Amy Behramjee Hormusjee Jamsetjee Rustomjee (18 May 1896 – 1976) was an Indian educator and school principal, based in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. She served as vice president of the

International Federation of University Women Graduate Women International (GWI), originally named the International Federation of University Women (IFUW), is an international organisation for women university graduates. IFUW was founded in 1919 following the First World War by both British and ...

from 1956 to 1959.

Early life and education

Rustomjee was born in

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, into a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

family, the daughter of B.H.J. Rustomjee and Hilla J. M. Cursetjee. Her father was a merchant and a school principal. She held a diploma in education from the

University of Bombay The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

, and took the

Cambridge Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

in English.

Career

Education and literacy work

Rustomjee was principal of the Secondary Training College in Bombay for four years, the first woman to hold that post. Rustomjee gave a lecture in 1931 on the "Abolition of Illiteracy", advocating for voluntary literacy work as a condition of college matriculation. She was a member of the Adult Education Committee in Bombay in 1938, inspector of girls' schools, and one of the leaders of a city-wide literacy drive in 1939. As a member of the committee to select textbooks for Bombay schools in 1941, she clashed with

Lilavati Munshi Lilavati Munshi was an Indian politician and Gujarati essayist. She was a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1946 and the Rajya Sabha from 1952 to 1958 as a member of the Indian National Congress. She wrote essays and sketche ...

. In the 1940s, Rustomjee was heard regularly on Bombay radio, speaking on education and literacy topics. She also wrote articles on educational topics. In 1949, she served on a committee about social service work in Bombay. In the early 1960s, she was involved with the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind.

Women's organizations and Girl Guides

In 1937, Rustomjee was Commissioner of the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

in Bombay. Later in life, she was president of the Indian Federation of University Women's Associations, and served as vice president of the International Federation of University Women from 1956 to 1959. In 1957 and 1958 she toured in the United States with other leaders of the Federation. In a 1958 debate on women and municipal administration, organized by the State Women's Council in Bombay, she opposed women taking over all municipal administrative roles. "Miss Rustomji never showed any restraint and, whatever the occasion, would just let herself go and call a spade a spade, no matter who the person she was speaking to or about," recalled her colleague

D. C. Pavate Dadappa Chintappa "D. C." Pavate, (2 August 1899 – 14 January 1978) was awarded Padma Bhushan from the Government of India in 1967. He was the vice-chancellor of the Karnatak university Dharwad, and the Governor of Punjab. Pavate was a ...

, who nonetheless considered her "a good sort, very well-meaning, honest, and sincere."

Personal life and legacy

Amy Rustomjee lived with her aunt, J. M. Cursetjee. Rustomjee died in 1976. The Amy Rustomjee Hall at the Women's Graduate Union in Mumbai and the Amy Rustomjee International Scholarship at the University of Mumbai are named in her memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rustomjee, Amy 1896 births 1976 deaths Indian educators Literacy in India People from Pune Parsi people University of Mumbai alumni Graduate Women International people Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting