Google Celebrates 133rd Birth Anniversary Of India’s First Woman Legislator Muthulakshmi Reddi With A Doodle

Besides being the first woman legislator in India, she was an eminent medical practitioner, social reformer and Padma Bhushan awardee in India.

Google is celebrating the 133rd birth anniversary of India’s first woman legislator Muthulakshmi Reddi today through a creative doodle.

New Delhi: Google is celebrating the 133rd birth anniversary of India’s first woman legislator Muthulakshmi Reddi today through a creative doodle. Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi was a surgeon, educator, lawmaker and social reformer. Reddi was born in 1886 in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu and had many firsts to her recognition. Besides being the first woman legislator in India, she was an eminent medical practitioner, social reformer and Padma Bhushan awardee in India. She devoted her life to public health and is known for her crusade against social and gender-based inequality. She became the first Indian girl student in the Department of Surgery at Madras Medical College. She was also appointed to the Madras Legislative Council in 1927. For her, this nomination marked the beginning of her lifelong effort to "correct the balance" for women by removing social abuses and working for equality in moral standards. She was one of the women pioneers who stood for the cause of liberating India from the British. She was the first female student to be admitted into a men's college, the first woman House Surgeon in the Government Maternity and Ophthalmic Hospital, the first woman legislator in British India, the first Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Advisory Board, the first woman Deputy President of the Legislative Council, and the first Alderwoman of the Madras Corporation Avvai Home. She was nominated by Sakthi Hari Haran to the Madras Legislature as a member of the legislative council in 1926, and became the first woman to be a member of any legislature in India. When she was elected as the deputy chairperson of the legislative council, she became the first woman in the world to become the vice president of a legislature. She fought for women’s rights; she wanted to raise the legal age of marriage, and end exploitation of girls. She was actively involved with setting up of several toilets and women's toilets, and initiated measures to improve the medical facilities given to slum dwellers. Google in it's tribute to Reddi wrote, “Constantly breaking down barriers throughout her life, Reddi was a trailblazer who devoted herself to public health and the battle against gender inequality, transforming the lives of countless people—especially young girls.” Today’s doodle was illustrated by Bengaluru-based artist Archana Sreenivasan.