Damyanti Hingorani Gupta is a true trailblazer for women across the globe in more than one field, being the first woman engineer to work for American automaker Ford after forcing the Rs 330000 crore ($39.27 billion) company to change its archaic hiring policies. Damyanti Hingorani was also the first woman to attend first woman to attend an engineering college in India, carving a new path for Indian women in post-independence India.
Who is Damyanti Hingorani Gupta?
Born in what is now Pakistan in 1942, Damyanti Hingorani’s family moved to India after the 1947 partition. Damyanti excelled in studies since her childhood and the tender age of 13, she decided to become an engineer, a career unheard for women in that era, especially in conservative societies like India.
Damyanti Hingorani recalls how she was inspired by the words of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and decided to pursue engineering, even though she knew that it would not be easy. After finishing school, Damyanti became the first female student in India to attend an engineering college where she earned a degree in mechanical engineering.
During those times, there wasn’t even a girl’s bathroom in the college, because women in India did not study careers like engineering and physics. Damyanti reveals how she had got to a public bathroom located around 1.5 km away from her college. However, the gritty woman overcame all these hurdles and earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering.
First woman to work at Ford
Damyanti Hingorani was a fan of American industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford. The business magnate’s biography had deeply inspired and she had made up her mind to work for his company, and in order to pursue that dream, Damyanti and her family, including her three siblings moved to the United States in 1967.
Damyanti applied for work at the Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Company, but the American carmaker promptly rejected her application because the company followed an archaic policy of not hiring women engineers. Shocked, surprised and dejected by Ford’s reply, Damyanti Hingorani chose not to lose hope, and persisted with her goal of working for the company she wanted.
Hingorani asked Ford a simple question; “how will you ever know whether women can be good engineers if you never give them a chance?”. Damyanti’s confidence and resolve impressed the company’s officials and they decided to alter their ancient policy and hire her.
Damyanti Hingorani worked at Ford Motor Company for 35 years, paving the way for countless other women who later worked for the company over the years.
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