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India: Gender Balance in the Lab

By Deepti Priya Mehrotra, Womens Feature Service

When Dr Al-Gazali, a professor in Clinical Genetics and Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, was recently presented a L'OREAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in Paris, she addressed the issue of the under representation of women professionals in the field of science. Unknowingly, Dr Al-Gazali was mirroring the concerns raised in India, too - at the recent 'Showcasing Cutting-Edge Science by Indian Women Scientists', a national-level conference held in the Capital.

Organised at Vigyan Bhawan by the National Task Force on Women and Science (NTFWS), Department of Science and Technology (DST), the conference that was inaugurated by the President of India, Pratibha Patil. She highlighted the need to nurture women scientists in a country where women account for less than five per cent of membership of various scientific academies.

According to Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science & Technology (S&T) only 15 per cent of scientists in India are women. Acknowledged the minister, "So far we have developed in science and technology a stratified system in which men are favoured with career advancements at the expense of women... We must create a competitive, yet cooperative, gender-inclusive, knowledge-based society."

Perhaps, this is easier said than done. In India, women head only two of the 60 autonomous institutions under the ministry.

The two-day meet held in March - attended by around 1,000 delegates - was described by senior scientist Professor M.S. Swaminathan in his message to the conference as "a wake-up call for drawing the attention of policy makers, academicians and scientists to the vast untapped potential available in our country for harnessing creativity and entrepreneurship of women for shaping our scientific destiny."

However, the conference did take steps toward correcting gender imbalances by showcasing achievements of women scientists in addition to discussing concrete measures for the promotion of collective interests.

Leading scientists such as Dr Chandrima Shaha of National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi; Dr Shubha Tole of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; Dr Sulabha Kulkarni, Department of Physics, Pune University; and Dr Usha Vijayraghavan of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, made plenary presentations. Parallel thematic sessions were held on noncommunicable diseases and nutrition, plant biotechnology and climate change. Dr Anuradha Lohia from Bose Institute, Kolkata, chaired a session on the biology of infectious diseases. Dr Shobhana Narasimhan of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, chaired a session on nanotechnology and nanomaterials. The session on aerospace and defence technology was overseen by Dr Rohini Devi from Advanced System Laboratory, Hyderabad.

An interactive panel discussion between Professor C.N.R. Rao, Chairperson, Scientific Advisory Council; Justice Sujata Manohar; Dr Vinita Sharma, Director, Science and Society Division; and Dr Vineeta Bal of the National Institute of Immunology deliberated on the recommendations made by NTFWS. Some of the recommendations include relaxation of age limit for women candidates, provision of crèches, longer paternity leave and flexible maternity leave, and accessible information on sexual harassment laws and policies. There was also the suggestion that selection, promotion and grant awarding committees should include women members, and that all job advertisements should state that the institution is an equal opportunity employer. Moreover, there should be specific mention that there is no bar against husband and wife working in the same institution.

Interestingly, the questionnaire distributed among conference participants elicited views on major pitfalls in the system, and remedial measures for improving career opportunities and working conditions. Observing there is a "leaky pipeline" in women's careers in science, with the major leak at post-Ph.D levels when the roles of wives and mothers take centre-stage, participants felt that an active support system was required to prevent such leakage. Facilities for housing, crèches, day-care centres for the elderly, women's cells at workplaces, flexi-timings, part-time jobs, and opportunities for re-entry should be provided, said the delegates. Gender audits should be held in every institution, indicating the number of women employed, the number of children using crèches, the number of gender sensitisation workshops held, the functioning of the women's cells, and the outcomes of sexual harassment cases.

Participants recommended a staggered approach for
increasing the proportion of women in different job categories, aiming at the steady increase in women faculty at different levels, until a minimum of 30 per cent is reached in all institutions that employ scientists. All selection committees should have a minimum of 20 per cent women.

The minister also announced a package of concessions. These included flexible working hours for women with small children, funding for crèche facilities, construction of women's residential blocks, and annual research grants up to Rs 20,00,000 (US$1=Rs 40) for five years, for young women scientists. In addition, the DST has also recently launched a special fellowship scheme for women scientists to enable them to continue after a break in career. It has also set up a Women Scientist Cell, which holds gender sensitisation workshops and is preparing a manual on gender issues in technology transfer. NTFWS has begun examining gender biases in science textbooks, and chronicling the life histories of successful women scientists.

In a special felicitation, President Pratibha Patil presented the Women Bioscientists Awards to Dr Sangita Mukhopadhyay (Centre of DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad), Dr Mitali Mukherji (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi) and Dr Sujatha Sharma (All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi). The national award for women's development through application of science and technology went to Dr Vijaylakshmi of the Delhi-based NGO Development Alternatives, for developing low-cost water-testing kits and water filters for rural areas. Dr Rani Bang, founder of Maharashtra-based NGO Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health, received the award for providing community-based healthcare in a tribal area.

The conference certainly succeeded in providing visibility to the work of Indian women scientists, and promoting collective strategies to counter gender discrimination in the S&T establishment. However, as Dr Vineeta Bal observed, "While the short-term objective of highlighting achievements of women scientists has been achieved through the event, it remains to be seen whether this will translate into acceptance by the scientific community."

Womens Feature Service covers developmental, political, social and economic issues in India and around the globe. To get these articles for your publication, contact WFS at the www.wfsnews.org website.