A
silent revolution
has gradually
made its
impact felt across
the country in
the last twentyfive
years
through the
increasing participation
of women
in the engineering profession. Till the early 1980s, the output
of women with a Bachelor's degree in engineering was
negligible. However, since then the enrolment and
consequently the output has shown an increasing
trend. The trend began first in the southern states. It
spread to the western states and is now gradually
making its presence felt in the north and the east of
the country.
Keeping the importance of the subject in
mind,
two extensive studies on women engineers were taken
up at IIT Bombay [Parikh and Sukhatme 1992, 2002 & 2004]
through sponsorship from the Department of Science and
Technology. One of the issues analyzed in the studies was
annual data on the turn-out of women engineers both statewise
and discipline-wise. The data obtained showed that the
turn-out increased very slowly from less than 1 per cent
to
about 1.5 per cent through the seventies and early eighties.
Thereafter the percentage output has been increasing steadily.
Today it is estimated that for the nation as a whole, the
output
of women engineers is between 10 and 15 percent. Because
of
the steep rise in intake capacity, the national output has
increased from about 25,000 engineers in 1980 to about
200,000 in 2005. This implies that the national output of
women engineers has increased approximately from 300 in
1980 to a number between 20,000 and 30,000 in 2005. This
represents a hundred fold increase!
IIT Bombay Data
Keeping
in view the national scenario, it is of interest to study
the trends at IIT Bombay by analyzing data on women graduating
from the Institute over the last few years. The data on
the
B Tech and the post-graduate programmes was compared with
the national estimates. These data have been compiled from
the reports printed at the time of the convocation every
year. Data for the B Tech programme have been obtained
for seven years in a row (1999 to 2005) and for three earlier
years (1972, 1982 and 1991) and is presented in Table
1.
The
data show that the number of women obtaining their B Tech
degrees from IIT Bombay has always been low and that the
percentage has ranged from 1.8 to 7.9, with the value for
many years being between 4 and 5 per cent. There is some
indication that the percentage values are increasing. However
the values for IIT Bombay are clearly lagging behind the
national data obtained in earlier references (Parikh and
Sukhatme, 1992 & 2002) and observed in Figure
1. The
percentage
of 7.9 in 2005 is also considerably less than the value
for colleges and universities in the western region. In
Mumbai, most colleges at present have an output percentage
exceeding 20. It may also be worth noting that the values
obtained for IIT Bombay are a reasonable representation
of
the picture at other IITs.
One can also similarly analyze the percentage
data for
all degree programmes at IIT Bombay (Table
2). It is seen that
the values for the dual degree programme are similar to those
for the B Tech programme. This is to be expected since admission
to both the programmes is through the same Joint
Entrance Examination (JEE). In the other programmes, the
values are also generally low though higher than the values
for the B Tech programme. It is also noticeable that there
are
no trends indicating an increase in the percentages over the
years 1999 to 2005 in any of the programmes.
More specifically for the
engineering based M Tech programmes, the percentages
of women graduates range
between 8 and 12 with the average for all years being 9.5
per cent. On the other hand, for the science-based M Sc
programmes, the per centages are higher and
range from 17.4
to 39.1 per cent. For the other Master's degree programmes
(M Des, M Phil, M Mgt & M S) the percentages
range from a low of 9.8 in 2003 to a high of 21.9
in 2001. The Ph D degree includes the sciences,
engineering and technology, management and
the humanities and social sciences. Here the per
centage of women ranges from 13.0 to 24.3 per
cent, with the average value for all years being
17.3 per cent.
The combined data for the period 1999-
2005 for all programmes at the Institute are also
of interest (Table 3). It is seen that the percentage
output of women has fluctuated between 9.0 and
12.5 per cent. Over the years, the number of
women obtaining degrees has increased by about
25 to 30 per cent. However this is not reflected in
an increase in the percentage output because the
overall output of the Institute has also increased.
The output for the Institute as a whole is now
around 1250 compared to an output of slightly
less than 1000 in the late nineties.
An Assessment
It is clear that the percentage of women passing out of the
B
Tech and dual degree programmes of IIT Bombay is however
still low. This is because of the fact that the percentage
of
women who appear for JEE is itself low. The figures for the
other programmes are a little better, but should certainly
be
higher. The picture at the other IITs is probably the same.
IITs are institutions with a national mandate.
Thus it would be appropriate and worthwhile to adopt a pro-active
stance and undertake some special measures. These would
ensure that more talented women join our Institute and
receive the benefit of education of the highest quality.
In
this
context it is worth reflecting on the following issues: (1)
The
Institute should organize awareness programmes to make the
public aware of the facilities and academic courses available.
Such programmes can be held both inside and outside the
campus at selected locations on a regular basis. The media
can be actively used for such purposes. (2) The information
brochure for JEE and brochures issued in connection with
admission to our other programmes should describe the oncampus
facilities and opportunities for women students at IIT
Bombay. Such brochures could also highlight success stories
of our women alumni. (3) In conjunction with other IITs,
IIT
Bombay could consider the possibility of exempting women
students who qualify through JEE from payment of fees. This
type of encouragement is being offered for engineering
degree programmes in some states in India and has proved
to
be rather successful. (4) Alumni of the Institute should
be
requested to help in the effort to persuade more women students
to join IIT Bombay. The establishment of more scholarships
for women students would be an important step in the
right direction. Alumni could also help by pledging funds
for a new ladies hostel on the IIT Bombay
campus.
Contact: sukhatme@iitb.ac.in,
b2parikh@yahoo.com ( * Prof S P Sukhatme and Prof P P Parikh
are both Professors
Emeritus, IIT Bombay)
References:
1. Parikh, P P and S P Sukhatme (1992): 'Women Engineers in India', final report, Sponsored Project No. DST/RD/05/51/88, Dept of Science and Technology.
2. Parikh, P P and S P Sukhatme (2002): 'Women in the Engineering Profession in India - The Millenium Scenario',final report, Sponsored Project No. DST/NSTMIS/05/97,Dept of Science and Technology.
3. Parikh, P P and S P Sukhatme (2004): 'Women Engineers in India', Economic and Political Weekly, pp 193-201.