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How the so-called "Dirty Nurses” Transformed Kerala by Rainu George
To fathom a patriarchal society transformed or altered by its women is a notion that is revolutionary. For Kerala, that revolution was instigated by a populace that often tends to be ignored in India’s history - they were Malayali women from Christian communities that once carried the ignominious label of ‘dirty nurses’.
Nursing as a profession was introduced in India by none other than the British. During their unwelcomed and prolonged stay on our side of the world, the British had deemed it necessary for Indian women to be nurses in order to meet the demands of hospital and war-based medical care. When they decided to provide education in India for women to be nurses, the only populace that was willing was Anglo-Indian women and Indian Christian women. To India, nursing was a European-Chrisitan ideology that the British had brought with them through Christian missionaries. Unwavering Hindu and Muslim communities restricted their women from becoming nurses because nursing as a profession relied on physical contact with both men and women. In accordance with orthodox Indian culture, it was seen as a shameful act for a woman to be touching a man without relations to them. To protect the integrity and purity of these ideals, Hindus and Muslims did not allow women in their community to pursue nursing. Therefore, only the Christian and Anglo-Indian women were able to meet the British Empire’s demand.
While the other religions forbade attendance, Christian women fulfilled the roles and pursued the profession for the sake of social mobility. At the time, the highest percentage of Christian women were from the Indian state of Kerala. They were challenged by India’s patriarchal mentality of “women must stay in their homes,” but nevertheless, they rose to the challenge, setting a precedent that educating women will help the country prosper. By the early 1920s, there were multiple institutions all over India educating nurses.
During the 1950s, there was a global shortage for nurses, especially in the Gulf Countries, so nurses from India would travel to countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia because recruiters were willing to pay their travel expenses, however, the only issue was that these countries did not offer permanent residency. After 1965, the US became a more desirable destination for Kerala nurses because US immigration laws loosened and made it possible for them to permanently settle in the United States. By the 1960s, migration to Europe was a record high for Kerala nurses, especially to Germany. About 6000 nurses went to Germany. They were filling up healthcare roles during Europe's shortage of nurses and ended up earning the title, “Brown Angles”. By the late 1960’s Kerala nurses would travel to Bombay (now Mumbai) and head over to Europe, the Gulf countries, US and East Africa from there.