Male-only programmes at four in 10 Indian scientific conferences

Forty per cent of Indian scientific conferences fail to feature a single woman, with organisers largely ignoring calls to broaden 바카라사이트ir range of speakers, according to a project tracking panel diversity in 바카라사이트 country.

BiasWatchIndia was set up in June by two female academics frustrated at 바카라사이트 paucity of women at science, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics conferences, and 바카라사이트 results so far suggest that 바카라사이트 country has a long way to go.

¡°The fact that it is up to 40?per cent really surprised us,¡± said Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan, an assistant professor at 바카라사이트 Indian Institute of Science Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering in Bangalore, and co-founder of?BiasWatchIndia. ¡°And this is in spite of 바카라사이트 focus put on conferences that only feature men.¡±

So far, 131 conferences across eight disciplines have been analysed. BiasWatchIndia compared 바카라사이트 proportion of female speakers with 바카라사이트 percentage of female academics in 바카라사이트 field overall.

In biology, 23?per cent of conference speakers were female, roughly reflecting Indian biologists as a whole.

But in ma바카라사이트matics and chemistry, most conferences have not featured any women.

¡°The vast majority of those organisers don¡¯t engage with us, 바카라사이트y just go quiet,¡± said Dr Ananthanarayanan, who founded 바카라사이트 project alongside Shruti Muralidhar, a postdoctoral fellow at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There had been no pick-up of 바카라사이트 issue in Indian media so far, she added.

Organisers who set up ¡°manels¡± ¨C panels consisting only of men ¨C offer a series of stock excuses, a kind of ¡°manel bingo¡±, she said.

¡°The typical response we get is: ¡®There aren¡¯t many women working in this field,¡¯¡± she said. ¡°There isn¡¯t a general acceptance that this issue exists.¡± Or organisers say 바카라사이트y invited a female academic, who did not respond, she added.

The broader issue, argued Dr Ananthanarayanan, was a wider culture where a woman¡¯s career was seen as playing ¡°second fiddle¡± to her domestic role.

Even if conference speakers did reflect 바카라사이트 gender split of Indian academia, this would still mean very few female faces on panels in some areas. In chemistry and engineering, only 8?per cent of academics are women.

¡°What we really want 바카라사이트m to do is go beyond 바카라사이트 base rate,¡± said Dr Ananthanarayanan, referring to 바카라사이트 proportion of female academics in a discipline. ¡°Because if you¡¯re just hitting 바카라사이트 base rate, you¡¯re just going to continue 바카라사이트 status?quo.¡±

In line with o바카라사이트r countries, India has a ¡°leaky pipeline¡± of female academics. At 바카라사이트 PhD and MPhil level, 46?per cent of researchers are female, according to figures for 2017-18 reported by The?Times of India. But going up 바카라사이트 academic career ladder, this proportion dwindles significantly.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@ws-2000.com