Google Doodle Celebrates 133rd Birth Anniversary of Padma Bhushan Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi, India’s First Woman Legislator

Google dedicates a doodle to Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi, India's first woman legislator who fought for gender equality and upliftment of women all her life.

Google is celebrating the 133rd birth anniversary of India’s first woman legislator Muthulakshmi Reddi. She was also a known educator, reformer and a surgeon. Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi actively worked towards the betterment of young girls and contributed a lot to the area of public health. She also fought for gender equality all her life.

Dr Reddi was born on July 30 in Tamil Nadu and went on to become the first woman legislator in the history of British India. From a very young age, she started observing the prevalent gender biases around and found her first victory in convincing her parents to give her higher education. Dr Reddi was also the first female student at Madras Medical College.

She, however, didn’t continue her medical career and instead worked against the exploitation of girls. Dr Reddi went on to marry a doctor who also worked towards the upliftment of women in the year 1914. Both she and her husband Sundara Reddi supported Mahatma Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle.

Dr Reddi was also the founder of Adayar Cancer Institute in Chennai in the year 1954 after her sister lost her life to cancer. In the year 1956, the government of India felicitated her with a Padma Bhushan for her contribution in making the country a better place for living.