Sri Meenakshi Government College for Women came into existence in the year 1965 in the city of Madurai. The college is situated on the north bank of the river Vaigai, right in the middle of the city. Approach to the college is easy and therefore, it caters effectively to the needs of the women students in the city.
The college was started by the government of TamilNadu with the exclusive aim of the upliftment of the women of Madurai. In 1965 the college had only pre-university courses with 320 students. There were 13 teaching and 13 non-teaching staff. In the very next academic year, that is, 1966-67, undergraduate courses in Tamil literature, Economics and Mathematics were started.

In 1968, undergraduate courses in Chemistry and Geography were started. In 1969 undergraduate courses in English literature and History were introduced. The year 1970 saw the introduction of B.Sc Physics course. The year 1971 was marked by the introduction of the first Post Graduate course in the college namely M.A, geography. In the same year, B.A. (Special Economics) and B.Sc (Special Zoology) courses were also introduced.
In 1972 certificate courses in Gandhian thought was introduced. M.A. (History), M.A. (Economics) ,B.Sc (Home Science) and M.Sc (Mathematics) courses were introduced one by one in the years 1972, 1973, 1975, 1979, and 1980 respectively. Subsequently, the |B.com course was introduced in 1986, M.A.(English literature) in 1990, B.Sc. (Computer Science) in 1992, B.Sc (Environment Science) in 1993 and MCA in 1998.

Thus, the college has grown in stature day by day. Now it is a premier institution with 15 post-graduate courses and 15 undergraduate courses catering to the academic needs of around 2894 women students every year. The college has a library with 44450 books and 75 journals. There are adequate laboratory facilities for practical work in Physics, Chemistry, Environment science, Zoology, Geography, Home Science and Computer Science. The college also has adequate class-room facilities and other infrastructure.