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Role Models: Women of substance

Indian women have made their mark in various walks of life despite facing societal prejudices and institutional hurdles.

Arundhati Roy became first Indian woman to win the Booker Prize for her novel "God of Small Things", which sold about six million copies. She could have become a darling of the middle class, but instead chose to give her voice to India(***)s marginalised groups. She has courted controversy with her writings on dams, Maoists and the Kashmir issue.
Published On 30 Sep 2013

India is a country of almost half a billion women, but the majority of them have to fight for space in a largely patriarchal and conservative society where the other half, men, wield insurmountable influence.

Despite the odds, many women have left their mark.

Modern India’s script cannot be complete without taking note of their contributions.

They are at the forefront of social movements, hold important political positions, and have boosted the corporate sector with their enterprise.

Women, including those in the diaspora, have also scaled the heights of success, winning leadership positions in various multinational corporations and charting their own entrepreneurial path.

Here is a list of women who have achieved remarkable success in their respective fields.

Barkha Dutt is India(***)s equivalent of Christiane Amanpour by virtue of being one of the most popular broadcast journalists. A taped conversation she had with a coporate publicist seemed to show her in poor light. But Dutt remains a huge draw for viewers of NDTV channel.
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Chanda Kochhar is the CEO of ICICI Bank, India(***)s biggest private bank. She is largely recognised for role in shaping India(***)s retail banking sector. Fortune magazine has listed her among the top Powerful Women in Business. [EPA]
Ela Bhatt is best known for starting the Self-Employed Women(***)s Association of India (SEWA), a trade union for women which has now more than 1,000,000 members. She is a pioneer of such grass-roots movements as microfinance and cooperatives. She has been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977.
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, the chief executive officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage company in the world, is one of the biggest success stories among India(***)s diaspora. Last year, her pay package was worth $12.6 million. She has been ranked among the World(***)s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes magazine. [EPA]
Irom Sharmila is a civil-rights activist based in the Indian state of Manipur. She has been on hunger strike since 2000, demanding the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, a legislation that controversially grants immunity to Indian troops in "disturbed areas". Force-fed since then, Irom refuses to give up her struggle.[EPA]
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the first biotech entrepreneur and one of India(***)s richest women, with a net worth of $625m. She started Biocon, a biotech company, in the garage of her rented house in the southern city of Bangalore at the age of 25. Financial Times newspaper included her in its Top 50 Women in Business list. [EPA]
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Mamata Banerjee is the current chief minister of West Bengal state and a regional heavyweight. Popularly known as Didi (sister), her slogan of paribortan (change) led her party Trinamool Congress to end leftist rule of more than 30 years in the eastern state. She is a mass leader, but has been criticised for being erratic and short-tempered.
MC Mary Kom, also known as Magnificent Mary, boosted India(***)s sparse medal tally when she won the bronze medal in Women Boxing at last year(***)s London Olympics. She has punched her way to five World Boxing champion titles and won a medal in each one of the six world championships. [EPA]
Mayawati is an icon of Dalits - Hinduism(***)s former untouchables. In 1995, she became India(***)s first Dalit woman chief ministe when she won elections in Uttar Pradesh. She stands accused of squandering public money while in office for constructing her own statues. Currently out of power, she is plotting her return.
Nirupama Rao is currently India(***)s Ambassador to the US. She became the second woman foreign secretary (after Chokila Iyer) of India in 2009. She was the first woman spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs when she was appointed to the post in 2001.
Saina Nehwal won Bronze medal at the London Olympics last year, becoming the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics. Saina has risen to the top in a nation starved of sporting heroes. She was the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. She attained a career best ranking of number 2 in December 2010. [EPA]
Sonia Gandhi, the widow of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, is said to be the most powerful person in the country. The Italian-born leader heads the Congress party, which rules the country as part of a coalition. [EPA]
Aruna Roy is social activist and a pioneer of right to information movement. She resigned from Indian Administrative Services to work for social and political campaigns. She was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 2000. [Photo by Vijay Pandey/Tehelka]
Soni Sori, a tribal school teacher working in a remote village in India(***)s Chhattisgarh state, was arrested in 2011 on charges that she worked for the Maoists, who are fighting against the government. Still held in jail, Amnesty International describes her a prisoner of conscience.
Teesta Setalvad is a civil-rights activists and journalist. She gained national prominence after she took up the cause of the victims of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat state. She is a lightning rod of crticism by powerful leaders she wants booked for the violence. She pursues them unfazed.