Dr. Kamala Sohonie, the one who led the way Whastic

"When girls are in elementary school, they think they can be anyone, they can do anything. All of a sudden, they get into high school, and they get into science classes, and besides the fact that they’re doing as well or better than the boys in the class, they’re looking toward their future, and they see posters full of male scientists. They don’t see themselves on the lab bench. They don’t see where their place is". Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most prominent scientists of 20th century who wasn't included in a Nobel prize granted for her own experiment.



Science, though a quintessentially rational profession, has been plagued by irrational social biases. Women have always been underrepresented, underpaid, and unrecognised in sciences. The lack of recognition alone does not represent the entirety of the problem. One of the biggest factors in lack of representation of 50% of the population is their systematic exclusion from the academics.



Lack of encouragement from a young age, restrictions on feminity, and outright rejections, women in STEM face these and a lot more. Sometimes however we see a star push away the dust around it and shine bright despite the challenges. Dr. Kamala Sohonie was one of such stars. Dr. Kamala had a lot of 'Firsts' to her name, leading on to become the first Indian Woman 'on whom the title of PhD (in Science) degree was conferred'.



Kamala Bhagvat was born in 1912, in a highly-educated family. Her father and uncle were among the first Chemists to graduate from Indian Institute of Sciences (Then Tata Institute of Sciences) in Bengaluru. Kamala had a supportive family and in-house role models, so it was no surprise when she decided to become a Chemist herself. She finished school at top of her batch and enrolled into B.Sc. Physics and Chemistry course at Bombay Presidency College under Bombay University. She topped her batch again and graduated with proverbial Flying Colours.



Born into an affluential family with two alumni, and topper of the University merit list, she thought her admission into IISC would be easy. She failed to account for the bias against women at that time, her application was rejected. The Director of the Institute at that time was Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman. Sir Raman was a man of principles, one of them was "I am not going to take any girls in my institute!". Which was his reply to Kamala's father and uncle's request for reconsideration.



Refusing to settle for any other institute, or stand down against discrimination, Kamala persisted. She met Sir Raman and asked for reasons and assured him that she would complete her course with distinction, and yet Raman ignored her requests. Then 22-year-old Kamala resorted to Satyagrah in Raman's Office. Sir Raman, unable to provide a valid official justification for the rejection, relented. He accepted Kamala's application with some conditions which she had to accept. He did not admit her as a regular candidate, she had to work late nights as per instructions of her guide, and she was not to 'Distract her male colleagues'.



Kamala was to later recount at an event by Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA). "Though Raman was a great scientist, he was very narrow-minded. I can never forget the way he treated me just because I was a woman. Even then, Raman didn’t admit me as a regular student. This was a great insult to me. The bias against women was so bad at that time. What can one expect if even a Nobel Laureate behaves in such a way?"



Kamala wasn't the first woman at IISC, neither was she first to be treated unfairly by the management. IISC only had permanent hostels for men, women were allowed accommodation on temporary basis on the campus. She and two other candidates in the hostel faced unsafe living conditions and other issues during this time. Sir Raman's wife, Mrs. Lokasundari Raman was the Warden of Women's Hostel. Their request for a permanent hostel was denied by Ms Lokasundari on the basis tha