When girls dream, they are often told to dream within boundaries. The women who escape these boundaries and step into the unknown are true heroes. Here are ten women who ignored when they heard “You cannot do this. It’s a man’s job”. Who believed in themselves. Who did not let the society define their dreams. Women who were brave to stand alone in a male dominated world. These are the women bridging the gender gap.
Mehvish Mushtaq – App designer
Mehvish Mushtaq, a 23 year old computer science engineer created the first app in Kashmir valley ‘Dial Kashmir’ in 2013. This app provides users extensive information like addresses, phone numbers, and email id of various essential commercial services in Kashmir. At a place where insurgency is a common part of the day, and where girls are the most neglected section of society, Mehvish shone like a moon on a dark cloudy night.
Mayanti Langer – Sports journalist
Mayanti Langer dared to take up the task of sports journalism, something that is considered a man’s world. She is an Indian TV sports journalist with STAR. She has hosted many tournaments like Football Cafe on Zee Sports, 2010 FIFA World Cup broadcast on ESPN, 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2014 Indian Super League and 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. She certainly proves that when women read a magazine, not all of them skip the sports section.
Ishita Malaviya – Surfer
Surfing has not yet taken place as a common profession for men yet, and women are far-far away. But here is Ishita Malaviya from Mumbai who believes that surfing helps her connect to nature and find peace. She is India’s first surfer girl, encouraging more women to break the country’s obsession for fair skin, and go against the flow.
Arlene Gomez – Disco Jockey
She started her career at the age of 18, being Bangalore’s first female disco jockey. She has played in various countries, and almost every major city in India. She stood up against many haters. There were people who thought ‘if she’s a DJ, she must be available’. Yet, being brave and bold, she made her mark in the world of DJing, and is known to be among the best today.
Shatbhi Basu – Bartender
Juggling of bottles, mixing the right combination to give you the perfect drink, bartending is not a very usual career choice even for men, and here is Shatbhi Basu, heading STIR, a professional bartending institute in India. She has established herself as a successful bartender over three decades. She modified the way people think about working behind the counter.
Prema Ramappa – Bus Driver
Becoming a bus driver, Prema has put to rest the general notion of women being bad drivers. She chose driving as a way to support her family when her husband died ten years ago. Instead of being dependant on others for her livelihood, she became an independent woman by taking the wheels.
Rajni Pandit – Private Detective
A hundred questions are asked to a girl before she steps out of the house. “Where are you going?” “When will you be back?” “Who are you going with?” And in the same world, Rajni Pandit is a private detective. She stepped out in a life threatening job while she was in college and established Rajni Pandit Detective Services in 1991, has worked with 30 detectives and solves about 20 cases each month.
Harshini Kanhekar – Fire fighter
She is the first and only woman to graduate from Nagpur Fire Service College. A daredevil, as she is called, faced a lot of criticism and listened to many “A girl cannot do this” but today she is breaking all barriers and creating history. When asked how does it feel like to be the first fire engineer in the country, she says “I don’t think there is anything ‘manly’ or ‘womanly’ about a job. I am fortunate to have hit the number one spot, but frankly, all I am interested in is the fact that I am doing something I love”.
Surekha Yadav – Train driver
Surekha drove the first ‘Ladies Special’ train to Victoria Terminus in Mumbai 11 years ago. She became the first female train driver not only in India, but in Asia. Driving trains was a male dominated work area, and Surekha came as a path breaker. She gives hope to thousands of Indian women to ignore the raised eyebrows and do what they want to.
Chhavi Rajawat – Sarpanch with an MBA
After her MBA, she worked for many corporate companies, but finally she went back to her village Soda, in Rajasthan’s Tonk district to become the youngest sarpanch. She had the dare to take up the lead on the grass root level to curb out the loopholes in our corrupt system. Soda has a regular supply of water, basic sanitation facilities, and constructed roads. She has been attacked twice by the anti social elements of her village, yet she is determined to bring a faster, sustainable growth in the village using a technology driven system.
