Women in STEM in India
India produces one of the world's largest cohorts of women STEM graduates each year, sustains a long-running federal program ecosystem, and is the setting for some of the most-watched policy experiments in expanding women's participation in science and technology careers.
The shape of the participation pattern
India's STEM-pipeline story is well known to anyone who has worked on gender in science globally: enrollment is strong, attrition is severe. Women earn more than 40% of undergraduate degrees in science and engineering combined, and the share rises further in biological and chemical sciences. But the share of women in research positions, in faculty roles at IITs and IISc, and in senior R&D leadership drops sharply at each subsequent career stage. The Gender Equality and Knowledge Society Scorecard for India captured this pattern in detail: high education-pillar scores against weaker economic-status and decision-making indicators.
The participation gap is not uniform across disciplines. Women are well represented in biological sciences and chemistry — often at near-parity through PhD level — and dramatically under-represented in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and theoretical physics. Programs and policy responses have increasingly targeted these specific subdisciplines rather than treating "women in STEM" as a single problem.
Major national programs
Vigyan Jyoti
Launched in 2020, Vigyan Jyoti targets meritorious girls in Class 9 through 12 in selected districts, providing exposure visits to STEM institutions, mentorship by working women scientists, and a structured pathway toward higher STEM education. The program operates through Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and has been scaled across hundreds of districts.
KIRAN — Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing
KIRAN is the umbrella scheme for women scientists in India. The Women Scientist Scheme (WOS-A, WOS-B, WOS-C) supports women who took a career break — typically for caregiving — to return to active research. It includes funding for project work, training in IP rights, and re-entry to academic positions. KIRAN is one of the few national programs anywhere globally explicitly designed for STEM career re-entry.
INSPIRE — Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research
India's flagship STEM-talent program. INSPIRE provides scholarships and fellowships at multiple levels: INSPIRE Awards for Class 6–10, INSPIRE Scholarships for top-percentile undergraduates pursuing science, and INSPIRE Faculty Fellowships for early-career researchers. While not women-specific, multiple sub-tracks emphasize gender parity in awards.
GATI — Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions
Inspired by the UK's Athena SWAN, GATI is a pilot accreditation framework for Indian higher-education institutions to assess and improve gender equity in STEM departments. A cohort of pilot institutions has been working through the framework since 2020.
CURIE — Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities
Targeted funding for STEM infrastructure at women's universities — equipment, labs, and research facilities. Has supported institutions including Banasthali Vidyapith, SNDT Women's University, and others.
Top universities with strong women-in-STEM ecosystems
Across the IIT system, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, and IIT Hyderabad have run sustained outreach and mentorship programs for women undergraduates, including Women in Engineering chapters and bridge programs for entry. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore administers the Young Investigator program with active gender-inclusion criteria. Among national universities, JNU, Hyderabad, and TIFR maintain visible women-faculty hiring tracks. The IISERs (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research) have above-average women's enrollment at the integrated MS-PhD level — a useful data point for students choosing where to apply.
Scholarships open to women in STEM
- L'Oréal India For Young Women in Science Scholarships — for women pursuing science undergraduates from low-income backgrounds.
- Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship (India) — administered globally by AnitaB.org, multiple recipients annually from India.
- Google India Women Techmakers Scholarship — for women pursuing computer-science degrees.
- DST INSPIRE Scholarship — open to top-percentile women and men; women applicants frequently outperform headline ratios.
- OWSD PhD Fellowships — for women from least-developed countries pursuing PhDs at Indian institutions (and similar arrangements outbound).
Notable women in STEM from India
Tessy Thomas
Aerospace scientist, currently Director General of Aeronautical Systems at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). She led India's Agni-IV and Agni-V missile programs and is often referred to as the "Missile Woman of India." Her career is a frequently-cited example of women leading large technical programs in Indian defense research.
Gagandeep Kang
Virologist, the first Indian woman elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her research on rotavirus and other enteric pathogens contributed directly to India's national rotavirus vaccine. She is currently affiliated with Christian Medical College, Vellore and has been a prominent public-health voice during recent infectious-disease responses.