This document profiles the achievements of over 50 influential women from India and around the world. It describes women who were astronauts, politicians, civil rights leaders, singers, athletes, scientists, and more. Some of the women featured include Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-American woman in space; Indira Gandhi, the first female Prime Minister of India; Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize winning nun; and Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate and advocate for girls' education.

1. KALPANA CHAWLA
She was an Indian American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin in
space.
(1983 – 2003)

2. LATA MANGESHKAR
Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar is an Indian playback singer, and occasional music-
composer. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in
India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over seven decades.

3. INDIRA GANDHI
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and central figure of the
Indian National Congress party, and to date the only female Prime Minister of
India. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru.
(1917 – 1984)

4. MOTHER TERESA
Mother Teresa MC, known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was
an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje,
then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.
(1910 – 1997)

5. INDRA NOOYI
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is an American, business executive and the current
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and
beverage business in the world by net revenue.

6. AISHWARYA RAI
Aishwarya Rai, also known by her married name Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is an
Indian actress, model and the winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant.

7. MALALA YUSUFZAI
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever
Nobel Prize laureate.

8. BENAZIR BHUTTO
Benazir Bhutto was the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of the
centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party. She was the first woman to head a Muslim
majority nation.

9. P T USHA
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, popularly known as P. T. Usha, is a retired
Indian track and field athlete. She has been associated with Indian athletics since
1979.

10. SANIA MIRZA
Sania Mirza is an Indian professional tennis player who was formerly ranked No. 1
in the women's doubles rankings.

11. KIRAN BEDI
Kiran Bedi is a retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist, former tennis
player and politician who is the current Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. She is
the first woman to join the Indian Police Service in 1972.

12. NEETA AMBANI
Nita Ambani is the chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation and a non-
executive director of Reliance Industries. With a family fortune estimated in
excess of USD$20 billion, she is reportedly India's wealthiest woman.

13. TESSY THOMAS
Tessy Thomas is an engineer and the Project Director for Agni-IV missile in
Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first woman
engineer to head a missile project in India. She is known as the 'Missile Woman'
of India.

14. CHANDA KOCHAR
Chanda Kochhar is the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank.
She is widely recognised for her role in shaping retail banking in India.

15. SHIKHA SHARMA
Shikha Sharma is the Managing Director & CEO of Axis Bank, the third largest
private sector bank in India.

16. ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA
Arundhati Bhattacharya is an Indian banker and is currently the Chair-Managing
director of the State Bank of India. She is the first woman to be the Chairperson of
State Bank of India.

17. GEETA PHOGAT
Geeta Phogat is a freestyle wrestler who won India's first ever gold medal in
wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. She is also the first Indian female
wrestler to have qualified for the Olympic Summer Games.

18. P V SINDHU
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian professional badminton player. At the 2016
Summer Olympics, she became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver
medal.

19. SAKSHI MALIK
Sakshi Malik is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she
won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female
wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics.

20. MARY KOM
Chungneijang Mery Kom Hmangte, better known as Mary Kom, is an Olympic
Indian boxer hailing from the Kom-Kuki tribe in Manipur.

21. SUDHA CHANDRAN
Sudha Chandran is an Indian film and television actress and an accomplished
Bharatanatyam dancer. In June 1981, she lost a leg due to gangrene following a
road accident near Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu while coming back from Madras
with her parents.

22. RANI LAXMIBAI
Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, born as Manikarnika, was the queen of the
Maratha-ruled Jhansi State, situated in the north-central part of India.
(1828 – 1858)

23. SAROJINI NAIDU
Sarojini Naidu, also known by the sobriquet Nightingale of India, was a poet and
politician. Naidu served as the first governor of the United Provinces of Agra and
Oudh from 1947 to 1949.
(1879 – 1949)

24. SAINA NEHWAL
Saina Nehwal is a professional badminton singles player from India. Nehwal, the
former world no. 1, has maintained her world ranking in the top ten since 2009.
She has won over twenty international titles, which include ten Superseries titles.

25. M S SUBBULAXMI
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, also known as M.S., was a Carnatic
vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's
highest civilian honour.
(1916 – 2004)

26. DR. SONAL MANSINGH
Sonal Mansingh is an Indian classical dancer and Guru Bharatanatyam and Odissi
dancing style; who is also proficient in other Indian classical dancing styles.

27. SONIA GANDHI
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of
the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime
Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family.

28. JAYALALITHA
Jayalalithaa Jayaram was an Indian actor turned politician who served five terms
as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, for over fourteen years between 1991 and
2016.
(1948 – 2016)

29. RADHIKA MENON
Captain Radhika Menon, first woman captain of the Indian Merchant Navy
received IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea.

30. ASHA BHOSALE
Asha Bhosle, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in Hindi
cinema, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and
has spanned over six decades

31. SARLA THAKRAL
Sarla Thakral was the first Indian woman to fly an aircraft. Born in 1914, she
earned an aviation pilot license in 1936 at the age of 21 and flew a Gypsy Moth
solo. She had a four-year-old daughter.
(1914 – 2008)

32. SUNITA WILLIAMS
Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy
officer of Indian-Slovenian descent. She holds the records for total spacewalks by
a woman and most spacewalk time for a woman.

33. PRATIBHA PATIL
Pratibha Devisingh Patil is an Indian politician who served as the 12th President of
India from 2007 to 2012. A member of the Indian National Congress, Patil is the
only woman to hold the office.

34. ANANDIBAI JOSHI
Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi, MD was one of the first Indian female physicians. She
was the first female of Indian origin to study and graduate with a degree in
medicine in the United States.
(1865 – 1887)

35. KAMALA SOHONIE
Kamala Sohonie was an Indian biochemist. She was the first Indian woman to get
a Ph.D in a scientific discipline.
(1912 – 1998)

36. RAJESHWARI CHATTERJEE
Rajeshwari Chatterjee was an Indian scientist and an academic. She was the first
woman engineer from Karnataka.
(1922 – 2010)

37. VAIKOM VIJAYALAKSHMI
Vaikom Vijayalakshmi is a playback singer from Kerala, India. She is an expert in a
rare musical instrument called Gayatriveena. She won special jury mention for her
much appreciated work in the movie Celluloid

38. KAMALA SURAYYA
Kamala Surayya, also known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and Kamala
Das, was an Indian English poet and littérateur and at the same time a leading
Malayalam author from Kerala, India.
(1934 – 2009)

39. SAVITRIBAI PHULE
Savitribai Jyotirao Phule was an Indian social reformer and poet. Along with her
husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important role in improving women's
rights in India during British rule.
(1831 – 1897)

40. ASHWATHY NAIR
Aswathy Nair’s NGO, ‘Jwala’, supports the homeless and the aged.

41. MERIN JOSEPH
Merin Joseph, the youngest IPS officer in the Kerala cadre, believes in the power
of the youth.

42. ARUNDHATI ROY
Suzanna Arundhati Roy is an Indian author. She is best known for her novel The
God of Small Things, which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. This
novel became the biggest-selling book by a nonexpatriate Indian author.

43. EKTA KAPOOR
She is rightly titled as the reigning queen of the Indian Television industry.

44. ANNE FRANK
She was an Indian American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin in
space.
(1929 – 1945)

45. OPRAH WINFREY
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress,
producer, and philanthropist.

46. AMELIA EARHART
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was
the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S.
Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment.
(1897 – 1931)

47. HELEN KELLER
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She
was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree.
(1880 – 1968)

48. ADA LOVELACE
Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace was an English mathematician and
writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical
general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
(1815 – 1852)

49. MARIE CURIE
Marie Skłodowska Curie, born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, was a Polish and
naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on
radioactivity.
(1867 – 1934)

50. FLORENCE NIGHTANGLE
Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC was an English social reformer and statistician, and
the founder of modern nursing.
(1820 – 1910)

51. QUEEN VICTORIA
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20
June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of
Empress of India.
(1819 – 1901)

52. JOAN OF ARC
Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", is considered a heroine of France
for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War and was
canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.
(1412 – 1431)

53. GOLDA MEIR
Belonging to Israel, Meyerson was a teacher and a politician who was later
appointed as Israel’s fourth prime minister
(1898 – 1978)

54. DILMA ROUSSEFF
The current and 36th president of Brazil, Rousseff is the first woman to hold the
office. She was previously the Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
from 2005 to 2010.

55. ANGELA MERKEL
The world’s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European
Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders.

56. ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF
The 24th and current president of Liberia, Sirleaf is one of the founders of
National Patriotic Front of Liberia. She is also famous for being the first female
head of state in Africa. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with
Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen.

57. ISABEL MARTINEZ DE PERON
The 24th and current president of Liberia, Sirleaf is one of the founders of
National Patriotic Front of Liberia. She is also famous for being the first female
head of state in Africa. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with
Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen.

58. PARK GEUN HYE
Known for being the first female in South Korean politics who was elected as a
president. Hye also is the first woman head of state in modern history of
Northeast Asia. Prior to her presidency, she was the chairwoman of the
conservative Grand National Party (GNP).

59. AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician, diplomat, and author who is the First
and incumbent State Counsellor and Leader of the National League for
Democracy.

60. ROSA PARKS
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American civil rights activist, whom the
United States Congress called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the
freedom movement".
(1913 – 2005)

61. PRINCESS DIANA
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the
eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II.
(1981 – 1996)

62. HILLARY CLINTON
Hillary Clinton is a public official who has served as a U.S. senator and as the U.S.
secretary of state. She also served as first lady while her husband, Bill Clinton, was
president of the United States.