Women who broke barriers in India

Many of the women below were described in their lifetimes as “the first” — the first teacher, the first president of a party, the first to win a particular prize. Behind that word lies the courage it took to go first. Here are twelve Indian women whose achievements opened doors for millions of others.

Savitribai Phule: the first teacher

In 1848, Savitribai Phule and her husband Jyotirao opened a school for girls in Pune, and she became one of India’s first women teachers. Opponents threw dung at her on her way to school, so she carried a spare sari. She went on to fight caste discrimination and died in 1897 while caring for plague patients.

Sarojini Naidu: poet and president

The poet Sarojini Naidu, known as the Nightingale of India, became the first Indian woman to preside over the Indian National Congress in 1925 and, after independence, the first woman governor of an Indian state.

Amrita Sher-Gil and Amrita Pritam: new voices in art and literature

Painter Amrita Sher-Gil brought a bold, modern vision to Indian art in the 1930s before dying at 28. Poet Amrita Pritam wrote the most famous Punjabi poem about Partition and became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award.

M. S. Subbulakshmi: the first musician Bharat Ratna

Carnatic singer M. S. Subbulakshmi sang at the United Nations in 1966 and in 1998 became the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.

Janaki Ammal: science against the odds

Botanist Janaki Ammal earned a doctorate in the United States in 1931, bred sweeter sugarcane varieties for India and reorganised the Botanical Survey of India, despite discrimination at home.

Indira Gandhi and Droupadi Murmu: at the top of the state

Indira Gandhi became India’s first woman Prime Minister in 1966 and remains one of its most consequential and debated leaders. In 2022 Droupadi Murmu, from the Santal community of Odisha, became the first tribal woman to be elected President of India.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: a woman in biotech

When Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon in a Bangalore garage in 1978, banks hesitated to lend to a young woman in an unfamiliar industry. Biocon became one of India’s leading biotechnology companies.

Kalpana Chawla: to the stars

Kalpana Chawla grew up in Karnal, Haryana, insisted on studying aeronautical engineering and became the first woman of Indian origin in space.

Mary Kom and Harmanpreet Kaur: rewriting sport

Boxer Mary Kom won six world titles and an Olympic medal, including after becoming a mother. In 2025, Harmanpreet Kaur captained India to its first Women’s Cricket World Cup title.

The unfinished story

These women succeeded in fields where the odds were stacked against them, and many campaigned to make the path easier for others. Their stories are a reminder that “firsts” are only the beginning — the goal is a time when such achievements are no longer remarkable.