An author, philanthropist, and educator, the chairperson of Infosys, Sudha Murty has taken on multiple inspirational roles. She was awarded the fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri in 2006 for empowering women and breaking stereotypes. A student of computer science and engineering, Sudha Murty was the only girl in a class of 599 boys. During her appearance on Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati 11’, she candidly spoke about her struggles of being the only female student while also facing familial disagreements. Apparently, her parents weren’t happy with her decision of choosing an engineering career.
With dejected support from family, Sudha Murty didn’t back down and had to follow special rules on her college campus. She was strictly ordered to wear only saree every day and wasn’t allowed to visit the college canteen or talk to boys. But it was only after she topped her class, that fellow students began recognising her talent and treating her equally. During her time as a student, Sudha also wrote an angry letter to JRD Tata urging him to remove his company’s “no women policy.” Recalling the 1972 incident on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’, the entrepreneur said she was trying to get a scholarship to do a Ph.D. in America while completing her M. Tech at the Tata Institute, Bangalore.
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“One day I was returning to my hostel and I read a notice that read TELCO, Pune was inviting young, bright engineers with a good salary, but in the end, they had mentioned that ladies students need not apply. It really made me angry. I was 23 years old, you tend to get angrier at that age,” she said. With the intention of challenging the prejudice against female engineering students, Sudha decided to write a letter to JRD Tata.
“In my letter, I wrote to him, Sir, JRD Tata, when the country was not independent, your group started the chemicals, locomotive, iron, and steel industry. You are always ahead of the times. In this society, there are 50 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women. If you don’t give an opportunity to women, then you are cutting off the services of women. That means your country will not progress. If women don’t get an education and job opportunities, then society or a country never rises, and this is one mistake of your company,” she said.
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Her efforts did come to fruition and eventually, Tata removed their “no-women” policy.
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