Ina Beasley

Dr. Ina M Beasley (1898–1994) was an English educator, author and lecturer, who worked in education in Sudan from 1939 to 1949.

Biography Ina Beasley was born in England in 1898. During her early life, her family holidayed in Margate, Kent. Between 1919 and 1921, she studied at University College London, and in 1922, she was awarded a Teacher's Diploma from the Institute of Education, London. She taught in the Adult Education Department at the University of Nottingham until 1930, when she traveled with her husband to his posting in Burma. She published an introduction to the playwright in 1928.

During her time in Burma she worked as a lecturer and as a tutor to women students at Rangoon University. Beasley recalled in her diary that this job provided an adequate salary to cover boarding school costs for her daughter and provided enough annual leave that they could spend summer holidays together.

Career in Sudan When Beasley took up her post in October 1939 she found that Sudanese men were not opposed to female education, but that they wanted it to produce 'good wives' not 'wage earners or autonomous thinkers'. Beasley always stressed the importance of education for its own sake. She stated that:

"The most encouraging feature is in recognising the possibilities which are in the girls themselves, and feeling that it is they who may eventually overcome the many obstacles to development which have been placed in their way. The disheartening results in some districts are balanced by the embarrassing success in others. Perhaps if the work goes on quietly in the same unostentatious spirit at the end of the next twenty years there may be a proportionately greater tale to tell."

Female Genital Mutilation

During her career, Beasley's work in female education had a profound impact on the educational system for women in Sudan, she was also concerned with the practice of female genital mutilation, which was widely carried out. Beasley believed that change to these practices could only come through the education of women themselves and their resistance to it. Beasley had a subtle understanding of the different cultural identities within Sudan, and realised the need to work with women from them. She organised an educational campaign which focused on schools and organised for Sudanese teachers to tour remote schools to discuss the practice and its effects on health. She became part of the discussion on the need for reform of the civil service pension scheme, particularly the Sudan Government British Pensioners’ Association, and suggested in a letter that women pay 4/5 of the contribution of men, because it was in line with the wages that they earned in reality. In 1969 she featured on BBC Radio 4 discussing her career in women's education in Sudan. She continued to campaign against FGM. They recall the early days of air travel in Africa, amongst other anecdotes. Her work in the Sudan has been studied, with a particular focus on her views on FGM, particularly by Sudanese anthropologist Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf. They include:

Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections University of Oxford: Bodleian Library University of Oxford: St Anthony's College