For children: Who was Hansa Mehta, tireless feminist and ‘founding mother of the Indian republic’?

For centuries, the word “man” was construed to mean all human beings, male or female. Hence, using “mankind”, “early man” and other such words and phrases to include all genders was (and continues to be) fairly common. Few paused to consider that the inclusive thing to do would be to use “human” or “humankind”, and not make all others a subgroup of men.

It was Hansa Mehta who pointed this out. As a result of her intervention, in an extremely important document the word “man” was dropped, ushering in a new era of gender inclusivity in language.

World War II, with its widespread loss of life and destruction of property, resulted in the birth of the United Nations Organization (UNO, later UN) in October 1945. The aim of the UN was the achievement of world peace, friendly relations among nations and international cooperation to solve the problems of humankind. Along with this, the UN also resolved to work to ensure that individual rights were protected and that the worth and dignity of every human being was guaranteed. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), drafted by the UN Human Rights Commission and adopted by the members of the UN in December 1948,…

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