Current Science

Charu Malhotra ¹

Affiliations
1 Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology, 6/3 Sewak Ashram Road, Dehradun 248 001, IN

Abstract

Under-representation of women in science is a global phenomenon and affects India as well. It deprives women of opportunities in science and is also a great loss to society and science itself. The scientific community can be an important pressure group for building greater focus on the issue and pushing for concrete measures to address the problem. This article reviews the discussions amongst the Indian scientific community on the subject since the early twentieth century and examines the suggestions made by it, based on research and personal experiences. There is a strong case for mandating women’s presence in leadership and decision-making positions to address the issue. There is also a case for greater involvement of male colleagues in addressing this issue. Important suggestions have been put forth to make our scientific institutions women-friendly, but not many have been implemented. The resolution of the issue requires stronger will and deeper commitment from policymakers and the scientific community itself.

Keywords

Bias, Gender, STEM, Under-representation, Women in Science.

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Charu Malhotra ¹, Kirti Joshi ¹

Affiliations
1 Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology Vigyan Dham, Jhajhra, Dehradun 248 007, IN

Abstract

The capabilities¹ and effectiveness² of women as scientists continue to be doubted amongst the male-dominated scientific community. There is no scientific basis to these perceptions as research disproves them³. A common perception is that women publish less and that the quality of their work is often questionable. Hasan et al.⁴ conclude that the quality of research by female research scholars is at par with that of their male counterparts and the quantum is commensurate with their proportion. Another widely held notion is that women are unable to devote adequate time to research because they have to manage both family and work. Kurup and Maithreyi⁵ demonstrate that more women scientists (47%) than men (34%) devote 40–60 hours per week and that 86% of women scientists can manage both family and work. Subtle, but deep ischolar_mained work place gender biases against women scientists seem to be a plausible explanation for the prevalence of such doubts.

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