Implicit bias, family pressure and gender stereotype are preventing women from pursuing STEM careers beyond the postdoctoral level
Despite greater opportunities in STEM and a rich history of scientists such as Rukhmabai (India’s first practising doctor), Janaki Ammal (botanist), Ashima Chatterjee (India’s first woman doctorate in Science), Kamala Sohonie (biochemist), Rajeshwari Chatterji (first woman engineer from Karnataka and IISc’s first woman faculty) Shakuntala Devi (mathematical wizard), to mention a few, it has been observed far fewer girls choose to enter the research sector of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). More recently, to improve the abysmally less percentage of women in IITs, the ministry of HRD directed 23 IITs to add at least 14% female students in the list in 2018.
“The increase in female enrolments happened not by accident but by design. Our faculty took a proactive approach, mentoring and counselling parents to dispel their pre-conceived doubts,” says V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT Delhi. The proactive approach helped IIT Delhi, which registered 16% enrolments (143) in the 2018-19 session as opposed to 93 last year.
Timothy A Gonsalves, director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, heading the JAB subcommittee set up to increase female enrolment in IITs, says, “We had a target of 20% seats for girls within the IITs and the results have been encouraging. At IIT Mandi itself, 18% seats (36) have been filled by girls, of the 200 seats, which shows their numbers is on the rise.”
POSTDOCTORAL POSITION
“Among the PhDs in Science, about 25-30% are women with the actual attrition begins after the PhD. In fact, women heading laboratories, science section in government offices, governing or advisory bodies is not too common,” says Rohini M Godbole, professor at the Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Godbole feels the steady decrease in the numbers is due to their inability to balance a family and career. The institute now has started a crèche, owing to the high rate of female scientists dropping out because of family responsibility. Godbole observed that while there are no dearth of women teaching Science and Mathematics in schools and colleges, the percentage of women faculty of institutes like TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), IITs, or IISc is just 10-12%. “Low percentage of women between the doctoral and professional stages may be attributed to social pressure on women,” she adds.
NEED OF THE HOUR
Stereotype threat (linked to the common perception that girls are not good in Math) and implicit bias are the reasons why women remain under-represented in STEM fields, says VK Garg, president and CEO of MPower Global STEM Education. That besides, deep-rooted gender discrimination is yet another reason women are not seen at senior level and sometimes not considered for promotions, adds Garg.
EFFORTS AND INITIATIVES
Government and the private sector has introduced a number of programmes to help women resume their careers in Science after a break while gender equity in Science and Technology as a policy was introduced a decade back. “While that is necessary, it is far from sufficient. Flexible postdoctoral positions where women can either work from home (if their research permits) or they can return to a postdoctoral position and rebuild their resume to apply for a job in case they take maternity leave can check attrition rates,” says Godbole. Timely intervention, at school level, can help mitigate gender imbalance in STEM, feels Mudrika Khandelwal, professor, IIT Hyderabad, who was closely associated with her institute’s Vignan Jyothi Knowledge Centre to look into coaching, mentorship with role models to stimulate equality in girls’ participation in STEM careers.
“This year, a two-week residential pilot programme was organised for 30 meritorious class XI girls (from government schools of Kandi and Sangareddy) to expose them to personality development, etc,” says Khandelwal.
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