Women’s Equality Day falls on August 26 every year. It started as an American observance tied to the 19th Amendment, but the idea behind it that women deserve the same shot at education, work, and leadership as anyone else travels well beyond the US. At Terna Trust, it’s become a moment to look back on 45 years of colleges and hospitals across Dharashiv and Navi Mumbai, and at how many women built careers through them.
The numbers explain why that matters. Women still make up under a third of undergraduate engineering students nationally, based on AICTE enrollment data. Maharashtra is inching past that: female participation in the state’s engineering admissions climbed to 37.3% in 2025-26, up from 35.4% the year before. Terna’s own campuses have been part of that shift for decades, long before it started showing up in state data.
What Equality Means to the Terna Family
At Terna, equality isn’t a policy statement. It means trusting a woman’s ability to do the job, listening when she speaks up in a meeting, respecting the decisions she makes about her own career, and giving her the same room to grow in any field she chooses. That’s the standard the institutions try to hold themselves to the other 364 days of the year, not just on August 26.
Opening Doors in Dharashiv
Twenty years ago, a girl in Dharashiv who wanted to study engineering or pharmacy often had to travel hours to find a serious college, if her family agreed to send her at all. Terna Engineering College and Terna Pharmacy College put both options within reach locally. That single change in distance did more than create access to a degree — it gave rural girls a way to build an identity of their own, separate from the roles assigned to them at home. In a state where women’s share of engineering seats is still climbing past 35%, a rural campus that trains women in these fields carries real weight.
Careers Beyond the Classroom in Navi Mumbai
At Terna Hospital, Terna Medical College, and Terna Engineering College in Navi Mumbai, the pattern continues past graduation. Women work there as doctors, engineers, nurses, professors, and administrative staff, running departments and treating patients rather than stepping aside from a career once it starts. That’s not the norm nationally. A 2023 industry study found that only about 29% of Indian women who graduate in STEM fields go on to actually work in STEM roles, compared to a far higher share of male graduates. The gap isn’t about ability. It’s about which workplaces make room for women to stay once they’ve qualified, and which don’t. Terna’s campuses fall into the first category, with women holding roles at every level from junior staff to department heads.
Women in Leadership at Terna
Some of the women who started as students at Terna are now the ones running departments, mentoring junior doctors and faculty, and shaping decisions about how the institutions operate. That matters for the students coming up behind them. A young woman training in a department led by another woman doesn’t have to imagine what’s possible for her she can see it.
45 Years of Terna Trust
Terna Public Charitable Trust was registered on September 30, 1980, founded by Dr. Padmasinha Patil to bring quality education and healthcare to families across Maharashtra who didn’t have easy access to either. Over 45 years, that mission grew into a network of colleges, hospitals, and Janseva community programs — health camps, water access drives, farmer support — spanning Dharashiv and Navi Mumbai. Women have shown up across all three areas, using them as a starting point to build something of their own.
Happy Women’s Equality Day to the Women of Terna
To every student, doctor, teacher, and staff member across the Terna family this one’s for you. When one woman gets an equal opportunity, it isn’t just her career that moves. It’s the community around her.
Happy Women’s Equality Day from all of us at Terna Trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
An annual observance on August 26 marking the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote. It's now used more broadly to mark progress toward gender equality.
Through colleges in Dharashiv and Navi Mumbai Terna Engineering College, Terna Pharmacy College, Terna Medical College, and Terna Hospital that have trained and employed women across engineering, medicine, and healthcare for over four decades.
September 30, 1980, by Dr. Padmasinha Patil, with a mission to provide education and healthcare access across Maharashtra.
Yes. Female participation in the state's engineering admissions rose to 37.3% in 2025-26, up from 35.4% the previous year, according to MHT CET data.
