[5] Along with her husband, Jyotiba Phule, in Maharashtra, she played a vital role in improving women's rights in India.

[9][14] Once she completed her primary education with Jyothi rao, she continued her studies under the guidance of her friends, Sakharam Yeshwant Paranjpe and Keshav Shivram Bhavalkar.

[15][16] She enrolled herself in two teachers' training programs; the first was at an institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar, and the second course was at a Normal School in Pune.

Kandukuri states that Savitribai often travelled to her school carrying an extra sari because she would be assailed by her conservative opposition with stones, dung, and verbal abuse.

However, in 1849, Jyotirao's father asked the couple to leave his home because their work was considered a sin as per the Manusmriti and its derived Brahmanical texts.

Jyotirao summarizes Savitribai and his work in an interview given to the Christian missionary periodical, Dnyanodaya, on 15 September 1853, saying, It did occur to me that the improvement that comes about in a child due to the mother is very important and good.

People were not willing to send their children to school but Lahuji Ragh Raut Mang and Ranba Mahar convinced their caste brethren about the benefits of getting educated.

Eleanor Zelliot blames the closure on private European donations drying up due to the Rebellion of 1857, withdrawal of government support, and Jyotirao resigning from the school management committee because of disagreement regarding the curriculum.

[19] In 1863, the Phule couple with their longtime friend Sadashiv Ballal Govande] started an infanticide prevention centre called Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha[6] mainly for pregnant widows.

Pamphlets were stuck around Pune advertising the centre in the following words: "Widows, come here and deliver your baby safely and secretly.

[13] Savitribai and her adopted son Yashwant, opened a clinic to treat those affected by the worldwide Third Pandemic of the bubonic plague when it appeared in the area around Nalasopara in 1897.

Upon learning that Babaji Gaekwad's son had contracted the plague in the Mahar settlement outside of Mundhwa, Savitribai Phule rushed to his side and carried him on her back to the hospital.

Savitribai also called for a gathering place for women that was free of caste discrimination or differentiation of any kind.

She opened a women's shelter called the Home for the Prevention of Infanticide, where Brahmin widows could safely deliver their children and leave them there to be adopted if they so desired.

[9] Savitribai Phule's legacy lives on today; her work for girl's and women's education is hugely respected.