An idol-maker, a train driver, a visually challenged lawyer, a firefighter, a poet — gender unified disparate vocations at a programme, titled “Women Breaking Barriers: Charting New Horizons”, at the American Center to celebrate Women History Month. Soumita Roy spotted an Indian Railways advertisement for an assistant locomotive pilot and took the test. History was created in 2018 when she was chosen to drive a ladies’ special passenger train from Sealdah to Ranaghat, as the first woman locomotive pilot in Eastern Railways. “We had to carry 40kg in the test and run so we can rescue an incapacitated person,” she said. “We wanted to highlight women who, despite breaking the glass ceiling in their respective fields, are not well-known,” said Anindia Banerjee Tamta, general secretary of Parivar.

Source: The Telegraph April 09, 2019 14:48 UTC