At a time when most women were kept away from higher education, R Sivabhogam carved an unlikely path; one that led her to become India’s first woman Chartered Accountant (CA), despite laws that initially barred her from practice.
As highlighted by The Better India, Sivabhogam’s life was marked by an unrelenting drive to break through societal and colonial constraints.
Born on July 23, 1907, Sivabhogam’s early education at Lady Willingdon School in Triplicane and graduation from Queen Mary’s College in Chennai set the stage for her future battles. Inspired by Sister RS Subbalakshmi, a reformer who worked to uplift homemakers and widows, and guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals, she embraced simplicity; khadi garments and bus rides became her norm.
When the Civil Disobedience Movement gathered force, Sivabhogam joined the Youth League and later the Swadeshi League, teaching khadi block printing and rejecting foreign goods.
These acts of defiance resulted in her imprisonment for a year at Vellore jail. According to The Better India, this unintended pause became a turning point. It was during her time in jail that she resolved to appear for the Graduate Diploma in Accountancy (GDA) exams, supported only by her elder sister and Subbalakshmi.
Clearing the exams in 1933 was just the beginning. Despite completing her articleship under auditor CS Sastri in Chennai, her jail record meant British law refused her the right to practise. Unwilling to accept defeat, she filed a writ petition and eventually won the right to set up her own firm in 1937.
Sivabhogam’s influence only grew. She headed audits of major government institutions, became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) when it was founded in 1949, and served as the only woman to chair the Southern India Regional Council for three consecutive years.
Beyond balance sheets, she championed girls’ education, funding scholarships and rewarding achievers with a gold locket for topping ICAI’s exams. Sivabhogam’s legacy endures. If over 80,000 women are CAs today, her pioneering efforts are a major reason why.
