Finding their niche, how women in science are reengineering the workplace

Corporate India, too, is setting recruitment goals, offering mentorship, scholarships

A Lalitha, born 1919, was married at the age of 15. At 18, she became a mother and her husband died four months after the birth of her daughter.

In a remarkable twist, instead of leading the life society expected of widows back then, Lalitha went on to study at the College of Engineering, Guindy, University of Madras. In 1944, she became India’s first woman engineer.

Lalitha’s story is usually recalled every year on February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, usually with a touch of wistfulness, because India did not see a wave of women