Ram Mohan Roy found women of Bengal ‘uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as "sati".’ By the time Satyendranath was born "sati" had been banned (in 1829), and the process of reformation had set in.

The position of women in his society troubled him from a young age. He used to think that the "purdah" system in his family was ‘not that of our own nation but a copy of Muslim practices’. His visit to England where he witnessed more freedom for women helped him understand the relatively poor position of women in Indian society.

After his marriage, he found in Jnanadanandini Devi an ideal partner to fulfill his thinking. When he was thrilled to witness the progress of women in the advanced society in England, he wanted to take her to England to witness the same, but his father, Devendranath Tagore, stood in the way.

Back in India, Satyendranath took Jnanadanandini Devi to Bombay, where she tried to live in the manner and style of the wives of the English officers of the ICS. When the couple returned to the ancestral home at Jorasanko for a holiday, they created a sensation in Calcutta society. They were invited to a party in the Government House (now Raj Bhavan). Breaking all traditional rules, Jnanadanandini Devi accompanied her husband to the party. There she was – "a lone Bengali woman in the midst of hundreds of English women." Prasanna Coomar Tagore of the Pathuriaghata branch of the family, who was present in the party, could not bear the sight of a wife of a family member in such an open place and left immediately "in shame and anger".

In 1877, he sent Jnanadanandini Devi to England with an English couple. She went with three children, a daring task in those days. They initially stayed with the family of Prasanna Coomar Tagore’s son Gnanendramohan Tagore, who had converted to Christianity and was the first Indian to qualify for the English bar. Later they shifted to Brighton and lived on their own there.

Subsequently, Satyendranath accompanied Rabindranath Tagore in what was the latter's first visit to England. All of them returned to India in 1880. It was not only with his wife, but also his sisters that he took the lead to change things. His sister Soudamini Devi wrote, ‘The mocking we faced when we went out in the carriages is difficult to believe now.”

Thus were laid the foundations of freeing the upper and middle class women from the "purdah". It was a major achievement of Satyendranath Tagore.

Jnanadanandini Devi contributed in some unique ways also. As she had to go out in society, she developed a style of wearing the sari, which is broadly followed by Indian women today. She also introduced the use of proper undergarments.

Jnanadanandini Devi took special interest in children’s matters and started the system of observing birthdays of children in the family, giving them gifts and celebrating the occasion. She started and edited a magazine named "Balak" for children in 1885. It was possibly the first magazine for children in the Bengali language. The magazine motivated Rabindranath to write for children. Many of the pieces included in his book "Sishu" were first published in "Balak". The magazine was wound up after a year and merged with the family magazine "Bharati".

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