Half the world, double the trouble

‘‘From the time I joined in 1950, every step of the way, I faced stiff resistance,’’ recalled Muthamma. ‘‘Nobody wanted me, whether it was my first posting in Paris or later, because they were afraid of being stuck with a woman officer. Today’s girls don’t realise how things have changed over the years.’’

But just as one of Muthamma’s interviewers kept expressing shock in 1949 that she had opted for the IFS he later told her that he had given her the minimum pass marks to persuade her not to another woman officer, a whole three decades later, was shocked into disbelief at the similarity of her interviewer’s reaction.

‘‘He asked me if I was going to marry a cook. When I asked him why I should do that, his airy reply was, Oh, isnt that what spouses of officers are supposed to do as they travel the world?’’ she said.

And then there was Manorama Bhalla from Delhi, recounting the story of how she beat the system (she joined in 1958) when she fell in love with a colleague, Hardev, and wanted to marry him. She was posted in Bonn, he was in Prague and the service rules debarred women from continuing in the service if they got married.

The sterling examples of other women officers were held out to Manorama. Such as Rama Mehta, who had succumbed to the charms of Jagat Mehta and quit. As had Mira Sinha, about whom it was said that she was singled out by Zhou-en Lai for a dance in Beijing. (Ironically, soon after Mehta became FS in 1979, he issued a circular that said women officers should not expect ‘‘special favours.’’ Furious over the patronising tone of the circular, the women fought back. Madhu Bhaduri, ambassador in Portugal and a writer, was a key figure in that struggle).But back to Bhalla. In 1960, the minister of state in the MEA, Lakshmi Menon, was visiting Prague, where fiance Hardev Bhalla took up the matter with her.

Manorama wrote to Menon, who gave her permission to tie the knot in the sari. Afterwards, the MEA to its credit tried as far as possible to post the joyous couple together.

Yet, women officers had to continue handing in their resignations when they got married. That rule only changed with the Krishna Iyer judgement in 1979, after which the MEA decided to put a portion of its house in order.

It was not until almost a decade later, however much after Rajiv Gandhi became PM with a foreign wife that women officers were allowed to marry foreigners without being forced to hand in their papers. The credit for that battle, it is said, goes to Aruna Fontana. Pragya Paramita Das, who had been posted in Brussels, was refused permission to marry a non-Indian, so she quit. Fontana then forced the change in rules, and the MEA allowed cross-country weddings with the caveat that the foreign spouse adopt Indian nationality.

Rajiv Gandhi’s minister of state for home affairs Margaret Alva also made foreign allowances equitable for married couples as for single women she pursued the matter single-handedly, until the ministry of Finance agreed and for rewriting the rules to now say, ‘‘that as far as possible,’’ married couples should be posted together.

Even as the glass ceiling receded or came closer, women officers often heard the refrain ‘‘The standards have really dropped since women joined the service.’’ But slowly and surely, the MEA began to put women in key divisions, such as Pakistan, China, Russia, Sri Lanka.

Leela Ponappa, Lakshmi Puri, Deepa Gopalan, Vijay Thakur Singh (for as long as ten years) and now Ruchi Ghanshyam, have all served on the Pakistan desk. Ghanshyam was in fact the first woman officer to be posted in Islamabad at the time of the hijacking of IC-814. However, it was her husband who was sent to Kabul from Islamabad to make contact with the passengers.

Nirupama Rao (now JS, economic affairs) was a young joint secretary in the 1980s, responsible for China and Japan. Meera Shankar (now JS, SAARC, as well as responsible for Nepal and Bhutan), many months pregnant, continued to work closely on the Sri Lanka crisis in the early 1980s with G. Parthasarathy. Smita Purushottam was completely at home in both Chinese and Russian languages.

Ironically enough, when Mani Mekhalai, posted in really tough conditions in Sudan, fell ill and wanted to return, she was told by the ministry, ‘Sorry, we don’t have a man to replace you yet.’’