Women achievers in general are great, but when they break a certain stereotype, I am even more inspired by them. Today’s Sunday inspiration story is about one such wonderful woman - Gita Gopinath. 

A stereotype holds that women aren't good at finances or economics or have trouble with both of those fields. The exceptional achievement of Gita Gopinath in both of these fields has proved every doubter wrong. Since January 21, 2022, Gita Gopinath has been serving as the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She is a technocrat, the author of numerous books, and the author of research articles on global financial crises, emerging markets, trade, and investment. It is my pleasure to share with you the life story of this genius woman.

Source: Star Unfolded

Early Life & Education

Gita Gopinath, a current US citizen, was born on December 8, 1971, in Kolkata to middle-class Indian parents. T V Gopinath and V C Vijayalakshmi, her parents, are natives of Kerala. Her mother V C Vijayalakshmi ran a play school, while her father T V Gopinath is a businessman. At nine years old, Geeta moved with her family to Mysore, Kerala. Gita was the younger of the two daughters. She completed her schooling in Mysore. Here is a picture of Gita with her parents. 

After earning the degree of B.A. from Lady Shri Ram College in 1992, and an M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics in 1994, she earned another M.A. degree from the University of Washington in 1996. Further, she earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 2001. She was the best student they had in 20 years, according to her professor, who suggested her to Harvard and Princeton.

Gita is married to Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal, the executive director of the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She attended the Delhi School of Economics with Iqbal, who started his career as an IAS officer after winning the civil services examination in 1995. The two of them have a son.

Source: The Week

Her Career Graph

Ms. Gopinath began her career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago (2001 - 2005). Then, she served as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University from 2005 to 2022 before joining the IMF. Her work on international finance and macroeconomics has received numerous citations and has appeared in many prestigious economics publications.

Gita is a member of the Group of Thirty and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. She has previously held positions at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) including co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program, member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's economic advisory council, and visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Awards & Recognitions 

She has won numerous accolades throughout her journey, some of which are mentioned below. 

• Times Magazine titled her - women who Broke Major Barriers to Become Firsts'
• Government of India gave her the highest honor given to any overseas Indian - Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
• The University of Washington honored her with Distinguished Alumnus Award
• She was recognized by the IMF as one of the 'top 25 economists under 45' in 2014
• The Financial Times named her one of its '25 Indians to Watch' in 2012
• World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2011
• She was formerly co-editor of the American Economic Review and managing editor of the Review of Economic Studies. She is currently the co-editor of the Handbook of International Economics.
• Bloomberg named her one of the 50 people who defined the 2019
• She was named one of the Top Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy

Source: Times of India

Closing Thoughts

The world has praised Gita, the first woman to hold the position of Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, for the outstanding work she has accomplished during COVID-19 and for her intellectual leadership in guiding the global economy and the Fund through the ups and downs of the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Gita says that her inner strength, self-assurance in her beliefs, and perseverance are qualities that have helped her achieve all that she has in her life. Leaving you with an insight into her personality through this interview.

(The image used in the title banner is taken from the Harvard Gazette)