Women Equality Day: 5 Influential Women Of India

Women's Equality Day is observed in the United States on August 26 to commemorate the occasion when American women gained the right to vote. Women have been fighting for equal rights, equal chances and equal remuneration for equal work, etc., To celebrate the day, we have come up with five influential women of India.

Sarojini Naidu:

Sarojini Naidu, an Indian political activist, and poet. She played a key role in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule. She was called as "The Nightingale of India" or "Bharat Kokila". She was educated in Madras, London and Cambridge. Following her time in England, where she worked as a suffragist, she was drawn to Indian National Congress' movement for India's independence from British rule. She became a part of the Indian nationalist movement and became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his idea of swaraj.

Indira Gandhi:

Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s third prime minister and the only women prime minister of India till date. She is considered by many to be the strongest Prime Minister India has ever seen. She was known for implementing policies without any fear and faced many problems during her rule and withered all storms. She was known to be a woman with clear thoughts and had excellent oratory skills.

Indra Nooyi:

Indra Nooyi is undoubtedly one of the most influential Indian businesswomen in the world. She held various positions like chairperson-CEO of PepsiCo, member of Amazon boards and the ICC. She was ranked on Forbes’ and Fortunes’ ‘World’s 100 most powerful women’ from 2008 through 2017. She made $31 million in her final year at PepsiCo in 2017. She was honoured with 11 honourary degrees from prestigious institutions, a Padma Bhushan award from the President of India, and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2021.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw:

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder and chairperson of the Bengaluru-based Indian biopharmaceutical company BioCoin. She was the former chairperson of IIM Bangalore. She was featured on the Financial Times’ list of top 50 women in business, ranked 68th on Forbes’s list of most powerful women and 2nd on the list of women philanthropists of 2019. She is known for her significant contributions to science and chemistry for which she was awarded with the Olmer Gold Medal and the Padma Shri as well as Padma Bhushan from the Indian Government in 1985 and 2005 respectively for her work in the biotech sector. She was named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020.

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule:

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule, a philanthropist, an educationist, and also a prolific Marathi writer. She along with her husband in Maharashtra played a key role in improving women's rights in India. She is considered to be the pioneer of India's feminist movement. Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first modern Indian girls' school in Pune, at Bhide Wada in 1848. She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender.

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