First and equals: Indian women who were the 'firsts' in their fields

From Indira Gandhi to justice M Fathima Beevi, from Rita Faria to Mary Kom, Indian women who were the firsts in their chosen field

GN Bureau | March 8, 2018


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First and equals: Indian women who were the `firsts` in their fields
First and equals: Indian women who were the `firsts` in their fields

From Indira Gandhi to justice M Fathima Beevi, from Rita Faria to Mary Kom, Indian women who were the firsts in their chosen field continue to inspire generations of younger women.

 
Here is a very short list of some of them:
 
Pratibha Devisingh Patil: First woman president
 
Indira Gandhi: First woman prime minister
 
Sucheta Kriplani: First woman chief minister, serving as the head of the Uttar Pradesh government.
 
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit: First woman to hold a union cabinet post.
 
Sarojini Naidu: First woman governor in independent India
 
Justice M Fathima Beevi: First female judge of the supreme court of India
 
Justice Leila Seth: First female chief justice of a high court
 
Bachendri Pal: First Indian woman to scale Mount Everest
 
Kiran Bedi: First woman IPS officer
 
Meira Kumar: First woman speaker of Lok Sabha
 
Rita Faria: First Indian woman to become Miss World
 
Roze Millian Bethew: The first woman chairman of UPSC
 
Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi: First Indian female physician
 
Arunima Sinha: First female amputee to climb Mount Everest
 
Arati Saha: First Indian and Asian woman to swim across English Channel in 1959
 
Mithali Raj: First woman to score a double hundred in Test Cricket 
 
Mother Teresa: First Indian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1979
 
Kalpana Chawla: First Indian woman to travel in space
 
Saina Nehwal: First Indian woman to win a medal in Badminton at 2012 Olympic Games

Mary Kom: The only woman boxer to have won a medal in each of the six World Championships. She was the only Indian woman boxer who qualified for the 2012 Olympics and became the first Indian woman boxer to win a gold medal in Asian Games in 2014.
 
Harita Kaur Deol: First woman pilot to fly solo in the Indian Air Force, in 1994
 
And the celebration of Woman Power continues with Avani Chaturvedi becoming India’s first woman fighter pilot to fly solo.

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