11th February 2023 is celebrated as International Day for Women and Girls in Science and was implemented by UNESCO and United Nations. The idea of having a dedicated day for women and girls in science is to create gender equity in STEM.
In the year 2022, the Council and Scientific and Industrial Research got its first woman Director General, Nallathamby Kalaiselvi. Soon after her appointment, the rise in women scientists from 13 to 28% in the past twenty years was doing the rounds on the news. It was a moment of celebration and pride for not just CSIR but the entire scientific community. The Journal Nature mentioned Nallathamby Kalaiselvi as one of the people to watch for in the year 2023 as being one the torchbearers of the not-so-silent revolution of women in science.
In the 1999 report that came out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after an extensive investigation of 5 years on the existing disparities in salary, resource allocation, and promotions in the university between female (only 9% of the scientists) and male scientists, Charles M. Vest, then professor of MIT wrote, “I have always believed that contemporary gender discrimination within universities is part reality and part perception. True, but I now understand that reality is by far the greater part of the balance.” The investigation and the transparent announcement of its findings was the first milestone toward reaching gender equity and many more followed.
50 years of conducting the ‘Draw A Scientist’ test, which was started to assess how stereotypes influence children’s imagination of a scientist, have shown a rise from 0.5% to 28% of kids drawing female scientists as compared to male scientists. Various laws like the equal remuneration act 1976 and the sexual harassment of women at workplace (prevention, prohibition, and redressal) act 2013 are in place to indirectly push for equal representation of females and males in universities and research institutes, and committees and panels remain under public scrutiny for practicing inclusiveness.
As described by UNESCO, “Tackling some of the greatest challenges of the Agenda for Sustainable Development – from improving health to combating climate change – will rely on harnessing all talent. That means getting more women working in these fields. Diversity in research expands the pool of talented researchers, bringing in fresh perspectives, talent, and creativity”. The inclusion of women in science for achieving goals of sustainable development for the world is one of the top reasons to celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science and we are making progress with each passing day.
Besides the science labs, the representation of females has been absent even from the experiments being conducted inside the science labs. The exclusion of female mice from neuroscience and biomedical research has been so far justified based on the presence of a larger variability in the behavior of females. Doesn’t that sound similar to some of the water cooler gossip in the offices? It is heartening to know that the former has been refuted and the inclusion of female mice in research studies is being asked for in research proposals and grant applications but the latter still exists.
There is gender bias that all of us, irrespective of our gender, have imbibed from chronic and subtle exposure to daily conversations – humor and microaggressions included – with colleagues (seniors and juniors), bosses, and society. This is what we should try to address on this 8th International Day for Women and Girls in Science so as to provide equity in the true sense.
End note: The theme for this year is Innovate. Demonstrate. Elevate. Advance. Sustain I.D.E.A.S: Bringing communities forward for sustainable and equitable development. It is heartening to know that some of the events planned for the day are striving to achieve inclusivity. An example of this is a science workshop for Blind Girls and a session from the BLIND fellow SCIENTISTS on “Science in Braille: Making Science Accessible” in New York, USA at the United Nations headquarters.
Poorti Kathpalia, a scientist by training, is now pursuing her passion for making science fun and accessible through her sci-comm activities.