Academics, research and glass ceiling in India

Gender issues, particularly gender inequality and discrimination in education relating to higher education, probably first came to the limelight in India in 1933 when Kamala Sohoni approached Sir CV Raman to conduct research in physics under her guidance. Nobel laureate and renowned director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore turned down the request on the grounds that ‘she was a woman’.

Sohoni ignored the denial which was based on gender discrimination and went on a satyagraha in front of the director’s office. She was then admitted for one year on the condition that her work for the year would not be recognized unless the director was satisfied with the quality of her research and that her presence distracted her male colleagues doing the research. did not do. Similarly, in 1937, Professor DM Bose, the then Palit Professor of Physics at the University of Calcutta, was reluctant to include Bibha Choudhury in his research group on the grounds that he did not have suitable research projects to entrust to women. Choudhary was astonished and possessed. She joined DM Bose’s research group. His work on cosmic rays is legendary in determining the mass of mesons.

These are just two well-known examples of gender discrimination in academia and many more. In 2018, Professor Alessandro Strumia of the University of Pisa, a theoretical physicist who regularly works at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in CERN, Switzerland, claimed at a workshop organized by CERN that “the invention and creation of physics It was done by men, not by invitation.” And that ‘male scientists were being discriminated against because of ideology rather than merit’ implying that women are less capable than men in physics research. CERN called the presentation “highly objectionable” and suspended it pending an investigation. Ironically, a day later, Donna Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on lasers, and became the third woman to win the Nobel in Physics after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert Meyer in 1963.

The general prejudice against women that stemmed from their dubious capacity for intelligence and their ability to undertake the difficult task of research was quite common in the 20th century. Things have changed and the glass ceiling is broken. But how much progress have we made in the last 100 years in removing this bias and ensuring that women are at par with men in educational institutions?

government incentives

Despite significant improvements in women’s participation in higher education and participation in the workforce over the past decades, progress has still been largely uneven. The Government of India is accelerating efforts to address gender inequality by providing incentives for women’s higher education. Some of these initiatives such as Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI), a pilot project under the Department of Science and Technology to promote gender equality in science and technology, and Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN), i.e. A scheme under the Department of Science and Technology to again encourage women scientists in science and technology and prevent women scientists from leaving research due to family reasons, is noteworthy. Some institutions are setting up crches so that scientific mothers can continue their research work uninterrupted. Universities are also doing their best to be equal opportunity employers.

However, despite all these efforts, there is still a gender bias that persists and has not been completely removed. Women in hardcore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are still an underrepresented population globally.

female and stem

India’s position in the education world in this regard is disappointing. According to available UNESCO data on select countries, India ranks lowest, with only 14% of female researchers working in STEM fields. But India is not far behind many advanced countries in this matter. For example, there are only 16% female researchers in Japan, 26% in the Netherlands, 27% in the United States, and 39% in the United Kingdom. Countries with fairly good proportions of equal numbers of female and male researchers are South Africa and Egypt, each with 45% female researchers, and Cuba with 49%. Tunisia has the highest number of female researchers in Africa (55%), followed by Argentina (53%) and New Zealand (52%).

In India, women constitute about 43% of the STEM graduate population, the highest in the world, but it also has a downside; Only 14% of women attend educational institutions and universities. Although male and female participation in graduate studies is comparable, female participation in research has declined significantly (27% of females compared to 73% of males). Thus, the visibility of women faculty in universities and research institutes is quite low. But the disturbing thing is that the percentage of women in faculty positions starts decreasing with every step. The numbers dwindle when it comes to the decision-making position. Recognition of merit is also sluggish when it comes to women, when the total number of female fellows in India’s three science academies—7% for the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), founded in 1934; 5% for the Indian National Academy of Sciences (INSA), which was established in 1935, and 8% for the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), which was established in 1930.

According to a recently published report, at most STEM institutions, 20% of all professor positions are women. The more prestigious the institution, the less will be the number of women employees. For example, only 31 out of 314 professors (10.2%) in IIT Madras and only 25 (17.5%) out of 143 professors in IIT Bombay are women. An analysis of some of the major private universities shows no significant difference. Decision-making bodies such as the Board of Governors or the Council of Institutes of Distinguished Higher Education have a small number of women participants.

According to a University Grants Commission (UGC) survey, seven out of 54 central universities (13%); 52 out of 456 state universities (~11%); 10 out of 126 deemed universities (8%); And 23 out of 419 private universities (~6%) have female vice-chancellors. Of the six Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) established in the 20th century, only IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi have women members in their governing bodies. Anita Bhogle in her recent book, Similar, Yet Different – Career Catalyst for the Professional Woman has argued, much of this is because women are wired differently, and have different challenges.

in the corporate world

In contrast, the participation of women in leadership and decision-making positions in private enterprises (corporate sector) is shocking as compared to reality in academia. The number of women in senior management positions in the corporate sector in India is 39%, which is higher than the global average. The number of female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies is 15%, while the number of female board members in the management of private enterprises has increased from 15% (2016), 16.9% (2018) to 19.7% in 2022. If this trend continues, near parity will be reached by 2045, according to forecasts made by Deloitte.

It is pertinent to consider the reasons for this discrepancy in the participation of women in high positions in these two fields. The mechanism of personnel selection and promotion in the private sector is mostly based on merit or merit as it is more result (market) oriented with a fixed matrix as compared to academic institutions. A Cambridge professor once remarked that the market does not worship false idols and, therefore, makes empirically correct judgments.

Second, encouraging women’s participation in the workforce in the private sector with the adoption of various schemes for women began much earlier than the initiatives taken by the Government of India in recent years. Various schemes such as flexi-hour worktime, rejoining the workforce after an interim break, sections run by women only, etc. were introduced in private enterprises in the early 1990s, which are now being leveraged.

It is hoped that the programs launched by the government to empower women in the workforce will usher in gender equality by 2047, which will mark the centenary of India’s independence. Most importantly, gender equality or equality will happen only when there is a change in mindset and institutions treat women as an asset rather than a mere issue of diversity reform.

Suprakash Chandra Roy, a writer, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Science and Culture