Rukhmabai, The Woman Who Said No
By refusing to comply with her child marriage, she exposed the violence embedded in tradition — and forced a legal reckoning that gripped colonial India.
In 1885, a man sued his young wife. They had tied the knot when he was only 19 and she was 11. But they had neither lived together nor consummated their marriage. Almost a decade after marrying, he demanded she live with him. She refused. And as they say, the rest was history.
Rukhmabai would go on to challenge India’s oppressive child marriage laws, change public opinion, and become a role model for women who dreamed of pursuing higher education. At one point, most in colonial India knew about her chutzpah. Over a century later, we spoke to scholars to understand why her story remains more relevant than ever.