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RROOHHIINNII NNAAIIRR

When NobelLaureate Sir TimHunt made a jokeabout “the troublewith having

women in the lab” at the WorldConference of ScienceJournalists in South Korea(according to him, “Either youfall in love with them, or they fallin love with you, and when youcriticise them, they cry”) he trig-gered a global outpouringagainst perceived sexism in

Science. On Twitter, women sci-entists from all over the worldposted images of themselves intheir labs, with the hashtag“DistractinglySexy”. While SirTim has since said the commentwas an ill-conceived joke (hiswife, Prof Mary Collins, is inci-dentally, an acclaimed immu-nologist), and has steppeddown from his position atUniversity CollegeLondon, women in theSTEM (Science,Technology, Engineeringand Math) field have

said that the comment is indica-tive of the attitudes many ofthem have faced in their careers.

While individual experiencesdo differ, with many women inscience reporting having sup-portive male mentors and insti-tutions and help from their fami-

lies in pursuing their careers,overarchingly, there does

seem to be a discrepancy inthe way men and women

in Science are perceived,and the benefits/recogni-tion they receive.

>>>>TTuurrnn ttoo PPgg 2288

NobelLaureate Sir

Tim Hunt’sjoke about

havingwomen in thelab has raised

the ‘sexism in science’

debate again

SCIENCE OF SEXISM?

This image of women scientists at ISRO celebrating the launch ofthe Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan went viral on the Web (PTI)

Sunday 24 March 2013

Mumbai Age

25Saturday 20 June 2015 28,29

Mumbai Agecover story

>>>> CCoonntt’’dd ffrroomm PPaaggee 2211

To bring up just a few reported inci-dents, a woman researcher whowrote in to the advice column of

Science magazine, asking how to deal witha male supervisor who spent far too muchtime looking down her shirt, was told to“put up with it” (the person giving theadvice was a respected woman scientist).Another incident saw a reviewer for thejournal PLOS ONE advise two womenauthors of a paper “to get a male co-author”. Apart from these incidents, an ini-tiative called The Everyday Sexism Project,launched to celebrate Ada Lovelace (con-sidered to be the world’s first ‘computerprogrammer’) had women scientists andengineers writing on social media aboutencountering mindsets reflective of SirTim’s comments.

Several studies in the US have also high-lighted the gender disparity in science —women researchers/professors are routine-ly paid lesser than their male counterparts;on a study where identical student applica-tions were given to university professors inPhysics/Chemistry and Biology depart-ments for evaluation, with the name on topprinted as either “Jennifer” or “John”,“John” was rated more favourably than“Jennifer” — whether the evaluation wasby a male/female/junior/senior professormade no difference. In an extension of thisstudy, researchers found that the sameresults were true of hiring for senior posi-tions as well —when it came to hiring anassistant professor, people on selection pan-els recommended the application of a malecandidate 2:1 over that of a female candi-date, when the resumes were identical.

More reservations were expressed aboutrecommending the woman applicant for apromotion than the male applicant.

The numbers in India aren’t the mostencouraging either. Last year, The NationalTask Force For Women In Science releaseda report stating, that in 2008, the percent-age of women scientists working at institu-tions like the Department of AtomicEnergy (B.A.R.C) or the Defence ResearchDevelopment Organisation (DRDO) wasaround 15 and 14 per cent, respectively. At29 per cent, the Indian Council of MedicalResearch had a higher proportion ofwomen scientists. Similar findings havebeen reported by other surveys.

But in spite of the gendered domain thatthese reports suggest science might be,women scientists in India have achievedremarkable success and recognition intheir chosen fields. Dr Tessy Thomas — or“Agniputri” or “Missile Woman” as shewas called, after serving as the projectdirector on the Agni IV and V missilelaunches (and assistant project director onthe Agni III launch) is among the well-known names, as is Padma Shri awardeeDr Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, who setup the National Brain Research Centre inIndia and is currently the head of theCentre for Neurosciences at the IndianInstitute of Science in Bengaluru. There isProf Rohini Godbole, who was a member ofthe International Detector Advisory Groupfor the International Linear Collider (andeditor of Lilavati’s Daughters, theacclaimed book about the contributions ofwomen to Indian science) and ProfShobhona Sharma, whose contributions inthe study of the biology of the malarial

parasite are well-recognised — a few of thewomen doing illustrious work in the STEMfield in India.

Shobhona Sharma — who is a senior pro-fessor and the chairperson of theDepartment of Biological Science at theTata Institute of Fundamental Research —has met Sir Tim Hunt. She expressed dis-appointment that he had voiced theseremarks, especially since in person, shedescribed him as being very professionaland helpful. “But there are many peoplewho make such comments, this mindset isa historical trend,” she rues. RohiniGodbole, a professor at the Centre of HighEnergy Physics, Indian Institute ofScience, says she felt disturbed that some-one of the stature of a Nobel Laureatewould make a comment like this. However,she adds that there are people who mayhave the same thoughts, and not voicethem. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’tinfluence their behaviour,” she points out.“And how to fight that kind of unseen dis-crimination is the real issue. If you talk towomen scientists, they will tell you theyhave felt it.”

When Dr Tessy Thomas was com-mended for the successful AgniV launch, the then PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhcommended her on “break-ing the glass ceiling” – indi-cating that, yes, there isdoes exist the metaphoricalglass ceiling to shatter forwomen in Science. Thescientists we spoke tosaid there was a lack of

“critical mass” of senior women scientistsin the country – and that a multitude ofreasons account for this.

Dr Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath says theproblem isn’t that girls are not opting forscience, or not doing well in them. Shepoints out that from the 650,000 InspireFellowships that are given out by theMinistry of Science and Technology, in the15-17 age group, 49.6 per cent go to girls. Inthe 17-22 age group, 34 per cent of the schol-arships given out are to girls. And at theMSc-Phd level, for the scholarships award-ed to first rankers, about 60 per cent are towomen. “This shows that there is no short-age of women opting for science,” DrRavindranath says.

It is somewhere between getting a Phdand embarking on a career in science thatthe numbers dwindle. Prof Rohini Godbolesays that what needs to be examined is thedrop in the percentage of women gettingPhDs across sciences to the percentage ofwomen getting into faculty positions, be itin Physics, Chemistry or Biology. “You justdon’t see them later. Being a successfulwoman scientist is different from just hav-ing a PhD,” Prof Godbole says, adding thatthe exception to this ‘drop’ phenomenon isthe stream of Medicine.

WWHHAATT NNEEEEDDSS TTOO BBEE DDOONNEE,, DDRRRRAAVVIINNDDRRAANNAATTHH SSAAYYSS,, is ensuringwomen don’t drop out of science, and mak-ing science gender friendly, is of para-

mount importance. “It’s very hard forwomen with other responsibilities, to stayin science. So we have to create an environ-ment such that after investing so much inwomen’s education, they don’t drop out.”She also adds that having more women inleadership positions and having better rep-resentation for them on committees isessential. “As a neuroscientist, Ican tell you that men andwomen bring complemen-tary skills to the table.Women work morethrough consensus, theyhave more empathy. Anyenterprise works betterwhen women and menwork together.”

Prof Shobhona Sharmarecalls that when she wasthe chairperson of theWomen’s Cell (at TIFR), theywould organise sensitisationprogrammes, “but the moment weannounced that it was a ‘Women’s Cell ini-tiative’, very few men would show up! Sohow do you make the world gender sensi-tive?” she says. However, she has seen amarked change over the years in the field.“Women students are a lot more assertive

now,” Prof Sharma says, whose own labhas a 50-50 presence of men and

women. “They’re supported byfamilies, and their numbers

have increased hugely.”

Indeed, family sup-port is crucial. Prof

Shobhona Sharmareveals that her

earliest “men-

tor” was her father. “He insisted we should-n’t waste our time and must concentrate onacademics,” Prof Sharma says. Her oldersister too was an influence; the one whowould keep her updated about momentoushappenings in biological sciences, like thecracking of the genetic code. And later,Prof Sharma’s husband would prove to be

extremely supportive of her work andits demands as well.

There is a well-known quoteattributed to Dr Ravindranath:

“Science is a jealous mistress”and indeed with such ademanding profession, thewomen scientists who havesucceeded have all requiredto put in quite the balancingact. But none of them express

any regrets at the difficultiesthey may have faced, perhaps

because, as Prof Sharma says,“Science is also extremely fulfill-

ing”. Dr Tessy Thomas tells us thatwhile managing her family life with hercareer at the DRDO was a tough task, shewas “prepared for the balancing act”. “I feltno hesitation,” she asserts. “I enjoyed cook-ing, I enjoyed looking after my son when heneeded me. And I had a lot of support frommy parents and my husband.”

On the professional front, having support-ive mentors is also crucial. DrRavindranath, whose work seeks to under-stand how Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s arecaused and draws on the knowledge base ofAyurveda, says her Post-Doctoral fellow-ship at the National Cancer Institute in theUS was instrumental in developing her con-fidence as a researcher. “The Post-Doc is a

very important time in a scientist’s career.You are no longer a student but are develop-ing as an independent scientist. My mentor,Michael Boyd, allowed us to develop, hesupported me even after I came back toIndia. And there were a lot of women in thelab, which was unusual for that time,” shesays. “In those two-and-a-half years, I devel-oped the confidence that I could run myown lab.”

Dr Tessy Thomas told us how having DrAPJ Abdul Kalam as the director of theDRDO when she joined (she answered anewspaper advertisement for a guided mis-sile course there, in 1985) was a great boost.“Dr Kalam was so open and so welcoming,”Dr Thomas says. “For him, it was all aboutknowledge-sharing, so we all had the oppor-tunity to learn a lot, and that was very help-ful.”

And the importance of having an egalitar-

ian workspace and colleagues cannot bestressed enough. Prof Rohini Godbole alsosays that a lot of her learning happenedafter she took the National Science TalentSearch (NSTS) exam, and having receivedthe scholarship, she could spend the sum-mer vacations during her BSC Physicscourse at prestigious institutes like the IITs,and her fellow scholars would become her“lifelong friends”. “The most I learned, wasfrom my colleagues. Beyond a point, scienceis more about absorbing things from yoursurroundings that will help you in research(than about teaching). And in this regard,you learn a lot from your contemporaries,so it’s very important that you should beable to interact with your colleagues with-out nuances of gender,” Prof Godbole says.

Perhaps Sir Tim Hunt would have donewell to remember that.

SSAAMMRRAATT

‘Sexism isprobably far

less now’Women students

are moreassertive now.

They’re supportedby families andtheir numbers

have increased.

PROF SHOBHONA SHARMA

Nobel laureate scien-tist Sir Tim Huntwas forced out of

his job for cracking a badjoke. This is a sign of thetimes. The people whoshoot cartoonists for taste-less cartoons are only afew steps further down thesame road; it’s just thatthey are provoked intorage by jokes about reli-gion rather than gender.

The khap panchayats ofthe politically correct failto take into account thehistorical perspective.The point to ponder beforebaying for blood over astray remark (the antithe-sis of Voltairean ideals offree speech) is that sexismis probably far less nowthan at any time in thehistory of human civilisa-

tion.Until the 19th century, in

most of the world, it wasnot considered necessaryfor everyone to be literate.Universal literacy is afairly recent idea. Whenthis idea did spread, pre-existing social moresoperated to imprisonwomen, restricting themfrom attending college.The first women gradu-ates in India, KadambiniGanguly andChandramouli Basu, wereable to attend college inCalcutta only in the 1880s.

The West wasn’t muchbetter. CambridgeUniversity did not admitwomen until 1869, and didnot give them full degreesuntil 1948. Forget educa-tion. France did not give

women the vote until 1944.In Switzerland, women gotthe vote in 1971!

The changes in the livesof women in the last 200years have been remark-ably rapid in historicalterms. The mores thatdeveloped in civilisationsaround the world after theadvent of agriculture hadlasted for approximately10,000 years. More thingshave changed in these 200years than in the 9,800years that preceded them.

Societies are now in themidst of massive transfor-mation. There is more tobe done in the matter ofgender equity, for sure,but it is extreme impa-tience to expect that theworld will changeovernight. It can’t.

CIENCE OFEXISM?

(L-R) Dr Tessy Thomas; Dr VijayalakshmiRavindranath; Prof Shobhona Sharma

Prof Rohini Godbole

A study in the US found that, when given identical applications from students — with only the name of the

candidate being printed as either “Jennifer” or “John”professors were more like to choose “John”. This was

true of male/female/junior/senior professors.