Gender charity to parity

Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh hosted a celebration at the swanky ministry of external affair offices at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan to commemorate Women's Day (March 8). The foreign secretary used the occasion to rename the otherwise unimaginative "Multipurpose Hall", where the event was being held, as the C B Muthamma Hall, after the first woman to enter the elite foreign service. Till the 1970s, women had to quit the foreign service when they married. It was Muthamma who went to court against this injustice, Singh reminded the audience. It's been a long journey for the services since then, from "gender charity" to "gender parity," she added.