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Cornelia Sorabji

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Cornelia Sorabji is the first Indian woman graduate from Bombay University, the first woman to study law at Oxford University, the first female advocate in India and the first woman to practice law in India and Britain. Sorabji was one of nine children of Reverend Sorabji Karsedji and his wife Francina Ford, who had been adopted and raised by a British couple. She was born on 15 November 1866 in Devlali. Sorabji had five surviving sisters and a brother, and two more brothers that died in infancy. She spent her childhood initially in Belgaum and later in Pune. She received her education both at home and at mission schools. Cornelia Sorabji was denied a scholarship to study in England, allegedly because of her gender. She had to petition to the National Indian Association to help her complete her studies. Life at Oxford too was not easy for Sorabji as she was the first woman to study law, she was not allowed to write her exam by her London examiner and She was bullied by the
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Anasuya Sarabhai

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Anasuya Sarabhai was a founder of the Women’s Labour Movement in India. She founded the India's oldest union of textile workers, in 1920 in Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association. Anasuya Sarabhai was born in Ahmedabad on 11 November 1885 into the Sarabhai family, a religious family of pharmaceutical industrialists and business people. However, Anasuya lost both her parents when she was only nine years old and was married to her uncle at a tender age of 13. She divorced her husband and returned to her own family. With the help of her brother, she went to England in 1912 to continue her studies. She returned back to India in 1913 and started working for betterment of women and the poor. She began by opening a school for poor students of all castes and toilets for women. She decided to get involved in the labour movement after witnessing exhausted female mill workers returning home after a 36-hour shift. She helped organise textile workers in a 1914 strike in Ahmedaba
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Sunitha Krishnan

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Sunitha Krishnan is a social activist working towards rescuing, rehabilitating and reintegrating sex-trafficked victims into society. Sunitha Krishnan works in the areas of anti-human trafficking and social policy. Sunitha Krishnan is a rape survivor and well-known for her co-founding “PRAJWALA”, an NGO fighting against human trafficking and saved more than 17,800 lived who were forced into prostitution. Born in Bangalore in 1972 to Raju Krishnan and Nalini Krishnan. She had a passion for social work and at the age of 8, she started teaching dance to mentally challenged children. By the age of 12, she was running a school in slum for underprivileged children. At the age of 15, she was gang raped by eight men. This incident at her tendering age helped her to grow what she does today. She is trained as a medical and psychiatric social worker. Dr.Sunitha Krishnan’s parents were her major support in all phase of her life. Her journey has been long, consequential and eventf
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Shakuntala Devi

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Shakuntala Devi was one of the Great Indian Writer and Mathematical Genius popularly known as the “ Human Computer ”. Born into a penurious family in southern India, she started displaying her skills at her early age. Her father recognized her talent and took her on road shows to displace her ability at calculation. Her impressive knowledge to perform the most complicated mathematical calculations without any training, eventually helped her to climb heights in her life. Shakuntala Devi was born in Bengaluru on 4 th November 1929 to a traditional Kannada Brahmin family. Her father was a traveling magician. Her family was very poor and her father hardly made enough to make ends meet. She was not able to receive a formal education because of her family situation. Soon with her amazing ability she started appearing at universities in Southern India. She exhibited her skills in the University of Mysore when she was just six years old. Soon with her extraordinary talent she
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Savitribai Phule

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Savitribai Phule is one of the First-Generation Modern Indian Feminists . She established the first women school in India and became the first woman teacher of our country. At a time when the protest of women could hardly be heard, Savitribai broke all the traditional obstacle of the 19th Century to boost the young budding women during British Colonised India. Savitribai was born on 3rd January 1831 into a family of farmers in the Naigaon District of Maharashtra. Savitribai was married at a tendering age. She was just 9-year-old when she was married to a 12-year-old Jyotirao Phule in 1840. Impressed by her thirst for learning her husband encouraged her to read and write. She then started her career as a trainer at Ms.Farar’s Institution in Ahmednagar and in Ms.Mitchell’s school in Pune. Savitribai becomes the First Female Teacher who inspired young girls of her time to pursue their dreams. It was a time when the rights of women were almost non-existent. She along with h
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Sarla Thakral

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Sarla Thakral was the First Indian woman to fly an aircraft and to earn an aviation pilot license at a very young age. She was just 21 years old when she owned her pilot license. She was a mother of a 4-year-old girl child.  when equality and women's empowerment were still just arbitrary concepts She flew a Gypsy Moth solo and was dressed in a saree. She was born in 1914 in Delhi. She was married at the age of 16. Her husband PD Sharma had 9 pilots in his family and motivated Sarla to fly. She got Licence A after successful 1,000 hours of flying. Her husband was the first Indian pilot to get pilot’s license to fly between Karachi and Lahore. Unfortunately, Sarla lost her husband in a plane crash in 1939. And she was not able to attain Licence B as world war 2 broke out. She then returned to Lahore and joined the Mayo School of Arts and got a diploma in fine arts. She was re-married to PP Thakral and moved to Delhi. Sarla succeeded in establishing herself as a renow
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Neerja Bhanot

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Neerja Bhanot was a senior flight purser for Pan Am who was killed while saving the passengers from heavily armed terrorists on board the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi Airport. When the armed terrorists barged into the plane, Neerja showed her great presence of mind in alerting the cockpit crew. Neerja took it upon herself to protect the lives of the passengers while senior-most crew member remaining on board. Neerja was born to Rama Bhanot and Harish Bhanot in Chandigarh on 7 September 1963. She completed her high school from Bombay Scottish School and graduated from St. Xavier’s College. She was a very active young girl, caring and cheerful. She got married after her graduation but unfortunately her marriage life was a tragedy. After her separation from her husband, she focused on her career and made it successful. She applied for a flight attendant’s job with Pan Am, there were nearly 10,000 applications, but Neerja proved to be the best and got selected among
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