Kamila Tyabji

Kamila Tyabji (February 14, 1918 – May 17, 2004) was an Indian philanthropist and lawyer.

Kamila Tyabji
Kamila Tyabji as a young woman, from a 1937 newspaper.
Born
Kamila Faiz Badruddin Tyabji

February 14, 1918
Mumbai
DiedMay 17, 2004
Mumbai
OccupationLawyer, philanthropist

Early life and education

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.[1][2] 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.

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,[3] arriving in 1937,[4] only two years younger than Velia Abdel-Huda, who is credited as first.[5]

Career

Tyabji wore "brilliant silken saris" while she practiced insurance law in London for 25 years,[1] and hosted a BBC television program, Asian Club, with Shakuntala Shrinagesh, between 1953 and 1956.[6][7] In 1960 she was founder and first chair of the Women's Indian Association of the United Kingdom.[8]

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.[1][9] 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.[10]

Tyabji wrote Limited Interests in Muhammadan Law (1949),[11] "Education and Life: Some Rethinking for Commonwealth Women" (1966),[12] 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.[3]

Personal life and legacy

Tyabji died in Mumbai in 2004, aged 86 years.[3] WIT continues working for women's economic independence, and runs a nursing home and teacher training school in addition to its original activities.[1] The Kamila Tyabji WIT Centre in Panvel was named in her honour.[10][13][14] In 2014, she was posthumously awarded the KarmaVeer Puraskaar, for her lifetime achievements.[15]

References
  1. Khan, Danish (2012-02-15). "Jam and chutney for the unskilled". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  2. Karlitzky, Maren (2002). "The Tyabji Clan: Urdu as a Symbol of Group Identity". The Annual of Urdu Studies: 193.
  3. Khan, Naseem (2004-06-15). "Obituary: Kamila Tyabji". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  4. "Miss Kamila Tyabji". The Bombay Chronicle. 15 September 1937. p. 5. Retrieved October 30, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  5. Sarin, Sophie (2013-01-01). "Princess Lulie Flamboyant: Art historian and friend of Freya Stark and". The Independent. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
  6. Pandit, Vaijayanti (2003). BUSINESS @ HOME. Vikas Publishing House. pp. 159–161. ISBN 978-81-259-1218-7.
  7. "Asian Club". BBC Genome. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  8. Sheila Arora (1987). Twenty-Five Years Remenbered The Women's India Association of the United Kindom 1960-1985. Public Resource. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-9511872-0-3.
  9. "Just Jammin'". The Times of India. 8 April 2001. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  10. CHARANTIMATH (2013). Entrepreneurship Development and Small Business Enterprises. Pearson Education India. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-93-325-0953-5.
  11. Tyabji, Kamila (1949). Limited Interests in Muhammadan Law. Stevens.
  12. 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.
  13. "Repairs of Kamila Tyabji Centre". WIT. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  14. Bhavika. "WIT: This Women's Trust Makes Everything From Cushion Covers To Stationery". LBB, Mumbai. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  15. KarmaVeer Paraskaar Awardees, 2014-2015.
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