Women in Xavier's

Among the prominent women alumni, who have excelled in their chosen fields, there's Violet Alva, who was the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Gulestan Billimoria, a prominent social worker and one time Sheriff of Bombay, and Mothers Josephine Sala and M. Ignacia, who have held high posts in their respective religious orders. Irene Heredia stood first in the B.A the same year as our Mayor, Dr. Kulkarni, was first in the B.Sc., and she became President of the Maharastra Womens' Council; and we could name many others in various professions and walks of life.

Not content with appropriating the front benches of the classroom, St. Xavier's "graduettes" tried hard to crash the male barrier of the lecture platform. For long they had to be pacified with the crumbs of fellowships and demonstratorships, with two very short-lived appointments as lecturers. In 1953, however, Fr. M.M. Balaguer, a man of vision and courage, took the bold step of appointing a woman lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, and today, though the increase has not been as spectacular as with the student population, a large section of our teaching staff consists of women lecturers.

In the centenary year an even more revolutionary step was taken by appointing a woman as Acting Vice-Principal (Science) - the first lay person to hold the post.

If the mists of uncertainty which veil the future were to rise for a moment, what new heights would we see women reaching, in the new Millenium, within the student and staff body of St. Xavier's?