Dr. Muthulakshmi as a Madras Legislature in 1926

First Woman Legislature:

     She was nominated to the Madras Legislature as a member of legislative council in 1926, and became the first woman to be a member of any legislature in India. When she was elected as the Deputy Chairperson of the legislative council, she became the first woman in the world to become the Vice-President of a Legislature. She was the prime mover behind the legislation that abolished the devadasi system in 1929 and played a keen role in raising the minimum marriage age for women in India. In 1930, she resigned from the Madras Legislature as a protest following the imprisonment of Mahathma Gandhi.not only under the influence of gandhibut also under the influence of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. She was the founder-president of the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) and became the first alderwoman of the Madras Corporation.

 

Dr Reddy was actively involved with several orphanage homes and women’s welfare organisations, and initiated measures to improve the medical facilities given to slum dwellers. In 1930, she founded Avvai Home, a home for destitute women and orphans at Besant Avenue, Adyar. As an MLC, she introduced a scheme of free education for girls up to class eight.

Adyar Cancer Institute

During her address at the Centenary celebration of the Madras Medical College in 1935, Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy first expressed her desire to start a hospital for cancer patients. With the overwhelming support of like-minded people, the foundation stone for Adyar Cancer Institute was laid by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952. The hospital which started functioning on June 18, 1954, was only the second of its kind in India and the first in south India. It is today a world-renowned institution offering treatment to nearly 80,000 cancer patients every year.