Pioneering Women Engineers Who Inspired Generations

While Engineer’s Day often highlights the achievements of male engineers, it’s crucial to recognize the trailblazing women engineers who shattered barriers, leaving a lasting impact on the generations that followed.

In the 1970s, women in engineering and technical professions were a rarity, but some remarkable individuals defied the odds. KN Malathi, the first female design trainee hired by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) in the ’70s, blazed a trail. Her pivotal role in handling helicopter design tasks became a source of inspiration for numerous aspiring women engineers.

Anuradha TK’s journey is equally remarkable. Joining ISRO at the age of 22 in 1982 as a space engineer specializing in MS Automation, she eventually became ISRO’s first woman project director in 2009. Her work involved designing and developing instrumentation for spacecraft testing, contributing significantly to India’s space endeavors. Over the decades, we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of women engineers, thanks to such pioneering figures.

Women engineers have played pivotal roles in upgrading India’s large dams, especially in South India. These engineers confidently manage, operate, and rehabilitate these intricate structures. Figures like C.K.Sreekala, Superintending Engineer at Muvattupuzha Valley Irrigation Project; V.Veeralakshmi, Executive Engineer at SPMU-DRIP Tamil Nadu; and S.Supriya, Chief Engineer for Dam Safety at the Kerala State Electricity Board, prioritize the safety of downstream communities in their roles.

At HAL’s former Helicopter Design Bureau, women engineers fearlessly traveled wherever their work called them. They were instrumental in developing the airborne Sonar for the Naval version of the advanced light helicopter ALH, a sensor crucial for detecting deep-water submarines. These dedicated engineers even worked in freezing conditions at Leh in the ’90s during the first cold weather trials of ALH, despite irregular electricity supply.

D. Lakshmi blazed a trail in 1961 by becoming the first woman engineer hired by Bharat Electronics Ltd., where she contributed to military projects. She worked on the Versatile Console System for naval ships installed on INS Vikrant and later held the position of Addl. General Secretary at BEL.

In 2021, Anandi Ramalingam made history at BEL by becoming the first woman chairperson and MD of a defense public sector undertaking. The journey, however, has been challenging for women in this field. Shantha Vijayaraghavan, who began working at BEL in 1963, recalls that the R&D cell initially resisted having women engineers in their team. Despite their immense capabilities, women faced obstacles in competing with their male counterparts. Nonetheless, Rajeshwari Chattopadhyay joined Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. (ITI) in 1972 and eventually became the first lady AGM at ITI in 2000, with a woman CMD leading the way.

These women engineers tirelessly work day and night, monitoring, performing complex calculations, and ensuring safety, all while delivering exceptional results. Their unwavering dedication has not only broken barriers but also paved the way for countless aspiring engineers.

Re-reported from the article originally published in LokmatTimes English