, identifying its role in the historiography of Indian women’s emancipation in the medical sphere. The results show that Kavitha Rao’s work provides informative and reliable storytelling about Indian women emancipation in the 19-20 century for common readers; however, the investigated book cannot be considered a source for academic research in social studies. The theoretical significance of this paper lies in mixing the scope of Western medical history and women’s emancipation in history in India. Practical novelty comprises a cultural-historical analysis of the “Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine” book, which can be used by future researchers of Kavith Rao’s works. Future researchers can extend their material background by including other books about women’s emancipation in India during 19-20 centuries in order to provide a more comprehensive investigation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62185/issn.3023-5448.2.2.5