Pandita Ramabai Saraswathi: Making of a Social Entrepreneur

Kumar Irvathur, Udaya and Rajalakshmi, N.K (2010) Pandita Ramabai Saraswathi: Making of a Social Entrepreneur. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (1-2). pp. 48-70. ISSN 1821-1283

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Abstract

After the ingress of imperialism through colonization, Indian society
underwent transition. Transition to modernity though opened up new avenues for the
middle class women by enabling them to opt for English education and selective
participation in the public sphere, there was hardly any escape from the broader
patriarchal and caste dominated social design. An exploration into the social history
of the 19th century India unfolds the intricate designs within the nation’s social fabric.
The process of modernization opened new opportunities to the educated Indian men
especially drawn from the dominant castes. These opportunities were in the form of
ascribed status created at the bottom of the pyramids of power structure. Changing
positions of men in the process of modernization called for realignment in the role of
women within the family and society. These new roles for women necessitated the
acquisition of certain skills, which was readily provided to them through English
education. This also opened up a little space for women, which was not available to
them in the system that prevailed till then. Pandita Ramabai Saraswathi was able to
appropriate this little space that was opened for women. She had an in depth
knowledge of the Hindu Religion, the gap between the practice and its philosophy, as
reflected by the condition of women in the Indian society. Ramabai stands apart from
many of her contemporaries, in a number of ways. This is the reason why, we choose
to consider her a social entrepreneur of the period in which she lived. Accordingly,
the term social entrepreneur is used to signify the leadership taken by Ramabai, the
courage she has shown to accept the challenge, the manner in which she organized
her whole project, and addressed the social problems confronted by women of her
caste. Therefore, it was thought necessary to contextualize the situation within which
Ramabai was driven towards the achievement of a social goal. The term social
entrepreneur is of recent origin but the spirit of social enterprise is not new. It is not easy to frame a definition that would encompass the varied entrepreneurial ventures
undertaken to achieve a social goal all over the world. It has to be understood as a
particular concept constructed within a particular context. Even though the concept
of social entrepreneur is mostly in circulation in the capitalist economy, it embodies
features that are quite distinct from the reformers and business entrepreneurs. The
paper attempts to make a contextualized space-time study of Ramabai as a social
entrepreneur.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	colonization, reform, women’s emancipation, empowerment women’s education, social entrepreneurship
Research Department:	?? H1 ??
Depositing User:	Jelena Banovic
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2016 08:09
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2016 08:09
URI:	http://35.240.28.64/id/eprint/449
Author Links:	[error in script] No links available.

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