Strong, influential, powerful, and indomitable are a few traits that encourage women's existence in society. As a teacher, economist, sportswoman, homemaker, or business tycoon, a woman is the reckoning force to shatter the shackles of a male-dominated society and rise above societal barriers in modern times. A celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards the women for their social, historical, economic, cultural, and political achievements takes place on International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8. The day is also an occasion to set up actions to bring about gender parity, break gender stereotypes, provide financial freedom, and address women’s daily ordeal.
The IWD has been observed since the 19th century. In 1910, an international conference of working women was held in Copenhagen, wherein a proposal of IWD celebration was moved by Clara Zetkin, a leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany. The UN celebrated IWD for the first time in 1975. Since 1913, March 8 has been a globally accepted day to celebrate IWD.
Indian Women Achievers
Effortlessly breaking the glass ceiling from sports to beauty pageant, each woman has her own inspiring journey, dedication, and achievements, which sometimes are believed to be impossible of Indian women, must be admired and their challenges must be commended.
There are firsts for Indian women for 2021. Vaishali S Hiwase became the first woman officer to be appointed as Officer Commanding in the Border Roads Organisation. Scaling heights is not difficult for Indian women. Mountaineer Priyanka Mohite became the first woman from India to scale Mt Annapurna- the world’s tenth highest mountain. The sky is the limit but not for Sirisha Bandla who became the second Indian-born woman to fly into space, after Kalpana Chawla. Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth became the first woman fighter pilot from Indian Air Force to take part in the Republic Day parade 2021, where she showcased the mock-ups of LAC- Light Combat Aircraft, the Sukhoi-30 fighter plane, and light combat helicopter.
While men have been the patriarch in politics, very few women have ventured into the political arena. Nimaben Acharya, MLA, became the first woman Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly in 2021. Mamata Didi became the only woman chief minister to get elected for three consecutive terms. Shefali Juneja was elected as the first woman Chairperson of the International Civil Aviation Organisation Aviation Security Committee of the UN.
Among the top 50 most powerful women in India in the year 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took the top slot, followed by Reliance’s Nita Ambani, Chairperson, and founder of Reliance Foundation. Falguni Nayar, Nykaa founder and CEO became India’s 7th woman billionaire and the wealthiest self-made billionaire. Leena Nair became the CEO of Chanel. The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, Gita Gopinath became the First Deputy Managing Director of IMF.
Here are some achievers worth mentioning. In sports, a 19-year-old Avani Lekhara became the first woman to win a gold medal in the Paralympics in the category of R-2 women’s 10m Air Rifle, setting a new record in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. S Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Women’s 49-kg weightlifting category. Indian sprinter Anju Bobby George was awarded ‘Woman of the Year’ at the World Athletics Awards 2021 by the World Athletics, for her efforts in advancing the sport and for inspiring more women to follow in her footsteps. Hockey Star Gurjit Kaur was awarded the International Hockey Federation’s Women Hockey Player of the Year for 2020-21. In the sport of cricket, Mithali Raj became the first Indian women cricketer to be conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. Raj is the ODI as well as Test Captain of the Women’s national cricket team. Shaili Singh won the World No 1 title in under-18 Youth Long Jump in 2021.
No woman can live up to India’s impossible beauty standards. A Punjabi girl Harnaaz Sandhu created history by winning the Miss Universe crown after a gap of 21 years, at the 70th Miss Universe 2021. Lara Dutta had brought home the crown way back in 2000. She was crowned Femina Miss India Punjab in 2019. Age is not a bar to protect the environment. The 72-year old Tulasi Gowda was honoured with Padma Shri for planting over 30,000 saplings and making efforts to protect the forest cover.
Brigadier SV Sarasvati was bestowed with the National Florence Nightingale Award 2020 in September 2021, for her immense contribution to the Military Nursing Service as a Nurse Administrator. K K Shailaja, the former Health Minister of Kerala was awarded the Central European University (CEU) Open Society Prize for 2021, for her community-based public health work which saved many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kerala has something special: there are 9 women collectors.
In literature, Dr Tahera Qutbuddin, a Mumbai-born Professor, became the first person from India to win the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award for her book 'Arabic Oration: Art and Function'. Renowned poet Arundhathi Subramaniam was named among Sahitya Akademi Award winners 2020 for her poetry collection 'When God is a Traveller.' In journalism, Indian-origin Megha Rajagopalan won the Pulitzer Prize in the International Reporting category for her innovative investigative reports.
Indian social activist Anjali Bhardwaj was honoured with the International Anti-corruption Champions Award by the US. The Mathematician Neena Gupta became the fourth Indian and third woman to win Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians 2021. The list is endless but the achievements are laudable. “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish”- Michelle Obama.
(The author is a freelance writer)
