We can accomplish holistic national growth only if all
Indians participate, and that includes half our population- that’s women! The
National seminar on women leadership in science and technology highlighting the
contribution of women in science was organized on 8th and 9th
March 2017 in New Delhi. The seminar highlighted the spirit of excellence
demonstrated by women in science and technology and discussed the gender
specific issues in science that women face today.
The two days seminar witnessed sessions from eminent women scientists,
entrepreneurs, media personalities, and professors from leading Indian
universities. Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India addressed the seminar.
It discussed the opportunities that enable women to pursue science,
and the challenges that women face to get visibility, recognition and a
work-life balance. Vigyan Prasar organized the seminar in collaboration with
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India on the occasion of
International Women’s day 2017.
Opportunities and
challenges for women in S&T
Women have made substantial contributions to science through
published papers, patents, presentations in conferences, and devising new
technologies. Unfortunately, they are under represented in advisory for policymaking,
or as faculty in universities and institutions.
Less than ten percent of faculty members in Indian
universities are women. A leading institute like Indian Statistical Institute,
Kolkata now has a women director after 83 years of its existence. Less than 30%
of the scientists in government scientific organizations (like DRDO, CSIR, DST,
DBT and ICMR) are women. Of the 450 scientists who have won the Shanti Swarup
Bhatnagar prize for their contribution to science, only sixteen (less than 3%) are
women. Eight of these sixteen awards are in biology and medicine. The numbers
are much less in physics, engineering, and mathematics.
This is despite the fact that women don’t lag behind in
their caliber. Then why are only a few women making to the visible top? We have
to ask if women scientists are being nurtured, and are there enough
opportunities for them, are we addressing their challenges, and are academies
honoring women?
Women face many challenges. The societal structure is such
that women have to manage both work and home. Their childbearing age coincides largely
with their age for career advancement. To encourage women to pursue science, the
government has to implement policies that enable women to have flexible working
hours and childcare leave. “Good work ethics can make life easy for women and
enhance quality of their work”, said Dr. Suparna Datta, Professor at BIT Mesra.
Increasing the options for reentry to work after a break in career will also promote
the entry of women in science, she said.
Women also face social stigmas. Many women experience inequality,
abuse, and violence at home, and gender-based discrimination at work. There are
gender stereotypes in science too, that includes that subjects like physics and
mathematics are ‘masculine’. From an early childhood, women are discouraged to
pursue STEM fields. This later reflects as small number of women in STEM
leadership roles including academia.
We can work towards managing societal stigmas. We can use technology
and Internet to change the social constraints that women face, said Dr. Charu
Malhotra, professor at Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.
She emphasized that online hash-tag campaigns (like RingABell) and discussions
to prevent violence against women have worked in the past. On similar lines, we could start cause-related
fund raising to increase awareness about women issues. This exercise will
benefit the society in the longer run.
Role of Media and
policy to improve the visibility of women
Women have contributed to S&T in many ways. But the
visibility of their contribution is poor. To increase the visibility of the
contribution of women, media can play a very important role, believes Dr. Gita
Bamezai, Professor at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.
People have started recognizing the contribution of women in
media and it may soon be the case in science and academia. To increase the representation
of women in academics, which at present is less than 10 percent, women
scientists will have to get out of their labs and soil their hands in
communication and public engagement to get visibility, she said.
Increasing the visibility of the contribution of women in
S&T and in the society is the need of the hour. To accomplish this goal, we
need to empower women, which requires the government to make policies that dilute
gender bias, and improve the health and well being of women.
On 25th September 2015, the Indian government led
by Prime minister Modi became a party to the United Nations sustainable
development plan. The agenda contains 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved
by 193 member countries within the next fifteen years, that is, by 2030.
It aims to reduce poverty, reduce child and female
mortality, and halt the spread of HIV, Malaria and other major diseases. The fifth
sustainable development goal is a stand-alone gender goal that aims to achieve
gender equality and empower all women and girls. “Inclusion of gender equality
and empowering women in the UN sustainable development goals is a huge
achievement”, said Dr. Vinita Sharma, Former advisor, Department of Science and
Technology.
Other sustainable development goals also complement the
fifth goal of achieving gender equality. These include ensuring healthy lives
for people of all age groups (that also includes women), providing quality
education and life long learning opportunities for all, and providing safe
water and sanitation to all.
Improving the quality
of life of women through S&T
S&T can improve the lives of millions of tribal and
rural women, who contribute significantly to their society, but their efforts
often go unnoticed. For example, it is a well-known fact today that tribal
women of Andhra Pradesh manage most of the activities in the processing of gum
karaya, except its sale in the market. Gum karaya is an ingredient in many
foods such as sorbets and ketchup, is used in cosmetics, in paper and
publishing industry, and is even exported to US and Japan.
To extract gum karaya, women have to walk 8-10 kilometers
every two days to forests, risking their lives and earning a meager amount of a
few hundred rupees per day. Despite performing most of the work, their efforts went
unnoticed, until recently, when a team from CSIR aimed to improve the quality
of gum karaya for improving Indian exports. “The work done by women in the
society is often invisible”, said Dr. Aasha Kapur Mehta, Professor at Indian
Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. When they went to the fields to
train the labor, they discovered that it this activity was performed largely by
women. It was important to train women to achieve development.
Women contribute significantly in many other economic
activities like harvesting milk in dairy, crops in agricultural farms, grinding
of seeds to produce oil, and separating coir, but their efforts go unnoticed.
“We need to understand their lives and invest in them to make them
self-sufficient”, said. Dr. Rajeshwari Raina, Professor at Shiv Nadar
University, Uttar Pradesh.
Women can be empowered by skill building and vocational
training programs, according to Dr. Vijaya Khader, who is the former Dean at the
Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad. This could include training
them for cultivating mushroom, making ice creams and engaging in fish culture. It
will improve livelihood, which will further reduce malnutrition and improve the
quality of life of both women, and their families, she added.
To empower women, we have to start by giving them a healthy
life. India has the highest number of women with anemia in South Asia. This is
alarming because anemia causes depression, tiredness, low immunity, high-risk
pregnancy, and low birth weight babies- all of which aren’t healthy for the
society, said Padma Shree Dr. Indira Chakravarty. She emphasized that improving
the health of women should be the government’s priority. She further added that
we must ensure that women citizens are healthy. This will make for a healthier
and prosperous society.
Working towards a
mission
India needs to nurture and promote women in science. A few
government schemes provide funding to working women scientists, and support
them to pursue their career after a break. Dr. Vandana Singh from the
Department of Science and Technology elaborated on the scholarships that are
available for women to continue their journey with science.
DST’s women scientist scholarship helps women to join
mainstream bench science and also provides internships for self-employment.
WOS-C scheme for example, provides training and internship in intellectual
property rights to women educated in fields of science. DST also offers
societal research fellowships for women scientists to bring about women
empowerment and development. SERB women excellence awards recognize the
scientific achievements of women below the age of 40 years.
DBT’s Biocare scheme helps women scientists working in
universities and institutes to undertake independent R&D projects. DBT also
recognizes the achievements of women scientists by conferring two awards under
the National Women Bioscientist category.
The road ahead
The speakers at the National Seminar on women leadership in S&T
gave recommendations to help women in overcoming the challenges that they face and
increase their participation in the society. The following recommendations were
proposed.
·
Enabling flexible working hours at work
·
Arranging daycare facilities for their children
in the office
·
Arranging on-campus housing for their families
·
Increasing funds and opportunities to draw women
to pursue education
·
Taking adequate measures to end gender-based discrimination
at work
·
Increasing funding to enable more women to avail
schemes by UGC, DST, and DBT
·
Design programs to invite women with a break in
career to pursue science
The society has to work together to empower women, who make
for half of its population. But, it is more important that women themselves
believe in their capacity and invest in their dreams. “Women must believe in themselves and work hard to make the
most of their capabilities”, said Professor Rupmanjari Ghosh, Vice Chancellor
of Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh and recipient of the Streeshakti
Science Samman (2008) for her original contribution to Indian Science.
P.S. This article was published (with modifications) in the May 2017 issue of Science Reporter magazine. The reader will have to pay to access the entire contents.
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