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“Women may hold up half of the sky” — this is a Chinese proverb that stands true when we talk about women leaving their mark in once-upon-a-time male-dominated industries as women make up half of the consumers.  While the world is still getting used to the idea of women being industry leaders, inspiring women are not taken aback by the judgements and hardships they face. Because, what should stop them? Women are adept, practical, innovative, analytical, and creative, and it’s time the world braces itself to see women being in charge. 

This isn’t a bizarre thought. Women have been contributing to fields like science, technology, meteorology, etc. for a long time.

Ada Lovelace is considered the pioneer of the computer age. She assisted her good friend Charles Babbage, also known as the father of the computer on a project called “The Analytical Engine when she was 26 years old. As a part of the project, she was asked to translate Italian engineer Luigi Meneabrea’s notes from French to English where she found many errors which she documented in her footnotes. One of them said, “The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis, but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. Its province is to assist us in making available what we already acquainted with.” These notes about the engine made Lovelace the first computer programmer. 

“I had always wanted to be an engineer, but felt like women were not supposed to be doing things like studying engineering.” Whether you like it not, till a few decades ago, this was the reality of women who were passionate about science and technology but could not pursue it. Those words were said by Edith Clarke, who later went on to become the first professional female electrical engineer in 1919. Determined to do what “women were not supposed to do”, she initially taught in San Francisco and Wisconsin, later became the manager of an all-female team of “human computers” at AT&T, and finally dropped that to enroll herself at MIT. From there she became MITs first woman to earn an M.S in electrical engineering which helped her create The Clarke Calculator, a graphical device that analyzed and solved equations that were used to send power through electrical transmission lines. This contribution of hers to transcontinental telephone communication craved her a glorious history for generations to remember. 

“My being a woman has absolutely no bearing on what I choose to do in life. I was neither penalised nor privileged for being a woman”, said Anna Mani, the first female Deputy  Director-General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). Her career began under the expertise of Dr CV Raman at the Indian Institute Of Science in Bengaluru. From there, she went on to specialize in meteorological instruments at the Imperial College Of London. After joining the IMD in 1948, her goal was to make India self-sufficient. She was successful in doing so as she designed and developed weather instruments for IMD. Her research on solar radiation, ozone and wind energy measurement made her work notable which was also recognized by The World Meteorological Organization. 

These were just three of many exemplary women who helped shape the respective industries as we know them today. Thankfully, we’ve come to a point where industries are welcoming more and more women to be innovators and thought leaders.