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Kolkata-born Sharmila Mona Sinha has entered the US National Women’s Hall of Fame, becoming only the second woman of Indian origin to receive the honour after Indra Nooyi.
Sharmila Mona Sinha (Photo: Social media)
Sharmila Mona Sinha, becoming the third daughter in a Kolkata family shaped an early understanding of how deeply gender could influence expectations. Decades later, that experience has become part of a much larger journey from India to Wall Street and eventually to the global fight for women’s rights.
Sinha, who was born and raised in Kolkata, has now been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, a place closely associated with the history of the American women’s rights movement.
She is only the second woman of Indian origin to receive the honour, after former PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi.
A childhood shaped by gender expectations
Sinha has recalled being conscious of the way sons and daughters were viewed differently while growing up.
As the third daughter, she said she was aware of the disappointment associated with not having a son. “I wanted to be a boy and do what boys did,” she recalled.
An experience during her childhood also left a lasting impression. While volunteering at a Mother Teresa orphanage in Kolkata, Sinha noticed that there were relatively few boys among the abandoned children.
She was told that abandoned boys were more likely to be adopted. The experience made her realise that gender could affect a child’s chances of finding a family, even in circumstances where children were already vulnerable.
A family connection to women’s activism
Another discovery came during her teenage years, when Sinha learnt that her grandmother had helped organise women during India’s freedom movement.
The revelation gave her a personal connection to the idea of challenging established social norms.
During her Hall of Fame induction, Sinha spoke about the values she inherited from her family. She recalled how her mother in Kolkata would set aside a fistful of rice every morning for someone who needed it.
Sinha said she viewed the honour not simply as a personal achievement but as a responsibility to pass forward what she had received.
From Smith College to Wall Street
Sinha left India at 18 to study at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she graduated with degrees in economics and art history.
She later earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and began her professional career on Wall Street as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.
Her career then moved into corporate America. She worked with companies including Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Elizabeth Arden, gaining experience in business, management, markets and organisational strategy.
But over time, Sinha began to consider how those skills could be used outside the corporate world.
Turning business experience towards social change
Rather than leaving behind the methods she had learnt in business, Sinha applied them to philanthropy and social change.
She became a leader of Women Moving Millions, a network of women philanthropists whose members have committed around $1 billion to organisations supporting women and girls.
She also co-founded Raising Change, which works with social-impact organisations to strengthen their fundraising and organisational capacity.
Sinha was involved in establishing the Asian Women’s Leadership University and later became a trustee of Smith College. She also helped lead the institution’s Women for the World campaign, which raised around $486 million.
From philanthropy to women’s rights
Her work eventually expanded into filmmaking and advocacy.
Sinha became an executive producer of documentaries, including the Oscar-nominated To Kill a Tiger. She also supported efforts around the Equal Rights Amendment and the planned Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
Since 2022, she has served as the chief executive officer of Equality Now, an international organisation working to change discriminatory laws affecting women and girls.
Her work now focuses on issues including child marriage, sexual violence and women’s economic rights.
A second Indian-origin woman to receive the honour
Sinha’s induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame adds another chapter to a journey that began in Kolkata.
Her path did not start with a career in activism. It moved through education, investment banking and corporate America before eventually turning towards philanthropy, advocacy and institutional change.
Her recognition also places her alongside Indra Nooyi as the only two women of Indian origin inducted into the American institution.
For Sinha, the honour marks the distance travelled from the expectations attached to being a “third daughter” in Kolkata to becoming a prominent advocate for women and girls around the world.
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Ask News18Sharmila Mona Sinha was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She is only the second woman of Indian origin to receive this honor, following former PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi.
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Pragya Bahuguna is a digital journalist at News18.com, covering national and international news, including Indian politics and geopolitics, with an interest in environment and climate affairs. She hol…Read More
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