Zenana

Zenana (Persian: زنانه, Urdu: زنانہ, Bengali: জেনানা, Hindi: ज़नाना) literally meaning "of the women" or "pertaining to women", in the Persian language^[1] contextually refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu family in the Indian subcontinent, which is reserved for the women of the household.^[2] The zenana was a product of Indo-Islamic culture and was commonly found in aristocratic Muslim families. Due to prolonged interactions between Hindus and Muslims, upper-class Hindu households, inclined to imitate elite cultural trends, also embraced these designated spaces.^[3] The zenana were the inner rooms of a house where the women of the family lived and where men and strangers were not allowed to enter. The outer apartments for guests and men are called the mardana. Conceptually in those that practise purdah, it is the equivalent in the Indian subcontinent of the harem.

Christian missionaries were able to gain access to these Indian girls and women through the zenana missions; female missionaries who had been trained as doctors and nurses were able to provide them with health care and also evangelise them in their own homes.