Fathima Beevi is the former governor of Tamil Nadu as well as a former judge of the supreme court. She is the first woman to be appointed as a judge to the supreme court of India as well as the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any higher judiciary in the country. After she retired from the supreme court, she served as a member of the National Human rights commission. Born in 1927 in Pathanamthitta (Kerala), for her higher studies she went to University College, Trivandrum and did her bachelor in science and her bachelor of law from Law College, Trivandrum.

Why am I writing about her ?

I feel Fathima Beevi is an idol for me, a Muslim woman achieving so much in India because of her hard work & determination. Profiling her on women’s day seems totally apt considering the conditions and the controversies surrounding Muslim women anywhere and more so in India today. While I don’t thing she covered her head in court room, but Beevi can be seen wearing her sari pallu on her head in later years. Not that either of the things undermined or amplified her achievements because she was much more than what she wore.

She inspires me to do something good with my life. As a woman who belonged to the Muslim community, I can’t even begin to imagine the hurdles she must had to face during that time- she started her legal career in 1950 and enrolled with Bar Council of Kerala. How many people must tried to put her down because of her identity, the discrimination she has to face in her everyday life as a woman. Even though I belong to the opposite gender ‘Fathima Beevi’ inspires me to never stop fighting for my rights and my life. I believe, that if she can achieve so much maybe I can also do something good with my life.