Why are women not opting for research?

In India, almost half of postgraduate students are women but very few later take up a career in research. About 39.46% PhD candidates are women and 53.41% are MPhil students. According to a January 2015 Economist Intelligence Unit report produced for the British Council, female enrolment in postgraduate degree programmes in India has not risen very rapidly and women researchers are notably missing.

Most potential women researchers are lost after the undergraduate level, with fewer numbers taking up postgraduate studies. The representation of women falls from 40% to 25% at the postgraduate level. Lack of data presents another problem. Scholars say that extensive and reliable gender data on the number of women PhDs in science, social sciences and arts is critical to retaining women in the workforce. The 2014-15 All-India Survey on Higher Education by the human resource development ministry says there are 45,482 women candidates enrolled in PhD as opposed to 67,330 male students.

Interestingly, there are more women enrolled in MPhil programmes (18,695) than men (13,676). There are 38,626 women enrolled in PhD in teaching departments of universities and their constituent colleges and 59,617 men. There is not much difference when it comes to MPhil enrolments in teaching departments of universities with 9,596 women vis-à-vis 9,067 men. In an effort to encourage more women to take up research, the government has set up a national taskforce addressing women in science under the Department of Science and Technology. The initiative has been running for 10 years with a mandate to recommend appropriate programmes to address gender imbalances in science and encourage women researchers to resume their careers. The Women Scientists Scheme, for example, addresses the barriers Indian women face in returning to work after a career break by offering them a launching pad to resume their careers. The programme, which is open to women aged 30 to 50 who have reached PhD level, provides research funding and flexible work options, meaning the work isn’t disrupted by moving to another part of the country.

The UGC also runs Sensitisation Awareness Motivation workshops to build the ‘capacity’ of women managers in higher education in India, with a focus on researchers.