More than Grit
story of young widow and single mother who became key engineer to design India’s largest dam
“150 years ago, I would have been burned at the funeral pyre with my husband’s body,” A Lalitha had famously said in a New York conference. Instead, she went on to make history!
A Lalitha was only 18 when she became widow and a mother. Her mother-in-law took out frustration of loss of her son on Lalitha. Lalitha returned to her parent’s house
Widows were seen as inactive member of society and expected live-in austerity. Lalitha decided not to succumb to societal pressures, She was a bright student and decided to pursue engineering exclusively open to only men at time. She was a bright student and came from family of engineers. Her father was a professor at College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) convinced Dean to enroll her in 1940. CEG even opened a separate hostel for her and advertised admissions for women. Lalitha was joined by 2 more women engineer Leelamma George and PK Theresia at CEG.
Her journey however was not a smooth one even with supportive environment
The society was unfair and it required more than grit for widow to work. To work after graduating Lalitha’s status as widow at that time required her to live with a family. Since her brother was staying in Shimla with family, Lalitha joined Central Standards Organization of India in Shimla as an engineering assistant.
She later joined her father’s research owning several patents such as smokeless oven, electric flame producer and electrical music instrument.
When she ran into financial difficulties, she joined as contract engineer at Associated Electrical Industries (later took over by General Electric Company). Her work required frequent site visits which she continued even as single mother. She was responsible for designed transmission lines and substation layout for Indian’s largest dam: Bhakra Nangal Dam.
Through out her career she continued provide equal footing for women in STEM. She became member of Women’s Engineering Society of London, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers. She was only female engineer from India to have attended the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientist (ICWES), next year she served as the Organising Committees’ India representative at ICWES and ensured that five women from India were able to attend.
Side note:
Even with supportive family, supportive institute and qualification A Lalitha had to struggle to get work. Not much has changed. According to UN in India 40% women graduate in STEM however merely 14% are working in the field. Such disproportion is highest for any country in the world. The societal norms still continue to prevent many women have meaning full or self-sustaining job.
reference:
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/india/all-about-india-s-first-woman-engineer-a-lalita/story
https://www.thebetterindia.com/185532/india-first-woman-engineer-a-lalitha-inspiring-history/
