FIRST WOMEN IN INDIA (G.K)
Women occupy an important place in the geo- political sector from the Rig-Vedic times to modern times. Women as well as men studied Vedas and composed hymns. Gargi, Maitreyi, Apala, Ghosha, Vishvara were the great women who received education, composed hymns, practiced brahmcharya and upanayan. In the Buddhist period and medieval period the situation of women became worse. From the post independent period several worldwide movements occurred for equal opportunity of men and women. Subsequently, women were proved their mettle to change the social order and place themselves in the highest order. In this article we would like to take a look at the achievements of the women who cutting across national, cultural and geographical barriers. Various government exams cover questions regarding great women and their achievement. So, please check out this article for ready reference of general knowledge as well.
| S.L | ROLE OF FIRST WOMEN IN INDIA | NAME WITH YEAR |
| 1. | First Indian Woman ambassador to the U.N. | Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit in 1953 – 54. |
| 2. | First Woman minister of India | Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit. |
| 3. | First Woman President of the Indian congress. | Mrs. Annie Besant, 1917. |
| 4. | First Woman President of the United Nations General Assembly. | Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit. |
| 5. | First Woman Prime Minister of India. | Indira Gandhi, 1966. |
| 6. | First Woman ruler of India. | Raziya Sultana of Delhi. |
| 7. | First Woman Speaker of a state Assembly. | Mrs. Shanno Devi. |
| 8. | First Woman who fly the national flag (tri - colour) abroad. | Bhikaji Rustom Cama in Paris, 1907. |
| 9. | First Deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. | Bhikaji Rustom Cama in Paris, 1907. |
| 10. | First Indian Woman Pleader. | Regina Guha. |
| 11. | First Indian Woman to be appointed as assistant director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). | Poonam Khetrapal Singh, July 1998. |
| 12. | First Woman advocate of India. | Cornelia Sorabji of Allahabad High Court Bar in 1923. |
| 13. | First Woman Ambassador. | Cornelia Sorabji of Allahabad High Court Bar in 1923. |
| 14. | First Woman cabinet minister of India. | Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. |
| 15. | First Woman Chief Election Commissioner of India. | V.P. Rama Devi. |
| 16. | First Woman Chief Justice of High Court. | Justice Leila Seth of Himachal Pradesh, August 1991. |
| 17. | First Woman Chief Minister of state. | Mrs. Sucheta Kripalani of U.P (1963-1967). |
| 18. | First Woman Chief Secretary to a state Government. | Mrs. Trivedi to Assam Government. |
| 19. | First Woman Dalit Chief Minister of India. | MS. Mayawati of Uttar Pradesh. |
| 20. | First Woman elected as the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. | Mrs. Violet Alwa from 1962 to 1966 and from 1966 to 1969. |
| 21. | First Woman foreign Consul General in India. | Mrs. Ernestine S. Heck, US Consul General in Chennai. |
| 22. | First Woman Governor of a state. | Mrs. Sarojini Naidu. |
| 23. | First Woman IAS officer. | Anna Rajam George, 1950. |
| 24. | First Woman IPS officer. | Kiran Bedi, 1972. |
| 25. | First Woman Director General of Police of a State. | Kanchan Chaudhury Bhattacharya (DGP of Uttaranchal, 2004). |
| 26. | First Woman Joint Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. | Archana Ramasundram. |
| 27. | First Woman Judge of the Supreme Court. | Fatima Beevi. |
| 28. | First Woman mayor of a city. | Tara Cherian of Madras, 1957. |
| 29. | First Woman member broker of the Bombay Stock Exchange. | Meera Patel, 1986. |
| 30. | First Woman who become the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). |
Madhuri Shah. |
| 31. | First Woman to become Vice Chancellor (VC). | Hansaben Mehta of the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda 1949. |
| 32. | First Asian Woman to sail around the world. | Ujwala Patil, 1988. |
| 33. | First Indian Woman to scale Mt. Everest. | Bachendri Pal of Uttar Pradesh on May 24,1984. |
| 34. | First Indian / Asian Woman to swim the English Channel. | Miss Arati Saha (Gupta), 1959. |
| 35. | First Woman to climb Mt. Everest twice. | Ms. Santosh Yadev in May 1992 and May 1993. |
| 36. | First Woman to reach Antarctica. | Mehar Moos in 1977. |
| 37. | First fastest Woman to swim English Channel. | Anita Sood, 8hr 15min (Asian record). |
| 38. | First youngest Woman in the world to climb Mt. Everest. | Ms. Dicky Dolma at the age of 19 yrs. Old. |
| 39. | First Indian Woman to climb Mount Everest without Oxygen. | Piyali Basak of West Bengal on 22 May,2022. |
| 40. | First Woman Athlete to be awarded Arjuna Award. | Stephie D’Souza. |
| 41. | First ever Woman musician to be awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Padmabhusan & Bharat Ratna. | M.S. Subbhulakshmi. |
| 42. | First Indian musician to win the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. | M.S. Subbhulakshmi. |
| 43. | First Indian Woman to become Miss World. | Rita Faria. |
| 44. | First Indian Woman to win Miss Universe Title. | Susmita Sen. |
| 45. | First lady to receive the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. | Devika Rani, 1969. |
| 46. | First recipient of Arjuna Award in Women’s Cricket | Shanta Rangaswami. |
| 47. | First recipient of best actress award. | Meena Kumari. |
| 48. | First recipient of Arjuna Award in Women’s Hockey. | Ann Lumsden, 1961. |
| 49. | First Woman novelist to win the Murthi Devi Award. | Dr. Prathibha Roy in Oriya. |
| 50. | First Woman Squash player awarded Arjuna Award. | Bhuvaneshwari Kumari, 1982. |
| 51. | First Woman who has awarded Shaurya Chakra. | Manisha Varma, on April 14, 1990. |
| 52. | First Woman to win the Jnanpith Award. | Ashapurna Devi, 1976 for ‘Pratham Pratishruti’. |
| 53. | First Woman to win the Jnanpith Award. | Sheetal Pandya, 7 years old. |
| 54. | First highest individual score in Women’s Test Cricket. | Mithali Raj. |
| 55. | First Indian elected for the Chairman of the World Health Organisation (WHO). | Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur. |
| 56. | First Indian girl to win the British Chess Championship. | Tania Sachdev of Delhi at the age of 8 years old. |
| 57. | First Indian Woman to leap past 6.50 meters (long jump). | Anju George. |
| 58. | First Indian Woman Commander of a jet aircraft. | Capt. Miss Saudamini Deshmukh of Indian Airlines. |
| 59. | First Indian Woman check Pilot on an airbus A 300. | Captain Nivedita Bhasin. |
| 60. | First Indian Woman merchant banker. | Naina Lal Kidwai, vice chairman of J.M. Morgan Stanley. |
| 61. | Frist Indian Woman Pilot of Boeing 707 plane. | Soudamini Deshmukh. |
| 62. | First Indian Woman to enter the final of an Olympic athletic event. | P.T. Usha, Los Angeles, 1984. |
| 63. | First Indian woman to qualify Olympic Semi final (in athletics). | Shiny Abraham. |
| 64. | First Indian Woman Scoring a Test double Century. | Mithali Raj. |
| 65. | First Indian Woman to win a match at a Grand Slam. | Nirupama Vaidyanathan at the Australian open 1998. |
| 66. | First Scientifically documented test tube baby. |
Harsha. On 6th August, 1986 Harsha born at the king Edward Memorial Hospital, Bombay through in vitro Fertilizations.Institute for Research in Reproduction (IRR) launched this project headed by Dr. Indira Hinduja. |
| 67. | First Indian Woman Commercial Pilot. | Prem Mathur, 1947. |
| 68 | First Woman Cricket Umpire. | Anjali Rajgopal. |
| 69. | First Woman Cricketer holding the record for the maximum number of Test Wickets. | Diana Eduljee (119 wickets). |
| 70. | First Woman jockey of India. | Ayesha Captain. |
| 71. | Frist Woman officer in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). | Ms. Alka Nanda Das, as an Assistant Commandant, 1990. |
| 72. | First Woman Para Jumper of the Indian Air Force. | Geeta Chanda. |
| 73. | First Woman Postmaster General. | Mrs. Sushila Chourasia of Madhya Pradesh. |
| 74. | First Woman Railway driver of India. | Ms. Surekha Yadao. |
| 75. | First Woman to be appointed as Air Vice Marshall in the Indian Air Force. | Padma Bandyopadhyaya. |
| 76. | First Woman to fly a fighter aircraft. | R. Swarnalatha. |
| 77. | First Woman to take 100 wickets in Test Cricket. | Diana Eduljee. |
| 78. | First Woman to win the All India Rifle Shooting Competition. | Miss Geeta Sundaram,1975. |
| 79. | First Woman to win the national billiards Championship. | Usha Rao, on August 9, 1989. |
| 80. | First Woman group team joins in the Air Force. | Saunith Shergill (21) and Siveka Shurana (23) from Chandigarh. |
| 81. | First Woman group team joins in the Air Force. | Miss Harpreet Ahluwalia. |
| 82. | First Practicing lady doctor of India. | Dr. Rakhmabai. |
| 83. | First Woman athlete representing India in the Olympic. | Mary D’ Souza in 1952 at Helsinki. |
| 84. | First Woman pilot of Indian Airlines. | Durba Banarjee. |
| 85. | First Indian Woman President of Indian National Congress (INC). | Sarojini Naidu, 1925, Kanpur session. |
| 86. | First Indian talkie movie actress. | Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir for the film Alam Ara, 1931. |
| 87. | First actress to be honoured Padmashree Award. | Nargis Dutt, 1958. |
| 88. | First Woman speaker of Lok Sabha. | Meira Kumar, 3rd June, 2009. |
| 89. | First Woman president of India. | Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. (2007-2012). |
| 90. | First Woman Judge of India. | Justice Anna Chandy. |
| 91. | First Woman Judge in commonwealth countries. | Justice Anna Chandy. |
| 92. | First Indian Woman to swim across strait of Gibraltar. | Arati Pradhan. |
| 93. | First poet in English literature. | Taru Dutt. |
| 94. | First Indian Woman Painter. | Sunayani Devi. |
| 95. | First Indian Woman to be nominated in Rajya Sabha. | Rukmini Devi Arundale, 1952-62. |
| 96. | First Woman recipient of Bharat Ratna Award. |
Indira Gandhi, 1971. |
| 97. | First Indian Woman who spent almost 16 months (longest stay) in the Antarctica. | Dr. Kanwal Vilku, 1999-2001. |
| 98. | First Indian to win the Booker Prize. | Arundhati Roy (1997) for her novel “The God of Small Thing”. |
| 99. | First Indian Woman to win a Pulitzer prize. | Jhumpa Lahiri For Fiction in 2000. |
| 100. | First Indian Woman to win an Olympic medal. | Karnam Malleswari. |
| 101. | First Indian Woman to win an Olympic medal. |
Tanvi Shah. She won the Grammy for the Song “Jai Ho” from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. |
| 102. | First Indian Woman to publish a novel in English. |
Toru Dutt. For her novel “Bianca : The Young Spanish Maiden” in 1878. It is the first novel in English by an Indian Women. |
| 103. | First Indian Woman Oscar Award Winner. | Bhanu Athaiya (1983). For the movie ‘Gandhi’. |
| 104. | First Indian Woman to Ski to the south pole. | Reena Kaushal DharmShaktu. |
| 105. | First youngest woman writer to win the Man Booker Prize. | Kiran Desai (2006). |
| 106. | First Indian Woman to write an autobiography. | Rashsundari Devi. Her autobiography “Amar Jibon” (My Life), 1876. |
| 107. | First Indian Woman to receive the Arjuna Award. | Divyakriti Singh. |
| 108. | First Indian Woman singer. | Rajkumari Dubey. |
| 109. | First Indian Female Air Force Officer. | Vijayalakshmi Ramanan VSM. |
| 110. | First Indian Lady Miss Earth. | Nicole Faria, 2010. |
| 111. | First Miss India Girl. | Pramila (Esther Victoria Abraham), 1947. |
| 112. | First Indian Woman Rajiv Gandhi khel Ratna Award winner. | Karnam Malleswari. |
| 113. | First Indian Woman to receive Dronacharya Award. | Hansa Sharma, 2000. |
| 114. | First Woman air marshal in India. | Air Marshal Padma Bandopadhyay. |
| 115. | First female dancer to receive Padma Vibhushan. | Sonal Mansingh, 2003. |
| 116. | First Indian Woman to win the Nobel Prize. | Sonal Mansingh, 2003. |
| 117. | First Indian female to go to South Pole. | Captain Harpreet Chandi. |
| 118. | First Indian Woman poet in English. | Toru Dutt. |
| 119. | First Female Indian astronaut. | Kalpana Chawla. |
| 120. | First Indian female to fly over North Pole. | Zoya Agarwal. |
| 121. | First Indian Woman to go to space twice. | Kalpana Chawla. |
| 122. | First Woman in the Indian Army. | Kalpana Chawla. |
| 123. | First Woman in the Indian Army. | Lt. Shubhangi Swaroop. |
| 124. | First female marine engineer in India. | Sonali Banerjee. |
| 125. | First female Navy officer in India. | Commander Prerna Deosthalee. |
| 126. | First Woman Chief of air staff in India. | Padma Bandopadhyay. |
| 127. | First Indian Woman to receive Ramon Magsaysay Award. | Mother Teresa, 1962. |
| 128. | First Woman to win an Olympic medal. | Karnam Malleswari (2000 Sydney Olympic). |
FAQs
- Who is the first woman doctor in India?
→ Anandi Gopal Joshi.
- Who was the first woman Collector in India?
→ Anna Rajam Mahotra.
- Who was the first woman in India to receive a sena medal?
→Mitali Madhumita.
- Who is the first Female lawyer in India?
→Cornelia Sorabji.
- Who is the first woman mathematician in India?
→Shakuntala Devi.
- Who is the first women to be hanged in India?
→Sabnam Ali.
- Who is the first female police officer in India?
→ Kiran Bedi
- Who is the first woman pilot in India?
→Sarla Thukral (1936).
- Who is the first female engineer in India?
→Lalitha Ayyalasomayajula.
- Who is the first woman scientist in India?
→Kamala Sohonic.
- Who is the first woman in India to get a degree in medicine?
→Anandibai Joshi.
- Who is the first woman entrepreneur in India?
→Kalpana Saroj.
- Who is the first female teacher in India?
→Savitribali Phule.
- Who was the first woman Army officer in India?
→ Captain Laxmi Sehgal.
- Who is the first female Deputy Governors of Reserve Bank of India?
→K.J. Udeshi (2003).
- Who was the first female merchant navy officer in India?
→Radhika Menon.
- Who was the first woman Lieutenant General in India?
→Lt. Gen (Mrs)Punita Arora.
- Who was the first female Vice – Admiral of Indian Navy?
→Punita Arora.
- Who was the first woman Chairperson of Indian airlines?
→Sushma Chawla.
- Who was the first Indian woman to win a medal in the world Athletic Championships?
→Anju Bobby George (Long Jump at the 2003 world championship in Paris).