It has been said that gender equality in scientific labs and HEIs is not only about numbers, but also about many micro and ma cro level factors that exist both at the institutional level and beyond it. Gender equa lity in cannot be an overnight process, and one that needs incentivisation through scholarships with multistakeholder interven tions. According to data from UNESCO, fewer than 30% of researchers worldwide are women and only 30% of female students select STEM-related fields in hig her education. Statistics from AISHE released in the academic year 2019-20, furt her reveals that the percen tage of women in Engineering and technology in India is less than 30%. "Globally, female students' enrolment is particularly low in ICT (3%), natural Maths and Statistics (5%), and Engineering, manufacturing and construction (8%). Various scholarships could help im prove the dire statistics," says Amita Dev, vice-chancellor of Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGD TUW) that provides Merit cum Means income linked financial assistance scheme (for famili es with annual income up to 6 lakh) and Merit Scholarship to SC/ST/OBC/Minority group.
"A majority of the popula tion of the country cannot af ford STEM education for their children, especially from the rural sector and almost always a boy's education will take preference over the girl's. Thus, it is necessary to provi de special scholarships for meritorious female students who showcase a scientific acumen in higher studies," Dev says. The scholarships should start right at the scho ol level, preferably from class VIII onwards to catch them early as it plays a symbolic role in encouraging more girls to become engineers and scientists, says Ravinder Kaur, professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Depart ment of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Delhi and fo under-member of its gender unit-IGES (Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitization). "If their merit is recognised, even parents' mind sets might change, considering they plan daughters' careers factoring in marriage and motherhood, where Engineering often takes a backseat. Even when girls clear JEE Advanced, they may not join the IITs due to the perception of Engineering (more so Mechanical and Civil) as a male-driven domain which parents feel have more to do with shop floor activities, heavyma chinery and construction si tes that girls may not be equipped to handle. This accounts for a dearth of women in the IIT's and their flagship BTech. Until recently, we had only 8% girls in the IITs, and since their numbers we re not going up, the concept of supernumerary seats was started in 2018. A large per centage of PhD students are girls in IIT Delhi, but this do es not necessarily translate into their becoming IIT faculty which gives rise to a lack of role models as well," she adds. Elaborating furt her on the STEM leaky pipe line, Krishnashree Achut han, head, Center for Cyber security Systems and Net works & Amrita Technology Business Incubator (TBI), emphasises, "Women repre sent 43% of STEM graduates, the highest globally, but their share in STEM jobs in India is as low as 14%. When compared to their male counterparts, the participation of women in STEM education, especially from poor socio economic backgrounds, is still a work in progress."
"What we need is proactive sharing of information on scholarships, grants and funding across small towns and villages through flyers, posters and other collate rals, which highlight the key offerings of the scheme rather than an official notifica tion (where the information is difficult to cull out even for the initiated, let alone a student)," says Rudra Pratap, founding vice-chancel lor, Plaksha University that has launched the 'Ayyalaso mayajula Lalitha' Fund to promote enrolment of girls and women in STEM, specifi cally in higher education.
Published on :- Times of India
Date :- 07 03 2022
