Forging Paths: Strides And Barriers To Women’s Education In Twentieth-Century Kashmir

Abstract

Education has the potential to fundamentally alter society and lay the basis for the creation of a gender-balanced society. Education liberated people’s minds from the constraints of deeply ingrained beliefs and ingrained cultural conventions, catalyzing societal change. Modern education is an important tool to ameliorate the status of women in society and their capacity to advance up the social ladder. The present study is primarily concerned with the journey of modern education of women in twentieth-century Kashmir. The first section deals with the growth of women’s education in the first half of the twentieth century under Dogra Maharajas. The second part points out the development of women’s education after 1947 under a democratic government formed under Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. Attempts are made to examine the obstacles created by the patriarchal society of Kashmir to women’s education. Efforts have been made to comprehend why girls are taken out or kept away from school altogether?