Kalaari MD Vaani Kola talks about breaking glass ceilings in STEM, pays tribute to India's 1st female engineer Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) was male-dominated.
On National Engineers’ Day, Kalaari Capital MD Vani Kola took to LinkedIn, to share the myriad challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated field.
She began the post, by sharing that when she was studying BTech in 1980, she was among the handful of women in the engineering college before talking about Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha, India's first woman engineer, who graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy, in 1943 with a degree in electrical engineering.
“I joined engineering college in 1980.By then, there were only a handful of women pursuing engineering. Most families, unlike mine, didn’t encourage girls to pick up engineering.Those 4 years taught me how to navigate naysayers and gender sensitivities. Little did I know then of the women who paved my way,” begins her post. Later she delved into the life of India’s first female engineer.
The post went viral on the job portal, gaining more than 338 likes. One LinkedIn user wrote, “Thank you for sharing this inspiring story about Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha and reflecting on your own journey in engineering. Her story serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of breaking down barriers and stereotypes in STEM fields and empowering women to pursue their passions and ambitions. Her legacy can serve as an inspiration for future generations of engineers.”
Portrait Of A Lady
Lalitha’s life was far from a bed of roses. Married off at the tender age of 15, she became a widow and a single mother at the age of 16!
Defying the prevailing social norms, Lalitha decided to enroll in an engineering college. Buoyed by the support of her family and college authorities, she completed her degree and went on to have
