More women are making a career in science. A lot more needs to be done to ease their journeys
While the social sciences and humanities still register a larger presence of women researchers, numbers have increased appreciably in the sciences as well. Health sciences is now pegged at 24.5 per cent, natural sciences and agriculture at 22.5 per cent and engineering and technology at 14.5 per cent.
For every Indian woman aspiring for a career in science, the role models were too few and far between — Tessy Thomas, Soumya Swaminathan, Gagandeep Kang, N Kalaiselvi, Annapurni Subramaniam and a handful of others notwithstanding. After all, many of these women are exceptions to the rarefied male bastions of scientific research in India.
This could be changing, going by data released by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) that has confirmed a rise in the participation of women in scientific and technological fields over the last two decades. The percentage of women researchers has increased from 13.9 in 2015 to 18.7 in 2018. While the social sciences and humanities still register a larger presence of women researchers, numbers have increased appreciably in the sciences as well. Health sciences is now pegged at 24.5 per cent, natural sciences and agriculture at 22.5 per cent and engineering and technology at 14.5 per cent. Women occupy key research and leadership positions in institutions such as the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Defence Research & Development Organisation and Indian Space Research Organisation, among others. A lot of this has to do with individual enterprise as well as the thrust of successive governments on gender diversity through grants and rewiring of infrastructure for greater inclusivity. In the wake of the pandemic that has hit women professionals harder, the pragmatic focus of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy 2020 is on meeting its target of 30 per cent women at a post-doctoral level by 2030. To this end, DST is set to incorporate GATI, a grading system for institutes based on the enrollment of and impetus to the careers of women in its ranks.
Yet, a lot more remains to be done. According to the 2018 Global Gender Gap report, India is ranked 108 out of 149 countries. The 2019 All India Survey on Higher Education shows a significant lag in female participation at doctoral levels, partly owing to the pressures of marriage and family planning. Those who overcome these are often faced with the loneliness of being an outlier in a male domain, where biases are rampant and getting oneself heard, a constant struggle. As elsewhere, women scientists often have to shoulder a disproportionate burden of academic housekeeping in comparison to their male counterparts. While policies and leadership roles are excellent incentive models, further benefit could come from a system of mentoring and an availability of funds, especially for those who want to get back into the workforce after a hiatus.
