Women's Reservation In IIT Is Definitely A Step In The Right Direction, But Will It Help?

The abysmal gender ratio of IIT's classrooms since it came into existence in 1961 has tugged on the hairs of all the institution's many Deans that have come and gone. A few years ago, the number of women who enrolled in the premier-most institution of the country did increase ever-so lightly, only to dip again in the previous academic year. Now, it has decide to reserve 14% of its seats for women starting 2018 in the hope that it will encourage more women into engineering and technology.

Starting in 2018, 14% of seats will be reserved for women, 17% in 2019 and 20% in 2020. A Human Resources Department official said, ˇ°The 20 per cent supernumerary quota will kick in only if the admission of female candidates to a course is abysmally low. For instance, if there are 100 seats and only 10 of them have been taken by women, then the institute will add 20 per cent seats over and above the actual strength, but only for women. The effort will be to lower the cut-off till these extra seats are filled up by women.ˇ±

Although there was an increase in the number of women who enrolled in 2014 and 2015, the figures dipped in 2016. In 2014, 8.8% of admittees were women, 9% in 2015, and 8% in 2016. It is hoped reservation will encourage more women to consider the IT sector as their choice of career path.

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There is less visibility of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) around the world, so gender gap in technology isn't India's issue alone. A number of factors obstruct the path of women into engineering and technology and much of it has nothing to do with the rigour of IIT's entrance exam. A look in the medical science direction may hold a few answers because the entry exam to enter a medical college is just as tough, if not tougher.

India actually produces more women doctors than men ¨C in theory, that is. In the last five years, there have emerged 4,500 more female doctors than male ones. In 2014-15, women made up 51% of students in medical colleges with 23,522 seats occupied by women and 22,934 occupied by men. Ironically, however, there are far fewer women doctors working than men. According to a research paper, Human Resources for Health in India, only 17% of allopathic doctors are women. A plausible reason for this massive dropout could be strict gender stereotypes that expect women, and women alone to accomplish household chores.

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Mohan Gulranajani, a retired professor and Dean, who was associated with IIT for 42 years, believes that reservation will encourage more women to consider IIT. He said, ˇ°Even in IIT, there were more women in 'softer' courses' like textile.ˇ± With other courses, such as mechanical engineering, he said the reason for low visibility of women might be because of the perception that they will end up in technical jobs with a lot of field world, that is better-suited for men. In reality, however, Mohan said that most IIT graduates end up in management jobs.

ˇ°If more women join IIT, then it will affect the overall environment positively by creating a gender balance that might just produce better education results and graduates,ˇ± he added.

Mobility might be another reason that acts as a deterrent, for to enter IIT one must first be coached rigorously. This often requires travelling long distances and returning home later than hours considered ˇ°safeˇ± by parents. So by logic, if fewer women are going for coaching classes, then fewer are ending up at IIT.

A lack of female role models coupled with common perception could be another reason for the narrow statistics of women in technology. There is a Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for young boys to look upto, but what about for girls?

Director of engineering at Facebook, Jocelyn Goldfein, said, ˇ°The reason there aren't more women computer scientists is because there aren't more women computer scientists.ˇ± Also, the common perception is that maths and science are typically male realms, whereas the social sciences is more for females. Popular culture doesn't help either. While there are strong female characters, who are doctors and lawyers, rarely, if ever, do you see one who is a computer programmer or an engineer. And those that are, go against widely accepted notions of ˇ°beautyˇ± thereby perpetuating the prevalent, but unwarranted mental binary between beauty and brains.

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Just take the popular American TV sitcom, Big Bang Theory, for example. All the main male characters are unabashed nerds. Their neighbour, Penny, is portrayed as a dumb albeit gorgeous woman, who is an aspiring actress. In contrast to her, Sheldon's girlfriend, Amy, is an extremely intelligent neuroscientist but also equally unprepossessing.

Big bang theory

Reservation for women in IIT is definitely a necessary step in the right direction, any only time will tell whether it will increase the number of female admittees. The admissions board should also consider other factors such as mentoring in schools to help dispel preconceived notions girls might have against engineering and computer science.