Kadambini Ganguly: breaking barriers in medicine

Kadambini Ganguly and Anandibai Joshi are often overlooked in history and medical textbooks as India's first female doctors. Born in 1861 to a Brahmo reformer father, Kadambini defied her community's opposition to women's education by attending the Brahmo Eden Female School and Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya. She then became the first Indian woman to pass the University of Calcutta entrance exam and earned a BA degree in 1882.

Despite a shortage of marks, Kadambini graduated from the Calcutta Medical College in 1886, becoming the first Indian woman to practice Western medicine. She worked at the Lady Dufferin Hospital and even treated British royalty in Nepal. A vocal political activist, Kadambini was the first female delegate elected to the Fifth Session of the Congress in Bombay and the first woman speaker at the Congress in 1899.

She also served as president of the Transvaal Indian Association and was a member of the Women's Conference in Calcutta. Married to Dwarakanath Ganguly, a Bengali Brahmo reformer, Kadambini balanced her career with family life, breaking barriers for women in medicine and society.