P.K. Thressia (12 March 1924 - 18 November 1981) was a Civil Engineer and became India's first female chief engineer.

Early life and education

P.K. Thressia was born in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

on the 12 March 1924 into a devout Syrian Catholic family. She was the second of six children of Kunchalichy and Kakkappan Thressia. Her father worked as an agriculturist. She attended the St Mary's High School in Kattoor and through her father's encouragement went onto study Civil Engineering at the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), alongside fellow women engineers, Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha and Leelamma Koshie. She graduated in 1944, after her degree was compressed to three and half years due to the Second World War.

Engineering career

After graduating, Thressia worked as a Section Officer for the Public Works Commission of the

Kingdom of Cochin The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy w ...

, (in modern day

) which was under the British rule. She soon received a promotion to the Assistant Construction Engineer for the TB Sanatorium, Mulakunnathukavu. She became Executive Engineer in 1956, which meant she had to move to

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

, where she worked for nine years. In 1966, she was promoted to Superintending Engineer of

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

Roads and Buildings. In 1971, she was promoted to Chief Engineer of the state of Kerala. In this role she worked on significant road construction projects, pioneered the use of rubberised

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

for road surfaces and commissioned up to 35 new bridges a year. Thressia also worked on infrastructure projects including the construction of hospitals. In ''Roots and Wings'', by Shantha Mohan, she is quoted as saying that 'an engineer's life is not as difficult as many women think.' P.K. Thressia retired in 1979, after working for the Kerala Public Works Department for 34 years and became a founding consultant for the firm Taj Engineers.

References

1924 births 1981 deaths 20th-century women engineers Indian women engineers Engineers from Kerala Indian engineers {{India-engineer-stub Women engineers College of Engineering, Guindy alumni