Govt to honour 100 women who broke glass ceiling

NEW DELHI : From being a fire fighter to a poker player, a paratrooper to a railway porter and a crematorium manager to a bartender, there is little now that women can’t do. A major credit of this goes to women who were the first to break the glass ceiling and enter professions that were, not long ago, considered reserved only for men.

Next month, President Ram Nath Kovind will felicitate 100 such women in an event, the date for which is yet to be finalized.

The names of the recipients were picked up by the Union women and child development (WCD) ministry from record books, inputs from different central ministries, state governments and media reports.

“We have been felicitating unusual groupings of women since the last two year. In the past, we have honoured 100 women achievers from across the country. This time, we thought it fitting to bring together women, who have been the first to make a career in male-dominated professions, on a common platform and laud their achievement,” Union WCD minister Maneka Gandhi told Hindustan Times.

The list has a mix of first- time women achievers from diverse fields including Ira Singhal, the first differently-abled woman to top the civil services, Punita Arora, the first woman to become Lieutenant General, Priya Jhingan, the first cadet to join Indian Army, Radhika Menon, the first female merchant navy captain and Harshini Kanhekar, the first woman fire fighter.

Then there are women who made unusual career choices such as Chennai based Praveena Solomon, the first woman to manage a crematorium, Manju from Rajasthan who has the distinction of being the first female railway station porter in India, Muskan Sethi, the first professional poker player and Shatbhi Basu, the first female bartender.

The WCD ministry is currently in the process of informing the achievers about their selection.

THE WOMEN SELECTED FOR THE HONOURS HAVE ALL BEEN THE FIRST TO MAKE A CAREER IN MALEDOMINATED PROFESSIONS