Women’s Emancipation Through Education in 19th Century Eastern Bengal: Private Enterprise or Government Agency?

One of the main themes of feminist research has been the exploration of the roots of the dichotomous relationship women have with the home and the outside world. To navigate between these two worlds, and to negotiate for space within the various forms of patriarchal control, the primary tool for women’s agency has been their access to formal education. With that conviction in mind, nineteenth century Bengal has to be revisited time and again to understand the dynamics of women’s emancipation and the beginnings of women’s agency. The indifference of the colonial government towards social progress and the determination of indigenous forces to achieve it appears as a recurring phenomenon. This paper is an addition to the narrative of the process of emancipation through the rise of formal educational institutions in the region we now call Bangladesh. It studies the contribution of the zamindars and local philanthropists who have made a difference in the lives of our foremothers and laid the foundations for further emancipation in the twentieth century. The paper concludes with a definitive reassurance about the power of private enterprise over government agency in bringing about social change for the better.