Margaret Elizabeth Cousins

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Context (IE): On Women’s History Month, the life of Margaret Cousins, who fought hard for women’s voting rights in India, is being remembered.

Margaret Elizabeth Cousins (also known as Gretta Cousins) was an Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist, and Theosophist.
She moved to India with her husband, poet and literary critic James Cousins, in 1915.

Margaret Gillespie, from an Irish Protestant family, was born on 7 November 1878 at Boyle, County Roscommon.
She studied music at the Royal University of Ireland in Dublin, graduating in 1902, and became a teacher.

1906: Attended National Conference of Women (NCW) meeting in Manchester, joining the Irish branch of NCW.
1907: Attended London Convention of Theosophical Society, establishing connections with various activist groups in London.
1908: Co-founded the Irish Women’s Franchise League with Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, serving as the league’s first treasurer.
1910: Participated in the Parliament of Women, advocating for women’s rights, leading to her arrest.
1913: Upon the reading of the Second Home Rule Bill, protesters broke windows at Dublin Castle, leading to arrest and imprisonment in Tullamore Jail.
- Demonstrated for recognition as political prisoners and initiated a hunger strike for release.
1915: Moved to India, presumably continuing their activism and involvement in social causes.

Initially worked for New India, Annie Besant’s newspaper, but was dismissed for an article supporting the Easter Uprising.
1916: Became the first non-Indian member of the Indian Women’s University at Poona.
1917: Co-founded the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) with Annie Besant and Dorothy Jinarajadasa.
- Edited the WIA’s journal, Stri Dharma, advocating for women’s rights and empowerment.
1919: Drafted the first demand for women’s voting rights in India, presented to the Southborough Committee in London.
1922: Became the first woman magistrate in India.
1927: Co-founded the All India Women’s Conference, later serving as its President in 1936.
She became a member of the Flag Presentation Committee and presented the National Flag of India to the Constituent Assembly on 14 August 1947.