Feminising Empire : The Association of Medical Women in India and the Campaign to Found a Women’s Medical Service

The ‘medical needs’ of India were championed by the Association of Medical Women in India (AMWI) at the beginning of the twentieth century, twenty years after the establishment of the Dufferin Fund. This Association, representing the professional interests of British women doctors in India, campaigned for a Women’s Medical Service that would parallel the Indian Medical Service (IMS) but would have an entirely female cadre. Its agitation demonstrated the rising prominence of female experts in India, and involved reconfiguring the colonial gender order and racial hierarchies. The AMWI’s campaign marked the beginning of the ‘feminisation’ of empire as British women doctors called for a reconceptualisation of colonial development to include medical care for Indian women.