Who's Who among South Asian Women

Ajitha, Naxalite activist. (India)
Meena Alexander, writer. (India, USA)
Lalithambika Antharjanam, writer. (India)
Anjana Appachana, writer. (India, US)
Jean Arasanayagam, writer. (Sri Lanka)
Rukmini Devi Arundale, dancer/choreographer/teacher (India)
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, human rights activist.(Burma)
Sister Avelin Mary, scientist. (India)
Shabana Azmi, actress. (India)

Anita Rau Badami, writer. (India, Canada)
Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi. (India)
Shauna Singh Baldwin, writer. (India, Canada)
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, politician. (Sri Lanka)
Preeta Bansal, NY State Solicitor General. (India, US)
Radha Basu, Silicon Valley entrepreneur (India, US)
Alpana Bawa, fashion designer. (India, USA)
Kiran Bedi, policewoman. (India)
Protima Bedi, Odissi dancer. (India)
Susham Bedi, author. (India, US)
Annie Besant, freethinker and activist. (UK, India)
Uma Bharati, politician and MP. (India)
Ela Bhatt, women's organizer. (India)
Sujata Bhatt, poet (India, US, Germany)
Razia Bhatti, journalist. (Pakistan)
Benazir Bhutto, politician. (Pakistan)
Bif Naked, rocker. (India, US)
Asha Blake, anchor, ABC World News Now. (US)
Marina Budhos, writer. (India, Guyana, US)

Gurinder Chadha, filmmaker. (India, UK)
Sheila Chandra, pop star. (India, UK)
Kalpana Chawla, astronaut. (India, USA)
Ismat Chugtai, author. (India)
Sudha Churi, chief of Shiv Sena Mahila Aghadi. (India)

Vidya Dahejia, art curator. (India, US).
Tarla Dalal, cookbook author. (India)
Nandita Das, actress. (India)
Kamala Das, writer. (India)
Shamita Das Dasgupta, activist. (India, USA)
Shobha De, writer. (India)
Anita Desai, writer. (Germany, India, USA)
Bhairavi Desai, activist. (India, US)
Kiran Desai, writer. (India, UK, USA)
Shashi Deshpande, writer. (India)
Mahasweta Devi, author and activist. (India)
Nilimma Devi,Kuchipudi dancer. (USA).
Phoolan Devi, dacoit and politician. (India)
Daljit Dhaliwal, ITN anchor. (India, UK)
Chitra Divakaruni, writer. (India, USA)
Tehmina Durrani, author. (Pakistan)
Barkha Dutt, television journalist. (India)

Diana Eduljee, cricketer. (India)

Shama Futehally, writer. (India)

Indira Gandhi, politician. (India)
Maneka Gandhi, politician and animal rights activist. (India)
Priyanka Gandhi, Nehru heir? (India)
Sonia Gandhi, politician. (Italy, India)
Indira Ganesan, author. (India, US)
Yasmeen Ghauri, supermodel. (Pakistan/Germany, Canada)
Namita Gokhale, author. (India)
Yasmine Gooneratne, writer. (Sri Lanka, Australia)
Alice Garg, community activist. (India)
Vinita Gupta, Silicon Valley entrepreneur. (India, US)

Minal Hajratwala, journalist, poet, performance artist. (India, US)
Githa Hariharan, writer. (India)
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, writer, educator, feminist. (India)
Syeda Abida Hussain, politician (Pakistan)
Qurratulain Hyder, writer. (India)

Attiya Inayatullah, President, International Planned Parenthood. (Pakistan)

Madhur Jaffrey, author and actress. (India, UK, US)
Zia Jaffrey, editor and author. (India, US)
Asma Jahangir, lawyer and activist. (Pakistan)
Ayesha Jalal, historian. (US)
Raji Jallepalli, fusion chef. (India, US)
Jayalalitha, consummate politician. (India)
Rani Jethmalani, Supreme Court advocate. (India)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, writer. (Germany, India, UK)
Hina Jilani, lawyer and activist. (Pakistan)
Fatima Jinnah, politician. (Pakistan)

Sufia Kamal, poet and activist. (Bangladesh)
Sultana Kamal, lawyer and women's right activist. (Bangladesh)
Ginu Kamani, author. (India, US)
Manju Kapur, author. (India)
Suvimalee Karunaratna, writer. (Sri Lanka)
Sarita Kedia, celebrity lawyer. (India, US)
Noor Inayat Khan, WWII spy. (India, UK)
Surina Khan, gay rights activist (Pakistan, US)
Bharti Kirchner, writer. (India, US)
Madhu Kishwar, editor and women's rights activist. (India)
Yamini Krishnamurti, dancer. (India)
Lata Krishnan, Silicon Valley entrepreneur.
Chandrika Kumaratunge, politician. (Sri Lanka)

Jhumpa Lahiri, author. (India, US)
Maleeha Lodi, diplomat. (Pakistan)

Karnam Malleswari, weightlifter. (India)
Kamala Markandaya, author. (India)
Sujata Massey, writer. (India, US, Japan)
Manorama Mathai, writer. (India, UK, Thailand)
Prema Mathai-Davis, CEO, YWCA (India, US)
Mayawatipolitician. (India)
Veena Mazumdar, women's activist. (India)
Fatima Meer, freedom fighter. (India, South Africa)
Deepa Mehta, filmmaker. (India, Canada)
Gita Mehta, author. (India)
Mary Anne Mohanraj, writer. (Sri Lanka, USA)
Jugnu Mohsin, journalist and publisher (Pakistan).
Shani Mootoo, writer/artist. (Ireland, Trinidad, Canada, US)
Bharati Mukherjee, writer. (India, USA)

Sarojini Naidu, writer and freedom fighter. (India)
Mira Nair, filmmaker. (Uganda, India)
Suniti Namjoshi, writer. (India)
Taslima Nasrin, writer. (Bangladesh)
Kirin Narayan, author. (India, US)
Sister Nirmala, social worker. (India)
Indra Nooyi, Pepsi executive. (India, US)

Anuradha Pal, tabliya. (India).
Bachendri Pal, mountaineer. (India)
Hemalee J. Patel, lawyer (India, US)
Sanjukta Panigrahi, Odissi dancer. (India)
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, freedom fighter/politician (India)
Uma Parameswaran, writer. (India, Canada)
Pratibha Parmar, filmmaker. (Kenya, UK)
Smita Patil, actress. (India)
Medha Patkar, environmental activist (India)
Suneeta Peres da Costa, author. (Australia, US)
Uma Pemmaraju, FOX TV anchor. (US)
Thangam Philip, caterer/nutritionist/cookbook author. (India)
Arati Prabhakar, scientist. (India, USA)
Amrita Pritam, writer. (India)

Chitra Ragavan, news correspondent. (India, US)
Pandita Ramabai, social activist and scholar. (India)
Anne Ranasinghe, writer. (Germany, Sri Lanka)
Fehmida Riaz, poet. (Pakistan)
Arundhati Roy, writer & activist. (India)
Mary Roy, activist and educator (India)

Nafis Sadik, doctor and policymaker. (Pakistan)
Nayantara Sahgal, writer. (India)
Mridula Sarabhai, freedom fighter. (India)
Aparna Sen, actress and filmmaker. (India)
Maureen Seneviratne, writer. (Sri Lanka)
Leila Seth, chief justice. (India)
Perveen Shakir, poet. (Pakistan)
Anoushka Shankar, sitarist. (India)
Vandana Shiva, environmental activist. (India)
Jayashri Srikantiah, ACLU immigrants rights lawyer. (India, US)
Bapsi Sidhwa, author. (Pakistan)
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, postcolonial theorist. (India, USA)
Bhama Srinivasan, mathematician. (India, USA)
Srinija Srinivasan, Yahoo's ontologist. (USA)
M.S. Subbalakshmi, musician. (India)
Chitra Subramaniam, journalist and Bofors investigator. (India)
Sara Suleri, author and theorist. (Pakistan, US)
Sushma Swaraj, politician (India)
Meera Syal, author/actor/scriptwriter. (UK)

Saraswati Tamang, leaseholder. (Nepal)
Nina Tangri, political aspirant. (Canada)
Romila Thapar, historian. (India)
Mother Teresa, social worker. (Albania, India)

Roopa Unnikrishnan, shooting star. (India)
P.T. Usha, athlete. (India)

Urvashi Vaid, gay rights activist. (India, USA)

Sheikh Hasina Wajed, politician. (Bangladesh)
Punyakante Wijenaike, writer. (Sri Lanka)

Khaleda Zia, politician. (Bangladesh)