What was the attitude of people in India in the 19 century towards women? reading? How did women respond to this?

(a) There were two kinds of attitude of people towards women reading:
(i) Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at horn”, and sent them to w-omen’s schools when they were set up in the towns and cities.
(ii) Conservative families responded differently. Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.
(b) Women’s response was as given below:
(i) Rebel women defied prohibition and some women secretly learnt to read and write in Urdu.
(ii) Rashsundari Debi learnt to read in secrecy and wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which was published in 1876.
(iii) Women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women about their lives at home.