Zenana
Zenana (Persian: زنانه, Urdu: زنانہ), refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim family in the Middle East and South Asia reserved for the women of the household.[1] The Zenana are the inner apartments of a house in which the women of the family live. The outer apartments for guests and men is called the Mardana.
[edit] Zenana missions
The Zenana missions were by women missionaries, who went to Indian women in their own homes with the aim of converting them to Christianity. The Baptist Missionary Society inaugurated Zenana missions to India in the early 19th century. The concept was later taken up by other churches and extended to other countries.
By the 1880s, the "Zenana missions" added medical work to its ministry to encourage conversions and became Zenana Bible and Medical Mission. This involved recruiting female doctors, both by persuading female doctors in Europe to come to India and by encouraging Indian women to study medicine in their pursuit of conversion. They also provided schooling for girls, including the principles of the Christian faith. As a result, the Zenana missions helped break down the male bias against colonial medicine in India to a small extent.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Purdah and polygamy: a study in the social pathology of the Muslim society. By Mazhar-ul-Haq Khan, Publisher: Nashiran-e-Ilm-o-Taraqiyet, 1972. Page 68. The zenana or female portion of a Muslim house.
- ^ A history of missions in India. By Julius Richter.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
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