Gender Parity in Nobel Prizes

What is the issue?

Only 6% of the total individuals who have won Nobel Prize up till 2016, are women.
This calls for assessing the level of gender parity in Nobel prize wining.

How has the trend been?

There have been 881 Nobel Prize winners from the time that the first one was given out in 1901.
However, less than 50 of them have been women.
Moreover, in some fields of expertise, the dry spell has been carrying on for decades.
E.g. the last time a woman won a Nobel Prize for Physics was in 1964
Two of the six laureates who were awarded prizes in Physics and Chemistry this year - Donna Strickland and Frances Arnold - are women.
They are only the third and fifth women Nobel laureates in Physics and Chemistry, respectively, since Nobel prizes inception.

Does a gender bias exist?

Despite the awareness about gender equality in the 21st century, the Nobel Prizes still show the disparity.
The huge gender divide clearly indicates an institutional backlog in the consideration of Nobel-worthy discoveries.
It is also to be noted that black and minority ethnic men are also underrepresented.
The demographic of winners perpetuates a stereotype of old white men being the only achievers in science.
The Nobel Museum curators found no proof as such of the committee refusing to give an award because of the gender of the nominee.
Many women were nominated for their groundbreaking revelations a number of times, but have not won prize.
These call for the community of scientists to introspect over what makes an enabling environment for women to practise science in.

Source: The Hindu, India Today