Hyderabad: Science continues to be dominated by men while women scientists form a minority in scientific institutions. The three Council for Scientific and Industrial Research laboratories in Hyderabad — the National Geophysical Research Institute, the Indian Institute for Chemical Technology and the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology — are examples of how gender imbalance exists in premier research institutions.
These institutes have 351 scientists on their rolls, of which 62, or about 17.7 per cent are women. In its 50 years, NGRI has never had a woman director; nor the CCMB in its three decades. The IICT has had one woman director, Dr M. Lakshmi Kantam in 2013, in 70 years.
Women scientists see this as a gender discrimination. They find it hard to air their views on the issue openly, fearing a backlash from their male colleagues who occupy the top positions.
A woman scientist said, “Men think women will not serve the institution because they have the responsibility of home and family. While gender discrimination starts right from recruitment, it becomes all pervasive when a woman joins up. Because of gender politics, one will not find many women at the top positions.”
In the IICT out of 25 chief scientists two are women, in NGRI it is one out of 12 and CCMB has one woman chief scientist out of 12 on board.
A woman scientist from CCMB said, “Having women on all committees and selection panels in research institutions should be mandatory. In their decades of existence, much change has not been seen in scientific institutions. If this is not done, no significant change can be expected.”
