“Women are entitled to a share of their husband's property and to an education equal to that of men.”
— Ram Mohan Roy[commonly attributed] Summary of Roy's positions on women's rights; not a verified line
Commentary
This statement summarises a set of positions that Ram Mohan Roy advanced on the status of women, including their rights to property and to education. His writings on sati and on inheritance treat the subordination of women as a social injustice that could be remedied by reform. Sophia Dobson Collet's biography notes his personal friendships with women and his interest in their education. David Kopf, in The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind (1979), shows that the Brahmo movement took up these causes and that women's education became an important feature of its institutions. The claim of equal education is less securely documented in his own writings than the criticism of sati, and it should be treated as an extension of his positions rather than a direct quotation. Scholars differ on how far Roy's views on women reached beyond the reforms he explicitly championed.
Commentary
This statement summarises a set of positions that Ram Mohan Roy advanced on the status of women, including their rights to property and to education. His writings on sati and on inheritance treat the subordination of women as a social injustice that could be remedied by reform. Sophia Dobson Collet's biography notes his personal friendships with women and his interest in their education. David Kopf, in The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind (1979), shows that the Brahmo movement took up these causes and that women's education became an important feature of its institutions. The claim of equal education is less securely documented in his own writings than the criticism of sati, and it should be treated as an extension of his positions rather than a direct quotation. Scholars differ on how far Roy's views on women reached beyond the reforms he explicitly championed.