After successfully landing on the moon, the Chandrayaan-3 made a ground-breaking discovery by verifying the presence of sulphur near the South Pole. Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the name “Shiv Shakti” for the landing site as to honour the equal role played by both male and female scientists in this historic endeavour. We saw two brilliant women suddenly come to light – Kalpana K. and Nigar Shaji. These women have been doing incredible work in the field of science for years.
Kalpana K.
Kalpana K., the associate project director for Chandrayaan-3, strived hard to make sure that the mission continued even during the pandemic. She has greatly contributed to both the Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-2 Mission.
Following the Mission’s triumph Kalpana K. said, “…this will remain the most memorable moment for all of us…from the day we started rebuilding our spacecraft after the Chandrayaan-2 experience, it has been breathe-in-breathe-out Chandrayaan-3 for the team.” She also appreciated the efforts of her team. Every reconfiguration, assimilation, and test were conducted carefully.
Nigar Shaji
Nigar Shaji, The Project Director of India’s First Sun Mission, hails from a farmer family in Tamil Nadu. She has been a part of ISRO since 1987. She has published papers in system engineering, image compression, and space networking.
She has been an immense force in the successful launches of many communication and remote sensing satellites. This 59-year-old expert scientist has also developed propulsion systems for precise satellite positioning and helped design cutting-edge imaging equipment which can capture high-resolution images of the Earth.
She also contributed significantly to the Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-2 Missions. She was assigned the role of Associate Project Director for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission.
Statistics Pertaining to Women in Science
Many challenges have held back women from advancing in the field of science. Society perceives women as meek and incompetent.
But this did not stop many women from breaking boundaries and making history!
Smt. Nallathamby Kalaisevi broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman Director General (DG) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an 80-year-old research council. This energy researcher is now the head of 38 laboratories under her position.
Even during the pandemic, women scientists immensely helped the research and development of vaccines.
Even in different fields like immunology, virology, scientific R&D, biotechnology women were always there. It is just that they were not visible or rather not recognised.
Women like Kalpana K., Nigar Shaji and N. Kalaisevi have led the path for the youth of India who are now more determined than ever to show the world what women are capable of. But many obstacles hinder their progress.
The overall data shows an upward trend in women researchers in India. But it is still far from good.
The percentage of women among researchers went from 13.9% in 2015 to 18.7% in 2018. As of March 2023, India has a total of 56,747 researchers. This is only 16.6% of total researchers in the country. The scientists and science faculty in higher education and research institutions is only 13%! More women researchers are present in the areas of natural sciences, health, and agriculture and very few in the areas of engineering and technology.
Challenges Faced By Women
The ratio of men to women in scientific and intellectual fields is very unfavourable. Even though women are granted opportunities, other issues hamper their advancement. These challenges are marriage, lack of required support from in-laws, transferable jobs of spouses, societal outlook, lesser acknowledgement as a long term career, child care, field of science perceived as less lucrative.
Proper motivation from family, strategic planning of career, training facilities available and creating child care centres will help women in taking forward a career in science.
Government Schemes That Can Help Women Advance in the Field of Science
The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched a scheme called ‘SERB-POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research)’.
This scheme aims to reduce the gender gap by providing equal access and weighted opportunities to women in Science and Engineering. The Research and Fellowship Grants will provide Research and Development support to the women.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has launched the scheme – ‘Women Scientists Scheme-A (WOS)’ to provide a strong foothold into the scientific profession, help them re-enter into the mainstream.
This scheme provides a research grant and helps women join back the scientific arena after the ‘break-in-career.’
The Central Government’s ‘Women in Science and Engineering-KIRAN (WISE-KIRAN)’ encourages women scientists to engage in groundbreaking research in science and engineering.
Many women face challenges due to motherhood and family conditions. This scheme enables them to continue their career and advance in the field of science.
The Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (CURIE) provides an artificial intelligence facility for development of human resources in AI. This program has also led to the establishment of cutting edge facilities in women universities.
The Overseas Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM) enabled40 women scientists to learn from renowned institutions of the USA.
The Vigyan Jyoti (Department of Science and Technology) program aims to bridge the gender gap. It provides opportunities to talented girls from class 8th to 12th so they can pursue careers in marginalised fields of STEM (Science Engineering Technology Mathematics).
Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) seeks to create a framework forself-evaluation, accreditation and charter to improve gender equality in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, and Medicine).
A Way Forward
People need to aid social change and prevent stereotypes from maintaining the status quo. Looking at one another, we are all human and deserve an equal amount of support, respect, opportunities, and recognition.
Many women are unaware of their talents and various schemes that can help them. There is a need to spread awareness to these women and ensure that no one tries to hinder their efforts.
These incredible women pioneers in the field of science inspire and teach that nothing is impossible if we aim for the sky. Their journeys are the torch that lights the path for many more talented and determined women to strive and achieve their dreams…
