"To the girls out there, we all can make it" says India's First Female Permanent Representative to the UN

By: WE Staff | Sunday, 7 August 2022

On August 2 Ruchira Kamboj took charge as a Permanent Representative to United Nations (UN). In doing so she created history to be the very first Indian woman to hold this position.

She took to Twitter to make the happy announcement, “Today, have presented my credentials to the Secretary General of the United Nations @antonioguterres as Permanent Representative/Ambassador to the @UN. A privilege to be the first Indian woman to be given the honour to hold this position. To the girls out there, we all can make it!”

The last part of her Tweet came out as a strong message to girls all across the country that any dream is achievable if one works towards it.

A day before she presented her credentials to the UN chief, she has also tweeted, "It is my deepest honour to serve my country in this new position."

Lakshmi Puri, the Former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director at UN Women, who is one of the highest ranking Indian diplomats in the UN system, remarked that Ruchira’s appointment is a ‘new milestone’ when it comes to women’s leadership at the UN.

Ruchira who became the first Indian woman to be the permanent representative at the UN followed in the esteemed steps of Vijaya Lakshmi Panditwho had been designated as the chief delegate to the General Assembly twice in her lifetime.

In her new role Ruchira will be succeeding Ambassador T S Tirumurti.

How Ruchira got here

Ruchira is not new at attaining remarkable success. She was the Numerouno female applicant in the 1987 Civil Services batch as well as the 1987 Foreign Service batch.

Ruchira’s career as a diplomat began in Paris. She represented the Indian Embassy in Francefrom 1989 to 1991. She then came back to Delhi to work as an undersecretary in the Europe West Division of the ministry of external affairs from 1991 until 1996. She then held the positions of First Secretary (Economic and Commercial) and Head of Chancery in the Indian High Commission in Port Louis, Mauritius from 1996 to 1999. Ruchira was accredited to the Kingdom of Lesotho. Between 2002 and 2005Ruchira worked as a counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. She served as the Indian High Commissioner to South Africa between 2017 and 2019.Ruchira was then designated as the Indian ambassador to Bhutan on May 17, 2019.

An Inspiration to All Indian Women

In her address as the first Indian woman to hold the prestigious position as a Permanent Representative to United Nations (UN) she sent out a strong message for women to aspire to great things. Her achievement is testament to the fact that irrespective of how tough the dream might be, it is still worth pursuing.

We must thus work hard with dedication and perseverance and who knows a common Indian girl might grow up to achieve the unattainable.