How many women were members of the Constituent Assembly of India (after partition), who signed the Constitution?

There were 15 women members in the Constituent Assembly of India after partition, and they took part in framing the Constitution.

The women members:

• Ammu Swaminathan.
• Annie Mascarene, from Travancore-Cochin.
• Begum Aizaz Rasul, the only Muslim woman member.
• Dakshayani Velayudhan, the only Dalit woman member, from Cochin.
• Durgabai Deshmukh, a social worker from Andhra.
• Hansa Mehta, a reformer and educationist from Bombay.
• Kamla Chaudhri, a writer from the United Provinces.
• Leela Roy, a revolutionary from Bengal.
• Malati Choudhury, a Gandhian worker from Orissa.
• Purnima Banerjee, a freedom fighter from the United Provinces.
• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, who became the first Health Minister of independent India.
• Renuka Ray, a social worker from Bengal.
• Sarojini Naidu, the poet and freedom fighter.
• Sucheta Kripalani, who later became the first woman Chief Minister in India (Uttar Pradesh).
• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, who later became the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Their contributions:

They took part in debates on fundamental rights, equality, the uniform civil code, the rights of women, and the welfare of the weaker sections.

Hansa Mehta helped ensure that the Constitution used gender-neutral language for equality; she also worked on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations, where she helped change the phrase "all men are born free and equal" to "all human beings".

Durgabai Deshmukh later set up the Central Social Welfare Board.

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur played a major role in establishing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Dakshayani Velayudhan spoke strongly against untouchability and for the rights of the depressed classes.

Begum Aizaz Rasul opposed separate electorates for minorities.

Significance:

Although they were a small minority among the members, the women members helped make the Constitution more inclusive and egalitarian.

Why not the other options?

• ✗9, 21 and 30 are not the number of women members.