The journey in India began in the mid-19th century with a woman who learned to read in the shadows of her kitchen. In 1876, Rassundari Devi published Aamar Jiban (My Life) in Bengali, marking the first autobiography written and published by an Indian woman. At a time when female literacy was often met with social hostility, her ability to navigate the path from secret self-education to a printed volume laid the foundation for the female voice in Indian letters.
In 1882, Tarabai Shinde’s Stri Purush Tulana (A Comparison Between Women and Men) challenged the foundations of patriarchy through the medium of the pamphlet, proving that women could use the press as a tool for social agitation.
Shortly after, in 1887, Krupabai Satthianadhan’s Saguna began appearing in print, marking the first time an autobiographical novel by an Indian woman was published in English, bridging the gap between vernacular roots and global readers.
By the late 1800s, the movement shifted from private memoirs to the technical shop floor. Between 1898 and 1902, Pandita Ramabai established a professional printing press at her Mukti Mission in Kedgaon in Maharashtra. This was a revolutionary industrial milestone: Ramabai trained young women and widows in the technical arts of typesetting, printing, and bookbinding.
While the 19th century was defined by authors, the early 20th century saw women cross the threshold into the industrial side of the trade. In the composing rooms of the Government of India Press at Dharamtalla, a small group of women began working as compositors. These were the first female technical hands in the industry, physically handling lead type. This meant that women were now the makers of the books themselves as well.
By 1959, the seven founders of Lijjat Papad started a movement that eventually led to the establishment of their own printing and polypropylene packaging divisions in the 1970s. This was a crucial evolution; women would now be managing the supply chain and packaging of their own brands.
This spirit of autonomy peaked in 1979 with the Karaikal Women’s Co-operative Printing Society in Puducherry. This venture was one of the first instances in India where the entire lifecycle of a press, from management to the heavy lifting of machinery, was placed in the hands of women. It transformed the shop floor from a male-dominated space into a centre of collective female entrepreneurship.
The 1980s marked the feminist print movement, led by Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon, who founded Kali for Women in 1984. This was India’s first independent women’s publishing house, ensuring that women’s scholarship and activism were printed, bound, and distributed on their own terms.
In 1994, Dina Vakil became the first woman editor of a major national daily’s metropolitan edition (The Times of India, Bombay), followed years later by Malini Parthasarathy at The Hindu.
Today, the landscape is defined by digital precision and sustainable packaging, led by a new generation of CEOs. From the 19th-century kitchen to the high-speed digital presses of today, the story of Indian women in print is a record of a long, deliberate, and successful ascent.