The slow transition from womanhood to personhood: can education help?

This paper will look at how difference as inequality has led to gender differences in the use of education. I will then present a case study of one of the first Bengali women to write her autobiography; if Kailashbashini’s life appears incongruous at the end of a litany of injustices it is only to prove that difference as a value can-and did-put down early roots in a hostile environment. Acknowledging her subordinate position in a male dominated society. Kailashbashini used the skills of literacy effectively. The wife of a Bengali official with reformist tendencies was taught to read and write by her husband. In time, she described in great detail her life; her powerfully reasoned arguments only proved that those regarded as unequal and subordinate could in fact match many in their logic and rationality. Here, the informal, self-taught skills of literacy equipped Kailashbashini to express herself, her pain and her hopes through a long life. The therapeutic value of such an exercise can not be underestimated in a highly segregated, hierarchical society. However, before going further into the role of literacy in facilitating individual self-expression, it is necessary to explore further the relationship between difference and inequality. For it is against this backdrop that the former acquires a particular significance and relevance.