Diplomats pay homage to India's first woman diplomat

New Delhi, Nov 8 : Senior Indian Foreign Service officers and colleagues Sunday paid homage to C.B. Muthamma, the country's first woman diplomat, describing her as "the stuff of legends" and thanking her for breaking the "glass ceilings". Muthamma died last month at the age of 85.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao paid warm tributes to the woman who broke the glass ceiling and led the women's entry into what until then was all-male domain of the prestigious Indian Foreign Service.

"Muthamma entered the civil services when diplomacy was considered a male bastion. We benefited from the battles Muthamma fought," Rao said while addressing the gathering of serving and retired foreign services officials here.

Muthamma died Oct 14 this year after a brief illness at the age of 85. Muthamma, the first woman to enter civil Services in 1949 after clearing UPSC examinations, opted for foreign services and was posted as the third secretary in the Indian embassy in Paris.

The first woman foreign secretary of the country Chokila Iyer, who served the country briefly in 2001, also spoke about Muthamma.

"She was a stuff of legends and now of foreign services lore. To pay her a tribute I would like to quote from an article written by her in 2001 - 'It has taken half a century to appoint a woman at this post'," Iyer said.

"You broke the mould for us. You broke the glass ceilings. For that, we all are indebted to you," Iyer added.

Muthamma was born in a modest family at Virajpet in the hilly Kodagu district of Karnataka. She served as the ambassador to Hungary, the Netherlands and Ghana. She was also part of Indian diplomatic missions in several countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

She had also served in Indian Missions in Yangon and London, besides the Pakistan Division and American Division of the external affairs ministry.

The late diplomat was member of the special Non-Governmental Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues set up by Olof Palme, better known as the Palme Commission.

She did her schooling at St Joseph Girl's school in Madikeri and studied at Woman's Christian College in Chennai, where she won triple gold medals. She completed her post-graduation in literature with distinction.

Not somebody to take discrimination lying down, Muthamma moved the Supreme Court when denied promotion as a diplomat supposedly for being a woman. Justice V.S. Krishna Iyer in a judgment ordered her appointment as an ambassador.

She had penned several books on various issues.