Participation of Women in Science and Technology: Unfolding Challenges

Traditionally, women in India have stumble away from engineering and related fields. In the context of women scientists and professionals in India, the need of the hour is the creation of structures that can facilitate negotiation of a career in science in a professional manner while maintaining a career-family balance. With evolving policies and institutional efforts to promote women scientists in India, significant change has been observed over the years with regard to women’s access to science education and careers. As per Global Gender Gap 2017 report, for educational attainment we fare slightly better at 112, having closed the gap in enrollment in primary and secondary education across most states in India. Further, India is slowly closing the gap in tertiary (higher) education. Gender stereotypes manifest in a variety of ways in a workplace. Globally, in the workplaces, women scientists have been known to meet with challenges that affect their performance and progress in the field of Science and Technology. Many factors continue to affect the development of a woman’s career in Science and Technology. Girl’s underrepresentation in these fields is due to Cultural norms and societal roles including restrictions in choosing these fields, thus compromising their professional growth. The visibility of women as students and teachers are greater in number but their participation in decision making process is very low. This paper analyses the factors and perception of females that influence participation of women in science and technology.