Avabai Bomanji Wadia (18 September 1913 – 11 July 2005) was a Ceylonese-born Indian social worker, writer and the founder of the

International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global non-governmental organisation with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family p ...

and the Family Planning Association of India, two non governmental organisations working to promote

sexual health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, healthcare, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual wellbeing during all stages of their life. The term can also be further de ...

and

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

. She was honoured by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 1971 with

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.

Biography

Early life and education

Avabai was born on 18 September 1913 in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

British Ceylon British Ceylon ( si, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britānya Laṃkāva; ta, பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai) was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between ...

(

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), into an affluent and highly westernized

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 with roots in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Her father, Dorabji Muncherji, was a well placed shipping officer, and her mother, Pirojbai Arsiwala Mehta, a home-maker. After initial schooling in Colombo, Avabai moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1928 (aged 15) and completed her schooling at

Brondesbury Brondesbury (), which includes Brondesbury Park, is an area in the London Borough of Brent, in London, England. The area is traditionally part of the Ancient Parish and subsequent Municipal Borough of Willesden, one of the areas that merged to fo ...

and Kilburn High School, London. Choosing a career in law, she joined the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

in 1932 and enrolled as a lawyer in 1934, becoming the first Sri Lankan woman to succeed in the bar examinations which she passed with honours. She practiced at the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

, London for one year (1936–37). As a law student, she had been a part of the

Commonwealth Countries League The Commonwealth Countries League (CCL), founded in 1925 as the British Commonwealth League, is a voluntary pan-Commonwealth civil society organisation. The objectives are to secure equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men an ...

and the

International Alliance of Women The International Alliance of Women (IAW; french: Alliance Internationale des Femmes, AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international org ...

, and had participated in several rallies and picketing events. She had also met and mingled with various leaders of the Indian freedom movement, including

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Muhammed Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, and

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, when they visited England. These associations were held against her when she applied to any law firm for a post as junior lawyer. After two years in England, she decided to return home to Colombo in 1939, enrolled at the Supreme Court, and practiced law from 1939 to 1941.

Contraception activism

In 1941, Avabai's father retired from his job and decided to return to his native land. The family moved from Ceylon to India in 1941 and settled in Bombay permanently. Here, Avabai met her future husband, Bomanji Khurshedji Wadia, and they got married on 26 April 1946. The couple were soon estranged, but never legally divorced. Avabai did become pregnant in 1952, but suffered a miscarriage, after which the couple made no further effort to stay together. In Mumbai, Avabai joined the

All India Women's Conference The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tackle ...

and was a feminist and social activist with a focus on contraception. Having inherited a significant fortune upon the death of her father, she founded the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) in 1949 and became its president, a post she held for 34 years. Her efforts resulted in the inclusion of "family planning" in the first five year plan, which was launched in 1951. India's first prime minister,

supported Avabai and it was largely due to her personality and connect with Nehru that contraception became accepted as early as 1951. The following year (1952), backed and funded by the Indian government, Avabai organised the Third International Conference on Planned Parenthood which was held in India and gave the opportunity to all the eight associations working in the field to come together. The conference was attended by renowned women's rights activists including

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...

and

Elise Ottesen-Jensen Elise Ottesen-Jensen, also known as Ottar, (2 January 1886 − 4 September 1973) was a Norwegian- Swedish sex educator, journalist and anarchist agitator, whose main mission was to fight for women's rights to understand and control their own body ...

. At the conference, the delegates unanimously voted for the formation of the

, which took shape shortly afterwards. Avabai served on numerous government committees and commissions, combined a rich social life and career, serving as president of the IPPF for two terms from 1983 to 1989. It was during her tenure as president that the IPPF received the UN Population Award in 1985 and the Third World Prize in 1987. Avabai was also appointed Justice of Peace in Bombay in 1957 and the magistrate of Juvenile Court in Bombay in 1958. Avabai was associated with the Family Planning Association of India since its inception in 1949 till her death, as a founder member (1949–1953), as its general secretary (1953–1963), as its president (1963–1997) and served as its president emeritus from there onward till her death. After serving out her second term as the president of IPPF in 1989, she continued as its patron till 2005. She was also a life member of the Women's Graduate Union,

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. It was founded on 7 November 1938 by Dr K.M Munshi, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi. The trust programmes through its 119 centres in India, 7 centres abroad and 367 constituent instit ...

and Maharashtra Women's Council. She was the vice president of the

for two terms (1956–1958 and 1958–1960), a member of the governing council of the Population Foundation of India and the honorary editor of the ''Journal of Family Welfare'' since 1956. She wrote extensively on the subjects of sexual health and family planning and some of her publications are: * Population Education for the Younger Generation * The Role of Voluntary Organisations in Promoting Family Planning and Population Policy * Some Careers for Women * Proceedings of the First Dr. C. Chandrasekaran Memorial Lecture, 30 October 2001 on population and development : the changing scenario * Population development and the environment * The light will belong to us all He memoirs was published in 2001 under the name, ''The Light is Ours'' by the

. Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati honoured Avabai Bomanji Wadia with the degree, Doctor of Law (honoris causa) and the

awarded her the civilian honour of

in 1971. She died on 11 July 2005 at the age of 91, her husband preceding her in death in February 1979. She bequeathed a part of her personal wealth to The Research Centre for Women's Studies which manages the ''Dr. Avabai and Dr. Bomanji Khurshedji Wadia Archive for Women'',. A trust, ''Avabai Wadia Memorial Trust'', has been established which is involved in family planning programmes in association with other non governmental bodies and medical institutions and conducts regular endowment lectures on the subject.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadia, Avabai Bomanji Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work 1913 births 2005 deaths Parsi people Social workers Indian barristers Alumni of the University of London Indian women's rights activists Sri Lankan emigrants to India Naturalised citizens of India Indian women philanthropists Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 20th-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian women lawyers 20th-century Indian lawyers Activists from Maharashtra Women writers from Maharashtra People from Mumbai Women scientists from Maharashtra Sri Lankan women activists Sri Lankan activists Sri Lankan people of Indian descent Indian people of Sri Lankan descent Social workers from Maharashtra Women educators from Maharashtra Educators from Maharashtra Sri Lankan social workers Sri Lankan women academics People from Colombo 20th-century Sri Lankan writers 20th-century Sri Lankan women writers 20th-century Indian philanthropists 20th-century women educators 20th-century women philanthropists

Biography

Early life and education

Contraception activism

See also

References

Further reading

External links