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Kamila Tyabji

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Kamila Tyabji
A young South Asian woman, with dark hair parted center, wearing a sari.
Kamila Tyabji as a young woman, from a 1937 newspaper.
Born
Kamila Faiz Badruddin Tyabji

14 February 1918
Mumbai
Died17 May 2004 (2004-05-18) (aged 86)
Mumbai
Occupation(s)Lawyer, philanthropist
FamilyTyabji family

Kamila Tyabji (14 February 1918 – 17 May 2004) was an Indian philanthropist and lawyer. As a lawyer, Tyabji was renowned for being London's only woman barrister and the first to argue a case before the Privy Council.[1]

Early life and education

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Kamila Faiz Badruddin Tyabji was born in Bombay, a member of the prominent Muslim Tyabji family of that city. Her father was Faiz Badruddin Tyabji, a judge, and her mother Salima was a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly.[2][3] Her grandfather was Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906), third president of the Indian National Congress. Her brother was Badruddin Tyabji, Laila Tyabji is her niece, and Zafar Futehally was her first cousin.[citation needed]

Tyabji attended St. Xavier's College in Bombay, and St Hugh's College, Oxford; at the latter school, she was a classmate of Indira Gandhi's. She was one of the earliest Muslim women to study at Oxford,[4] arriving in 1937,[5] only two years younger than Velia Abdel-Huda, who is credited as first.[6]

Career

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Tyabji wore "brilliant silken saris" while she practiced insurance law in London for 25 years,[2] and hosted a BBC television program, Asian Club, with Shakuntala Shrinagesh, between 1953 and 1956.[7][8] In 1960 she was founder and first chair of the Women's Indian Association of the United Kingdom.[9]

After returning to India in the mid-1960s, Tyabji founded a charity, the Women's India Trust (WIT) in 1968, to improve women's economic independence by supporting home-based work including sewing, embroidery, and cookery.[2][10] She began the Kamila Trust in the UK, to support the work of the WIT and open a London shop, Kashi, to sell WIT goods.[11]

Tyabji wrote Limited Interests in Muhammadan Law (1949),[12] "Education and Life: Some Rethinking for Commonwealth Women" (1966),[13] and "Polygamy, Unilateral Divorce, and Mahr in Muslim Law as Interpreted in India". She was India's representative on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[4]

Personal life and legacy

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Tyabji died in Mumbai in 2004, aged 86 years.[4] WIT continues working for women's economic independence, and runs a nursing home and teacher training school in addition to its original activities.[2] The Kamila Tyabji WIT Centre in Panvel was named in her honour.[11][14][15] In 2014, she was posthumously awarded the KarmaVeer Puraskaar, for her lifetime achievements.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Khan, Naseem (15 June 2004). "Kamila Tyabji". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Khan, Danish (15 February 2012). "Jam and chutney for the unskilled". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. ^ Karlitzky, Maren (2002). "The Tyabji Clan: Urdu as a Symbol of Group Identity". The Annual of Urdu Studies: 193.
  4. ^ a b c Khan, Naseem (15 June 2004). "Obituary: Kamila Tyabji". the Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Miss Kamila Tyabji". The Bombay Chronicle. 15 September 1937. p. 5. Retrieved 30 October 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Sarin, Sophie (1 January 2013). "Princess Lulie Flamboyant: Art historian and friend of Freya Stark and". The Independent. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  7. ^ Pandit, Vaijayanti (2003). BUSINESS @ HOME. Vikas Publishing House. pp. 159–161. ISBN 978-81-259-1218-7.
  8. ^ "Asian Club". BBC Genome. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  9. ^ Sheila Arora (1987). Twenty-Five Years Remenbered The Women's India Association of the United Kingdom 1960-1985. Public Resource. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-9511872-0-3.
  10. ^ "Just Jammin'". The Times of India. 8 April 2001. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b CHARANTIMATH (2013). Entrepreneurship Development and Small Business Enterprises. Pearson Education India. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-93-325-0953-5.
  12. ^ Tyabji, Kamila (1949). Limited Interests in Muhammadan Law. Stevens.
  13. ^ TYABJI, KAMILA (1966). "Education and Life: Some Re-Thinking for Commonwealth Women". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 114 (5116): 308–318. ISSN 0035-9114. JSTOR 41369645.
  14. ^ "Repairs of Kamila Tyabji Centre". WIT. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  15. ^ Bhavika. "WIT: This Women's Trust Makes Everything From Cushion Covers To Stationery". LBB, Mumbai. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  16. ^ KarmaVeer Paraskaar Awardees, 2014-2015.
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