Meet Damyanti Hingorani who forces Rs 336000 crore to change its decades old rule, she is India’s first

Success will always remain within reach if our determination is strong enough. This sentiment perfectly explains the success story of Damyanti Hingorani. She is the first female engineer with an advan

Success will always remain within reach if our determination is strong enough. This sentiment perfectly explains the success story of Damyanti Hingorani. She is the first female engineer with an advanced degree at Ford Motor Company. Born in 1942, Damyanti Hingorani Gupta was born in a small town in British India; however, she had to leave her homeland due to the partition of the country into India and Pakistan.

In 2018, Damyanti was featured in Time Magazine in its “Time Firsts: Women who are changing the world” project.  In an interview with TIME, she stated that her family faced violent riots as their region became part of Pakistan. When she was just five years old, they fled under the cover of night to the coastal town of Karachi. From there, they were taken on cargo ships destined for Mumbai, marking a significant turning point in their lives.

Damyanti Hingorani Gupta was inspired to pursue engineering by listening to speeches from then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who highlighted the need for engineers, both men and women, to help build and empower the nation.

Soon, she enrolled in mechanical engineering, becoming the only female student in her department. After reading Henry Ford’s biography, she was inspired to work for him. Reportedly, she took the most affordable ship to Michigan soon after finishing her course. Damyanti’s family supported her by selling their properties to send her to the US. Although she was initially rejected, she soon made history as the first female engineer at Ford.

The HR representative at Ford Motors said that she was applying for an engineering job, but they had no females in the department. Damyanti replied that she was there, and unless he hired her, they would never have any women on the team. Her boldness impressed the recruiter, who subsequently challenged the company’s long-standing policy and successfully hired her.

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