Sarala Devi

Sarala Devi (9 August 1904 – 4 October 1986) was an Indian independence activist, feminist, social activist, politician and writer. She was the first Odia woman to join the Non-cooperation movement in 1921 and the first Odia woman delegate of the Indian National Congress. She became the first woman to be elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly on 1 April 1936.

She was also the first female Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly But only for one day and in the absence of that time speaker Mukunda Prasad Das and there are no official records present in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the first woman Director of Cuttack Co-operative Bank, and the first female Senate member of Utkal University. She was the only representative from Odisha on President Dr S. Radhakrishnan's Education Commission. Provided by Wikipedia