“Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human life.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)
“प्रतिभा का विकास शांत वातावरण में होता है, और चरित्र का विकास मानव जीवन के तेज प्रवाह में।”
जोहेन वोल्फगैंग वॉन गोएथ, कवि, नाटककार, उपन्यासकार और दार्शनिक (1749-1832)
Hyderabad : British Council, the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations announced the third cohort of British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM. 26 scholarships and Fellowships are reserved for women STEM scholars from India and other South Asian countries, awarded on merit basis with no country-specific cap. These are across 6 UK higher education institutions – Coventry University, University of Bath, University of Manchester, University of Southampton, Imperial College London and The University of Edinburgh. The scholarships will help enhance careers in STEM for the selected women scholars and enable them to promote research and innovation in their home country through their exposure to the expertise in the UK’s renowned STEM fields
Selected scholars from India will be able to obtain a master’s degree or an Early Academic Fellowship at a UK university, and the scholarship will cover tuition fees, stipend, travel costs, visa, health coverage fees, special support for mothers and English language support. The scholarships will also provide the scholars a long-lasting platform to connect with the UK through active engagement in the alumni network and inspire the next generation of women in STEM.
Across the 2021/22 global cohorts of 115 scholars enrolled on their chosen course in the autumn session of 2021. 21 Indian women received the scholarship in 2022-23 and are currently studying in the UK. With these scholarships, British Council continues to support women looking to acquire global credentials in STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) at a university in the UK.
Rittika Chanda Parruck, Director Education, India, British Council said, “At British Council, we believe that scientific and technological domains stand to gain a lot more through increasing accessibility of women. These scholarships will bring talented women’s fantastic creativity, innovation and unique perspective to these domains making it richer and more productive. We are excited to enable more women embark on their journey towards a career in STEM fields by sharing access to UK’s renowned research pedagogy, state-of-the-art facilities and cutting edge technology, that can transform their learning and expand their horizon of opportunities. Over the past few years, we have supported over 200 Indian women to access world leading education and reach their potential, and we aim to continue adding more to support women in crafting a better tomorrow and inspiring others in the process.”
Prajakta Kumbhar, British Council’s scholarship winner from Mumbai pursuing MSc Pollution and Environmental Control from University of Manchester, said, “Receiving the British Council STEM scholarship has had a huge impact on my life. From meeting new people, experiencing a new culture, cultivating an open world view and gaining global credentials from a highly regarded university, I am certain that the scholarship will help me pave the road to a fulfilling professional career. I aim to make the most of this opportunity and am very excited to learn that this opportunity is open for more women this year.”
As part of the programme, Indian women STEM scholars can apply for master’s courses and Early Academic Fellowships across 21 UK universities in courses like Computer Science, Data Science, Biotechnology, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Medicine, Public Health, Machine Learning, Robotics, Information Technology, Renewable Energy & Energy Management and many more.
The scholarship is also open to women with dependants to apply, with extra support. The deadline for application differs according to university – but are between March and May 2023. Students are encouraged to check individual university deadlines. For more details about the eligibility criteria for the scholarship, or other information including a full list of participating UK universities, available courses and university-specific deadlines, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org/study-work-abroad/in-uk/scholarship-women-stem
Source; indiaeducationdiary, 13/03/23
According to the recently released Global Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 135 out of 146 countries and it has slightly improved its position in the overall ranking compared to the last year.
According to the recently released Global Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 135 out of 146 countries and it has slightly improved its position in the overall ranking compared to the last year. However, India is one of the worst performers on gender equality in South Asia as only Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan perform worse in the region. This is largely due to the lowest gender parity in health and survival, poor representation of women in politics and a low labour force participation rate of women. Understanding women’s role in the workforce is critical to promote gender equality and realise economic growth in India. But the data to aid this understanding is missing, incomplete or inadequate.
In India, information about labour is collected and compiled by several agencies. The Census collects data every ten years from all Indians, while the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) collects it every five years from a large sample of households covering a wide range of variables. Considering the importance of labour force data, from 2017, the Government of India launched an annual statistics series called the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). But women’s work is underreported in all these surveys. Women may not necessarily participate in the formal labour market, meaning their contribution to the household economy, and economic activity more broadly, remains invisible.
The most recent PLFS data showed that more than half of the women were engaged in different unpaid domestic activities and most of them were involved in household chores (such as cooking, cleaning, caring for the children and elderly) along with a decrease in uncounted activities like collection of vegetables, firewood, cattle feed, and sewing, tailoring, weaving. The previous NSSO reported significant engagement of women these kinds of activity, so the disparity needs a more detailed analysis. Perhaps the women had improved access to infrastructure like drinking water and fuel (as the government’s Ujjwala scheme had intended). But without more detail, any conclusions remain difficult.
To capture women’s work, the Central Statistical Office undertook the first national Time Use Survey (TUS) during January-December 2019. This survey interviewed participants about their recent activities and asked respondents to assess the amount of time spent at each. The TUS highlighted the inadequacy of conventional employment and unemployment surveys and the Census in measuring women’s unpaid work. And while concerns regarding the methodology were raised, it was described as the best available method in a country such as India with a low literacy level.
In India, work has been increasingly informal in nature. Given the huge size of the informal sector, it is important to collect data on the conditions of such work (for example paid leave and access to job contracts) but data is only available at the state and national level. Data should also be collected on the proportion of women workers who need social security benefits and those who are getting them. There is no data on the number of women workers who received training and were promoted to a higher position in regular employment, and the number of women cultivators and agricultural labourers who received agricultural machinery and agricultural extension training.
Similarly, there is no information on the number of cases registered against employers paying lower than minimum wages to women workers; percentage of women workers with ‘decent’ work conditions; the shortfall in access to working women’s hostels; creche facilities available at the workplace; and whether lactating mothers are allowed breaks to feed their children during work hours.
The Annual Survey of Industries collects data on the organised manufacturing sector, but it provides gender-disaggregated data only for directly employed workers. There is no gender-disaggregated data for contract workers or their wages. Given the large increase in the proportion of contractual workers, and a sizable proportion of women among contract workers, gender-disaggregated data on India’s factory sector is required to understand the composition and characteristics of the workforce.
Migration for employment is another important aspect of economic empowerment. The inability of the official data to delineate the scope, scale and patterns of female labour migration has been central to making women invisible. In India, the Census and NSSO are the two official data sources on migration. However, they provide figures for long-term migration (migration for more than six months) and capture only one reason for migration. Usually, respondents give a social reason — marriage, migration with parents — as the primary reason for migration, which means that even if a woman also migrates for economic reasons, it is not captured. Also, the surveys do not differentiate between circular and seasonal migration and commuting for work, which is more common among women than long-distance, long-term migration.
Ownership of assets (land, housing and livestock) is an indicator of the status and power of an individual in a household but there is no gender-disaggregated data on asset ownership. Similarly, the gender dimension of access to basic amenities is often ignored in the official statistics. For all the data that is collected, the unit of analysis is the household, and often the only gender disaggregation is in terms of the sex of the head of household. The NSSO, National Family Health Survey and the Census collect information on whether a household has access to a latrine (owned/shared) but there is no information in any of these surveys on whether women use the latrine facility and whether they have access to it throughout their life. This is important as India is currently focusing on toilet building, but ensuring its use is not considered.
There is no data on whether people are also defecating openly despite having a latrine at home. Further, there is no information available on workplace amenities. In short, data on individual access to water and actual toilet use are two basic amenities that are particularly relevant to women’s lives and data on these two variables is absent. Surveys could also focus on individual access to these facilities.
India’s decline in women’s labour force participation could be due to social or economic factors influencing demand and supply. However, the available data does not allow analysis of the factors that lead occupations to becoming being segregated by gender and the ensuing wage discrimination. Information on hiring practices would help understand such disparities and formulate policies to ensure the presence of women in non-traditional occupations.
For a better understanding and analysis of women’s empowerment in India, adequate and good quality data is required. The TUS attempted to fill some of the gaps. Adding this survey method to forthcoming labour force surveys, or an independent TUS, would help to fill in missing data. The many reasons for migration, data collection on ownership, management of assets and business at the individual level instead of the household level are also recommended for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Shiney Chakraborty
Source: The Statesman, 9/03/23