Women in the Indian Foreign Service
Women stormed the Indian Foreign Service bastion six decades ago, but it’s only in the last few years that large numbers of them have signed up. The photo feature below depicts some interesting facets about women in the Indian Foreign Service.
C.B MUTHAMMAFirst woman to join the INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE in 1949. Later, she became the First Indian female Ambassador/ High Commissioner. She is known for her successful crusade for gender equality in the Indian Civil Services.
SURJIT MANSINGHThere was a time when the Indian Foreign Service was out of bounds for married women and if one wished to get married, one had to take permission or even resign like in the case of Prof. Surjit Mansingh, an IFS officer. Surprisingly, even salaries were unequal; women were paid less than men for the same designation. But today the things have changed since the pioneers like C. Muthamma and Rukmini Menon joined the service. As India’s female diplomats are striding the world stage with confidence more and more women are inclined towards joining the IFS.
Twenty-four of the 84 IFS officers recruited between 2005 and 2008 were women, ie 29% of the intake. With 16 female officers out of total 36, the 2012 batch of the Indian Foreign Service has a distinction of having the largest number of female officers. Out of the total 731 IFS officers 135 are female officers which takes the total percentage of women in IFS to 18.50%.
ARUNDHATI GHOSEA 1963 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Ghose was India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and in that capacity headed India's delegation to the Conference on Disarmament during negotiations on the CTBT in 1996. Earlier, she had served as India’s Ambassador to Egypt. She was also a Member of the Union Public Service Commission till 2004.
CHOKILA IYERA 1964 batch IFS officer. She has the distinction of being India's first female Foreign Secretary. Also worked as member of the UPSC and Vice Chairperson of National Commission for Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes.
MEIRA KUMARThe first woman Speaker of the LOK SABHA was a 1970 batch IFS officer. She served at embassies in Spain, United Kingdom and Mauritius. Later she was Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment .
LEELA K. PONAPPAShe is a 1970 batch IFS officer, who has been the first female Deputy National Security Adviser, and Secretary of the National Security Council Secretariat. She was elected Co-Chair of CSCAP (Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific) in June 2012. She has the distinction of being the first woman ambassador to Thailand. She was also India's Ambassador to the Netherlands.
NIRUPAMA RAOShe became the first woman Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in 2001 and India's first lady Ambassador to China. An IFS officer of 1973 batch also served as the Indian Ambassador to the United States . Prior to which she had served as the Foreign Secretary of India for a period of 2 years.
MEERA SHANKARAn IFS officer of the 1973 batch, she was the first woman career diplomat to serve as India’s Ambassador to United States from 2009 to 2011. Prior to 2009, she served as India's Ambassador in Berlin, Germany. She also held the post of Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
SUJATHA SINGHPresently, holds the office of the India’s Foreign Secretary and heads the Indian diplomatic corps. She has served in various positions at Indian Embassies at Bonn, Accra, Paris, Bangkok and was India's Consul General at Milan during 2000-04. She has also served as India's High Commissioner to Australia (2007-2012) and Ambassador to Germany (2012-2013).
DEEPA GOPALAN WADHWAShe joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979 She holds the distinction of being the first woman Ambassador to any Gulf state. Currently she is posted as the Indian Ambassador to Japan.
NENGCHA LHOUVUMShe belongs to the 1980 batch of the IFS. During her diplomatic career, she has held varied assignments at Indian Missions in Mexico City, Dhaka,Havana and New York. She is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2007-2008. Currently, she is the Dean of the Foreign Service Institute.
MANIMEKALAI MURUGESAN1981 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, Ms Manimekalai received the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2010-2011. She played a key role in saving the lives of 16,000 Indians during evacuation after the uprising in Libya.
RUCHIRA KAMBOJRuchira Kamboj is currently the Chief of Protocol to the Government of India, being the first woman in the Indian Foreign Service to hold this position. She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987 and has last served as the Deputy Head in the office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, London. Prior to that, she served as the Minister and Head of Office, High Commission of India, Cape Town, South Africa.
Sudhi Choudhary (2009 Batch) and Nidhi Choudhary (2012 Batch) are the first pair of sisters in the Indian Foreign Service.
For the young female Indian diplomats the inspiration is not hard to find with illustrious predecessors like Chokila Iyer, Nirupama Rao, Arundhati Ghose and Sujatha Singh. As Ghose says, “With more women in positions of power, younger women are encouraged to join in.”
Source: MEA