How can society help keep Indian women in science, get young girls interested in the field?

Research institutions around the world on average have 28.4 percent women employees. Indian research institutions have been unable to make even this poor benchmark. Women make up only 14 percent of 2.8 lakh scientists, engineers, and technologists in research and development institutions in India. In the past few decades, while the number of women enrolled in science higher education has steadily increased, the number of women entering the science workplace has not shown a commensurate rise. This suggests that women are either not willing to continue in science jobs or are not being provided suitable opportunities to do so.

Pros of gender-balanced in scientific campuses

There is a school of thought that women bring a distinctly different perspective to science than men. Studies have shown that diverse groups have more collective intelligence than groups made up of men only. The implication is that gender-balanced teams are likely to be more productive and “smarter” as compared to all-male teams. It, therefore, makes sense that we would like more laboratories to try and achieve an equal male: female ratio. (Read more)