Who Was Mary Roy? Noted Educationist Dies At 89

Noted educationist and social worker Mary Roy, who advocated equal rights and fought a legal battle for Syrian Christian women in their ancestral property, died at age of 89, on Thursday, family sources confirmed in a report.

Mary Roy was a gutsy woman, who challenged the archaic Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916 in court to ensure women an equal share in inherited property. Roy herself experienced discrimination, she was denied inheritance rights. The same led to a court case. Roy's case became a landmark judgment and paved the way for Indian women’s successions rights. Roy was vocal about discrimination against women, which came from traditions and customs. She stood strongly against domestic violence and dowry harassment and helped survivors to get back on their feet. 

Mary Roy did exemplary work in the field of education. Roy took the loan and established the Pallikoodam School in Kottayam, Kerala. Pallikoodam means school in the Malayalam and Tamil languages. The affluent Syrian Christian community who once boycotted Roy for rebellious work, today sent their children to her school. Roy stated, “My dear, I am now a pillar of the community. I hear it is being said in Kottayam that if you want to belong to the right circles, you should have a child in Mary Roy’s school or you should have had a divorce", as per a report. 

Roy's teaching career started when she came to her maternal home in Ooty, where her mother resided. With her teaching, Roy supported herself and two children. Her mother too walked out of her violent marriage and was living independently. 

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Who Was Mary Roy?

Mary was born in a Syrian Christian family to her father P.V. Isaac, an entomologist, and mother, a homemaker who belonged to a wealthy Syrian Christian family. Mary took her education in Calcutta, where she married a Bengali. Roy's marriage was outside the Syrian Christian community and against her father’s will. Roy is the mother of writer and Man Booker Prize Winner Arundhati Roy. Arundhati Roy authored The God of Small Things. The book's protagonist Ammu was based on her mother Mary Roy.