'Battle of Sexes' in Science

Panelists who spoke on the final day of The New Indian Express Think Edu Conclave seemed to agree that it’s men who make it difficult for women to enter and continue in the field; once they find her good, they place hurdles on her path to progress: professor Rohini Godbole flags lack of women manning managerial posts

CHENNAI: When German mathematician Emmy Noether decided to study at the University of Erlanger, she wasn’t permitted initially, because the Senate thought that mixed education would overthrow all academic order. Although they relaxed the rule for her because she was exceptionally brilliant, they had only allowed her to audit classes, not participate fully. Overcoming a number of challenges, she eventually became one of the greatest mathematicians of her time.

“That is the problem, today,” says Sunil Mukhi, faculty, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research. “Even before we meet a woman, we assume that she isn’t capable, and if she turns out to be good, we place hurdles in her way. Emmy came out of it successfully because she was a genius. What about so many other women who may not be geniuses, but are as good as the men in the same field,” asks Sunil.

So where does the problem lie? According to Sunil Mukhi, it is men who make it difficult for women to enter or continue in the field of science. He says, “There are men who do not like to work with women colleagues. Every time they look at a woman colleague, they think of her as a woman, and not a physicist or scientist. There are also men who don’t like to work under a woman boss. Then there’s what I call the men’s club phenomena, where all the important decisions are taken by the men, there’s somehow no room or comfort for a woman, even if she’s senior. Sometimes, students don’t give women faculty due respect.”

If science and technology are key to finding solutions for our generation, then getting more people into research is crucial. There have been several women scientists like Aditi Pant, Mangala Narika, Suman Sahai and Maria Montessori who stand to testify that women in science are as capable as men. “Growth of science impacts the quality of life and as challenges like population growth, economic problems, aspirations of global politics increase, the role of science becomes increasingly important to finding solutions and innovations that give a positive edge to growth and finding solutions to age-old and new problems. The role of women in science is paramount as women are more empathetic and far-sighted in the quest of science and research, and their applications for the betterment of the human race,” says MM Pallam Raju, former minister for Human Resource Development.

However, as Rohini Godbole, professor, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, says, “There are 35% women in science courses, 10% in faculty positions, when it gets to research institutes, the number grows lesser, and even lesser at managerial levels.”

The problem lies in a lack of women ‘manning’ managerial posts, as Rohini says, “Many of our major science institutions have never had a women director.

Therefore, there are very serious leakages in the pipeline from the universities to PhD to a science career. Our remedies have to be our own. We can’t follow what the UK or US is doing because our problems are different.” 

Some of the simple suggestions that Rohini has brought out in many reports are good creches on every campus, high priority to young couples for campus housing, sanitary facilities for women, pro-active hiring policies, better work climate, gender audit. One of the major suggestions, however,  was a ‘standing committee for women in Science’.

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