The Women's Indian Association (WIA) was founded at Adayar, Madras, in 1917 by Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Dorothy Jinarajadasa, and others to liberate women from the deplorable condition women suffered in socio-economic and political matters during the 19th and the early 20th century. The Association later developed into a potent force to fight against illiteracy, child marriage, the Devadasi system and other social ills.[1][2] After Besant's death in 1933, Dorothy Jinarajadasa became more involved in the internal politics of theosophists. The faction she supported fell from favour, and her name stopped appearing in all documents from that point onward.