Over 100 Indian women who were the first to set a milestone in their respective fields will be felicitated here on Saturday by President Ram Nath Kovind.
As many as 112 women, including the first woman judge, first woman porter, the first woman to head a missile project, first para-trooper, first Olympian, among others, have been selected after an extensive research by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. They will be honoured at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
“Keeping up with the solemn spirit of Empowered Nari, the Ministry conceptualised ‘First Ladies’. These First Ladies rose through barriers, standards and oppressive notions to become the first women to excel in the fields which were thought to be beyond them,” Minister of Women Child Development Maneka Gandhi said.
A list of 227 women was compiled from various sources, including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Sports, Limca Book of Records, press clippings, internet and others.
Of these, 112 extraordinary women who busted stereotypes and broke the glass ceiling to become the first in their field were selected.
The Ministry had collaborated with Facebook in 2015 to recognise ‘100 Women Achievers’ who have excelled in diverse sectors of public work. ‘First Ladies’ is the second leg of the ‘100 Women Achievers’ campaign.