Introduction:

Science, technology, engineering, and medicine – together known as ‘STEM’ fields – suffer from lack of women, especially in India. In school exam results, we hear of how girls have outshone boys, but when it comes to those who take up research in later life, the number of women is minuscule. This means that many of our best brains that showed the maximum potential do not pick research as a career.

February 11 was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, established by the United Nations to promote equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. While some of the greatest scientists and mathematicians have been women, they remain under-represented in comparison to their male counterparts in higher studies involving science, as well as among the top scientific achievers.

Body:

Status of gender gap in the field of Science, technology, engineering and mathematics:

• According to the 2018 UNESCO Institute for Statistics’ report on women in science, 44% of bachelor students and 41% of doctoral students in India are female.
• Women face “double burden syndrome” – a culture where both men and women feel the family and household duties are primarily the woman’s responsibility.
• According to a recent survey on Women in STEM, 81 per cent women in India perceive gender bias in performance evaluations.
• While more women are enrolling in university, relatively few pursue careers in research.
• The ideal fraction of 50% of female students has not been achieved.
• There is a drastic drop in the percentage of women from the doctoral level to the scientist/faculty position.
• There is a “major paucity” of women at the senior-most administrative and policy making positions in scientific institutions.
• Women showed a preference for arts; however, female enrolment in science streams rose from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
• The report found that in over 620 institutes and universities, including IITs, NITs, ISRO, and DRDO, the presence of women was 20.0% among Scientific and Administrative Staff, 28.7% among Post-Doctoral Fellows, and 33.5% among PhD scholars.
• In India, a 2016-17 NITI Aayog report compared female enrolment in various disciplines over five years, until 2015-16.
• UNESCO data from 2014-16 show that only around 30% of female students select STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-related fields in higher education.
• Female enrolment is particularly low in information technology (3%), natural science, mathematics and statistics (5%) and engineering and allied streams (8%).

Reasons for this gender gap:

• When highly qualified women drop out of the workforce, it results in considerable depletion of national resources in science and technology.
• Stereotypes encountered by girls to the family-caring responsibilities.
• Patriarchal society.
• Women face bias when choosing a career.
• Women continue to face the same kind of discrimination at work as they face in society.
• According to a recent Accenture research report, the gender pay gap in India is as high as 67 percent.
• Various studies have found that girls excel at mathematics and science-oriented subjects in school, but boys often believe they can do better, which shapes their choices in higher studies.
• In 2015, an analysis of PISA scores by OECD found that the difference in math scores between high-achieving boys and girls was the equivalent of about half a year at school.
• But when comparing boys and girls who reported similar levels of self-confidence and anxiety about mathematics, the gender gap in performance disappeared — when girls were more anxious, they tended to perform poorly.

Government Initiatives so far to bridge the gender gap in STEM: 

• Vigyan Jyoti scheme:
  • Announced in the 2017 budget for the Ministry of Science and Technology.
  • The scheme aims to arrange for girl students of classes 9, 10 and 11 meet women scientists, with the IITs and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research.
  • It is intended to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in their higher education
  • It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to help to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.
• GATI Scheme:
  • The Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) will develop a comprehensive Charter and a framework for assessing Gender Equality in STEM.
• Inspire-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge)
  • Attract talented young boys and girls to study science and pursue research as a career.
• Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme
  • Launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2014.
  • Connect India’s elite institutes with local communities and address their developmental challenges with appropriate technological interventions.
• Indo-US fellowship for women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine to participate in international collaborative research in premier institutions in America
• Women-centric programmes under the Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN) initiative
• Bio-technology Career Advancement and Reorientation (Bio-Care)

Way Forward:

• India will have the world’s youngest population by 2022 and the women of the country will play a definitive role in devising the country’s future.
• It takes a multi-pronged approach to create meaningful, lasting changes in the retention of women in STEM fields.
• Women’s participation in STEM should be encouraged from primary school level rather only in higher studies.
• Awareness about gender inequality and its outcome has to be increased.
• The community should be supportive and understanding of career prospects for women.
• Changing mindsets and overcoming biases.
• Companies can provide more internship opportunities for women and give STEM scholarships to meritorious yet economically backward girls.
• Initiating a well-planned role model programme with successful women scientists.
• Special fellowships for girl students securing top positions in university exams.
• Reintegrate women who have taken mid-career breaks.
• Closing the pay gap.
• Government agencies, universities, and society must work together to ensure that women achieve their full potential.

Conclusion:

“The problem of entry of women in science is not uniform across disciplines. Interventions geared to popularizing subjects such as Engineering or the Physical sciences or Chemistry among female students at the school level in both urban and rural areas might be helpful in changing mind-set.”