E-Paper
Why gender in research is critical to India’s science and society
This article is authored by Elizabeth Pollitzer, director, Portia Ltd and Ylann Schemm, executive director, Elsevier Foundation.
To consider gender in research is to ask whether women and men participate equally in knowledge-making and whether outcomes serve them equally well. Evidence shows that women are underrepresented as both researchers and subjects and research outcomes often fall short for them. Long considered gender neutral, science, in practice, has often been gender blind.
The repercussions of gender-blind research means that science today has more evidence on males and men than on females and women. This has a knock-on effect for the quality of research outcomes which are too often worse for women. This bias permeates the science enterprise, from research and innovation to responses to societal challenges, by favouring the needs and preferences of men while sidelining women as participants and beneficiaries.
Bringing gender into science knowledge-making is about scientific excellence and the societal responsibility of science. When eight out of ten withdrawn prescription drugs prove more unsafe for women than men, it underscores the need to integrate gender into drug research, moving beyond male-based models to improve safety, design, and public health outcomes. When research on the injuries drivers experienced in car crash situations showed that women have a 47% higher risk of injury compared to men, it demonstrated that the historical reliance on male crash test dummy for measuring car safety has inadvertently privileged the safety of men. A gender perspective on car safety not only spurred the development of female crash test dummies, it also improved road safety design by recognising how women and men use cars differently.
It is important for scientists to acknowledge that ‘gender blind’ or ‘biased’ science knowledge-making fails to demonstrate the quality they cherish most, i.e., excellence, but also to embrace gender in research as a lens of opportunity to improve markets for science knowledge. For example, gender in research shows that male and female physiology differs in many important aspects, which is relevant to identifying biomarkers for diseases. With the metabolic biomarker testing market projected to reach $ 9.7 billion by 2035, integrating gender in research offers a path to more effective gender-responsive solutions for both women and men.
To realise science’s full potential and advance socio-economic progress for all, India must expand its trained scientific human capital and value the intellectual diversity that women can bring. Indian women make up 42.6% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematic) graduates, well above the global average. They are clearly interested in and ready to invest time and effort to pursue STEM education with demonstrable success. However, their transition into careers lags sharply: Only 14% of women secure STEM jobs and 35% become researchers, far below that of men in India.
The gender gap in STEM reflects structural barriers that prevent talented women from realising their aspirations to become STEM professionals. This not only comes at a significant cost to individuals, families, and society, but also undermines India’s ambition to advance excellence and inclusive science reflecting its diverse geographic, socio-cultural, economic, and climatic realities.
Currently, some 40 ministries and departments run close to 90 schemes to help women enter and progress in STEM careers ranging from fellowships and frontier research grants to opportunities in socially relevant innovation, entrepreneurship, and re-entry after career breaks. Increasing women’s participation in science will not only diversify India’s scientific human capital but also strengthen its capacity for the scientific discoveries and innovation that India’s population needs.
The quality of Indian women researchers was evident at the 25th Gender Summit hosted by the Indian National Science Academy on March 10 in honour of International Women’s Day celebrations--26 Indian experts and scholars showcased gender sensitive research in practice: from equitable careers to socially relevant research to responsible AI. Discussions focused on tackling complex societal problems through multidisciplinary collaboration and the urgent need to integrate sex and gender analysis into health research—where the costs of gender blind research are often highest.
Advancing women in science and embedding gender analysis in a systematic way into research itself requires sustained collaboration across the entire Indian science ecosystem: government, academia, funders, industry, and civil society. The outcome will be the greater involvement of women in STEM at all levels but also reshaping how knowledge is produced so that it truly serves the Indian population. If India can harness this collective momentum, it has a unique opportunity to lead globally in building a more inclusive, impactful, and equitable research and innovation system.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Elizabeth Pollitzer, director, Portia Ltd and Ylann Schemm, executive director, Elsevier Foundation.
