How to increase and retain more women in STEM
It is clear that to increase and retain more women in STEM, institutional the leadership in science needs to understand what might be going wrong and bring in diversity experts to correct gender imbalances.
India’s figures for women graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are impressive at 43% as opposed to the United States (34%) and Canada (31%), and several other countries. But only 14% of Indian women in STEM are employed in research and development institutions. The pandemic has proved a setback for them, and the gains many of them have made could be lost without urgent action. Gender imbalances in STEM are likely to become more entrenched if nothing is done.
The Australian Academy of Science (AAS) has come up with a report on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women in the STEM workforce throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This report captures the lived experiences of women and highlights that essential gains in equality may be lost if action is not taken now.
Prajval Shastri, a leading astrophysicist from Bengaluru, says that existing patriarchal barriers have further erased boundaries between work and home for women in science, affecting their productivity and limiting their intellectual space for work. She says, “In the case of scientists who work in wet labs, lack of mobility and the lockdowns have affected their work. Work in the field of science often requires a continuum which has been broken by the pandemic. Field research, especially for biologists, is often seasonal and this has been affected.”
Women in STEM also face job insecurity as the monetary priorities of institutions, mostly headed by men, have changed with the pandemic. In addition, funding has also dried up for many women, again due to entrenched biases about the lack of importance of women’s work in this field.
The AAS project found that more women in STEM are in mid-level positions and not represented adequately at the more senior levels. It also found that academic output in peer-reviewed journals was affected as women had to juggle the competing demands of their homes and work--they had to play the role of caregivers and teachers for their children with their professional responsibilities and priorities.
A 2017 Niti Aayog report on women in science made some recommendations on best practices to promote women’s entry and retention, which are worth considering. It said, “Career breaks need to be accommodated, as women scientists have dual commitments. Seniority based on total number of years of work experience or service rather than continuous service may help to retain talent and experience by allowing for re-entry of women scientists, which would otherwise be lost permanently.”
Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University, says, “We now need to look to the future for women in STEM. We need to support them with child care, better leave policies, make positions moveable so they do not have to chose between their families and workplaces and try and facilitate the process of women getting more senior positions.”
Shastri adds, “There is a hidden norm that a woman scientist, howsoever meritorious, but is a spouse of a scientist in an institution, will not be hired by it. Sexual harassment and micro-aggressions are common leading to attrition. Women are given fewer and less prestigious institutional responsibilities which block their career advancement.”
It is clear that to increase and retain more women in STEM, the institutional leadership in science needs to monitor and survey their own environments and understand what might be going wrong and bring in diversity experts to correct gender imbalances. Hopefully, that day is not too far away.
The views expressed are personal
