Family and Childhood

Marie Sklodowski was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. Both her parents being school teachers had high expectations of Marie and her siblings. The Sklodowski family was very learned and cultured, but they struggled financially. Poland was occupied by Russia and Germany. Marie’s father, Wladyslaw, a school principal lost his job to a Russian because he was loyal to Poland and a patriot. Marie’s family took in student boarders and the household was crowded with many people and these living conditions helped to spread tuberculosis, a major infectious disease in the late nineteenth century. Marie’s mother got the disease from Wladyslaw’s brother who came to live with them and died in 1878 from TB when Marie was only nine. Her sister Zosia followed suit. To cope with the loss, the children pretended to be miraculous doctors who could cure any disease and Marie decided to make this fantasy a reality. She studied in ‘the flying university’ an underground school for women to study sciences as they were not allowed to attend college in Poland.

Why She Chose Physics

Marie was encouraged to study physical science by her cousin, Jozef Boguski, the director of the Warsaw Museum of Industry. He allowed her to do experiments in physics and chemistry on the weekends at the museum. When Marie got to the Sorbonne in Paris, a revolution in science was underway. This was a very exciting time to study physics. The structure of the atom and the forces which hold it together were still unknown when Marie enrolled as a student at the Sorbonne.

Research in Radiation

With Pierre acting as her advisor, Marie spent several years purifying uranium ore. It was a grueling task to isolate the “radioactive” substances from tons of ordinary rock. Toiling over a giant vat, she worked out of doors or in a drafty shed. This was a blessing in disguise because the vat gave off poisonous radon gas. The Curies were not aware of this. Marie proposed that the radiation came from inside the atoms. Other scientists followed her lead and started to investigate the structure of atoms. She discovered two new elements which she named Radium (after “radiation”) and Polonium (after Poland). In 1903, the Curies and Henri Becquerel received the Nobel Prize in physics for their combined research and discoveries on radioactivity.

The Dangerous Beauty of Radium

Marie’s plan to become a teacher like her mother was changed by Pierre Curie who she met and married. He persuaded her to research a mysterious, invisible energy discovered by Henri Becquerel earlier. This was the research that would catapult her into scientific immortality. Both husband and wife were enamored by Radium and Marie kept a small vial of Radium salts by her bedside. Despite burns and symptoms of fatigue, they never admitted the negative effects of radiation. She thought only of its potential to heal people. Workers in her lab fell sick and yet she allowed her own daughter Irene to be exposed to high levels of X-rays.

The Curies had two daughters: Irene was born in 1897 and Eve in 1904. Pierre’s father took over the childcare duties as Marie and Pierre became more and more involved in their work. Marie became pregnant again, but she suffered a miscarriage probably due to high levels of radiation in her lab. In April, 1906, Pierre was run over by a horse-drawn wagon and died. Marie was devastated, and she turned to a close friend of Pierre’s, Paul Langevin, for companionship. Their love affair was exposed by a tabloid newspaper, and a scandal resulted. Marie’s reputation and career were nearly destroyed.

Male Chauvinism and Discrimination

Then the Swedish Nobel committee announced she had won the Nobel prize for chemistry!
This probably saved her career in physics but the Nobel Committee asked her not to attend the ceremony in 1911. The French Academy of Sciences also voted down her membership. Angry mobs gathered around her home. The science community remained silent and did not come to her defense. Her friend and engineer Hertha Aryton gave her place to hide out. Bravely, she attended the Nobel Awards in spite of it all. In the following years she was very bitter about the way she was treated. She made a point of hiring people at her lab who also had suffered discrimination by the male science establishment. She also hired several women at her lab and gave them their start in physics. One was Marguerite Perey who began as a test tube washer and, a few years later, discovered the radioactive element Francium. Ellen Gleditsch came to the lab from Norway. At home, Marie was training Irene to become a physicist. Irene reminded her of Pierre; she had the same temperament and the same dislike of school.

Service to Nation and Community

During World War I, Marie and her daughter Irene took X-rays of wounded soldiers which located bullets and shrapnel for surgeons. They supervised over 1 million X-rays and Marie trained over a hundred women to take X-rays in trucks. She and Irene traveled in their own truck and lived out in the field much like the other soldiers. Because of her service to soldiers during the war, the French public began to think of Marie less as a foreigner and more as a patriotic French woman. She also toured America twice after the war and raised money for her Radium Institute. During these years, she controlled the largest supply of radioactive substances used in scientific research. She shared these with other physics labs engaged in studying the structure of the atom.

The End of A Legend

Marie had the constitution of a horse, but even she eventually succumbed to the lethal effects of radiation exposure. In the last decade of her life, she suffered from severe pains and aches like Pierre had. She also had cataracts in her eyes and constant ringing in her ears. In 1934, Marie’s bold adventure into the atomic universe came to an end. She died in Paris of leukemia, a cancer of the blood. In 1997, Marie’s remains were moved to the Pantheon, France’s monument to its heros. She is the first woman to be so honored. Marie Curie was a great Polish patriot, but she had won a place in the heart of the French people.

Irene and her husband Fred Joliot continued as Directors of The Radium Institute and secured radioactive materials during the Nazi Occupation in World War II. After the war, Fred became Chief Architect of the French Government’s Nuclear Program. Marie Curie’s grand daughter Helene became a nuclear physicist. Altogether the Curie/Joliot family won five Nobel Prizes.

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• Credentials: Dr. Seema Rao is an MD, MBA in Crisis Management and PhD Honora Doctoris (Indiana) in Martial Science. She  is the daughter of a freedom fighter. Along with Dr. Deepak Rao, she has dedicated her life to the service to the nation. In a country where women are still looked upon as weaker sex and the Indian Army itself has many reservation in terms of capabilities of men and women, here stands a women who did not bring up a family for the sake of her work for the nation. Her contributions include Combat training and authoring books for the Indian Forces. She earned her Para Wings from the Indian Air Force under special directive of the Air Chief. She is a 6th deg Black Belt in Military Martial arts and a medallist Rock climber from the Army Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. She is also a crack shot Combat Shooting instructor. One of the 10 women in the world to be certified in Bruce Lee’s martial arts of Jeet Kune Do 38 years after Lee’s death. She was runner up in the Mrs India World beauty pageant in 2004. She received the World Peace Diplomat Award from the Malaysian PM at the World Peace Congress (UN Affiliate) in 2008. She received the “Outstanding Law Enforcement Instructor Award” from US Hall of Fame. She was interviewed by Femina, Savvy, US mag ‘V’ and of course deFacto Women’s Directory.
• Vocation or Devotion? She has devoted 17 years of her life to sharing her expertise in Close Quarter Combat with the Indian forces. She along with her husband, Prof. Dr. Rao have imparted training in CQB to almost every elite unit of the Indian Forces, including NSG-Black cat, Marine Commando, Air Force Commando-Garud, Paracommando Special Forces, BSF, Army Corps Battle Schools, Commando Wing, National Police Academy, Army Officers Training Academy, etc. They have been called to train the Police QRTs of almost every major City & State in India as Official Resource Person by Directive of the Home Ministry. Their innovations have been used in modernization of training by the armed forces.
• Selfless Service without Compensation: All of Seema’s work over past 17 years has been without any monetary compensation, as a selfless service to the country. The Rao couple’s research of last 17 years was compiled into a book – Encyclopedia of Close Combat Ops. All of the copies of the limited edition of this book was distributed to the Indian forces by the Union home ministry. Seema has not accepted any compensation for the book, not even the cost of production.
• National Commendations: Dr. Seema has received the Army Chief’s citation, the Home Minister’s appreciation letter & Chief Minister’s commendation for her work for Indian soil. in 2008, Army Commander Gen VK Singh, who is the current Army Chief, commended her efforts in modernization of combat training for the Army. In 2009 the Home Minister of India, Shri P. Chidambaram put on record her selfless work for the country.
• Sacrifices: In her pursuit for service to the country, Dr. Seema has suffered from head injury & Amnesia, vertebral fracture and other life threatening injuries. She has opted to not have children in order to enable her to continue the rigorous demands of her high intensity job profile.

Despite sharing equally in all of the above contributions as a couple, Dr. Seema was not conferred equal Rank. When she has clearly shown calibre, that women can be of equal capacity even in a combat role, why is the Army still reluctant to commission women in combat capacity. Why cannot a provision be made for her to be awarded Honorary Rank for her selfless contribution? When the President of India, a woman can confer rank upon Deepak Rao, why not Seema Rao, who is equally part of the combat couple team? Let us take the example of Mary Edwards Walker who is the only one woman to have been awarded the Medal of Honor; highest military decoration awarded by the President of USA and one of only eight civilians to receive it. She received the award for her role as a combat surgeon in the Civil War. Is it then not imperative for a woman who has spent 17 years training the Forces to receive an Honorary Rank if not a Medal of Bravery? On one hand the Business World have begun to recognize women entrepreneurs for their role in contributing to the economy of the nation and on the other hand the Armed Force refuses to acknowledge the contribution of women as combatants in the Armed Forces. Should this disparity exist? Let us endeavour to educate our country men that such Draconian laws no longer hold true and a woman is the equivalent of a man in any field and we have been proving that time and again. It’s time to change the status quo!

The Emerging India Awards are the Nation’s largest Business Awards. In a short period, they have established the benchmark of excellence for India’s SMEs. This year ICICI Bank Business Banking & CNBC-TV18 present Emerging India Awards 2011 in association with CRISIL. India’s biggest business award will recognise and reward the nation’s best SMEs with the benchmark that every SME looks up to. The award focuses on small and medium entrepreneurs striving for world-class facilities, setting the highest benchmarks and optimising opportunities across the globe. These are the SMEs who are the next generation of India’s business leaders. The Emerging India Awards 2011 will reward India Inc.’s rising stars.

The categories are diverse and spans across many fields. Our very own Pushpanjali Reddy has been selected in the Category of Women Entrepreneur!

• Life Sciences (Pharma & Chemicals) - Pharma Producers and organic and inorganic medicinal substances for human or veterinary use; bulk drugs and generics, drug formulation and molecules, biotechnology, ayurvedic, natural medicine, etc.
• Chemicals - Manufacturers and developers of chemical substances, organic, inorganic & synthetic chemicals, explosives, essential oils, gelatins, agrochemicals, pigments, dyes intermediates, etc.
• Infrastructure - An infrastructure service including all kinds of providers of commercial and social infrastructure like roads, power, ports, shipping, transport, hospitals, construction, educational institutions, etc.
• Education - The trust/cooperative societies, private & government entities engaged in imparting education such as primary/secondary, graduate/post-graduate and vocational/technical courses and allied educational services.
• Auto and Engineering - Auto Vehicle manufacturers, dealers and aftermarket services in the automotive sector.
• Engineering - Industries manufacturing machinery, machine tools, motors, pumps & compressors, electrical and electronic devices and their parts.
• IT-ITES - Information Technology Business in hardware, data management information and standards, information technology, software applications and the software development process.
• Power and Telecom - Manufacturing and services related to power and telecom industry.
• Agriculture - Agri and Food Processing – Processors of food grains, beverages, oil seeds, fruits and vegetables, plantation, spices, tea, coffee, rubber, jute, crops etc.
• Agri Inputs & Non Farm Sector – Processors of seeds, pesticides, fertilizer, micro nutrients, aqua feed, poultry feed etc. Non farm sector includes dairy, poultry, Aqua & Fisheries, sericulture etc.
• Retail, Trading & Other Services - Retail Trade of all kinds i.e. sale to the consumer – of all types of goods and services and also all type of distribution networks like dealers, franchises, direct selling and e-trade which sell directly to the consumer.

Categories Across Industries

• Most innovative SME of the year
• Socially responsible SME of the year
• SME with a global reach
• Technosavvy SME of the year
• Green SME of the year
• Women entrepreneur of the year

The Inaugural Issue of deFacto; the Definitive Women’s Directory is being launched at the Oxford Bookstore, at Leela Galleria, Leela Palace in Bangalore. Ms. Pushpanjali Reddy, the publisher and editor, will address the readers and the audience, sharing insightful details about the book and take in questions from readers. This will be followed by a brief book signing and press interaction session.

At the Event

Ms. Rohini Reddy (Executive Director SARRA), Ms. Soumya Aravind Sitaraman (Author), Ms. Manasi Prasad (Musician), Dr. R. Poornima (Editor – Udaya Vani) and various distinguished women will attend the launch. The concept and primer of the book was launched on 8th March 2010 in commemoration of the Women’s day at the Leela galleria and was a successful well received event.

About deFacto

Like most great ideas, this book has a simple thought – the concept that this book is based on – “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness”. And that is precisely what Ms. Pushpanjali Reddy has set out to do. She will tell you of her plight in finding a woman surgeon when required to undergo a simple procedure. Women are everywhere in the professional and corporate world and yet as most will tell, they are mighty difficult to find when you set out to actually finding one. So does this book make women more accessible? No. Does it claim to catalog mail order brides? Most certainly not! It is the sentiment behind the book; that of service to women by women themselves and a celebration of womanhood.

Pushpanjali Reddy

Pushpanjali Reddy shares the empowering effect of the women profiled in the book and believes the true value of the book will be realized if it too has that same empowering effect on its readers. An architect by profession and also an industrialist and builder she exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship.

For Media Enquiries & Interview requests, please mail us at info@defactoindia.com or call +91 99020 56500

Most of Pushpanjali’s business and social ventures have been preceded by challenges and accidents. When advised to undergo a surgery, she insisted on being operated upon by a lady. After bearing the pain for over a year, a laborious search led her to find a lady surgeon to perform the operation. This incident and the inconvenience it caused propelled her to create a medium of easy access to information about women professionals. Seeds of thought blossomed into an idea and de Facto was conceived.

Educational institutions, business holdings and professionals like consultants, architects, surgeons, advocates, fashion designers, veterinary doctors are listed in the book. It also features quotes by women, interesting trivia and must-knows. “It has been a difficult but fulfilling journey”, says Pushpanjali as she recounts her struggle to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Pushpa Dravid, her teacher during her course in architecture was the first to be profiled. Coffee taster Sunalini Menon, “Mango Rani” Sharmila Pattawardhan, India’s first lady veterinary doctor Sakkubai Ramachandran, graphics designer Sujata Keshavan, vocalist and danseuse Manasi Prasad, swimmer Nisha Millet, martial arts exponent Vandana Rao and social activist Rohini Reddy are some achievers featured in this issue of de Facto. “I feel that I have grown sixty years older in a year”, she says talking about the humbling experience of following these chronicles of success.

Internationally renowned coffee cupper Sunalini Menon joined the Coffee Board of India as an Assistant Taster and went on to become the Director of Quality Control. With years of experience in evaluating, roasting, tasting and qualifying coffee behind her, Sunalini started Coffelab in 1997. The laboratory manned by women, provides quality related services to assist the various stakeholders of the coffee industry in India.

Bangalore’s very own girl with the golden voice, Manasi Prasad leaves a trail of accomplishments as she scales new heights of success. An IIMB graduate, Manasi has excelled both in academics and in the field of art. Being recognized as one among the top ten students of all IIMs she was a recipient of the coveted Aditya Birla scholarship.  Manasi has performed in over 500 concerts in India and abroad. In 2008, she was conferred the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awarded to exceptionally talented artists below the age of 35.

“deFacto is a solid idea and a good resource for women”, says Vandana Rao, a third degree black belt in the ancient Korean martial art Tang Soo Do. She trained under Master David Bell while in Fremont, California. After relocating to Bangalore, Vandana established The Healing Arts Center, a school of art. At this school she imparts training in Tang Soo Do, Chi Kung, a Chinese meditative practice and yoga. “Learning martial arts has strengthened my identity and made me focus on who I am. I have become a stronger mother, stronger daughter and stronger wife”, says Vandana.

The queen of the water, Nisha Millet who swam her way in the record books is also profiled in the book. In a career that spanned over 15 years Nisha has won about 600 gold medals in various events and still holds the record for the maximum gold medals in the National Games. She has won several prestigious awards including the Arjuna Award, Ekalavya Award and Rajyotsava Award. At present, Nisha is a much sought after coach who trains swimmers of various age groups.

Sujata Keshavan Guha, the wife of famed historian and journalist Ramachandra Guha is the co-founder of Ray and Keshavan, a firm that is a pioneer in the field of brand consulting and graphic design in India. The firm has been consistently ranked as India’s top design firm and Sujata was named as one of India’s top 30 powerful women . She is the only Indian graphics designer to have received the Advertising and Marketing (A & M) Graphics Designer of Year twice.

The book also features Kapila Saigal, small town girl who has mastered the mantra of success. She landed her first job as a marketing executive and then went on to establish a printing business. Her desire to explore and excel prompted her to set up Chandni Chowk, a flamboyant restaurant in an up market location of Bangalore. Exquisite restaurants Heera Panna, Jalsa and Ruh followed the success of Chadni Chowk. Hats off to this lady who came Bangalore with just eight hundred rupees in her pocket!

At 79, Dr. Sakkubai Ramachandran who has the distinction of being the first lady veterinarian in India is the oldest achiever to be featured in de Facto. In 1948, Madras Veterinary College opened admission of girls and Sakkubai was one of two girls who joined the course that year. After graduating in 1952, she worked as a virologist and scientist at Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) till her retirement in 1991.

These women are living examples of the adage, “Triumph always begins with you” and are just a few who have launched themselves to the pinnacle of glory. The women of today are standing tall in what was once a man’s world.  They dare to chase wild dreams and take the road less traveled. Defying the odds, can make the impossible, possible and are redefining the phrase that the “sky is the limit”.

It has not yet happened, it is just a good idea, it is utopia. Man lives in a very uncivilized way. Hence qualities which are warlike are praised . Qualities which are flower like are condemned. To be soft is thought to be feminine. It is feminine, but there is nothing wrong in it. In fact it should be praised because it is feminine. Two things are implied in it. One is that god is conceived as a mother, not as father – which is far more truer. God as a father is not so true; in fact the very institution of father is arbitrary. It is created by the society. There is every possibility in future, the very institution may disappear; father may become almost irrelevant.

In fact the very idea of father arises out of private property. Because man became very conscious of possessing property, he started possessing the woman; he won’t allow the woman the freedom to move freely without being possessed by anybody in particular. And of course, man is in a certain way stronger than the woman; in an animal way he is stronger, in a muscular way he is stronger, obviously.

The woman is stronger in a different way. She has more loving qualities, more heart, more capacity to be patient, great capacity to resist all kinds of misfortunes, immense power to pass through suffering unaffected. Man is very weak in that way but muscularly he is powerful. His height is a little bigger, his bones are a little stronger he can overpower physically any woman.

Hence he started possessing other properties. And he wanted to be absolutely certain that only his children should be the owner of his property. That was the beginning of the institution of fatherhood. Mother is a natural phenomenon, father is artificial. In animals there is no father, only the mother. In birds, only the mother; the father is only accidental, it is not so intrinsic. The same is possible once women become more freer economically, more freer psychologically. The same is going to happen again.In the future, fatherhood is going to disappear. It can be predicted and very confidentially predicted that father has outlived. Because in the past the male became very important – he created all the institutions around the idea of the masculine. Even god became masculine. It is far more truer that god is a woman because god is a womb. Out of the womb everything has arisen: the whole creation.

OSHO

Excerpted from Man Is Not an Island courtesy Osho International Foundation

deFacto aims to be a ready reckoner of women professionals, entrepreneurs, organizations, associations, small-scale industries, politicians, social workers, doctors, architects, construction professionals etc. The directory will also contain inspiring stories which draw on the personal journeys of various women achievers.

]]> http://www.defactoindia.com/2009/defacto-origin/feed/ 0 http://www.defactoindia.com/2009/vision/ http://www.defactoindia.com/2009/vision/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:40:53 +0000 defacto http://www.defactoindia.com/?p=31 Working women in India today are faced with numerous challenges. It is important to get fresh perspectives on the obstacles encountered by women en route to success. deFacto will also serve as inspiration for young women as well as a guide to aspiring entrepreneurs. Those spotlighted in the book will serve as role models and/or mentors to the youth. The objective is to empower and recognize successful women whilst inspiring and nurturing those who aspire to emulate them in addition to publicizing their services to the general public. deFacto will be distributed in all corporations, women’s institutions, associations, five star hotels, airport lounges, etc. Furthermore, it will be made available at all prominent bookstores. It could also be a guide for the public to access services provided by women such as salons, clinics, therapists, legal counsels, support groups, civil liberties organizations etc.

This initiative is perhaps the first of its kind in the country, and we aim to lead a paradigm shift in the evolution of women professionals and thus issue a call to harness the power of women to shape and nurture the future.  To achieve this, we have short listed noted personalities and achievers from Bangalore to be role models for the first edition of the book which is expected to be released in January 2010. Please respond with suggestions and stories of women achievers (from grassroots level crusaders to corporate czarinas). Your feedback/suggestion for the same will be valuable and highly appreciated. Please proceed to the Contact page to get in touch with us.

A related question that has consumed both academic and popular writers is whether men and women have the same leadership abilities. On average, women in management positions are somewhat better leaders than men in equivalent positions, according to a study published in the current Psychological Bulletin. A transformational leadership style may be especially congenial to women because this way of leading is relatively androgynous and has some nurturing, feminine aspects. A considerable body of research has shown that women can be disliked and distrusted in leadership roles, especially when they exert authority over men, appear to be extremely competent or use a dominant style of communication. Transformational behavior may lessen suspicion of female leaders and alleviate problems of lesser authority and legitimacy that they sometimes face.

Another reason women may favor a transformational style is that such a leader operates more like an excellent teacher than a traditional boss. Women’s past socialization may give them more ability to lead by teaching — that is, by developing and nurturing workers’ abilities and inspiring them to be outstanding contributors. And the glass ceiling itself may produce more highly skilled female leaders. Research shows that higher standards are often imposed on women to attain leadership roles and to retain them. Because transformational leadership constitutes skillful leadership, women may be more skillful leaders than men because they have to meet a higher standard.

Are we however taking the progress of women for granted? In spite of this increased role in the professional sector, there is no doubt that there is much work to be done in overcoming the factors that discourage women entrepreneurs. How many people are aware of women who have stepped beyond their conventional roles? Are these women being acknowledged, encouraged and recognized?

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