Initiatives by Government for Increasing Participation
- Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN) Scheme– It was launched in 2014-15, this was an umbrella scheme under which all women-specific programs were introduced. One program under this was the Woman scientist scheme provided career opportunities to unemployed women scientists and those who had broken and were not able to begin work.
- Vigyan Jyoti scheme– It was launched to address the underrepresentation of women in the field of science and technology. It began at the school level where students from classes 9 -12 are encouraged to pursue a career in STEM. It provided exposure to rural girls and assisted them in planning careers in science.
- Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) program– It was for developing and assessing a framework for gender equality in STEM.
- Department of science technology has established an Artificial intelligence lab in women’s universities.
- Under the Indo- Us fellowship for women, they can work in research labs in the US.
- Consolidation of University Research for Innovation And Excellence (CURIE) program– It was to improve R&D infrastructure and research facilities to create excellence in S&T in women’s universities.
Women in the Field of Science and Technology
Even after 75 years of independence and celebrating Amrit Mahotsav, our beloved country is facing problems evident in the Vedic period. The discrimination among genders and degradation of the status of women started during the later Vedic period. Discrimination is evident in every field from the house to the workplace. The women labor force participation is 25.1 percent which is much below than world average of 46 percent.
One of the fields where discussion about discrimination is quite strong is Science and technology. A conference was held in Israel in November 2021 on the topic of India- Israel women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It was discussed to provide gender-neutral compensation and flexible work hours to increase women’s participation.