NEW DELHI: There is a huge gender gap when it comes to the men-women employment ratio in scientific research and development (R&D) sector in public and private entities in the country. A Central government report shows that only 13.9 per cent women are employed in R&D in India.
The Research and Development Statistics 2017-18 collated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) does not present a rosy picture for women in science. The report found that women participation in extramural R&D projects has gone down from 33 per cent in 2013-14 to 29 per cent in 2014-15. On the other hand, it increased for men from 67 per cent in 2013-14 to 71 per cent in 2014-15.
Nearly 5.28 lakh personnel were employed in R&D establishments in the country. Of these, 2.83 lakh (53.6 per cent) were performing R&D activities while 1.25 lakh (23.7 per cent) and 1.2 lakh (22.7 per cent) each were engaged in auxiliary and administrative/non-technical support activities.
“As on 1st April 2015, there were 39,388 (13.9 per cent) women out of total 2.82 lakh R&D personnel directly engaged in R&D activities,” said the report.
The DST launched the survey in 2015 for compilation of the latest R&D statistics and indicators.
Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, calls it a robust exercise by the Central government. “It has been enlarged this time to include multi-national companies and companies not covered by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under its recognition scheme. The survey analysis has been complemented and enriched by secondary sources such as higher education in science and technology and patents, including Bibliometric analysis of scientific publications,” said Sharma.
The DST has been running schemes to attract more women in the science and technology sector. According to the department, major reasons for the gender gap in scientific R&D was the break in career that many women had to face due to family compulsions such as marriage, child birth, looking after old or ailing parents and children’s education, among others.
The report also highlights that India’s Gross Expenditure on R&D as percentage of GDP was 0.69 per cent during 2014-15. This is comparatively less than other developing BRICS countries—Brazil 1.24 per cent, Russian Federation 1.19 per cent, China 2.05 per cent and South Africa 0.73 per cent.