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MAKING
A MARK
New reasoning
More
girls are into science streams today than ever before, and
doing very well too. In this ‘Year of Scientific Awareness’
it is worth examining this new trend, as well as the constraints
that still hold back many talented women. TWF correspondent
Ranjita Biswas reports
Pink is for girls,
blue for boys. Art subjects for girls, science for boys. Age-old
concepts like these have gone for a tumble in recent years.
In India, for example, for the last couple of years, girls
have been outperforming boys, both in science and arts streams,
in the Class X and Class XII exams. Medical and engineering
institutes, information technology and biomedic sectors, all
show a good representation of girl students.
That girl students, and their parents, have
discarded the old notion of science subjects being too tough
for girls was more than evident at a science seminar held
recently in Kolkata. Organised by the National Council of
Science Museums at the Science City premises, it brought students
from all but two of the country’s 35 states and union
territories to make their presentations and be grilled by
a panel of academicians in order to win scholarships. Earlier,
each student had to go through gruelling tests in order to
qualify as a state representative.
The theme of the seminar was : “Science
awareness: Needs and prospects.” As is well known, 2004
has been declared as the “Year of Scientific Awareness”
(YSA) by the Department of Science and Technology with the
intention of nurturing a scientific temperament among people.
In the past too, the department had programmes like the Bharat
Jan Vigyan Jatha in 1987 and Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha
in 1992, when jathas or processions with local folk performing
arts were widely used to spread awareness about science in
daily life. The current YSA programme also includes the jatha
format but is much more wide-ranging with activities at different
levels, including awareness programmes aimed at women. Awareness
is not just about textbook reading but also covers areas like
fighting superstitions, healthcare knowledge, etc.
Perhaps, the young generation of girls is
already taking a step in the direction through education.
It is encouraging to observe that the gap between male and
female literacy rates decreased from 24.84% in 1991 to 21.70
% in 2001. During the past decade, the female literacy rate
has witnessed much higher growth (14.87 percentage points),
as against 11.72 for males. Recently a Japanese magazine concluded
that Indian women are number one amongst women from various
countries in acquiring and applying IT knowledge. Of the women
science graduating, 88 % of the science degree holders are
in pure science , 8 % in medicine and 3% in engineering and
technology, according to Maria Lisette D’Souza of the
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.
What was revealing at the Kolkata seminar
was that, out of the 33 students, 24 were girls. It was also
refreshing to hear some of these girls speak, so confident
and self-assured were they about what they were talking about
and their plans for the future. And, the girls were not necessarily
from elite schools from the metros. G. Subha Lakshmi representing
Tamil Nadu was from a school in Tirunelveli. Attired in a
traditional dress and with flowers in her hair, Subha Lakshmi,
however, had nothing traditional in mind about her ambition.
“I want to become an astronaut,” she said brightly,
obviously egged on by the example set by Kalpana Chawla, a
small-town girl who made it big, before the unfortunate Columbia
space shuttle accident in 2003.
Listen to Sweta V. Gandhi from a school from
the Dang area in Gujarat. Resplendent in a Kuchi- work dress
of the region, she chose to speak in Hindi, unlike most of
her fellow competitors. So convincing and forceful was she
that spontaneous applause followed her presentation. And what
does she want to become? To enroll in the Indian Administrative
Service. Sweta’s leadership quality would surely come
in handy in this challenging but oft-maligned profession.
However, much as one can rejoice at girls
coming out at tops, ‘even’ in an area like science
and thus allaying old myths, there are also areas of darkness.
Why are there so few women scientists in the field as a whole?
Do they drop off after doing well, and purportedly aiming
at careers around science and research when in school? A woman
researcher who does not want to be named confesses that gender
bias is a reality even among the highly educated scientist
and researcher community. Many women drop off , or simply
stick on without much ambition. “Women do not get scientific
recognition and are rarely recommended and nominated for awards,”
concedes D’Souza.
Besides, research and labs are hard taskmasters
and when it comes to hours spent at work, women have to make
too many adjustments compared to male colleagues, especially
in a society like ours where the homemaker role takes precedence.
Says Rohini Godbole of the Centre for Theoretical Studies,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, “Drop off factor
is large in going from Ph.D. to post-doctoral positions and
of course, even larger in Faculty positions” in her piece,
“Women in Science and Technology: Worldwide Initiative
and Indian Needs.” However, it is true not only of India
but many western countries too, where women entered the science
arena quite late with some exceptions. “Even in countries
with considerable participation of women in Physics (Italy)
at the level of students and postdoctoral fellows (25%) the
fraction of women professors is about 4-5% which is about
the same as that in England,” Godbole points out.
Recently the Indian National Science Academy
has constituted a committee to bring out a report on Statistics
and Status of Women in Science in India. Next January, the
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT, Rourkela
is organising a seminar on “Women in Science and Technology”
with the aim:
-To discuss strategies, policies and actions
that would persuade more women to pursue science degrees and
careers.
- To recognise and understand the role of women in the country's
development process.
- To highlight research and educational projects and accomplishments
made by Indian women scientists.
- To promote dialogue among Indian women scientists, other
professionals and policy makers.
These initiatives are necessary so that girls
like Subha Lakshmi or Sweta would not have put a stop to their
dreams coming true once they set out into the big, wide world
of careers in science.
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