Feminist icon and author Kamla Bhasin died on Saturday morning at the age of 75, The Indian Express reported.

She was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago.

Bhasin was born on April 24, 1946 in the district of Mandi Bahauddin, which is now in Pakistan, according to Dawn. After Partition, her family shifted to Rajasthan in India.

She completed her graduation and post-graduation studies in Rajasthan. After this, Bhasin studied sociology at the University of Münster in West Germany, according to the Hindustan Times.

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The poet later returned to India and worked with Udaipur-based NGO Seva Mandir, which works on rural development and women’s empowerment.

In 2002, she founded the South Asian feminist network Sangat, which works with underprivileged women from rural and tribal communities, The Indian Express reported.

She was one of the founders of Jagori, a civil society organisation working for women’s empowerment.

Bhasin wrote several books on gender norms, including What is Patriarchy, published in 1993. In 2020, she wrote the books Satrangi Ladke and Satrangi Ladkiyan, The Indian Express reported.

Here are a few tributes:

Also read:

‘We love it madly, come say it loudly’: Watch Kamla Bhasin recite her inspirational poem ‘Azaadi’