Kolkata: After Calcutta Club made history by electing a woman president for the second consecutive time, Dalhousie Institute, another heritage city club, on Sunday elected four woman members to the executive committee, constituting 45% of the governing body.A former committee member of the club said no other heritage club in the city has 45% woman representation in the managing committee.The annual general meeting of DI was held on Sunday. This year, there was no election for the nine-member committee since there were nine nominations filed. Incidentally, Dalhousie Institute, had the distinction of electing the first female president, Denise Smith, in 2015.The four women slated to join the committee this year are Jashodhara Ghosh, Rajashree Venket Kundalia, Natalie Pote, and Urmi Basu Kejriwal. Ghosh is a CA while Kundalia is a high court lawyer. Pote is a fitness professional and Kejriwal has a family business.DI had three women members — 33.5% of the panel — in the outgoing committee. Kundalia told TOI that once the new committee takes over, she will be looking into the bar and sports. “This is the only place where we set trends for women’s empowerment. Earlier, there was a committee where the secretary, president and treasurer were all women,” she said.The other women committee members will look into finance, entertainment, and foods and services.Some of the other premier heritage clubs, too, are inducting women in the managing committee. A former president of Bengal Club said it now has two female members in the committee. “In our club, there is no election. One becomes president on the basis of seniority. We are likely to get a female president next year,” he added.According to him, for the past couple of years, the club has taken in a lot of female members. “We are now very gender equal,” he said.A former president of Tolly Club told TOI that though there is no direct election in the club in most cases, there are two female members in the executive committee. A committee member of Saturday Club pointed out that the club had elected Harjyoti Bindra as the president three years ago. The club now has female members in the committee as well.In RCTC, Smita Bajoria served in the committee for a long while. Secretary of Calcutta Rowing Club Chandan Roychowdhury said “CRC is perhaps the only club which used to take female members since its inception.”
