Zenana system of education-Its impact on women's education in Western India in the 19th century

Abstract

The Zenana system of education along with day schools and orphanages was the third most significant form of education which the Christian Missionaries promoted in all the presidencies. This kind of education was meant for the upper caste women who due to social customs could not receive formal schooling. It was also meant for Muslim girls and women who had no formal schooling. Rudimentary education and learning western manners which their husbands wanted was done in the Zenana or the women's apartment. This kind of education became very successful in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gradually regular examination were held behind the purdah. It was the Zenana education which made women conscious of medical and other professional education. Perhaps, in the long run this kind of education helped in raising the literacy level of women in western and the whole of India.