Context: According to the Science and Technology Indicators (STI), 2018, India’s private sector research companies appear to employ a larger proportion of women in core research and development activities than government-funded major scientific agencies do.
About Science and Technology Indicators (STI) report

• The STI report is a periodic compilation of the state of scientific research in India.
• The STI is prepared by a division of the Department of Science & Technology, the National Science and Technology Management Information System.

Key Points
Dominance of government research institutes

• Almost 60% of the total scientists in the R&D domain in India are employed by government institutions or are in the higher education sector.

Low women representation

• Male scientists account for a higher proportion of the total scientists in India’s R&D establishments. The ratio of women to men scientists is the range 1:6 to 1:4.
• This indicates the inadequate representation of women scientists in the R&D domain.
• There has been a trend of a large drop in the number of women between the doctoral and professional stages due to social pressure on women to have a family that is seen as incompatible with a professional career.
• There are also patriarchal attitudes in hiring practices that might be leading to lower women hiring.

Private sector performance better

• Data from the STI report notes that India’s private sector research companies employ a larger proportion of women in core research and development activities than government-funded major scientific agencies.
• Private sector companies seem to have a greater commitment to ensuring that women scientists are fairly represented in recruitment, promotions and appraisal processes than in many scientific organisations.

Global Scenario
Women in STEM

• UNESCO data from 2014-16 shows 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%).

Research as a Profession

• According to a 2018 fact sheet prepared by UNESCO on women in science, only 28.8% of researchers are women.

Share in Nobel Prizes

• Between 1901 and 2019, 334 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 616 Laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine, of which just 20 have been won by women.

Share in Abel Prizes

• In 2019, the American mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck became the first woman to win the Abel Prize, following 16 male mathematicians.
• The Abel Prize is a Norwegian prize awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.
• Share in Fields Medals:
• The Fields Medal so far has also been awarded to only one woman mathematician, the late Maryam Mirzakhani of Iran, as opposed to 59 men since 1936.
• The Fields Medal is awarded every four years by the International Congress of Mathematicians to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.

National Scenario
Women in STEM

• The female enrolment in science streams rose from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
• According to the NITI Aayog report in 2015-16, 9.3% of female students in Undergraduate (UG) courses were enrolled in engineering, compared to 15.6% across genders. Conversely, 4.3% of female students were enrolled in medical science, compared to 3.3% across genders. 

Research as a Profession

• Only 13.9% of women work as a researcher in India. At master’s and doctoral levels, female enrolment remained lower than overall enrolment.

Presence at Technical Professions

• The NITI Aayog report has also 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.

Gender Gap Index

• According to the Global Gender Gap Index 2020, a study covering 153 economies, India has slipped to the 112th spot from its 108th position in 2018.
• The report also says it would take nearly a hundred years to close the gender gap in various fields in India compared to the time it would take in other countries.

Work Participation

• According to the World Bank, India ranks 163rd out of 181 countries in female labour force participation.
• Also, India is one of the few countries in the world where women’s work participation rates have fallen sharply — from 29% in 2004-5 to 22% in 2011-12 and to 17% in 2017-18.

Inequality at WorK

• According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a large percentage of all the jobs lost last year were held by women. Out of the 11 million jobs lost in 2018, women accounted for 8.8 million.
• Indian women receive 34% fewer wages than men for equivalent work, spend around five hours a day on unpaid care work compared to a mere half an hour for men and are primarily engaged in low-paying, informal sector work.

Initiatives to Promote Women in Science
Vigyan Jyoti Scheme

• Vigyan Jyoti Scheme is launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
• 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

KIRAN Scheme

• Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN) Scheme is started by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) aimed to bring gender parity in the Science & Technology sector by inducting more women talent in the research & development domain.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme

• BBBP is the joint initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure survival, protection, and empowerment of the girl child.

Road Ahead

• Inequalities in gender participation in science emanate from social-economic issues, which can be treated by bringing behavioural change.
• Also, better political representation of women can go a long way in deconstructing the stereotype of women.
• Better workforce participation can only be brought by collective effort of the society and the people in governance.
• Growth in jobs must be inclusive and new jobs need to be secure with better work conditions, including social security benefits.