Dr Ramni Gupta
Women have traditionally been perceived as passive observers rather than mentors or leaders. They have faced apprehensions, limitations, and even humiliations, yet they have made significant contributions to the advancement of scientific fields. Throughout the first fifty years of the twentieth century, many women who attempted to pursue careers in science faced numerous challenges whereas during the second half of twentieth century, women’s scientific achievements saw a significant growth. The world is currently experiencing a wave of transformation in all domains, including the emergence of girls and women in science. Women scientists, for example, are making a significant impact in society, whether they are developing a vaccine to combat COVID 19 or leading lunar missions. Despite ongoing advancements by women in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine, or STEM (STEMM), they are gradually becoming a more prominent component of the scientific community. This is largely due to their ability to overcome outdated customs and cultural norms that have limited their ability to contribute and participate in the scientific community. The STEM sector is regarded as the primary engine that has fueled growth and shaped a self-sufficient Bharat as the fifth largest economy in the world.
Today we see women have made significant and often substantial contributions to a wide range of scientific fields, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, astrophysics, paleontology, embryology, medicine, nuclear science, archaeology, anthropology, psychology, environmental science, and others. There are instances where women’s contributions are not properly documented or acknowledged. Science is a field that should ideally exhibit genuine equality. Given the common challenges that women in science face around the world, it is essential that our girls of this century take lessons about the work lives of the women scientists born in or outside of India who really have left a mark in the society on larger perspective. Today is the day to reflect on and discuss how women have contributed to their fields by not only reaching the pinnacles of science, but also advancing scientific knowledge and coming up with novel ideas that benefit society. The women who persevered in the face of discriminatory organizations, restrictions on higher education, gender norms, and racially biased divisions in their fields of study.
To name a few, Anandi Gopal Joshi is the first female in India to become doctor at the age of 19. She graduated in 1886 from the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, USA and obtained a degree in Western Medicine thus becoming the first Indian to study medicine from abroad.
Madame Marie Curie from Poland serves as an inspiration for many women who want to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics and will forever be remembered for her groundbreaking work in the field of nuclear radiations. She is motivation to many because of the determination she examplified to succeed in the science field as a young student and then served the society even though she had many personal losses and had to leave her family. She is the first woman to get Nobel Prize and the only woman in history to ever win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences.
From washing to becoming a recognized pioneer in the new field of surface science is the story of Agnes Pokel. Pokels was interested in science since childhood and wanted to study physics. However, she could not go to university and only source of information available to her was the scientific literature of her younger brother. While she was doing housework and washing clothes, she noticed the effect of oil, soap and some other household chemicals on the surface of the water, which we know today as “surface tension.” Agnes developed an apparatus with which she could measure surface tension and in 1891 published her first paper “Surface Tension” in the journal Nature with the help of Lord Rayleigh, one of the greatest scientists in the field of physical sciences,
Among many such examples some Indian names are Anna Mani, former deputy director general of the Indian Meteorological Department who was an Indian physicist and meteorologist. She worked under the able guidance of Prof. C V Raman, researching the optical properties of ruby and diamond. She made significant contributions to the field of meteorological instruments and had published numerous papers on measurements of solar radiation, ozone, and wind energy. Rajeshwari Chatterjee, is the first woman scientist in India to conduct pioneering research in the field of microwave and antenna technology. She retired as Professor and Head of the Department of Telecommunications Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Dr. Corbett and Dr. Sara Gilbert, helped invent the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Gagandeep Kang, a microbiologist from Shimla, is considered the mother of vaccines. She is the first Indian woman to be elected as a member of the Royal Society. Dr Sumathi K is a scientist who was involved in the development of vaccines against Zika and Chikungunya. Her unique expertise and experience in vaccine development has proven critical given the urgency of COVID-19 vaccine development.
Tessie Thomas is the first Indian woman scientist to have led a missile project as Project Director for Agni-IV and Agni-V missiles at the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). She is known as the “Missile Lady” due to the grand success of Agni missiles. One of India’s well- known “Rocket Women” is Dr. Ritu Karidhal Srivastava. She worked as deputy operations director for India’s Mars orbital mission, Mangalyaan. The young and dynamic Susmita Mohanty is a spaceship designer and the only space entrepreneur in the world who has started companies in three different continents. She is the CEO of India’s first private start-up EARTH2ORBIT. In 2017 she was featured on the cover of Fortune Magazine. In 2012, he was voted in the Financial Times’ list of “25 Indians to Watch” and in 2016, she was nominated to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council for Space Technology.
Such diverse instances are guides to young girls to break the boundaries of disciplines which is an important feature and problem of gender science. ‘Attitude Shift’ in this direction will be our true celebration of mass participation for women in science. In direction to truly narrow the gender gap, it is required to identify the qualitative factors that prevent women from pursuing careers in STEM and come up with the schemes to channelize girls and women to pursue science as career.
According to the “Research and Development Statistics, 2019-20” of the Department of Science and Technology of Govt. of Bharat (DST), 16% women researchers in the country are directly involved in Research & Development (R&D) activities. There are myraids of reasons for this low female participation in R&D. Many countries have implemented policies to increase the number and quality of scientific researchers as a means of fostering innovation and boosting economic growth. In many cases, policy interventions have sought to increase the participation of people who are traditionally under represented in science, particularly with reference to women.
Government of Bharat has also initiated various schemes in the field of science and technology (S&T) and several corrective steps in the policies to encourage participation of “Maatrshakti” in STEM research and related activities. Under the Kiran Yojana, the ‘Women Scientist Scheme” (WOS) provides career opportunities to unemployed women scientists and technologists, especially those, including fellowships to conduct research in the fields of science and engineering. Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEM encourages Indian women scientists and technologists to conduct international collaborative research at premier institutes of America for a period of 3-6 months.
In addition to this, the recently launched “Vigyan Jyoti” scheme encourages girl students in classes 9 to 12 to pursue education and careers in science and technology, especially in areas where women are under-represented. DST and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), the statutory body of DST, has launched a scheme titled “SERB-Power (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research)”. The scheme aims to reduce the gender disparity in science and engineering research funding in various Science & Technology (S&T) programs in Indian academic institutions and R&D laboratories. Multi-faceted initiatives have been launched by DST to encourage women entrepreneurship under Start-Up India-Stand Up India. The Woman Entrepreneur Quest (WEQ) program was initiated by DST in partnership with Anita Borg Institute, USA to scout and support women entrepreneurs in technology.
There are many such programmes that are announced and announcements are available on DST and SERB sites. The most important factor in science is a person’s attitude so apart from various schemes to support research by women in the field of science, encouraging girls to take up science as career choice is crucial for achieving “Amrit Bharat” goals.
Science awareness events and discussions can be organized to motivate girls to take up science as career. More efforts from the government and private sectors will surely benefit the community at large.
(The author is Professor of Physics, University of Jammu)
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