Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule: Pioneers of Equality, Education, and Social Reform

Akanksha Tiwari

Sep 18, 2025, 13:18 IST

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule were pioneers of social reform in 19th-century India. Together, they challenged caste oppression, promoted girls’ education, and fought practices like child marriage and widow discrimination. From founding India’s first girls’ school to creating the Satyashodhak Samaj, their enduring legacy continues to inspire movements for equality, justice, and inclusive education.

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

In 19th-century India, the rigid caste system and gender norms severely restricted opportunities for women and lower castes. Amid this, Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule emerged as trailblazers who challenged societal prejudice and opened pathways toward education, gender equality, and social justice. Their combined efforts created some of the first schools for girls and lower castes, established reform movements, and countered entrenched practices like child marriage, widowhood stigma, and caste exclusion.

Early Lives and Shared Vision

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born in 1827 into the Mali caste in western Maharashtra. Despite his relative poverty and the limitations of his caste, he managed to get a basic education under Scottish Missionaries and became deeply influenced by ideas of equality and justice.

Savitribai Phule was born in 1831 in Naigaon, Satara district. Married very young to Jyotirao, she was initially illiterate, but her husband taught her at home. Her zeal for learning led her to formal teacher training in Ahmednagar and Pune. Her journey from a neglected village girl to one of India’s first educated women symbolizes courage and defiance of social norms.

Building Education: Schools for Girls & the Marginalized

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

In 1848, the Phules opened their first school for girls in Bhidewada, Pune. It was an unprecedented step, accepting girls from all castes including Dalits, Shudras, and women, defying rigid caste boundaries and orthodox social objection. Over time, they expanded their educational work: by the early 1850s they were managing multiple schools, including adult education and non-caste specific schools. Savitribai braved hostility, orthodox opposition, verbal and physical abuse, for simply walking to school or teaching. Yet she persisted, knowing education was key to social upliftment.

Social Reform Beyond Education

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

Education was only part of their reform agenda. They addressed systemic social issues: Child marriage & widowhood: Phules campaigned for widow remarriage and provided shelter to widows and destitute women. Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha: A home founded by them to prevent infanticide and help pregnant widows or deserted women. Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth-Seekers): Established in 1873 by Jyotirao Phule, with Savitribai’s full support, this movement rejected caste oppression, advocated equality, promoted marriages with no Brahmin priests, and encouraged people across castes to participate.

Obstacles, Courage & Legacy

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

Their work was met with fierce resistance, from orthodox upper castes, social ostracism, and threats. Savitribai was often insulted, pelted with mud and dung, forced to carry extra clothes to clean after her walk to school. Yet they endured. When Jyotirao died in 1890, Savitribai lit his funeral pyre, defying norms that forbid women from that act. Their legacy lives on: schools, reforms, poems, activism, and institutions named after them. Savitribai Phule Pune University, as named in their honour, serves as a reminder of their contributions.

From Struggle to Social Change

Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule together kindled a revolution: not one of violence or loud activism, but of love for justice, belief in equality, and unwavering persistence. They reshaped society by educating the marginalized, challenging oppressive traditions, and embodying dignity under duress. Their lives teach us that change begins with courage and compassion, and even against resistance, one can build a more inclusive world.

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Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule: Pioneers of Equality, Education, and Social Reform

Akanksha Tiwari

Early Lives and Shared Vision

Building Education: Schools for Girls & the Marginalized

Social Reform Beyond Education

Obstacles, Courage & Legacy

From Struggle to Social Change

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