The 1929, well-known, black and white image of Acharya Jagadis Chandra Bose with eight of his students—all of whom went on to become great scientists—is one of my favourite images of Indian Science. Here is a group of ‘Indian’ scientists, from the pre-independence era, all stars in their own right. Right from my childhood, while the image inspired me, the absence of any woman in the group also nagged me. ‘Where are the girls?’ I would think, ‘What are they doing?’
From no women in science to 18.6% women Indian scientists today and 25% in leading research and development projects, there has been progress, but much remains to be done till the time we stop bringing out special issues on ‘women in science in India’. Do we ever have a special issue on ‘Men in Science in India?’
FOCUS GROUP
Though Indian women have been in science for almost 135 years now, starting with the trailblazing Doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi, it is only in recent years that the nation has started paying attention to the struggles of Indian girls and women in pursuing careers in science. There are special schemes, scholarships and opportunities for them. Books are being written, movies made, websites created to celebrate the pioneers. Google brought out several of its doodles based on our women scientists from a hundred years ago, which revived interest in their life stories. Eleven chairs were announced by the government in different science and technology fields, all named after eminent Indian women scientists. This is all welcome.
Recent writings and research about Indian women scientists give us an understanding of the genesis of a girl’s interest in science, the strategies to encourage and retain women in science and the true meaning of working in the domain of science being a woman in the specific context of India. Through their stories, can we know what they are asking for?
WOMEN ROLE MODELS
A schoolgirl who was given a book on ‘Easy Science experiments’ when asked why had she not tried her hand at the experiments, pointed out that she attempted only the one that had an illustration of a girl conducting the experiment. This anecdote may be a childish fluke, but girls do get inspired by women role models.
The significance of role models can be gauged by the following statement of an Indian woman scientist, Dr Joyanti Chutia, “It was also very inspiring when my father told me about the lives of great scientists like Einstein, Newton, Bose, Raman, etc. I was surprised to know that Marie Curie was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, because till then I thought that only men could become great scientists.”
It was Marie Curie for the earlier generations, but now we need stories of Indian women who made it big in the Science scenario in the social and academic setup of our own country. We need to increase the visibility of women scientists of India.
DEVOTED PARENTS
The book Lilavati’s Daughters, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, chronicles the life histories of a hundred women scientists of India, and gives a glimpse into their minds and hearts. Most of the girls who have taken up careers in science came from middle class families, ‘where education is given a high premium’. ‘I was born in January 1922 in a progressive, open-minded family, not perhaps with a silver spoon in my mouth, but surely with a book in hand!’ – shares Rajeshwari Chatterjee, an eminent Indian scientist, in the book.
Story after story tells us of mothers or fathers who had a stoic determination to educate their daughters. Despite constraints of meager finances, social taboos, remote geographical locations, they held the hands of their daughters and encouraged them to reach the highest educational echelons in science. Parents’ support can do wonders for the Indian girls who are mesmerised by the wonder of science and are ready for the rigorous path, deriving contentment and joy from their pursuit of scientific domains.
Another pattern that emerges is that the presence of other educated family members or the presence of even another career woman in the family can trigger other girls in the family to follow suit. When the pioneer breaks the path, it becomes easier for the rest to walk on that path. ‘My family, a large extended one as was common in those days, were all fairly well read, even the girls, and were encouraged to take part in any activity we chose,’ shares a woman scientist in the same book.
Lilavati’s Daughters (left) is a collection of nearly a hundred biographical essays on women scientists of India. The book was edited by Rohini Godbole (left) and Ram Ramaswamy. A prominent Indian physicist, Godbole passed away recently, on 25 October 2024, at the age of 71.
INSPIRING TEACHERS
Due to the implicit bias against girls for studying science, there is a lower likelihood of girls choosing to study science than boys even if they have performed equally well in board exams. The gender gap between boys and girls in science from the same household is also prevalent.
Even after they enter the arena of science education, educators treat girl students as if they are less capable and less tenacious to do the hard work needed in science. This low expectation of women in science is reflected in myriad ways, such as calling only on male students to answer questions, addressing only male students, not providing opportunities to girl students to conduct practicals or initiate projects, etc. This bias shadows the girls’ inclination towards studying Science. ‘The principal addressed our class, and urged the girls who had opted for science to give up their seats in favour of boys with lower marks. The girls, he said, were depriving those boys of good jobs in the future, because the only jobs that the girls would ever take up after getting married would be in the ‘ladle-office’. This is a documented experience of Radha Balakrishnan, an Indian scientist.
In this dismal scenario, the role of even a single teacher who believes in the girls, can instill confidence and ignite their minds towards the beauty of science, is significant.
From left: Anandibai Joshi, the first Indian woman doctor; Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win a Nobel twice; Rajeshwari Chatterjee, the first woman engineer of Karnataka
SUPPORTIVE PARTNERS
Statistics tells us that though women outnumber men in postgraduate studies in hard sciences, yet more men continue in the research areas. AISHE (All India Survey of Higher Education) 2021-22 report of the Ministry of Education cites that while women outnumber men in postgraduate studies in Sciences and Engineering, more men than women continue in the research careers and register for PhD. While 4,60,945 females completed postgraduate studies, only 22,702 went on to do PhD, compared with men where 22,622 did PhD out of 2,91,862 post-graduates.
It is not difficult to explain this drop. The traditional role of child rearing expected from a woman and her own propensity to prioritise family responsibilities over career ventures, slows her down on the arduous path of Science. In the case of Anandi Gopal, it was her husband Gopal Rao whose dogged determination propelled her to pursue studies at the Women’s Medical College in Pennsylvania in 1883, to become the first Indian woman medical doctor. Many women scientists who excelled in their science careers have acknowledged the supportive role of their partners in sharing household responsibilities and duties in bringing up children. Many of the women scientists have described their supportive husbands as ‘pillar of strength’, ‘source of academic inspiration’, and confided that it was their husbands desire that they should do better. ‘Family support is the absolute prerequisite’, one of the scientists featured in the book has emphasised.
INSPIRING MENTORS
All young scientists need active encouragement from their senior peers who can show them the ropes and share with them the career possibilities by making them a part of the Science network. The neglect from colleagues means delay for the career of any budding scientist. This is truer for a woman scientist who due to the constraints of our social structure is less inclined to spend time in forging new professional connections and networks. The loss of research opportunities arising out of lack of networking, collaborations and mutual support, is difficult to compensate for in isolation from the community.
In academia, peers need to be critics and reviewers of one’s research work, sounding boards for thrashing new ideas, collaborators, team members, co-researchers. The role of positive colleagueship cannot be undermined for women in Science. Those who have been fortunate to forge such warm friendships, have gone ahead.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
‘There were many occasions when I was given challenging responsibilities, and I completed them successfully. But at the time of rewards, male colleagues were preferred! I wonder if this was the price of being a woman scientist’, laments a woman scientist. We need a level playing field for women scientists to work to their utmost potential. Today, women are leading critical science and technology projects such as Aditya L1 mission, Chandrayaan 3, Mars Orbiter Mission and many more in different areas of science, and they need to be supported by providing them the ‘ease of doing science in India’.
Another disturbing trend is women spending a disproportionate amount of time on academic housekeeping work — the low status, time consuming, tedious tasks which nevertheless needs to be done — when compared to their male counterparts. ‘This ‘invisible’ work keeps the women perpetually busy, without adding to conventional ‘scientific productivity’. Unless such roadblocks are removed, women in science can never flourish. Safety, in recent times, has become a matter of concern for those women scientists who need to do field work and have to visit remote and lonely areas as a part of their research agenda. Can their safety be ensured?
Image Courtesy: All India Survey on Higher Education 2021-22
ENCOURAGING ECOSYSTEM
An ecosystem which facilitates girls to enter the field of science, continue in it and practice it professionally created by imaginative strategies needs to be built which will support the women scientists according to their evolving needs. Many women scientists have highlighted that qualifying the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE), an exam for school students for scholarship to study science, facilitated their entry into the domain. Who would think that factors like toilets in the schools, mentorship at the entering stage, crèches and day care centres for worry-free child engagement, flexibility in schedules, womens’ hostels — which don’t seem to be even remotely linked with scientists, could also promote women in science and help them tide over the difficult initial days of career building?
Dr Vijayalaxmi Ranganathan, an Indian woman scientist, very aptly concludes what Indian women in science want. ‘I look forward to helping create a new generation of empowered scientists, who will be known as scientists who happen to be women, but not women scientists,’ she says.
(All the statements of Indian women scientists cited in the article are excerpts from the book, Lilavati’s Daughters: The Women Scientists of India, edited by Rohini Godbole and Ram Ramaswamy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru).
*The author is a Professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and can be reached at jayantiduttaroy@yahoo.co.in
