Mary Rutnam

Mary Helen Rutnam (née Irwin; 2 June 1873 – 1962) was a Canadian doctor, gynaecologist, suffragist, and pioneer of women's rights in Sri Lanka. She became nationally recognised for her work in women's health and health education, birth control, prisoners' rights, and the temperance movement.

Early life and education Mary Helen Irwin was born on 2 June 1873 in Elora, Ontario, Canada. Her family were Presbyterian. Ceylon's Medical Council rejected her suggestion to include principles of family planning in Ceylon Medical School's curriculum, and five years later - in 1937 - Rutnam opened her own family planning clinic in Colombo, the country's first. The same year, she won a seat on the municipal council of Bambalapitiya, the first woman to do so, and oversaw 'sanitation projects, urban renewal, and local poor relief'. However, critics of her birth control advocacy saw her removed from the role just a year later.

In 1944, Rutnam was a co-founder of the All-Ceylon Women's Conference, which had taken over the work of the Ceylon Women's Society. Her social work and concerns widened further still, including the rights of female factory workers, women prisoners, adult education, the dowry system, and childcare provision for working mothers.

Writing and lecturing Rutnam wrote, lectured, and published extensively on the social and medical issues she cared about. As well as articles in newspapers, Rutnam published two textbooks: A Health Manual for Schools (1923) and the Homecraft Manual for Ceylon Schools (1933). This latter included a call for young women to carry out social work, as well as decrying issues like the use and treatment of children as servants. She championed sex education, women's suffrage, and improved nutrition, spearheading a campaign to tackle the prevalence of rickets among children.

Recognition In 1949, on her 76th birthday, Rutnam was celebrated widely for her tireless work in social welfare.

In 1958, she won the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation award for Public Service for her humanitarian and social work. Rutnam was praised for havingfor 62 years applied her heart, her mind and her medical knowledge with insight and understanding to the problems of the Ceylonese people, whom she has made her own. Among the major contributions noted was the introduction of women's institutes (the Lanka Mahila Samiti) to Ceylon, which had 'done much to alter the status of village women'. Rutnam:labored particularly to enhance the self-respect of the less fortunate by showing them practical ways to improve their lot. At the same time, she has helped the more fortunate to recognize that it is their social responsibility and, indeed, their privilege to help their fellowmen.

Death and legacy Dr. Mary Rutnam died in 1962. Following her death, a memorial was created for her in the form of a women and children's waiting room at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in Colombo.

In 1993, Dr. Kumari Jayawardena published a book about Rutnam entitled A Canadian Pioneer for Women's Rights in Sri Lanka.