INDIAN WOMEN

• Toru Dutt (1856-77) : The first Indian woman poet to write in English, and her work depicts archetypes of Indian womanhood.
• Tara Patel : Poet
• Anna Sujata Matta: Poet in english.
• Sarojini Naidu : The First women Governer.
• Chandabai : A Jain Scholar and a Pioneer of women's education in India[1]. She was the founder of the oldest women's publication in India that is still published Jain Mahiladarsh.
• Mahadevi Verma : Outstanding Hindi poet, was also a freedom fighter, woman's activist and educationist.
• Santha Rama Rau:  Remember the House (1956).
•  Ruth Prawar Jhabvala : To Whom She Will (1955) and  Heat and Dust (1975) which was awarded the Booker Prize
• Arundhati Roy : Awarded with the Booker Prize of 1997 for her work "God of Small Things".
• Anita Desai,: Fire on the mountain, Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Kiran Desai : Indian author who is a Citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize[1] and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award
• Shobhaa De : Socialite Evenings (1989), Indian Columnist and Novelist.
• Jhumpa Lahiri : The namesake, Indian American author. Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies (1999), won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and her first novel, The Namesake (2003), was adapted into the popular film of the same name.
• Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni : The Mistress of Spices (1997).
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  Sarojini Naidu :  The first Indian women in politics to become President of the Indian National Congress and the first women to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.
  Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit : The first Indian women in politics to hold a position in the cabinet.
  Sucheta Kripani : The first Indian women in politics to be elected chief minister of any Indian state.(Uttar Pradesh ).
  Lakshmi Sahgal :  The first Indian woman to run for the post of President of India.
  Indira Gandhi : The first Indian woman in politics to become Prime minister of Indepent India.
  Pratibha Patil : The first Indian woman in politics to become President of India.
  Sonia Gandhi : The Indian woman who is currently the leader of Congress.
  Meira Kumar : The first  woman Speaker of Lok Sabha.
  Agatha Sangma : The Youngest Indian woman to become MP( at the age of 28). She is the youngest minister in the current council of ministers and is a former lawyer.
  Amita Sharma : Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development.
  Some of the other emerging Indian women in politics who have established their names  are Shiela Dixit, Mayawati, Uma Bharti,Jayalalitha, Vasundhra Raje Sindiya and Mamata Banerjee etc.
  Indian Women Diplomates : Indian women in the Indian  foreign service have now aqriured positions exclusively to become India’s ambassadors  in different countries. Till now the position often considered too important , dangerous and tough was occupied by males of the country . The Indian women are heading 26 Indian missions and consulates around the world. Some of the names include:
  
  • Meera Shankar : India’s ambassador to the United states. The only Indian  woman to be appointed Indian ammbasador to US since Vijayalakshmi Pandit.
  • Nirupama Rao : The Indian woman full term  foreign Secretary in India’s history.  She is handling the ongoing dialogue with Pakistan. She was the first woman spokesperson of the ministry of external Affairs.
  • Nengcha Lhouvum : The Indian woman  ambassador to Lebanon.
  • Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa :  The first woman envoy to Qatar.
  • Sujatha Singh : Indian High commision in Australia.
  • Ruchi Ghanashyam : India's high commissioner to Ghana. she was the first woman officer to be posted to Islamabad at a time when harassment of Indian diplomats was a routine.
  • Chokila Iyer : The  first Indian woman foreign secretary ( 2001).
  • Manimekalai Murugesan : Indian woman ambassador in Libya