Indian women are playing as changemakers in the country's advancement towards science fraternity which is a significant step towards gender balance. Union Minister of State for Research and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, highlighted this progress during a speech in the Lok Sabha, highlighting how women have progressed from mere participating to spearheading significant research projects like the Aditya-L1 solar mission and Chandrayaan-3.
Women now make up 43 per cent of students enrolled in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) courses at universities, according to Dr. Jitendra. This is a huge increase in female enrollment that is expected to increase the representation of women in professional scientific roles. The Minister also stated that there is no discrimination against women in science and technology jobs regarding promotions and that the percentage of women in the sector across all sectors will increase. Currently, women make up 18.6 per cent of scientists, with 25 per cent of them leading R&D projects. These numbers are expected to rise as more women enter the workforce.
The Minister further mentioned the Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (WISE-KIRAN) initiative. The program, which was started by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and relaunched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, has surged its funding to 3 times in the Interim Budget 2024. WISE-KIRAN has supported 2,153 female scientists in the past few years. Through numerous programs including the Women Scientist Scheme (WOS) and Vigyan Jyoti, which focuses on girls from rural areas, the scheme seeks to provide chances to women scientists, even those with career gaps.
WISE Fellowship for Ph.D., WISE Post-Doctoral Fellowship, WISE-SCOPE, WIDUSHI Program, and WISE Internship in Intellectual Property Rights are among the new projects for 2023–2024. The government is committed to promoting gender parity in STEM fields through various programs.
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