Gender gap in the country has to be narrowed for greater participation of women in the field of science and technology. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· The cultural and gender norms that engendered discrimination even during a renaissance of sorts in India was a major reason why the country lost out on an important opportunity to build a culture of including women in science during the pre-Independence days.
· Sunanda Bai was not awarded a PhD, and committed suicide for unknown reasons. Lalitha Doraiswamy left her studies and chose to marry Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.
· While cultural and social causes are considered the primary reasons for gender discrimination, at least in India, organisational factors have also played a big role in preventing gender parity in science.
· This can be changed if more women are given leadership positions. Lack of women leaders and women role models may be preventing more women from entering the field.
· However, the trouble starts after women obtain their educational qualifications. The percentage of women in faculty positions drops to less than 20%; only a few reach the top positions of institutes and universities.
· 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.
· For this, the Indian scientific community should act as a pressure group to build greater focus on the issue and push for concrete measures to address the problem. As a simple first step, India should relax certain norms for women.
· The expansion of maternity leave to 26 weeks from the previous 12 weeks shows that the present government is seized of the matter, but how this will affect the hiring of women workers is yet to be seen.
· Effective implementation of KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing)”.
· Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in women universities (CURIE) is another component of KIRAN that has a focus to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure to help large number of women to enhance their S&T skills.
Shivangi 5 years
Please review.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Keep Writing.
