Gender Equality in Knowledge Societies: India Assessment
The GEKS National Scorecard for India applies the Gender Equality in Knowledge Societies benchmarking framework to the full range of available data on women's participation in India's science and technology system. It covers the educational pipeline from secondary STEM enrollment through doctoral completion, academic employment across disciplines and institutional types, participation in industrial and government research, and representation in science policy bodies.
India presents a complex picture for gender equity in S&T. The country has produced significant numbers of women scientists and engineers in absolute terms and has several institutions with strong records of women's participation. At the same time, persistent gaps exist in higher-level academic and research leadership, in engineering relative to biology and chemistry, and between institutions serving urban and rural populations.
The India scorecard documents these patterns with granularity, enabling comparison between Indian states and between India and peer economies in Asia and beyond. Its data were drawn from official Indian government statistics, UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, and field research conducted through OWSD's India network.
The findings were used by policy advocates working with the Department of Science and Technology and the University Grants Commission to make the case for targeted interventions at specific bottlenecks in the Indian S&T pipeline.