A STUDY OF WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN TAMILNADU Executive Summary Major Research Project (ICSSR) in Womens Studies

Researcher

Dr.M.JEYARATHNAM
Director/ Professor Department of Womens Studies Bharathiar University Coimbatore-46 Tamil Nadu

Project submitted to

Indian Council for Social Science Research

New Delhi Jan 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Today, science is considered as an agent of social change, national reconstruction, economic resurgence and national security. The Government of India promotes science and technology as an element of national development since Independence. The Scientific Policy of 1958, Technology Policy Statement 1983, Perspective Plan for 2001 AD: Role of Science and Technology and the Science and Technology Policy (2003) serve as powerful influencing forces in spreading science and technology education and thereby achieving national goals of self reliance and socio economic development. Womens education in India plays an important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resource, but also in improving the quality of life at home and outside. There is an increasing enrolment of women in higher education to pursue science, engineering and technology courses, but the proportion of women in science and technology is still low. The most favorite professional area for women has been that of medicine in which the share of women enrolment has increased from 16.3% to 45% of the total enrollment in this field during the past 55 years. Another professional area, which has recently attracted women, is Engineering and Technology. The share of women enrolment in this area, which was only 0.16% in 1950-51 increased to 20.6% in 2005-06. Surprisingly, Agriculture is a

professional area in which women enrolment has grown sharply from only 0.17% in 1950-51 to 20.5% in 2005-06. Although in the Vedic period women had access to education in India, they had gradually lost this right. However, in the British period, various socio, religious movements led by eminent persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar emphasized womens education in India. Mahatma Gandhi, Jyotiba Phule, E.V.R.Periyar and Baba Saheb Ambedkar were instrumental in making education available to women in India. However womens education got a fillip after the country got Independence in 1947. The various measures taken by the Central and the State Governments resulted in the growth of female literacy rate after Independence. Numerous studies have shown that even in the advanced countries there is tremendous sexual nepotism which are both conscious and unconscious. Women who seek science career have to face the triple burden of professional work, domestic work and fighting male chauvinism. However, traditional mindsets internalized over generations prevent women from opting courses like science, particularly physical sciences, mathematics and technology, which are perceived as being more in the male domain. Study of science and technology does not ensure further opportunities and smooth career path for women, due to glass ceiling. In recent years the issue of marginalizing women from scientific career is being seen with concern all over the world. In India the problem is to get more women to study science and technology and ensure that those who study are able to pursue a career in
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science and technology. Attrition after higher education is a national waste and impoverishment of Indian science. Vineeta Bali has points out that though there is increasing number of women scientists in biology, gender based disadvantages continue to be the order of the day. What is applicable to women scientists of biology is true of women scientists of other disciplines. In India women scientists have complained that even in science books women are depicted in traditional roles.

Objectives
The study has the following objectives. It aims 1. To study the demographic profile of women scientists in Tamil Nadu 2. To examine motivation, constraints and gender issues faced by women scientists 3. To understand the organizational climate prevailing in science institutions chosen for study 4. To analyze the expectations of women scientists with respect to their career growth 5. To make suggestions for bringing more women into science career

Research Methodology
The study depends mainly on primary data. A structured interview schedule was constructed and administered to collect primary data among the selected women scientists. In addition, informal interviews with women scientists were conducted for deeper understanding of the problem.
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Secondary data have been collected from websites, books, reports of Ministry of Science and Technology, Census reports, journals and magazines. A pilot study was undertaken to comprehend the variables involved in the study. A structured interview schedule has been used as a research instrument. Women scientists with permanent position, involved in teaching and research are the respondents for the study. The

respondents are drawn from eight State Universities such as Annamalai University, Bharathiar University, Bharathidasan University, Gandhigram Rural Institute, University of Madras, Madurai Kamaraj University, Periyar University, Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University and Anna University, three Research Organizations such as Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Central Institute for Cotton Research, Regional Station, Coimbatore, Sugarcane Breeding Research Station and ICAR and five Private Universities such as Avinashilingam Deemed University, Karunya University, Karpagam University, Vinayaka Mission University and Amirtha University in Tamil Nadu. Census method has been adopted and all women scientists are included in the study. 268 women scientists participated in the study.

Null Hypotheses
The null hypotheses have been framed to test the relationship between demographic variables and organizational climate and career growth. A few null hypothesis are presented below.

 There is no significant difference between the groups of women scientists on the basis of discipline pursued and their perception of organizational climate There is no significant difference between the groups of women scientists on reasons for choosing science career and their perception of organizational climate There is no significant difference between the groups of women scientists on reasons for continuing in the job and their perception of organizational climate There is no significant difference between the groups of women scientists on satisfaction with working hours and their perception of organizational climate

Findings
The profile of the respondents selected for the study shows that 54.5% are in the age group of 36-45 years 67.9% belong to OBC, 89.6% are Hindus and minority community like Christians and Muslims constitute negligible percentage only 68.3% of women scientists live in nuclear family. 90.7% are married and 9.3% are unmarried 21.1% of the respondents are married to scientists and 15.1% are married to business men. Majority of them have married men with comparable status The respondents have pursued approximately 20 disciplines. 21.8% of them are drawn from agriculture and related fields such as Agronomy, Soil Science, Spices and Plantation, Crop Physiology and Animal Husbandry. 34% of the women
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scientists have pursued Life Science and Biological Science such as Biochemistry, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, Pathology, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. 12.3% of women scientists pursued Electrical Electronics and Engineering. 9.3% have chosen chemical science All the respondents are members of various professional organizations. Some of them are members of more than seven organizations. 52.3% of the women scientists have one child and 44.9% of the respondents have two children 167 children of women scientists are less than 10 year old. 141 children of woman scientists are in the age group of 11-20 years. 47 children of the respondents are in the age group of 21-30 years 36.2% of the respondents had their school education in metropolitan cities and 25.4% of women scientists studied in village schools 59.3% of the women scientists had their school education in English medium and 40.7% of the respondents had their school education through Tamil medium All the respondents in the study have done doctorate degree in their discipline.

The study reveals that entry into science is a conscious decision for all the scientists selected for the study. 76.1% of the sample women scientists, decided about science career in their secondary school stage itself Encouragement by parents to opt for science career is an interesting finding of the study. 41.8% of respondents got encouragement from their fathers and 28.7% of

the respondents were motivated by their mothers and 25.7% of the respondents, were encouraged by the teachers to opt for science career Personal interest in science is the reason for 71.3% of the scientists to choose science as a career. Job potential and peer group influence are reasons for 13% and 15.7% of respondents respectively 70% of the respondents are actively involved in research and development. Laboratory supervision (16%), project planning (15.7%) and scientific documentation(8.2%) are also undertaken by the respondents An analysis about motivation for higher jobs reveals that interest in subject(1196), career prospects(953), and sponsorship by organization (974) are reasons that motivated them for higher position as expressed by them on a five point scale It is remarkable that 86.6% are ready to accept challenging positions in future. Others do not accept due to personal reasons such as pregnancy, child care and so on. Many respondents revealed that they were not offered challenging tasks due to inherent bias and negative attitudes Additional responsibilities are undertaken quite often by 56.4% of women scientists 78.4% of the women scientists have achieved their goals. Household responsibilities and lack of time are reasons attributed by 22.6% of women scientists for non fulfillment of their goals

 Preferred career options for 44.4% of women scientists is more interesting job and continuous growth in the job are the preferred options for 44.4% and 31.1% of women scientists Scientists as woman face several problems as observed in many studies. The present survey points out that, 84 have faced problems of gender discrimination. 31 of them faced health and family related problems. 50 women scientists have faced problems of time constraints. However 38.4% of the respondents taken for the study do not have any special problem as woman A congenial organizational climate is needed for performance and achievement of goals. Organization climate in this study has been studied in terms of variables such as infrastructure facilities, safety and security policy, prevention of sexual harassment policy, denial of career opportunities, denial of promotion, expected changes in career, satisfaction with ones own achievement and need for special benefits for women. The response of the women scientists expressed in a five point scale shows that 71% of them are satisfied with the organizational climate as prevailed in the organization The women scientists have rated safety and security policy, prevention of sexual harassment policy, infrastructure facility and satisfaction about achievement with a respective mean score of 4.6194, 4.4142, 4.2794 and 3.9366 as satisfactory Among the various factors that influence organization climate, the ANOVA result shows that, factors such as the disciplines pursued by women scientists, reasons for science career, present job, working hours, extended working hours, additional
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responsibilities, special difficulties as women, fulfillment of ones goals and preferred career advancement are influencing factors of organizational climate as perceived by women scientists Career growth in this study has been studied in terms of ten variables such as marriage affected career, career and work affected child birth, marital responsibilities affect career, difficulty in obtaining research position,

discouragement, peer

groups support, husbands encouragement, good

interpersonal relationship, excessive rules and freedom to work independently The perception of women scientists as expressed on a five point scale shows that husbands encouragement, good interpersonal relationship, career and marriage affected childbirth and freedom to work independently facilitate the career growth of women scientists with a mean score of 4.1, 3.9 and 3.73 respectively The ANOVA test results prove that continuing the present job, satisfaction with working hours, extended working hours, additional responsibilities and fulfillment of goals are influencing factors for career growth

Policy Implication
It is suggested that flexible working hours, work from home facility as provided in IT organizations, crche, campus housing and rest rooms are some of the basic facilities that may be provided in the research institutions

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 Provision for the husband and wife to work in the same institution/same city is to be permitted as the present practice does not allow the couple to work in the same place Inclusion of women scientists in the policy making bodies/decision making committees will empower and encourage them to undertake projects Networking among women scientists would build interest and self confidence and long term relationship by sharing information among them Gender sensitization to male scientists would help in preventing subtle discrimination in science organizations More schemes as devised by DST for bringing more women who faced break in their career should be devised and implemented Reservation in promotion, relaxation in age limit for award and fellowship, maternity leave followed by half work load for three months and slow, progress during maternity leave to be considered in appraisal, preference in funding proposals, relaxation in the first promotion as career is usually affected by childbirth and nurturing, age limit for applying for travel/grant project extended to 60 years and flexible timings for mothers with special children would attract more women into science career Case studies of women scientists and their contribution may be included in the school curriculum to set right the stereotyped views of women in young minds

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