Who was Fatima Sheikh, feminist icon honoured with Google Doodle?

Google is on Sunday celebrating the 191st
birth anniversary of educator and feminist icon Fatima Sheikh, who is widely
regarded as India’s first Muslim woman teacher, with a beautifully crafted
doodle. Hailed as “lifelong champion” in women’s education, Sheikh, alongside
social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, co-founded one of India’s first
schools for girls in 1848 and named it the Indigenous Library.

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The beautiful Google Doodle in a
combination of white, blue and yellow adds an illustration of Sheikh along with
two open books in the background. The doodle is simple yet presents Sheikh’s
career at a glance.

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Born on January 9, 1831, in Pune, Fatima
Sheikh is hailed for her resilience and pioneering role in promoting education
for girls in a society that vehemently opposed the idea of education for girls. As a young girl, she
lived with her brother Usman. The siblings opened their home to Jyotirao and
Savitribai Phule after they were chased for trying to educate people from the
lower strata of the Indian caste system. Eventually, Sheikh, alongside her
fellow pioneers and social reformers Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, co-founded
the Indigenous Library in 1848 in order to educate young girls.

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At the library, Sheikh taught communities
of marginalised Dalit and Muslim women and children who were denied admission
to conventional schools on the basis of caste, creed, religion and gender.
Their combined efforts were recognised as Satyashodhak Samaj (Truthseekers’
Society) movement.

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“As a lifelong champion of this
movement for equality, Sheikh went door-to-door to invite the downtrodden in
her community to learn at the Indigenous Library and escape the rigidity of the
Indian caste system. She met great resistance from the dominant classes who
attempted to humiliate those involved in the Satyashodhak movement, but Sheikh
and her allies persisted,” Google said in a statement, explaining today’s
doodle.

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Fatima Sheikh dedicated her whole life to
social reforms. She was one of the few Indian women who could come out of her
shell and take the call of educating women as a movement in a patriarchal society.
Sheikh took part in the founding of two schools in Bombay in 1851.

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As per Google’s Blogspot, Sheikh’s story
had been “historically overlooked” until 2014 when the Indian
government highlighted her achievements in Urdu test books alongside other
trailblazing Indian educators. Her work is also of the greatest significance
for the oppressed Dalits and Muslims, as she was among the firsts to launch the
joint struggle to make their voices heard.