A WIDE GULF

STORY SIMILAR IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

The inauguration of the recent Women Science Congress held at Manipur University was mostly a man’s affair, with just two women scientists on the stage. The event ironically reflected the severe lack of women in science and the challenges faced by the few women who do make it.Only 25% of women are in scientific faculty of various institutions and universities. Biological research institutions are an exception though.Women make up only 14% of 2.8 lakh scientists, engineers and technologists employed in R&D institutions in India. That works out to 39,389 women. Global average, on the other hand, is 28.4%.In 2017, of the total applicants to various branches of IITs only 10% were women. Moreover, only 5% of fellowships awarded by Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences has gone to women.Only 8% of Isro’s scientific and technical staff make up of women. Sadly, no woman has headed it since it was founded in 1963.Women scientists say even when women are enrolled in PG and PhD in greater numbers, they fail to convert their degrees into careers due to the biological clock and family pressures.Also, very few lone women rangers in science report discrimination.As many as 81% of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in India felt a gender bias in performance evaluation, and 47% worked 40-60 hours a week against 66.5% by men.Science is still seen as male profession. In a global online implicit association test 70% participants associated men with science and women with arts.Data from a subset of OECD countries shows that among graduates with science degrees, 71% of men and only 43% of women work as professionals in physics, mathematics and engineering; women more often choose to become teachers. Only 13.7% of inventors who filed patents are women.Source: National Task Force on Women in Science Report of the Dept of Science and Technology; Unesco; Indian Academy of Sciences; National Institute of Advanced Studies