India Higher Education Report 2022: Women in Higher Education [1 ed.] 2023007463, 2023007464, 9781032458786, 9781032542546, 9781003415916

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INDIA HIGHER EDUCATION REPORT 2022

This book studies the various dimensions of gender inequality that persist in higher education and employment in India. It presents an in-depth analysis of the complex challenges women face in higher education participation and in translating higher education opportunities into labour market success and into leadership positions, including in academia. It argues that despite substantial progress towards gender equality in enrolment, these inequalities act as barriers to realising the transformative role that higher education can have for women’s well-being and for the nation’s development. The volume looks at the issues that keep women from accessing the areas of their choice, and the challenges they face in leadership positions in higher education. An important critique of higher education policy and planning, the volume will be of interest to teachers, students and researchers of education, public policy, political science and international relations, economics, feminism, women’s studies, gender studies, law and sociology. It will also be useful for academicians, policymakers and anyone interested in the study of gender in Indian Higher Education. N.V. Varghese is Vice Chancellor, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, India, and the Founding Director of the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE) at NIEPA. Formerly, he was Head, Governance and Management of Education at the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP/UNESCO), Paris. He has been a member of several International Boards/Committees and editorial Boards of Journals. N.V. Varghese is the Chief Editor of the Journal for Educational Planning and Administration (JEPA) NIEPA. He has directed several national and international research projects, has carried out research projects in several countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and CIS regions and published several books and articles. Nidhi S. Sabharwal is currently Associate Professor at the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, India. She has previously been the In-charge of CPRHE/NIEPA. She has also previously served as the Director at the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. She has studied inter-group inequalities across human development indicators, focusing on the role of caste and gender-based discrimination in the market and non-market institutions. Her current research focuses on college readiness, student diversity, student success, gender and equity in higher education.

INDIA HIGHER EDUCATION REPORT 2022 Women in Higher Education

Edited by N.V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal

First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 selection and editorial matter, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration; individual chapters, the contributors The right of N. V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Varghese, N. V., editor. | Sabharwal, Nidhi Sadana, editor. Title: India higher education report 2022 : women in higher education / edited by N. V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal. Description: First edition. | New York : Routledge, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This book studies the various dimensions of gender inequality that persist in higher education and employment in India. It presents an in-depth analysis of the complex challenges women face in higher education participation and translating higher education opportunities into labour market success and to leadership positions, including in academia. It argues that despite a substantial progress towards gender equality in enrolment, these inequalities pose as barriers in realising the transformative role that higher education can have for women’s wellbeing and for the nation’s development. The volume looks at the issues that keep women from accessing the areas of their choice, and the challenges they face in leadership positions in higher education. An important critique of higher education policy and planning, the volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and researchers of education, public policy, political science and international relations, economics, feminism, women’s studies, gender studies, law, and sociology. It will also be useful for academicians, policymakers, and anyone interested in the study of gender in Indian Higher Education”-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2023007463 (print) | LCCN 2023007464 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032458786 (hbk) | ISBN 9781032542546 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003415916 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Education, Higher--Social aspects--India. | Educational equalization--India. | Women--Education (Higher)--India. | Women in education--India. | Women--India--Social conditions--21st century. Classification: LCC LA1153 .I4686 2024 (print) | LCC LA1153 (ebook) | DDC 378.0082/0954--dc23/eng/20230310 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023007463 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023007464 ISBN: 978-1-032-45878-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-54254-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-41591-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916 Typeset in Sabon by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)

CONTENTS

viii ix xii xvii xix xxi

List of figures List of tables Notes on contributors Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1 Women in higher education: an overview

1

N.V. VARGHESE AND NIDHI S. SABHARWAL

PART I

Women, education and development

21

2 Education, development and employment: the ongoing crisis in women’s employment and its revelations

23

N. NEETHA

PART II

Women’s access to HE and their educational inter-generational mobility 45 3 Women enrolment in higher education

47

SACHIDANAND SINHA AND BISWAJIT KAR

4 Access to higher education of women from disadvantaged groups and minorities ABDUL SHABAN, ZINAT ABOLI AND S.K. MD MUSHARUDDIN

v

67

C ontents

5 From gender parity to gender prism: looking beyond enrolment parity to explore gendered conditions of access to higher education in Haryana, India

100

EMILY F. HENDERSON, NIDHI S. SABHARWAL AND ANJALI THOMAS

6 Gender, inter-generational mobility and higher education

119

MANIKA BORA

PART III

Women’s field of study, representation in research programmes and career trajectories

145

7 Higher education, career and women entrepreneurship: between compulsion and choice

147

ANIRBAN SENGUPTA

8 Gendered academic trajectories through research and publication: influences and implications

169

RATNA M. SUDARSHAN AND ANJALI THOMAS

9 Women in science education and science careers in India

189

DEEPIKA BANSAL

PART IV

Women in academic profession and leadership positions in higher education

209

10 Structures of exclusion: promotion procedures and gender inequality in the professoriate in India

211

KARUNA CHANANA

11 Women in leadership in higher education: opportunities, challenges and the way forward

228

MADHULIKA KAUSHIK

12 Women in leadership in higher education: narratives from the field GEETHA VENKATARAMAN

vi

244

C ontents

13 Women in leadership: exploring the barriers and facilitators in the Indian higher education sector

265

MEENAKSHI GANDHI

PART V

Gender-responsive policies and HEI strategies for inclusion on campuses

279

14 Implementing the sexual harassment law within higher education: a qualitative enquiry

281

JYOTHSNA BELLIAPPA AND S. AROKIA MARY

15 Gendering pedagogy, engendering practices: contemporary STEM education landscape

299

RUKMINI SEN

313

Index

vii

FIGURES

2.1

Trends in women’s work participation rates – 1983 to 2018–19 (UPSS) 4.1 The relationship between percentage of population of communities in states/UTs and percentage of females in the age-group 20–24 years with graduation and above levels of education, 2011 4.2 Enrolment of number of students in higher education by communities, 2019–20 4.3 Discipline, gender and community-wise distribution of students in higher educational institutions in India, 2019–20 5.1 Parents’ education levels by maximum class attained 5.2 Schooling pathway by college and gender 6.1 Intertemporal growth of years of schooling 6.2 Caste disaggregated growth of schooling years 6.3 Absolute and relative gaps in years of schooling 6.4 Gaps in Edu1 6.5 Gaps in Edu2 6.6 Gaps in Edu3 6.7 Gaps in Edu4 6.8 Proportion of girls and boys currently enrolled across levels of schooling 6.9 Gender gap in proportion of population in higher education in Bihar (various years) in percentage 6.10 Intergenerational regression coefficient for father–child pairs .11 Intergenerational regression coefficient for mother–child pairs 6 6.12 Occupation of men and women (16–55 years) 7.1 Gender-wise choice of education among different social categories (in terms of percentage) 8.1 MPhil enrolments in number from 2011–12 and 2019–20 8.2 PhD enrolments in number from 2011–12 and 2019–20: All India

viii

28

75 77 82 109 112 122 123 124 125 125 126 126 127 128 131 131 138 149 173 174

TABLES

1.1 Gender parity index in higher education India 1.2 Women enrolment by disciplines at the undergraduate level in 2020 1.3 GER by social groups 2004–05 and 2017–18 1.4 Labour force participation rates of women by educational levels 1.5 Share of women in employment by educational levels 2.1 Women’s work participation rates across education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 2.2 Unemployment rates of women across education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 2.3 Proportion of women workers across nature of work and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 2.4 Distribution of women workers across sectors and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 2.5 Distribution of women workers across service sectors and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 2.6 Distribution of women workers across sub-categories of select service sectors and higher education (%) 2.7 Concentration of women in different segments of education across educational levels (%) 2.8 Distribution of women workers with education higher secondary and graduate and above across various subsectors of services (%) 2.9 Distribution of women workers across caste and subsectors of services (%) 2018–19 3.1 India: GER in higher education by men and women (%) 3.2 GER by social groups for selected NSSO rounds (%) 3.3 GER for men and women by state/UTs and social groups in India, 2017–18 3.4 Gross enrolment ratio of Muslims and others by gender, 2017–18 (%) 3.5 GER for men and women by poor and non-poor, NSSO 2017–18 (%) ix

5 6 7 8 9 29 29 30 32 33 36 37 38 40 49 49 50 52 55

T ables

3.6 Per cent share of women FGL to total enrolled by categories 2017–18 56 3.7 First-generation learners in higher education by states/ UTs, 2017–18 57 3.8 Distribution of men and women in urban and rural areas, 2017–18 NSSO (%) 59 3.9 Discipline/programme specialization index for women, 2019–20 60 3.10 State-level profile of hostel intake and residing, 2019–20 AISHE 64 4.1 Percentage of males and females with graduation and above levels of education, 2011 69 4.2 Percentage of population with graduation and above levels of education in the age-group 20–24 years 70 4.3 Growth (%) of population and population with graduation and above levels of education in 20–24 years age group, 2001–11 71 4.4 Percentage of females with graduation and above levels of education in the age-group 20–24 years by states/UTs, 2011 73 4.5 Share (%) in enrolment of students of various groups in higher education in India, 2011–20 76 4.6 Share (%) of female students in total enrolment in higher education across the socio-religious categories, 2010–20 77 4.7 Share (%) of female students in higher education institutions in various states/UTs in India, 2019–20 79 4.8 Age-specific attendance ratio (%) for different age groups for socio-religious categories in India, 2017–18 80 4.9 Age-specific attendance ratio (%) for 18–23 age group for socio-religious categories by rural and urban categories, 2017–18 81 4.10 Share (%) of females enrolled by major discipline in higher education institutions in India, 2019–20 83 4.11 Share (%) of females in higher education by programmes, 2019–20 84 4.12 Share (%) of teachers in higher education institutions by socio-religious categories in India, 2019–20 88 4.13 Share (%) of female teachers in respective SRCs in higher education institutions by states, 2019–20 89 4.14 Percentage of households having access to internet in India, 2015–16 90 5.1 District comparison 105 6.1 Evolution of educational programmes and policies 121 6.2 Five-year cohorts for intergenerational mobility analysis 129 6.3 Descriptive statistics 129 6.4 Transition matrix for the father–son and father–daughter pairs 133 6.5 Proportion of out-of-school children in the age groups 134 6.6 Proportion of ‘out-of-school’ children across occupations 135 x

T ables

6.7 Early marriage and girls’ schooling in rural Bihar 136 6.8 Education and participation in paid work 138 6.9 Education and occupational outcomes across age groups for women 139 7.1 Category-wise gender balance in different subject areas 153 7.2 Category- and gender-wise share of students (in terms of percentage) 155 7.3 Identity-wise share of the higher educated as per their work status (in terms of percentage of the total within Total/Rural/Urban) 158 7.4 Occupational classification of main workers other than cultivators and agricultural labourers (in terms of percentage of males and females belonging to a category) 160 8.1 Enrolments in MPhil and PhD, M/F, 2011/12–2019/20 170 8.2 Course completion year-wise 171 8.3 State-wise enrolments 174 8.4 State-wise pass out 175 8.5 Enrolment by social groups for 2019–20 175 8.6 Discipline-wise enrolment – top five disciplines 176 8.7 Course completion discipline-wise, top five 177 8.8 Gender-wise faculty positions 178 8.9 Publications analysis for TISS and Punjab University from IQAC 2018–19 179 8.10 Information on academic awards, recognition and lecturing in other institutions from IQAC 2018–19 180 9.1 Undergraduate-level enrolment according to disciplines 193 9.2 Enrolment at undergraduate level in major engineering streams 195 9.3 Percentage of women students in UG (4 years) programs in the top 10 and bottom 10 ranked engineering institutions in India 196 9.4 Female PhD students in the sciences 199 9.5 Percentage of women in master’s and MPhil courses 200 11.1 Major differences between public and private university leadership experience across leadership variables used in the study (only variables where differences were observed are reflected here) 240 12.1 Representation of women as students and faculty members in mathematics and physics departments in top five NIRF-ranked universities 247 13.1 Women enrolment in higher education per 100 men 267 13.2 Post-wise female teachers per 100 male teachers 267 13.3 Gender distribution of teachers at various institutions 267 13.4 Level-wise gender distribution of non-teaching staff 268

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CONTRIBUTORS

Zinat Aboli is Assistant Professor at the Department of Multimedia and Mass Communication, Mithibai College, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai. She has served as head of the department for several years. She is a sociologist, and her research interests include gender, inequality, social media, creative industries and women entrepreneurs. Deepika Bansal is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali. She is currently working on a Government of India project titled ‘Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions’ (GATI) to understand gender as an intersectional category in scientific research institutions and promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the research ecosystem in the country. She has completed her PhD at the Department of Education, University of Delhi. Her research interests include philosophy of science, sociology of science, gender theory and science education. Jyothsna Belliappa works at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, (MAHE-BLR). She teaches across the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes on gender, qualitative research methods and ethics. She is also involved in interdisciplinary teaching with faculty in public space design and information design. Her areas of research include gender, work, personal life; intersectional identities; and pedagogy in both primary and tertiary education. She has published in a variety of national and international journals. Manika Bora is Assistant Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana. She is a development economist by training and has a PhD from the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. Her doctoral research is an empirical examination of intergenerational mobility and the persisting influence of social origins and parental characteristics on educational and economic outcomes in rural eastern India. Her primary areas of interest lie at the intersections of social identity (especially gender and caste), education and inequality.

xii

C ontributors

She has extensive experience in research and teaching with public policy and social science institutions. Karuna Chanana is former chair and professor of sociology of education at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her areas of specialisation are sociology of education and of gender, with specific focus on social change, social inclusion and equity, and the impact of globalisation on the academic profession and on women’s subject choices in higher education and academic institutions as social constructs. She has published several articles in refereed national and international journals and books. She has authored the book Interrogating Women’s Education: Bounded Visions, Expanding Horizons. A notable book edited by her is Socialisation, Education and Women: Explorations in Gender Identity. Meenakshi Gandhi is currently serving as a professor at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi. Meenakshi is a doctorate in management and an executive alumnus of the Oxford University. She has 21 years of academic work experience in the higher education sector. She teaches and trains on entrepreneurship, strategy, women leadership development and research enhancement. She has been instrumental in setting up an entrepreneurial development cell and start-up counselling centre in the university setting. She is currently doing research on women’s leadership in universities. She has many books, research publications and articles to her credit. Emily F. Henderson is a Reader in Gender and International Higher Education in the Department of Education Studies, University of Warwick, UK. Dr Henderson’s research lies in the areas of gender and higher education; the academic profession including doctoral education, academic mobility and conferences; and poststructuralist and feminist theory. Dr Henderson’s current research projects include a four-year project on widening access to higher education in India and a project on doctoral admissions. She is the author of Gender Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning and Tracing Gender in Higher Education (Palgrave, 2015) and Gender, Definitional Politics and ‘Live’ Knowledge Production: Contesting Concepts at Conferences (Routledge, 2019), and co-editor of Starting with Gender in International Higher Education Research (Routledge, 2019) and Exploring Diary Methods in Higher Education Research (Routledge, 2021). She has co-edited a special issue of the journal Gender and Education on gender and conferences, ‘Thoughtful Gatherings’ (2020) and a special issue of the journal Higher Education on academic mobility (2021). Biswajit Kar has completed MPhil and PhD Programme from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. In both programmes, he has researched multiple issues on quality of school education in India. His research has xiii

C ontributors

been published in leading journals/books. Dr Kar has been working as an independent consultant for multiple organisations of international repute. At work, he has managed the education component across multiple projects supported by several national and international agencies/ organisations. In his free time, he loves to read policy studies, short stories and stories of change. Madhulika Kaushik is the Vice Chancellor at Usha Martin University, Ranchi. Professor Madhulika Kaushik, an MBA and PhD in Marketing, has teaching and research experience of over 42 years spread over different distinguished national and international Institutions. Based on her distinguished academic publications, teaching excellence and extensive professional contributions to the community and her contribution to the field of education, she was awarded the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award in 1998. Professor Madhulika Kaushik has published extensively in the areas of consumer behaviour, services marketing and marketing strategy, ICT in education, women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, as well as leadership in higher education institutions. S. Arokia Mary is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Central University of Kashmir, since 2017. She has presented papers on gender and education in select conferences at national and international levels. She currently teaches Pedagogy and Proficiency of English Language, Communication Skills and Gender and Education. Her research interest includes understanding gendered exclusion and marginalisation in education, feminist and queer theory, masculinities, English language pedagogy and policy debates. Neetha N is a Professor at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), New Delhi. She was Associate Fellow and Coordinator, Centre for Gender and Labour at the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA, during 1998–2006. Her work focuses on the analysis of women’s employment, issues of women workers in the informal sector, domestic workers, unpaid care work and labour migration. She has published extensively in national and international books and journals. She has recently edited two books Working at Others Homes: The Specifies and Challenges of Paid Domestic Work (ed), Tulika Books (2018) and Migration, Gender and Care Economy (2019), co-edited with Irudaya Rajan, Routledge. She is one of the Lead Authors of the chapter on ‘Pluralising Family of the International Panel on Social Progress Report’, 2018. Rukmini Sen is Professor at the School of Liberal Studies, currently Dean School of Heritage Research and Management, Director Outreach and Extension Division and Centre for Publishing at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi. Her areas of teaching and research interests are sociology of law, gender justice, kinship and intimacy, feminist pedagogy and jurisprudence, qualitative research methods and disability studies. xiv

C ontributors

She is the recipient of WISCOMP SAAHAS awards 2020 recognising her continuous engagements with curricula using an intersectional lens. She was co-investigator on an international research collaboration ‘Feminist Taleem: Teaching Feminisms, Transforming Lives: Questions of Identity, Pedagogy and Violence in India and the UK’ (2017–20)’ with the University of Edinburgh funded by UGC-UKIERI. Anirban Sengupta is an Assistant Professor in the School of Development Studies at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi. In the early years, he worked around decentralised management of primary education, with a special focus on the village education committee. For his PhD, he has worked on the interrelationship between entrepreneurship and social capital in the context of the Information and Communication Technology industry in India. Afterwards, he also worked on other aspects of sociological significance in connection with entrepreneurship. Of late he is working on the interrelationship between entrepreneurship and discourses around urban land use in Delhi. He is also involved in research to understand development of private universities in India from the perspective of entrepreneurship. He has been a Life Member of Indian Sociological Society, and Indian Association for Women’s Studies. Sachidanand Sinha is currently Professor of Social Geography and Regional Development at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His area of teaching and research includes development and access to educational and health services, particularly with reference to the socially and economically marginalised groups, women and the physically challenged in India. He has been actively engaged with central and state governments and civil society organisations. He was a member of the 11th Plan of the UGC, India and Advisor to the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission and CABE Committee on Pathways to Improving Public Schools in India. He has been on the editorial boards of several international journals. Abdul Shaban is a Professor at the Centre for Public Policy, Habitat and Human Development, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He is an urban geographer and economist with research interests in issues related to cities, entrepreneurship, creative industries and religious minorities. Professor Shaban has been a member of various committees, commissions and policy think tanks in these areas. MD Musharuddin S. K. is a PhD Scholar at the School of Rural Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur Campus. His research interest is in educational mobility and migration among the disadvantaged communities of India.

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C ontributors

Ratna M. Sudarshan is an independent researcher; she was formerly a National Fellow at NIEPA and is a Trustee and former Director of the Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi. She received her education at the Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi School of Economics and the University of Cambridge and received a Distinguished Alumni award from the Delhi School of Economics in February 2017. Recent publications include ‘Recognising Connectedness: The Practice of Feminist Evaluation’ (2021), co-edited with Rajib Nandi, New Delhi: Zubaan. Anjali Thomas is an Evaluation Researcher, for the Prosper project at the University of Liverpool, which focuses on postdoctoral careers. She has a PhD from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Her PhD was funded by the Fair Chance Foundation and the University of Warwick. Her PhD research has informed the Fair Chance for Education Project on gendered pathways to educational success in Haryana, India. Her doctoral research explores the role of families in the gendered educational trajectories of undergraduates accessing Higher Education in Haryana. She has also worked with CORD (Collaborative Research and Dissemination) on a qualitative research project. She is interested in exploring and researching gender and educational choices. Geetha Venkataraman is a Professor of Mathematics in the School of Liberal Studies at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD). She has held several administrative positions at AUD, including that of Dean, the School of Undergraduate Studies; Dean, Assessment and Evaluation; and most recently Dean, Research and Consultancy. Before joining AUD, Professor Venkataraman taught for a long time at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. Her research interests are in various aspects of finite group theory. She is also deeply interested in popularising mathematics, mathematics education, issues related to women in mathematics and women in leadership in academia. She has served on editorial boards of journals devoted to mathematics and science. She has been a member of several national committees related to mathematics and education.

xvi

PREFACE

Widening of inequalities has become a disturbing phenomenon of market-mediated development in the globalised world. Discussions on gender inequalities came to the forefront of the political and social agenda for development both in the international agencies and the national governments. Gender inequalities continue to persist because women are denied access to resources in the present and opportunities to grow in the future. Today there exists a unanimity of views among policymakers and social thinkers that gender equality is a non-negotiable aspect of development. The approach and strategies envisaged in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) reinforce an added accent on gender equality as an extension of human rights. Education is considered as an initial necessary condition to empower women and move towards gender equality. No doubt, women’s access to higher education will determine their presence in professions and influence on policies. Gender equality in access to higher education opportunities enhances women’s employment options and wages, and is a key driver of their well-being. Women in India have made substantial gains in terms of participation in higher education. The massification process has helped women to improve their share and achieve gender parity in enrolment in higher education. While this success of gender parity in higher education is an important achievement in itself, it is to be seen whether or not these gains in higher education get translated into greater equality in employment of women, including in academia. The IHER 2022 addresses these issues by focusing on women’s progress in higher education, access to professions and status in leadership roles. The present India Higher Education Report (IHER 2022) is the eighth in the series initiated by the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE) of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Admini­ stration (NIEPA). The series is envisaged to provide an in-depth analysis of some of the critical dimensions of higher education development in India. The first issue – IHER 2015 – provided a comprehensive account of the higher education situation in the country, focusing on various challenging issues facing the higher education sector in India. The subsequent xvii

P reface

reports – IHER 2016 – focused on equity in higher education; IHER 2017 focused on quality and teaching-learning in higher education; IHER 2018 focused on financing of higher education; IHER 2019 focused on governance of higher education; IHER 2020 focused on employment and employability of higher education graduates in India; and IHER 2021 focused on private higher education. The present volume – IHER 2022 – is devoted to the theme of Women in Higher Education. It covers issues related to drivers of participation of women in HE in India; challenges women face in access to enrolment in the areas of their choice; constraints confronted by women in the labour market; and the challenges women face as academics and in leadership positions in higher education. The contributions to this volume are from eminent scholars, engaged in empirical research, policy and planning in the area of gender studies and higher education. It is expected that this volume will be an important resource for academics as well as useful to scholars and researchers, policymakers and educational administrators at the national, state and institutional levels. We are grateful to the authors of various chapters for their valuable contributions and for their continued support. I take this opportunity to place on record my deep appreciation for the efforts made by my colleague at CPRHE, NIEPA, Dr Nidhi S. Sabharwal, in bringing out this important volume. Professor N.V. Varghese Vice Chancellor National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi

xviii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The CPRHE published the first in the series of India Higher Education Reports in 2015 (IHER 2015). We are happy to present the eighth report in the series IHER 2022 focusing on Women in Higher Education. The IHER 2022 discusses various aspects of women’s participation in higher education in India. The topics discussed include the relationship between women’s access to higher education (HE), employment and development; gendered patterns of enrolment in higher education, enrolment across subjects; and constraints that women face to leverage their greater educational qualifications to gain access through HE to labour market opportunities, to academic profession and to leadership positions in HE. It also includes the theme related to institutional gender-responsive strategies that address the challenges faced by women in higher education. This volume, as the previous ones, is the outcome of support received from various academicians and institutions and the efforts put in by the CPRHE/NIEPA. The initial proposal was presented and discussed in the Executive Committee (EC) meeting of the CPRHE in 2021. We would like to express our sincere thanks to members of the EC of the CPRHE. The volume includes chapters by some of the leading academics and policymakers in higher education. They not only contributed their individual chapter but also contributed substantially to shape the current volume through their extensive comments on chapters by others. We gratefully acknowledge the valuable contribution of all the authors. We are grateful to Professor Pradeep Kumar Misra, Director, CPRHE, for his kind leadership and constant encouragement. Our heartfelt thanks are also due to Dr Sandeep Chatterjee, Registrar, NIEPA, and his team for their support in facilitating the publication process and procedures. We also thank Mr Amit Singhal and his colleagues in the NIEPA publication department for their help at different stages. We thank Ms Shoma Choudhury, Ms Rimina Mohapatra, Ms Lubna Irfan and the entire team at Routledge for their help in the processing of this manuscript for publication.

xix

A cknowledgements

We are also grateful to all colleagues in CPRHE, namely Professor Mona Khare, Dr Garima Malik, Dr Jinusha Panigarhi, Dr Anupam Pachauri and Dr Malish CM for their continuous support and several rounds of comments. Monica Joshi, Mayank Rajput, Chetna Chawla and Aqsa extended all logistics support to organise peer review meetings and for contacting the authors. We gratefully acknowledge their support to prepare this volume. N.V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal

xx

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AISHE AIU ANM API APS AVV BEd BPharm BTech BA BBA BBM BCA BCom BDS BE BHU BSc BSW CAS CBWM CTEP CU CV DEd DoE DoI DPharma DR DST EBC EEOC EU

All India Survey on Higher Education Association of Indian Universities Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery Academic Performance Indicator American Physical Society Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Bachelor of Education Bachelor of Pharmacy Bachelor of Technology Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Computer Application Bachelor of Commerce Bachelor of Dental Surgery Bachelor of Engineering Banaras Hindu University Bachelor of Science Bachelor of Social Work Career Advancement Scheme Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education Cycle to Empowerment Project Calcutta University Curriculum Vitae Diploma in Education Date of Eligibility Date of Interview Diploma in Pharmacy Direct Recruitment Department of Science and Technology Economically Backward Class Equal Employment Opportunity Commission European Union xxi

L ist of A bbreviations

FGD FGL FIR GAD GATI GDP GER GNM GoI GPI HAG HE HEIs HOD HR IASC IAU ICCs ICDS ICRC ICSSR ICT ICTP IGC IGES IGM IHER IISc IIT INSA IQAC IT ITE IWWAGE J&K JEE JNU LEAP LFPR LGBTQ LLB LOSHA LSR MA

focus group discussion first-generation learners First Information Report gender and development Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions gross domestic product Gross Enrolment Ratio General Nurse Midwifery Government of India Gender Parity Index Higher Administrative Grade Higher Education Higher Education Institutions Head of Department Human Resources Indian Academy of Sciences International Astronomical Union Internal Complaints Committees Integrated Child Development Scheme Indian Cancer Research Institute Indian Council of Social Science Research Information and Communication Technologies International Centre for Theoretical Physics International Growth Centre Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitisation intergenerational mobility India Higher Education Report Indian Institute of Science Indian Institutes of Technology India National Science Academy Internal Quality Assurance Cell Information Technology Integrated Technologies for Education Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy Jammu and Kashmir Joint Entrance Examination Jawaharlal Nehru University Leadership for Academicians Programme Labour Force Participation Rate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Master of Business, Bachelor of Law List of Sexual Harassment Offenders Lady Shri Ram Master of Arts xxii

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MBA MBBS MCA MCom MD MDC MDGs MHRD MoE MP MPhil MPS MSME MSW MTech NAAC NAS NCERT NCR NEET NEP NET NFHS NGO NIRF NIT NSO NSSO OBC OECD OLS OM PG PhD PLFS POSH PRL PWD R&D RTE S&T SAM SC SDC SDGs

Master of Business Administration Medicine and Bachelor and Bachelor of Surgery Master of Computer Application Master of Commerce Doctor of Medicine Mahendergarh District College Millennium Development Goals Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry of Education Madhya Pradesh Master of Philosophy Merit Promotion Scheme Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Master of Social Work Master of Technology National Assessment and Accreditation Council National Academy of Sciences National Council of Educational Research and Training National Capital Region National Eligibility cum Entrance Test National Education Policy National Eligibility Test National Family Health Survey non-governmental organisation National Institutional Ranking Framework National Institute of Technology National Statistical Office National Sample Survey Organisation Other Backward Classes Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ordinary least squares other minorities post graduate Doctor of Philosophy Periodic Labour Force Survey Prevention of Sexual Harassment Physical Research Laboratory Persons with Disability Research and Development Right to Education Science and Technology Sensitivity, Awareness and Motivation Scheduled Caste Sonipat District College Sustainable Development Goals xxiii

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SiDC Sirsa District College SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SRC socio-religious categories ST Scheduled Tribe STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STI Science, Technology and Innovation STIP Science, Technology and Innovation Policy TISS Tata Institute of Social Sciences TOT Training of Trainers TWAS The World Academy of Sciences UEE Universalisation of Elementary Education UG Undergraduate UGC University Grants Commission UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USA United States of America UT Union Territory VC Vice Chancellor WAD Women and Development WB West Bengal WID Women in Development WPR Work Participation Rates WSC Women’s Study Centres

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1 WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION An overview N.V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal

Women in development The lives of women have changed in the past decades. Today schools have more girls than boys, universities have more women than men, women constitute a good share of the global labour force and women live longer than men in all regions of the world (World Bank 2012). These achievements are also a reflection of their gains in rights, education, health and access to jobs. The first major victory for women’s cause was gaining voting rights first in 1913 in Norway followed by in other countries and ultimately leading to the adoption of the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women in 1952, which ensured voting rights for women in all elections ‘on equal terms with men, without any discrimination’ (UN 1953: 7). Today gender equality is accepted for social and economic reasons. It enhances economic efficiency and improves development outcomes. International development community recognizes that women’s empowerment and gender equality are development objectives in their own right, and they are embodied in Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The message from the Beijing Conference of 1995 was that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. Development is redefined as a process of expanding freedoms equally for all people (Sen 1999). Women’s economic empowerment is central to realizing women’s rights and gender equality (Sen 1992). Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 SDG goals. The effect of gender equality on economic growth is positive (World Bank 2012). Women’s economic empowerment includes women’s ability to participate equally in all spheres of activity. Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps at work are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDGs are interconnected and mutually dependent, with a focus on gender equality reflected throughout (UN 2016). DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-1

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The United Nations and the international discussions it facilitated have shaped the intervention strategies to promote women’s cause globally. The United Nations designated 1975 as International Women’s Year, and the declaration of the decade of 1976–85 as the United Nations Decade for Women gave expression to prioritizing women in development (WID) discourses. Subsequent to the 1975 Mexico Conference, the United Nations has organized three world conferences on women: in Copenhagen in 1980, Nairobi in 1985 and Beijing in 1995. The Beijing Declaration remains an agenda for women’s empowerment and a key global policy document on gender equality. The approach to women issues in the 1970s reflected a recognition of the productive role of women in development. The WID framework not only challenged the welfare approach to women development (Boserup 1970) but also underlined the fact that women’s economic potential is not fully exploited. Women were seen as a missing link and an undervalued economic resource in the development process (Tinker 1990). The WID approach saw the problem as the exclusion of women from development programmes and approaches. As a result, the solution was seen as integrating women into such development programmes. It advocated for the integration of women into existing development activities and projects and also setting up women-only projects that addressed everyday needs (Kabeer 1994). The Women and Development (WAD) considered the WID approach very narrow and argued that global inequalities were the main problem facing the poor. Women have a role in both production and reproduction and very often their role in production is not appreciated. The position of women will improve if and when international structures become more equitable (Muyoyeta 2007). The criticism about the WID approach was that it prioritized ‘what development needs from women over what women need from development’ (Razavi and Miller 1995: 1). The gender and development (GAD) approach shifts the focus from women to gender and identifies the unequal power relations between women and men. It argues that achieving gender equality and equity demands ‘transformative change’ in gender relations from household to global levels. It looks at the structures and processes giving rise to women’s disadvantaged position, including the ideology of male superiority. Unfortunately, gender inequalities are reproduced over time. Education has an important role in the productive and reproductive role of women and education contributes to increased productivity, economic empowerment, reduced inequalities and more inclusive development.

Women and education Historically women were kept out of higher education institutions (HEIs) for a fairly long period of time. This is true even in the case of 2

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renowned universities established centuries ago. For example, for over 300 years of its existence, Harvard University did not admit women to any of its study programmes. The male-only university education scenario changed when Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to get a degree from Padua University in 1678. However, the male advantage in HE continued for centuries, and Harvard admitted women as students only in the 20th century. The century-old male advantage was reversed when this century became a situation of ‘female advantage’ in HE enrolment (Williams and Wolniak 2021). Women constitute a majority in college enrolment and graduation in this century. Globally, women account for more than half of the students in undergraduate and master’s level studies and 48 per cent in doctoral studies (O’Connor and Hazelkorn 2022). Gender equality in education is a basic human right. Ever since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognized the need for everyone the right to education, several conventions reiterated and worked towards this goal. All these Conventions recognized the status of education as a basic human right. The 1995 Beijing Conference and the 2000 Dakar Education for All Framework for Action reiterated the global commitment to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and to achieve gender equality in access to quality education by 2015. The 2000 MDGs set the elimination of gender disparity in secondary education by 2015 as one of their major goals. It can be argued that the global trends indicate that women are the main beneficiaries of the massification and universalization of HE, and they have become a majority in the institutions of HE. Between 2000 and 2018, the global Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in HE for males increased from 19 per cent to 36 per cent while that for females increased from 19 per cent to 41 per cent and the gender parity index (GPI) rose to 1.14 (UNESCO– IESALC 2021). In fact, women are ‘overrepresented’ in tertiary education enrolment in 74 per cent of the countries of all regions. Women’s overall success in access to education in general and HE in particular may be one of the major social changes in recent history. The households and progressive public actions have contributed to this fast progress of women in education. In fact, family perceptions and individual aspirations changed dramatically during the decade of 1980s, which also contributed to this social change. Sue Sharpe (1999) found that London schoolgirls in the 1970s had completely different priorities and aspirations from similar girls in 1996. She found that while in the 1970s girls’ priorities were marriage and family, in the 1990s they had switched their priorities dramatically to career options. Higher education (HE) for women has challenged the male hegemony not only in enrolment but also in curriculum and knowledge transactions (Howe 1977). Feminists believe that education is an agent of secondary socialization that helps to enforce patriarchy (Trueman 2015). Feminists see 3

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the education system as transmitting patriarchal values. The hidden curriculum taught patriarchal values in schools (Heaton and Lawson 1996). When gender was investigated by sociologists of education, the focus was largely on female underachievement. However, women have markedly improved their educational performance during the 1980s and 1990s and at present girls are achieving better than boys in most school and university examinations. Heaton and Lawson (1996) argue that the ‘hidden’ curriculum is a major source of gender socialization within schools. The textbooks from an early age indicate that males are dominant within the family, and women are assigned to housework and cooking. The choice of study programmes also indicates this bias. Despite the narrowing of the gender gap in tertiary enrolment, significant differences are observed in the fields in which men and women choose to earn degrees. The proportion of female graduates is much higher in the social sciences, business and law, where women are the majority of graduates in all but one region and in all of the sub-fields of social and behavioural science, journalism and information, business and administration, and law…. (UNESCO 2012: 80) Engineering, computer science and physics remain male-dominated globally while nursing, education and social work remain female-dominated. This reflects stereotypical ideas that men are ‘naturally’ good with things and processes, whereas women are ‘naturally’ good with people (Heaton and Lawson 1996). Girls found education as being the main route to a career, financial independence and the subsequent security that came with it (Wilkinson 1994). The rate of employment for women is still increasing and divorce rates have increased, proving that women now need education as means of supporting themselves and their children. Independence is becoming more expected of women, and more women now look for careers rather than just jobs, which means an added emphasis on education and attaining degreelevel qualifications. The pattern in the post-war period established those middle-class boys were 21 times more likely to go to university than working-class girls (Arnot 2002). In the 19th century, missionary schools in various parts of India started educating girls (Kamat 1976). By 1883 the first two women in India acquired BA degrees from the University of Calcutta and by the end of the 19th century, there were only 90 women who had graduated in the whole of India (Basu 2005). The criticality of women’s education in women’s development was an important highlight of the first-ever path-breaking report on women’s status in independent India in ‘1974–Towards Equality’ (GOI 1974). The report highlighted the continuing gender inequality in education and emphasized the importance of attaining parity in education 4

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Table 1.1  Gender parity index in higher education India Year

ALL

SC

ST

2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

0.88 0.89 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.94 0.97 1.00 1.01

0.88 0.89 0.92 0.91 0.91 0.93 0.96 1.02 1.05

0.78 0.79 0.81 0.81 0.83 0.85 0.87 0.92 0.97

Source: MOE 2020.

and the need to integrate women into economic development. The committee emphasized that women’s economic participation was the underlying factor that linked education with women’s status, though there has been an equal emphasis on its importance in addressing many social inequalities as well. India has also experienced a fast spurt in women enrolment as part of the massification of HE. India enrols around 38.5 million students and females account for 18.9 million. The GER of women surpasses that of men and the GPI in HE in India crossed one in 2019–20 (Table 1.1). India was not preoccupied with the poor performance of girls in education. Girls perform well in the examinations. Many of the toppers of the CBSE examinations are women. In 2020 the topper and the first to score a perfect cent per cent in all subjects in the CBSE grade 12 examination was a girl – Divyanshi Jain from Navyug school in Lucknow. Although regional variations exist, women have gained more than men in some states in India, and the GPI in access to HE is skewed towards them (Varghese 2022). GPI remains below one in many instances at the school level even when GER is above 90 per cent. However, in HE a trend is that even at the lower levels of GER, GPI reaches one and GPI surpasses one in all countries which universalized HE. Disparities in women enrolment are inversely related to income levels. Lower the income levels, higher are the chances of women not enrolling in HEIs. One also finds higher disparities in women enrolment between rural and urban areas. Women in rural areas are relatively more deprived of HE than women in urban areas. Women from poor families in rural areas are doubly disadvantaged – economically and locationally. The NSS data of 2017–18 show that the distance in women enrolment between those from the richest 20 per cent income group in the urban areas and those from the poorest 20 per cent income groups is more than four times. This increase in women’s participation in HE, however, has been characterized by clustering in the feminine, non-professional and non-market-oriented 5

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courses offered in general education (Varghese, Sabharwal and Malish 2022). Women are less represented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technology-based subject disciplines in India. There are more women than men in subject areas such as Arts, Science and medical sciences, including nursing (Table 1.2). However, their number is less than men in engineering, technology and commerce subject areas. On the one hand, 52.3 per cent of the total students enrolled in under­graduate science programmes are women, but, on the other, only 29 per cent of women are enrolled in undergraduate engineering and technology programmes (Table 1.2). It seems men from middle classes who earlier studied sciences are now increasingly moving to engineering and related fields, creating a gap which is filled by women and leading to what has been referred to as the ‘feminisation of sciences’ (Chanana 2007). We find wide variations in women’s educational attainments by socio-religious categories (SRCs). Women from Muslim, SC and ST communities have the lowest share in enrolment in HE. Among these groups, the share of Muslim students enrolled in HEIs is lower than their share in population. As can be seen from Table 1.3, disparities between men and women are the highest among the STs when compared with other disadvantaged groups. In fact, over a period of time the disparities (in percentage points) have increased amongst most of the disadvantaged groups (Table 1.3). It is also important to note that, as has been noted in the Sachar Committee Report of 2006, there exist less-developed educational facilities, including the number of HEIs in Muslim-concentrated districts of the country. This may imply that geographical distribution of HEIs may be a constraining factor for Muslim girls to attend institutions of HE in India. The discussions indicate that women made great strides in getting access to HE. However, regional and economic disparities in enrolment of women in HE continue. What is important at this stage is to understand disparities in the choice of study programmes. The analysis shows that women are less represented in commerce and technology areas. The relative absence of women in the technology-related subject areas will have implications for employment opportunities and professional careers of women. Table 1.2  Women enrolment by disciplines at the undergraduate level in 2020 Discipline

Total in Millions

Female %

Arts Science Commerce Engineering and Technology Medical Science

9.66 4.76 4.16 3.73 1.35

52.90 51.72 48.78 29.22 59.51

Source: MOE 2020.

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Table 1.3  GER by social groups 2004–05 and 2017–18

STs SCs OBCs Others

Total

Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons

2017–18

2004–05

18.57 11.61 15.21 21.16 17.14 19.3 27.21 21.73 24.6 34.68 31.38 33.13 27.01 22.22 24.74

8.8 6.4 7.6 9.2 6.3 7.8 12.5 7.6 10.1 21.4 18.3 19.9 14.4 10.6 12.6

Source: NSO 2017, NSSO 2004.

Women and employment The surge in enrolment of women in HE is a positive phenomenon. However, it is important to analyse whether or not the gains made by women in educational attainment are translated into their improved position in professional careers and leadership roles. The share of women in employment has been increasing globally. In 2016, out of the 3.27 billion persons in labour force, women accounted for 38.9 per cent. However, the labour force participation rates (LFPR) of women declined from 53 per cent in 1990 to 50 per cent in 2015; the same among female youth (15–24 years old) declined from 52 to 37 per cent (UN 2016). Though absolute number of women workers in India did not register a decline in the initial period of falling workforce participation rates (WPR), the period since 2011–12 has pushed out about 21 million women workers from employment by 2017–18 (Kannan and Raveedran 2019). The LFPR of women in India has always been low, and it has declined during the period between the 1990s and 2018–19 (Table 1.4). Labour force participation rates of women vary according to the levels of education, and it takes a U-shape curve, implying that the LFPR of women is high among illiterate women, which declines with improvements in the subsequent levels of education, and finally increases at higher levels of education (Varghese and Khare 2022). There are discussions and debates about the factors influencing a decline in the LFPR of females. The common argument centres around income effects or substitution effects. The substitution effect implies that educated 7

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Table 1.4  Labour force participation rates of women by educational levels Education Levels

1993–94

2018–19

Not literate Below Primary Primary Middle Secondary Higher Secondary Graduate and above Total

50.5 37.7 32.7 22.6 19.0 17.6 31.2 42.0

29.1 30.7 25.9 19.3 14.5 13.4 24.8 23.3

Source: NSSO 1993, PLFS 2020.

women make a trade-off between leisure (work at home as homemakers) and work outside the household (Mamgain and Khan 2022). The income effect argument shows a tendency among women that higher incomes for the family act as an incentive and allow them to withdraw from the labour force. In India, the income effect seems to be especially strong. Another reason for the fall in the female LFPR may also be due to their improved access to HE. The fast increase in the GER of women gives credence to this argument in India. Which sectors employ more women? Globally, women are overrepresented in lower-paying sectors of health, domestic work, social work, education, wholesale-retail trade and communication services. These trends have not changed substantially over the years (UN 2016). This may partly be due to a decline in medium-skilled jobs and a rise in the demand for jobs at the lower and upper ends of the skill hierarchy, which compel educated medium-skilled workers to compete for lower-skilled occupations. This resulted in increasing wage and income inequalities between those who are employed in high-end jobs and others (World Bank 2019; ILO 2019), and women are adversely affected by these trends in the nature of employment. India too experiences similar trends. Nearly 50 per cent of the women are self-employed (against 54 per cent of men), 22 per cent are in salaried employment and 26 per cent of women are in casual employment (Mamgain and Khan 2022). In other words, nearly three-fourths of the employed women in India are either self-employed or in casual employment. It is also important to see that less-educated women are concentrated in these categories of jobs. For example, a majority of workers with lower levels of education (below secondary level) are working as self-employed in domestic services and as casual wage workers (Neetha 2014). The better-educated (secondary and beyond) are found more in regular-salaried employment. This pattern is stable over decades, and it underscores the role of education in improving access to regular employment opportunities, especially in service sectors in India. In fact, over 72 per cent of university graduates are working in the service sectors of the economy in 2017–18 (Table 1.5). 8

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Table 1.5  Share of women in employment by educational levels Education Levels

1993–94

2018–19

Not literate Below Primary Primary Middle Secondary Higher Secondary Graduate and above Total

74.5 7.8 7.2 4.9 2.7 1.1 1.8 100.0

42.1 6.5 13.1 14.8 7.4 6.1 10.0 100.0

Source: NSSO 1993, PLFS 2020.

It needs to be noticed that even when educated women are in service sector jobs, their share is less in professional jobs, engineering jobs and managerial jobs and is more in clerical, sales and service occupations (Mamgain and Khan 2022). This is a case of the employed but in the peripheral sectors of the economy as postulated in the context of the female marginalization thesis in development (Boserup 1970; Varghese 1991). As noted earlier, a major share of women workers are illiterate (Table 1.5). However, over a period between 1993–94 and 2018–19, the share of illiterate women in employment has declined from 74.5 per cent to 42.1 per cent. At all levels of education (from primary level onwards), the share of women in employment increased from 18 per cent in 1993–94 to 52 per cent in 2018–19. In other words, while three-fourths of employed women were illiterates in the past decades, today a majority of them are educated beyond primary levels. The educated have improved their labour market status. For example, nearly 86.4 per cent of those with a graduate degree and above are employed in the service sector, and many of them are in regular employment. The division between sectors of women employment and levels of education seems to have taken a reasonably stable shape. Lower-educated women still struggle with employment in agriculture-related activities, while those with middle levels of education are attracted to manufacturing and construction activities. University-educated women are found more in the service sector occupations and in regular employment. The distribution of women’s employment by caste and educational level gives more insights into the beneficiaries in the process of development. The share of OBCs with a higher-secondary level of education is concentrated in jobs in public administration and health followed by the upper caste women. The educated women belonging to general category are also employed in sectors such as public administration, health and education. The domination of socially and economically better-placed caste groups in better-placed jobs could be because of a possible short supply and exclusionary practices. In other words, a lack of education and discriminatory 9

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tendencies visible in the labour market adds to the marginalization of women from more privileged jobs (Madheswaran and Attewell 2007). Men are more educated and more men are higher educated than women. This gave men an advantage over women in professional and high-paying jobs. This trend is changing and now there are more women in HEIs than men in most developed countries, and this trend is spreading fast to developing countries such as India. The GER of women in HE comes closer to men when the overall GER is around 25 per cent. In India, the GPI has crossed unity even when the GER is less than 30 per cent. Therefore, there is hope that women will be gaining higher qualifications and may be in a better position to compete with men and win in the employment market in the coming decades. The ‘future of work will be determined by the battle between automation and innovation’ (World Bank 2019: 28). Automation reduces employment in the traditional sectors and especially those depending on routine work. By improving the educational status of women, they will be able to play an increasing role in the innovation sectors and in the high-skilled segment of the labour market, which continues to expand.

Women in leadership While women’s participation in HE and in tertiary employment has registered growth in the past decades, their presence as a critical mass in decision-making positions remains vastly inadequate. Recent evidence clearly shows that even when economies across the globe reach gender parity in HE enrolment with a greater presence of women in the universities, leadership roles in HEIs remain in the hands of men (UNESCO 2021). A number of cultural and perceptual barriers still exist which seriously impede their active participation in leadership roles in academia. Women are under-represented in leadership positions across multiple sectors (WEF 2020). The same is the case with education. The difference between the education sector and other sectors seems to be that in other sectors men work and men make decisions. In education, it seems that women work, and men make decisions. Globally, women constitute 44 per cent of academic staff but only 28 per cent of professors. A finding worth special attention is that the gender gap in academic staff is the largest at research-intensive universities. For example, women make up only 23 per cent of the professors in world-class universities, as compared with 38 per cent in institutions with low research expenditure (O’Connor and Hazelkorn 2022). There is an improvement in the representation of women in HE. Their share has been increasing at all levels of designations. The AISHE 2019–20 report states that overall, 42.5 per cent of the teachers are women, which include demonstrators and temporary teachers. The percentage of women at the Assistant Professor level is 42.8 per cent, the Associate Professor level 10

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is 37.0 per cent and the Professor level is 27.5 per cent (MOE 2020). It can be argued that the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ is at work in HEIs. One of the most evident barriers that is structural in nature is the progressively narrowing pipeline for the supply of female leadership talent along the career ladder. As career graphs progress, women seem to be losing out to their male counterparts in ascending to the higher levels of the academic ladder. Their numbers begin to shrink from Associate Professorship onwards, narrowing further at Professorships and Deanships and reducing to a mere trickle where VC’s position is concerned. The picture is even more dismal where Institutions of National Importance or technical/professional institutions and stand-alone institutions are concerned. It is a fact that leadership in the field of HE presents a very different challenge, compared to leadership in professional or commercial organizations. This is on account of the fact that leaders in HE are required to lead peers who are their academic equals and may be better known for their research or other contributions. The challenge is to lead this highly specialized group of knowledge experts, some of whom may actually be senior to the leader themselves. It was elaborated that senior academics are at times very set in their own ways and often feel no need for further improvement or changed ways of reporting and accountability. It was also felt that since each university/college has its own work culture, each presents a unique leadership challenge and there is little transferability of experience from one institution to another. It is felt that the autonomy of institutions and their leadership are becoming a challenge. The regulatory agencies have become increasingly intrusive in public universities in many spheres such as in the creation of new posts, sanctioning of emerging disciplines and related infrastructure, and support for pedagogic innovations. In the case of private universities, autonomy is often regulated by the desire for control by the owner. The challenge lies in adhering to the rules and regulations and taking initiatives to overcome the resource constraint imposed by the same regulatory bodies. Within the institutions, resistance to change is the biggest challenge. The exclusion of women and their forced subordination cannot be addressed unless other social inequalities are simultaneously addressed through setting up institutions that promote equality of sexes in the social and economic spheres. Domestic action is central to reducing gender inequalities. Global action cannot substitute for equitable and efficient domestic policies targeting gender issues and institutions (World Bank 2012). The qualities which help go ahead are developing competencies of critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration. It is said that women outpace men in communication and collaboration, while men outpace women in critical thinking and problem solving and they are more equal in creativity. A key question that we are trying to understand is whether the low representation of women in academic leadership is because the system is 11

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stacked against them or is because extenuating circumstances compel women not to apply for the highest positions (Morley and Crossouard 2015). What gives consolation and hope is that some of the top-ranking universities such as the University of Oxford, Imperial College, Pennsylvania and many similar globally top-ranked institutions are headed by women. In India too several new appointments as Vice Chancellors are women. Such changes in attitudes and recruitment policies may help create a new generation of women leadership.

India higher education report 2022: women in higher education As discussed above, it is widely acknowledged that a key element in improving the socio-economic status of women is through enhancing their educational level. Women have made substantial gains in enrolment in the current stage of expansion of the HE system in India. At the national level, India achieved gender parity in access. In order to look beyond parity and truly understand dimensions of gender equality in HE, it requires an in-depth engagement with theoretical discourse of empowering roles of women’s HE achievements and its link with development. Equally important is to analyse empirical evidence on whether there is equality in access to opportunities and freedoms gained through HE levels, and constraints women graduates face to access opportunities in the labour market, and as academics. With this objective, IHER 2022 aims to provide an in-depth analysis of some of the critical dimensions which women face in HE in India. The chapters in the volume are organized into five thematic sections: (Part I) Women, education and development; (Part II) Women’s access to HE and their educational inter-generational mobility; (Part III) Women’s field of study, representation in research programmes and their career trajectories; (Part IV) Women in academic profession and leadership positions in higher education; and (Part V) Gender-responsive policies and HEI strategies for inclusion on campuses. In this volume, we and contributing authors showcase a nuanced analysis of complex nature of challenges women face in HE participation and translating HE opportunities into labour market success and into leadership positions, including in academia. A closer analysis of empirical evidence reveals emerging forms of gender inequalities in HE in India. Thus, we argue that despite substantial progress towards gender equality in enrolment, these inequalities act as barriers to realizing the transformative role that HE can have for women’s wellbeing and for the nation’s development. Women, education and development Following this introduction, Chapter 2 titled ‘Education, development and employment: the ongoing crisis in women’s employment and its revelations’, 12

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by Neetha N. critically examines the relationship between education and women’s employment by locating this in the broader development literature. The chapter analyses whether women’s increased presence in HE has led to favourable labour market outcomes. Employing the most recent available empirical evidence, it discusses emerging labour force participation patterns and sectoral concentrations across educational levels, including women from marginalized groups and the structural nature of constraints that women face to leverage their greater educational qualifications to gain access to labour market opportunities. Women’s access to HE and their educational intergenerational mobility Part II of this book ‘Women’s access to HE and their educational inter-generational mobility’ focuses more on exploring gendered patterns of HE enrolment, the ways in which these enrolment patterns intersect with intergroup gender and regional disparities, and what challenges women face in access to HE, including gender disparities in the effects of education levels of parents on educational inter-generational mobility. The first of four chapters in this section, by Sachidanand Sinha and Biswajit Kar, analyses inter-regional patterns of women’s HE enrolment in India across socio-economic groups and places intersecting gendered patterns within the changing contours of patriarchal, socio-economic and political structures of dominance. The analysis in the chapter shows that while women from privileged socio-economic backgrounds dominate and HE enrolment gaps persist, socio-economic disparities in HE enrolment across states have narrowed down over the years; more women first-generation learners (FGL) have enrolled in HE, and there has been diversification in subject specialization with women’s HE enrolment moving from humanities to commerce and science courses, especially for urban women. The authors attribute the process of educational mobility of women in general and those from the marginalized sections as a result of affirmative actions, and caution against an increasing reliance on the participation of private sector in the expansion of HE as this may reverse achieved social progress. Chapter 4, ‘Access to higher education of women from disadvantaged groups and minorities’ is authored by Abdul Shaban, Zinat Aboli and S.K. Md Musharuddin. In the chapter, the authors analyse women’s educational attainments and their choice of stream in HE across SRCs and include important discussions on factors determining access of the disadvantaged socio-­ religious groups to HE. The authors note that women from the Scheduled social groups such as the SCs and STs, and Muslims significantly lack access to HE in the country. They point out to lack of development of secondary school infrastructure in the areas of concentration of the disadvantaged communities, their lower socio-economic status, lack of access to open access to high-quality online educational materials along with conservative attitudes 13

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with respect to women’s education as some of the reasons which compromise access of women to HE, particularly from the Muslim community. Similar to Sachidanand and Kars’ chapter, Shaban, Aboli and Musharuddin also emphasize the importance of affirmative actions in helping students from disadvantaged socio-religious communities to access HE, especially the provision of scholarships and making of more HEIs available in Muslimconcentrated areas. Emily F. Henderson, Nidhi S. Sabharwal and Anjali Thomas’ contribution, ‘From gender parity to gender prism: looking beyond enrolment parity to explore gendered conditions of access to higher education in Haryana, India’ (Chapter 5), puts forward a nuanced conceptual way in which to examine how process of access to HE is gendered. The chapter is based on the mixed methods study of gender and HE access and choice in Haryana. The authors discuss the use of a ‘gender prism’ framework which goes beyond the enrolment parity measure to understand access in a more complex way, including HE choice and unequal conditions of access. These access conditions relate to educational pathways, including schooling background (e.g. medium of instruction, school type) and family educational background (differentiated education of mothers and fathers). They argue that within an enduring patriarchal, patrifocal gender regime, young people are arriving into HE with different levels of gendered dis/advantage, which result in differentiated HE choices. The authors emphasize that recognizing gendered differences in educational choices and retaining a gender priority for education policy is vitally important, even when enrolment parity has been achieved as has been in the case of Haryana. In Chapter 6, ‘Gender, intergenerational mobility and higher education’, by Manika Bora the focus is on exploring gender disparities in inter-generational mobility in education and analyses factors that prevent women from participating in HE. A primary data set collected in the Cycle to Empowerment Project (CTEP), which includes valuable information on daughters of the household independent of the married status provides the empirical material for Manika’s chapter. The chapter includes methodological consideration on how to measure inter-generational mobility that allows the analysis of the changes observed in educational attainment across generations. Above all, the author argues for moving beyond socio-cultural explanations and considering the ways in which the macro-level changes in economic structure may influence women’s educational access. Women’s field of study, representation in research programmes and career trajectories In Part III of this book, ‘Women’s field of study, representation in research programmes and career trajectories’, there are three chapters that examine the discipline-wise pattern of participation of women in HE, their presence in STEM education and in research programmes, and its links with 14

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their career trajectories. In Chapter 7, ‘Higher education, career and women entrepreneurship: between compulsion and choice’, by Anirban Sengupta, the analysis of the pattern of participation of diverse groups of women in HE and also in the world of work is undertaken. The analysis is carried out by considering the effects of family relations and socio-cultural factors in shaping the choices of women. The author asks how women’s participation in HE and entrepreneurship differs depending on their identity, and how decisions regarding women’s HE and entry into entrepreneurship get taken. The chapter shows that as a result of structural forces, the most marginalized are relegated to less sought-after spaces in education and occupation and are least likely to be represented as entrepreneurs. In Chapter 8, ‘Gendered academic trajectories through research and publication: influences and implications’, Ratna Sudarshan and Anjali Thomas concentrate on analysing women’s presence and performance in the MPhil and PhD programmes, the gendered structure of faculty positions and differences in publications. The reasons behind lower progression of women from an MPhil into a PhD degree or high numbers of women in the more junior and insecure faculty positions are discussed with reference to marriage, family formation and the demands of social reproduction that influence the nature of everyday life. More importantly, the likely influences on the observed patterns include unsupportive institutional conditions and constraints within the space of academia. Given such inequalities, the authors question whether and to what extent, HE, considered a leading sector with reasonable gender parity, can or has contributed to empowerment and enhancement of women’s agency. In Chapter 9, ‘Women in science education and science careers in India’, Deepika Bansal focuses on exploring women’s participation in sub-disciplines of STEM courses in HE and their subsequent career choices in STEM fields. The author sets out to investigate a complex reality that while women outnumber men in almost all the master’s level science courses (including mathematics) and earn almost an equal number of PhDs, very few are employed in Research and Development establishments in India. Women in academic profession and leadership positions in higher education The Part IV of this book, ‘Women in academic profession and leadership positions in higher education’, has four chapters which cover issues of concern for women in the academic profession and in leadership positions in academia. In Chapter 10, ‘Structures of exclusion: promotion procedures and gender inequality in the professoriate in India’, Karuna Chanana interrogates the formal procedures of promotion through Career Advancement Scheme of women to professorship. The author points out that despite an increase of women teachers in universities, this progress has not translated into gender equality in professoriate. The author ascribes the reasons for 15

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under-representation of women in senior academic positions to the opaque internal interview process and unsupportive promotion procedures which subvert meritocracy and reproduce gender inequalities in academia. In Chapter 11, ‘Women in leadership in higher education: opportunities, challenges and the way forward’, Madhulika Kaushik analyses factors responsible for inadequate participation of women in leadership positions. This chapter is based on in-depth interviews of 44 women leaders in HE, encompassing women Vice Chancellors and Principals drawn from different parts of the country, as well as from public and private HEIs. The chapter includes important discussions on major challenges encountered by women leaders, including coping strategies used to overcome the leadership challenges, the capabilities developed and the critical lessons learnt. For women to claim a rightful place at the top job in HEIs, the author calls for creation of a more level-playing field and fairness in accessing leadership opportunities. The author argues that given the chance to lead, women in leadership positions can make a visible difference and be powerful agents of change. Chapter 12, ‘Women in leadership in higher education: narratives from the field’, is authored by Geeta Venkatraman. In it, the author focuses on analysing reasons that help or prevent senior women professors from applying for leadership positions such as to Vice-Chancellor’s (VC’s) post. As such, the author emphasizes enabling roles of supportive teachers, family members and academic mentors as important sources of development of leadership aspiration as well as helping women overcome socio-culturally imposed strictures. Concluding Part IV, in Chapter 13, ‘Women in leadership – exploring the barriers and facilitators in the Indian higher education sector’, Meenakshi Gandhi synthesizes existing literature on barriers and facilitators of advancing women in leadership positions in HE. The author argues for the engendering of men’s minds as essential to address structural and societal barriers faced by women to rise to leadership positions in HE. The chapters that follow look at the implementation dynamics of policies and institutional strategies to improve gender relations on HE campuses. Gender-responsive policies and HEIS strategies for inclusion on campuses Part V of this book, ‘Gender-responsive policies and HEI strategies for inclusion on campuses’, explores institutional gender-responsive strategies that address the challenges faced by women in HE and which aim to improve gender relations on HE campuses. In Chapter 14, ‘Implementing the sexual harassment law within higher education: a qualitative enquiry’, Jyothsna Belliappa and S. Arokia Mary examine the constitution and functioning of internal complaints committees (ICCs) in institutes of national importance and central universities and explores the challenges that arise in implementing the Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Law, 2013 in HE. 16

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The authors of Chapter 14 point out that because higher education institutions are not only places of work and study but can also become intimate interactional spaces with presence of diverse cultural communities, the process of investigation for ICCs can become highly sensitive. Jyothsna and Arokia find that the ICC members are conscious of their pedagogical and pastoral role which creates responsibilities that go far beyond those defined in the law. However, sexual harassment prevention and redressal in HE can be a complex exercise and hence advocates for a multi-dimensional approach to gender equity within universities. Finally in Chapter 15, ‘Gendering pedagogy, engendering practices: contemporary STEM education landscape’, Rukmini Sen engages with questions of practice and pedagogy and the kind of structural reforms needed to ensure a gender balance in STEM education. The author concludes that it is the transformation in curriculum, gendering of institutional practices and gender-inclusive organizational policy transformations in combination that will ensure a comprehensive gendering of the STEM landscape in HE in India. To conclude, overall, the contributions in the India Higher Women Report 2022: Women in Higher Education provide a comprehensive empirical-­based analysis of challenges facing women in HE and its links to employment patterns, including those observed in senior and leadership positions in academia. This book is first of its kind as an edited collection on conceptual and empirical engagement with critical dimensions faced by women in HE and employment market in India, and as such inspires to be an important resource for HE research, academics and policymakers alike.

References Arnot, Madeleine. 2002. Reproducing Gender? Essays on Educational Theory and Feminist Politics. London: Routledge Falmer. Basu, Aparna. 2005. ‘A century and a half’s journey: Women’s education in India, 1850’s to 2000’, in Bharati Ray (ed), Women of India: Colonial and Post-colonial Periods; History of Science, Philosophy & Culture India: Volume IX Part 3 (pp. 183–207). New Delhi: Sage Publications. Boserup, Ester. 1970. Women’s Role in Economic Development. New York: St. Martinís Press. Chanana, Karuna. 2007. ‘Globalisation, higher education and gender: Changing subject choices of Indian women students’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(7): 590–598. Government of India (GOI). 1974. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. New Delhi: Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, GOI. Heaton, Tim and Lawson, Tony. 1996. ‘Explaining gender differences in educational achievement’, in Education and Training (pp. 96–121). London: Palgrave. Howe, Florence. 1977. ‘Feminism and the education of women’, The Journal of Education, 159(3): 11–24. ILO. 2019. World Employment and Social Outlook-Trends 2019. Geneva: International Labour Organisation.

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Kabeer, Naila. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London: Verso. Kamat, A.R. 1976. ‘Women’s education and social change in India’, Social Scientist, 5(1): 3–27. Kannan, K.P. and Raveedran, G. 2019. ‘From jobless to job-loss growth: Gainers and losers during 2012–18’, Economic and Political Weekly, 54(44): 38–44. Madheswaran, Subramaniam and Attewell, Paul. 2007. ‘Caste discrimination in the Indian labour market: Evidence from the national sample survey’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(41): 4146–4153. Mamgain, Rajendra P. and Khan, Khalid. 2022. ‘Trends in employment and unemployment in India: Dimensions of gender, caste and education’, in N.V. Varghese and Mona Khare (eds), India Higher Education Report 2020: Employment and Employability of Higher Education Graduates in India (pp. 89–108). New Delhi: Routledge. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Morley, Louise and Crossouard, Barbara. 2015. Women in Higher Education Leadership in South Asia: Rejection, Refusal, Reluctance, Revisioning. UK: University of Sussex, Centre for higher Education & Equity Research, Project Report, British Council. Muyoyeta, Lucy. 2007. Women, Gender and Development. Wicklow, Ireland: Women for Change, Zambia and 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World, Ireland and Concern. National Statistical Office (NSO). 2017. India: Household Social Consumption on Education 2017–2018, 75th Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). 2004. India-Participation and Expenditure in Education, 2004–05, 61st Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). 1993. India: Employment and Unemployment Survey, July 1993–June 1994, NSS 50th Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. Neetha, N. 2014. ‘Crisis in female employment: Analysis across social groups’, Economic and Political Weekly, 49(47): 50–59. O’Connor, Pat and Hazelkorn, Ellen. 2022. ‘Gender bias in higher education is a threat to us all’, The Irish Times, March 1. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ education/gender-bias-in-higher-education-is-a-threat-to-us-all-1.4806009 (Accessed on 29 April 2022). Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). 2020. Annual Report: Periodic Labour Force Survey, July 2018–June 2019. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. Razavi, Shahrashoub and Miller, Carol. 1995. ‘From WID to GAD: Conceptual shifts in the women and development discourse’, in Occasional Paper 1. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (NRISD). Sen, Amartya. 1992. ‘Missing women’, British Medical Journal, 304(6827): 587–588. Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Knopf. Sharpe, Sue. 1999. Just Like a Girl’: How Girls Learn to be Women: From the Seventies to the Nineties. London: Penguin.

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Tinker, Irene. (ed.) 1990. Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development. New York: Oxford University Press. Trueman, C.N. 2015. Feminism and Education. The History Learning Site. United Nations (UN). 1953. Convention on the Political Rights of Women. New York: UN. United Nations (UN). 2016. Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (Report of the UN SecretaryGeneral’s high-level panel on women’s economic empowerment). New York: UN. UNESCO. 2012. World Atlas on Gender Equality in Education. Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO. 2021. Science Report. Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO-IESALC. 2021. Women in Higher Education: Has the Female Advantage Put an End to Gender Inequalities? Paris: UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Varghese, N.V. 1991. ‘Women and work: An examination of female marginalization thesis in the Indian context’, The Indian Journal of Labor Economics, 34(3): 203–210. Varghese, N.V. 2022. ‘Directions of change in higher education in India: From massification to universalization’, in Saumen Chattopadhyay, Simon Marginson, and N.V. Varghese (eds), Changing Higher Education in India (pp. 23–46). London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Varghese, N.V. and Khare, Mona. 2022. ‘Employment and employability of higher education graduates: An overview’, in N.V. Varghese and Mona Khare (eds), India Higher Education Report 2020: Employment and Employability of Higher Education Graduates in India (pp. 1–22). New Delhi: Routledge. Varghese, N.V., Sabharwal, Nidhi S., and Malish, C.M. 2022. ‘Equity in higher education for inclusive growth: Evidence from India’, in Saumen Chattopadhyay, Simon Marginson and N.V. Varghese (eds), Changing Higher Education in India (pp. 67–94). London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Wilkinson, Helen. 1994. Evidence of Gender Differences in Educational Attainment, http://www.sociology.org.uk/notes/pcedgen1.pdf Williams, Tiffani M. and Wolniak, Gregory C. 2021. ‘Unpacking the “Female advantage” in the career and economic impacts of college’, in Nancy S. Niemi and Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower (eds), The Wiley Handbook of Gender Equity in Higher Education (pp. 7–28). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. 2019. World Development Report: The Changing Nature of Work. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Economic Forum (WEF). 2020. Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

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Part I WOMEN, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

2 EDUCATION, DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT The ongoing crisis in women’s employment and its revelations N. Neetha

Introduction Education has acquired a critical place in the discourse on women’s development. In the literature on development, the possibilities with women’s education include better health indicators, such as low mortality, reduced fertility and improved life expectancy, as well as economic freedom and reduced violence against women. Further, investment in educating girls and women is argued to have far-reaching benefits beyond the individual, leading to larger social changes. Since education increases human capital, which is essential for economic integration, unequal position of women in education has been seen as an important reason for women’s poor economic position. The economic argument has gained much momentum since the l990s with many policy documents emphasising the role of education and skill development in women’s economic integration.1 The relationship between education and employment has now become a complicated terrain, with women’s work participation rate declining steeply though women’s share in higher education is almost equal to their share in total population. Not only has the proportion of female population who are workers declined but also the participation rate has remained low over time with only one-fifth of the female population found working. The chapter is on this complicated and often messy relationship of development, education and women’s employment. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the developmental understanding of education focusing on the economic dimension, which contextualises the importance of understanding the relationship between education, employment and women. In the context of an overall crisis in women’s employment, the second section looks at broader trends and patterns in

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-3

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women’s employment and unemployment and sectoral/sub-sectoral concentrations across educational levels. Given the differential work participation rates among women from different social groups, the section also highlights the sub-sectoral profiles of women from marginalised communities across educational levels in specific sectors of services. Finally, the third section sums up the main arguments and outlines relevant strategies that are important towards ensuring gender equality in education and labour market outcomes.

Education and economic development Education has been recognised as a critical input for development, though the way the issue was approached and its specific role in development has been redefined over time. With changes in development theory and its larger dimensions, education, its meaning and relation to women’s development have undergone changes. Social welfare or social justice that dominated the development approach to women got slowly transformed into one based on individual freedom and opportunities. This shift in approach could be seen in the larger development discourse, which is now mostly about creating opportunities for everyone to pursue a life of their own choice be it economic, social or political (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2000). Higher education is seen to increase the country’s capacity, enabling it to compete in a globally connected world. Disparities in the distribution of knowledge and higher education were increasingly seen as an important source of economic inequality across social classes, among countries and regions (Varghese 2007). Economic benefits of higher education are linked to individuals, whereby the educated are able to access better employment with reasonable working conditions and opportunities for professional mobility. The enhanced productivity as a result of employing well-qualified workers is seen to bring in improved productivity and national economic growth. Apart from possibilities for wage employment, increased entrepreneurship is also linked to education. In this understanding, economic gains are often seen as a conduit to claiming social equity, including gender equality and overall human development. As more and more people become part of an upward economic shift leading to a rise in the level of human resources, the average standard of living is argued to improve, which will further lead to social changes. Most of the existing research on the effects of higher education has been from the perspective of economic gains. Studies (Barro 2001) undertaken in the context of developed countries looking at enrolment rates in education, especially higher education and economic growth have shown a positive correlation between the two. In the context of developing countries though, such a direct link is not easy to establish as studies have shown that increased education leads to better economic outcomes sometimes with a lag. The understanding that a universal approach which does not account for the 24

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plurality that exists in social and economic life has been questioned and is seen as an important issue in terms of state policies on education. Some of the recent studies have looked at education and equity issues from an economic perspective, while some have linked it to the larger context of social development. Research has shown that unlike the understanding based on human capital theory, access to education in itself cannot ensure equality as social location and profiles of individuals differ, and this could lead to differential outcomes. Studies (Neetha 2014, Ghai 2018) have questioned the potential of accessible higher education in bringing equality in social life as it is found to reproduce or strengthen social and economic differences. Thus, it is not mere access but the ability to take advantage of this access – freedom, capabilities and real opportunities – that are central to outcomes. Even though access or availability and fairness of process for an equitable distribution is ensured, it is clear that social inequality prevails, given the social notions. The argument that outcomes differ due to individual characteristics is also problematic as it does not take into account systemic factors. However, studies have shown that though it cannot solve differences, by making higher education available across all social-economic categories, economic and social mobility may be possible. The insights from these studies have pushed for an alternative approach to development though economic gains still dominate the development discourse. The shift from a pure economic perspective to a more holistic understanding is reflected in the UN approach. The focus is on investing in individuals alongside enabling equal access to public services which would enable all citizens, irrespective of their social location opportunity, to develop their capacities and thus be able to participate in the overall development of the economy, leading to lowering of poverty and increased economic growth2. Women and education Rooted in the above thinking on development, education has been seen primary to women’s equality and thus women’s movements have put it as a priority issue. However, the status of women and the role of education in attaining women’s equality have been debated with various perspectives dominating at different times. Educating women for economic independence or even as a value in itself was not central to the discussions in the early years of independence in India. Women’s education in the initial years of development was not framed in the understanding of gender equality but more like one that would make women better in terms of taking up their gendered roles as wives and mothers (Desai 1987). Women’s role as mothers and thus their responsibilities in terms of preserving traditional values and simultaneously ensuring a healthy and socially sound next genera­tion dominated the larger approach to women’s education in 25

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this period. A gendered approach to women’s education was also marked with differentiation in terms of the type of education given to boys and girls. Women were confined to limited general and vocational courses, which has adversely affected women’s possibilities for upward social and economic mobility. Better-off women, both socially and economically, were the few to benefit from education. On the other hand, social oppression of women was found increasing among the educated classes (Desai et al. 2002), questioning the role of such education in social change. The criticality of women’s education in women’s development was an important highlight of the first-ever path-breaking report on women’s status in independent India in ‘1975–Towards Equality’ (GOI 1975). The report highlighted the continuing gender inequality in education and emphasised the importance of attaining parity in education and the need to integrate women into economic development. The committee emphasised that women’s economic participation was the underlying factor that linked education with women’s status, though there has been an equal emphasis on its importance in addressing many social inequalities as well. In the state policies, however, education was framed as a commodity, and the primary issue that got identified for women’s poor presence was access to education. The narrow focus on access to education has been pointed as an issue by many scholars (Mazumdar 2011): ‘The approach is coloured by the “integration in development theory”, the assumption being that if only education, or access to these areas of education could be brought within women’s reach, all would be well’. The pitching of investment in education as the way forward for rapid economic growth has led to further complexities and promises for women. Women are seen as unused resources, and the need to put them to use is the larger approach that governs even contemporary approaches to women’s education. In this understanding, education is seen as a panacea for addressing economic inequalities, which eventually is assumed to lead to better social status as well. ‘Resolve the problem of access and all would be well’ is, thus, still the dominant thinking. The approach has been supported by studies that have shown a positive relationship between women’s education and their participation in employment as well as earnings (Kingdon and Jeemol 1997). This is also found to increase women’s bargaining power, leading to a positive impact on social outcomes and thus to overall empowerment. In this framework, economic participation is the primary axle for women’s empowerment and the possibility of the market ensuring economic equality to all sections of the population, irrespective of social locations are often overrepresented. Now the problem of access is somewhat addressed, but this does not seem to have resolved the issue of women’s social or economic equality. Given the social and economic differentiation, the relations and outcomes are found to be different for different categories of people. In the context of continuation of jobless growth, competition for limited opportunities has 26

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become acute. In such a context, social differentiations and employers’ understanding of gender roles have been found important considerations (Woodhall 1973). An understanding of these conflicts is fundamental for any analysis of the relationship between educational processes and the issues of gender equality in the economic sphere. Women’s education is thus the seat of many debates over time, which demonstrate both continuity and contradictions. A critical examination of education and women’s economic equality is important, given the confusion in terms of the nature of this relationship and its strength which has further been complicated by varied experiences across categories of women over time. In the following sections, women’s participation in economic activities since the 1990s is analysed using NSS data for various rounds. Given the focus of the chapter on higher education, defined as those with at least secondary education or above and their employment status, the analysis is based on all women aged 15 and above irrespective of their location in rural or urban areas.

How inclusive is labour market? Relationship between education and women’s employment Work participation rates (WPR) for women have always been low and since the 1990s the overall trend has been of a decline, which is specifically marked in recent years. The hype around the possibilities of globalisation for educated women leading to a trend towards feminisation was shortlived with successive rounds of macro data showing a decline. Not only has there been stagnation and volatility in women’s WPR, between 2004–05 and 2018–19 (Figure 2.1), there has been a declining trend largely led by the rural crisis. Though absolute number of women workers did not register a decline in the initial period of falling WPR, the period since 2011–12 has pushed out about 21 million women workers from employment by 2017–18 (Kannan and Raveedran 2019). Although the subsequent data for 2018–19 suggested a small increase, the overall decline remained sharp both in WPR and in absolute numbers. The pandemic is now known to have further worsened the crisis, with declining WPR reported in urban areas, where women’s employment has already been very low. Even in communities where women had fewer restrictions and enjoyed economic freedom, restrictions are now seen which may be one of the reasons for the decline in the share of women from marginalised communities in the labour market. A large proportion of women workers are from low educational backgrounds. The illiterate category constituted 75 per cent of workers in 1993– 94, and the share of the category declined over time with the share being 42 per cent in 2018–19. However, even now those with better educational background secondary schooling and above account for only about 24 per cent of the total women workers. Whether this is a reflection of the larger 27

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40 30 20 10

Female Work Parcipaon Rates (WPR) 1983 –2017–18

34

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Urban

Figure 2.1  Trends in women’s work participation rates – 1983 to 2018–19 (UPSS).  Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2019, 2020.

economic conditions or social factors or an interplay of both needs more in-depth engagement. With a general decline in WPR, there has been a decline in WPR across all education levels. Women who are illiterate are known to have higher WPR because of its link to economic conditions. Women from lower economic backgrounds do not have many options but to take up any work that is available. The participation rates are still high for this group and only marginally below that of those with below primary-level schooling. This is expected with the proportion of illiterates declining over the years owing to girls’ entry into primary schooling. Primary, below primary and illiterate and to some extent middle-level education are comparable categories at the current juncture in the context of employment as job possibilities that are open to all these women are more or less the same. The widely discussed U-shaped pattern does exist, but the shift in WPR at the higher ends is too sharp from 13.4 per cent to 24.8 per cent between those with higher secondary and graduate and above. What is more worrying is the decline that one observes over the years in the category graduate and above, which accounts for all those who had the opportunity for higher education beyond secondary levels. The decline in women’s WPR in urban areas with the pandemic is bound to have worsened employment opportunities for this group with travel, hospitality, other businesses and even the education sector taking the brunt of the overall economic slowdown. As per studies available, many women workers even those with higher education have lost jobs or are working under highly vulnerable conditions (Singh 2021; Agarwal 2021). This becomes particularly a matter of concern, when unemployment rates are also taken into account. Even with all its limitations in terms of undercounting unemployment, the data in Table 2.1 clearly show an increasing trend with increase in education with those with higher secondary and graduate and above showing higher rates across years. Unemployment rates among the two higher educational levels in 2019– 15.7 per cent and 24.8 per cent are suggestive of the lack of employment 28

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

Table 2.1  Women’s work participation rates across education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 Education Level

1993–94

2011–12

2018–19

Decline in WPR

Not literate Literate below primary Primary Middle Secondary Higher secondary Graduate and above Total

50.5 (74.61) 37.7 (7.76)

38.8 (50.92) 32.6 (9.67)

29.1 (42.13) 30.7 (6.47)

–21.33 –6.96

32.7 (7.21) 22.6 (4.86) 19.0 (2.66) 17.6 (1.13)

32.6 (11.70) 23.9 (11.12) 17.5 (6.51) 16.1 (4.29)

25.9 (13.08) 19.3 (14.83) 14.5 (7.39) 13.4 (6.07)

–6.75 –3.30 –4.50 –4.16

31.2 (1.77)

28.3 (5.80)

24.8 (10.04)

–6.38

42.0 (100)

30.5 (100)

23.3 (100)

–18.71

Notes: Figures in parentheses are share of women workers across educational categories. Source: Various Rounds of Employment and Unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

Table 2.2  Unemployment rates of women across education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 Education Level

1993–94

2011–12

2018–19

Not literate Literate below primary Primary Middle Secondary Higher secondary Graduate and above Total

0.1 0.6 1.3 4.8 13.3 19.5 20.8 1.6

0.2 0.4 0.6 2.6 5.9 10.1 14.5 2.3

0.1 0.2 1.1 2.4 5.1 15.7 24.8 5.2

Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

opportunities that are available for these categories though the share of women in higher education has increased in this period (Table 2.2). Nature and sectors of women’s employment Self-employment has always been the main segment of women’s employment, understood as an outcome of the predominance of agriculture in employment and of other social constraints that many women have in terms of taking up wage employment. As previous work on women self-employment has shown, many self-employed women are unpaid helpers in family farms or household industries (Neetha 2009). Even when they are not unpaid workers, they are mostly segregated into the lower rungs of the 29

N. NEETHA

self-employed, mostly vendors or managing small businesses as a survival strategy. At the aggregate level, there has been a decline in the proportion of self-employed though there are fluctuations. Within the various educational categories, self-employed are largely illiterates, though the proportion of illiterates has declined over time from 73 per cent to 45 per cent (Table 2.3). What is noteworthy is the trend in the proportion of workers across the various categories of employment for various levels of education. The data is only for the self-employed and regular workers as casual work has seen a decline and is marginal for all categories of women. For lower educational levels, self-employment is still the major segment. The data, however, shows a decline in the proportion of self-employed women across all educational categories till secondary education over the years. For secondary and higher secondary, the share of self-employed shows an increase over time with higher secondary leading the increase. This could be attributed to specific schemes and programmes that many state governments have undertaken for promoting self-employment of women, through skill development programmes and credit support. The growth of service units such as beauty parlours even in small towns and rural areas could be the reason for such a trend among the secondary and the higher secondary category. Nevertheless,

Table 2.3  Proportion of women workers across nature of work and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 Education Level

1993–94 SE

RE

SE

RE

SE

RE

Not literate

55.1 (72.7) 62.5 (8.6) 68.8 (8.8) 68.9 (5.9) 55.3 (2.6) 38.3 (0.8) 20.3 (0.6) 56.5 (100.0)

2.6 (30.3) 5.6 (6.9)

57.1 (51.9) 54.5 (9.4) 59.4 (12.4) 63.1 (12.5) 64.0 (7.4) 50.6 (3.9) 23.8 (2.5) 56.0 (100.0)

4.3 (17.0) 8.0 (6.0) 9.9 (9.0) 12.5 (10.9) 17.9 (9.1) 42.3 (14.2) 74.6 (33.8) 12.8 (100.0)

57.2 (45.2) 57.2 (6.9) 59.3 (14.5) 59.9 (16.7) 54.2 (7.5) 46.9 (5.3) 20.4 (3.8) 53.3 (100.0)

8.5 (16.4) 11.9 (3.5) 14.1 (8.4) 19.5 (13.2) 28.9 (9.7) 46.3 (12.8) 78.3 (35.9) 21.9 (100.0)

Literate below primary Primary Middle Secondary Higher secondary Graduate and above Total

2011–12

5.6 (6.4) 10.9 (8.4) 36.1 (15.3) 58.4 (10.5) 78.8 (22.2) 6.3 (100.0)

2018–19

Notes: Figures in parentheses are share of women workers across educational categories. Source: Various Rounds of Employment and Unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

30

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

for those above graduation and above, self-employed remained low over time with regular employment accounting for about 78.3 per cent of women workers. To understand the linkages between education and employment, it is pertinent to look at the sectoral changes. Structural changes in the economy with the growth of the service sector has been a feature of the economy with globalisation. Feminisation through changes in production organisation alongside growth of services was seen as a possibility for educated women, though overall trend does not suggest such a turn. Agriculture is still the main segment of women’s employment at lower levels of educational attainment. The secondary sector, which accounts for manufacturing and construction, is an important sector of employment for those with middle levels of education. Such a pattern is expected, given the nature of work that is available for women in manufacturing, given their concentration in certain sub-sectors such as garments, textile and food processing. Within these broader patterns, there has been a visible shift towards services even with an overall decline in women’s WPR. This has been partly facilitated by the changed educational profile of women workers. The importance of the service sector as expected is marked with increased educational levels with about 52 per cent of those with higher secondary education and 86.4 per cent of those with graduate and above employed in the service sector (Table 2.4). The service sector consists of a number of heterogeneous sub-sectors, which are known for their employment specificities. The sector has expanded into newer fronts with developments in IT and communication services. On the other hand, there have been many changes in the lower rungs of the services sector, especially in personal services largely attributed to the increased economic inequality (Neetha 2014). Put together these developments, the sector accounts for those who are better/highly paid and secure workers as well as those who live on the margins as in the case of paid domestic work. The upper segment of the services is the sector of aspiration of the educated with its promises of better employment. Table 2.5 gives the distribution of women workers with different educational levels, which clearly reveals segregation. The analysis compares the distribution across three periods 1993–94, 2011–12 and 2018–19. Public administration, education and health account for the largest segment for women in all educational groups. However, the importance of this sector varies across education as the data suggests. For the less educated, the share is lower and for this category trade, hotels and restaurants are prominent. Over time, however, the share of public administration, education, health and others has shown a marginal decline for the higher educated with some dispersion across other sub-sectors. The often identified segments of the modern economy, such as finance, communication and other business activities, are not the sectors of women’s concentration. The poor presence of women even from those with graduation and above in the 31

Table 2.4  Distribution of women workers across sectors and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19 Education Level

Not Literate

Literate below Primary Primary

Middle

Secondary

Higher Secondary

Graduate & Above

Total

1993–94

32

85.0 (43.54) 8.7 (33.49) 6.3 (26.71) 100.0 (40.80)

72.2 (18.53) 15.8 (14.81) 12.0 (10.01) 100.0 (16.22)

69.1 (17.94) 62.2 (11.79) 41.6 (9.65) 17.0 (13.05) 17.6 (9.13) 13.1 (5.96) 13.9 (8.99) 20.1 (6.34) 45.3 (9.30) 100.0 (14.91) 100.0 (9.63) 100.0 (8.76)

20.8 (5.96) 5.2 (4.61) 14.1 (7.35) 8.7 (6.83) 65.1 (11.09) 86.1 (15.76) 100.0 (8.87) 100.0 (12.75)

78.5 (32.81) 10.5 (19.19) 11.1 (13.55) 100.0 (26.58)

75.0 (43.18) 17.1 (29.52) 8.0 (26.24) 100.0 (38.13)

64.2 (23.30) 25.2 (19.01) 10.5 (11.89) 100.0 (20.11)

62.6 (24.04) 57.1 (17.43) 50.6 (14.78) 29.8 (12.16) 6.5 (8.68) 25.0 (15.99) 25.2 (12.29) 23.1 (11.41) 18.4 (9.79) 8.5 (9.26) 12.4 (10.90) 17.7 (8.85) 26.3 (8.30) 51.8 (13.52) 84.9 (19.87) 100.0 (18.83) 100.0 (13.64) 100.0 (11.59) 100.0 (12.25) 100.0 (16.81)

63.0 (29.05) 19.6 (18.02) 17.4 (13.89) 100.0 (22.15)

73.9 (44.20) 14.5 (26.41) 11.6 (34.41) 100.0 (39.03)

62.0 (29.57) 21.5 (19.64) 16.5 (19.97) 100.0 (24.81)

60.7 (26.99) 47.9 (18.82) 41.2 (15.86) 27.4 (13.01) 6.2 (9.16) 22.8 (15.43) 28.4 (14.50) 25.3 (12.61) 20.2 (10.39) 7.4 (10.03) 16.5 (14.53) 23.7 (11.95) 33.6 (11.83) 52.4 (14.50) 86.4 (22.96) 100.0 (20.54) 100.0 (15.42) 100.0 (13.44) 100.0 (13.04) 100.0 (19.32)

55.5 (29.31) 18.5 (16.50) 26.0 (17.74) 100.0 (22.29)

2011–12 Primary Secondary Tertiary 2018–19 Primary Secondary Tertiary

Notes: Figures in parentheses are share of women workers across educational categories. Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

N. NEETHA

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Table 2.5  Distribution of women workers across service sectors and education levels (%): 1993–94 to 2018–19

1993–94 Trade, Hotels & Restaurants Transport, Storage & Communication Finance, Real Est. & Business

33

Pub Admin., Edu., Health & Others Total 2011–12 Trade, Hotels & Restaurants Transport, Storage & Communication Finance, Real Est. & Business Pub Admin., Edu., Health & Others Total 2018–19 Trade, Hotels & Restaurants

Not Literate

Literate below Primary

Primary

Middle

Secondary

Higher Secondary

Graduate & Above

Total

41.65 (26.85) 1.73 (2.54) 0.27 (11.50) 56.35 (37.85) 100

37.39 (8.32) 1.14 (0.65) 0.58 (5.42) 60.89 (16.74) 100

38.11 (7.90) 1.39 (0.76) 0.92 (5.48) 59.58 (13.84) 100

25.15 (3.82) 1.13 (0.44) 1.30 (3.14) 72.42 (11.66) 100

12.07 (3.35) 3.60 (2.61) 3.79 (6.59) 80.55 (15.50) 100

7.39 (2.88) 3.77 (4.01) 5.32 (9.82) 83.52 (16.80) 100

3.81 (3.72) 2.71 (7.37) 13.05 (11.82) 80.43 (20.90) 100

28.82 (10.78) 2.07 (1.97) 2.92 (8.41) 66.19 (20.02) 100

41.24 (23.37) 1.27 (1.49) 1.11 (13.68) 56.39 (50.58) 100

46.05 (10.64) 2.68 (1.39) 1.63 (6.41) 49.65 (26.09) 100

38.06 (8.18) 1.41 (0.69) 1.59 (4.53) 58.94 (27.87) 100

39.35 (7.10) 1.83 (0.70) 3.06 (5.46) 55.77 (21.63) 100

34.90 (5.91) 3.86 (1.58) 4.87 (5.12) 56.37 (20.50) 100

17.77 (6.09) 3.61 (3.53) 6.74 (9.38) 71.88 (26.25) 100

7.93 (7.44) 7.65 (12.01) 13.46 (14.38) 70.96 (29.65) 100

27.96 (9.41) 3.79 (2.82) 6.00 (9.52) 62.25 (27.69) 100

38.74 (29.94)

42.91 (16.91)

39.52 (12.13)

41.59 (10.28)

27.60 (6.92)

22.08 (7.71)

7.30 (8.17)

25.75 (11.64)

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

Education Level

Table 2.5  (Continued) Not Literate

Literate below Primary

Primary

Middle

Secondary

Higher Secondary

Graduate & Above

Total

Transport, Storage & Communication Finance, Real Est. & Business

0.81 (1.43) 2.75 (29.56) 57.70 (60.57) 100

0.24 (0.23) 3.19 (15.65) 53.65 (43.92) 100

0.96 (0.57) 2.59 (7.68) 56.93 (35.73) 100

1.78 (0.89) 4.69 (9.17) 51.94 (28.63) 100

1.83 (1.10) 5.48 (8.47) 65.09 (30.23) 100

3.34 (3.18) 7.81 (10.11) 66.77 (30.25) 100

8.78 (15.04) 14.63 (16.77) 69.29 (34.56) 100

4.00 (3.81) 7.87 (13.36) 62.38 (34.96) 100

Pub Admin., Edu., Health & Others Total

Notes: Figures in parentheses are share of women workers across educational categories. Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

N. NEETHA

34

Education Level

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

growth sectors of services such as finance, communication and business (about 15 per cent and 17 per cent in 2018–19), though there are small increases over time, points to the gendered understanding of work that prevails in these sectors. It is clear from the data on female shares across sectors that though higher education is open to men and women and both may have equal access to opportunities, there are labour market disparities in terms of similarly qualified which are beyond differences in individual profiles or preferences. This is due to social notions that define men and women in terms of their capabilities and also the available work. If the social understanding of capabilities does not match the requirements of work that is available, exclusion is bound to happen. Given the gendered understanding of capabilities, women are seen to be excluded from many types of employment unless it matches their social identities. The above analysis, be it participation rate or pattern of employment, reveals that labour market continues to be structured around social differentiations, whereby women are increasingly absent in sectors of growth or are concentrated in traditional sectors that are understood as female-friendly ones. To argue that labour market disparities are due to decisions of individuals to not participate or avail opportunities has been, thus, empirically challenged at multiple levels. Given the overall pattern of the better educated being concentrated in the sub-sector public administration, education, health and others services, it is imperative to look at specific sectors within this segment to identify specific sectors of educated women’s employment. The sub-category of education dominates all segments of educated women though a share of the category shows an increase as education level increases. Data in Table 2.6 shows that for the category of graduate and above, the share of the education sector is about 74 per cent signalling trends of high concentration. If education is the critical sector of women’s employment for the educated, it is important to understand the structural reasons for its feminisation. The social understanding of skills and the social acceptance of the sector as a female-friendly segment is heavily rooted in the patriarchal understanding of women’s roles. The fact that the occupation, because of its timing, provides for combining housework, care work and economic work has been the biggest attraction of this sector. The nature of work is also socially accepted as suitable for women as they work with children and thus has a direct relationship to their social role as mothers. This clearly reveals how, even after many years of interventions, the sphere of the labour market and its institutions are still deeply entrenched within patriarchal norms. Thus, though some patriarchal norms have loosened, which is evident in an increased presence of women in higher education and also in the higher participation rates of women in this segment, segregation and social subordination of women are strikingly visible from these trends.

35

N. NEETHA

Table 2.6  Distribution of women workers across sub-categories of select service sectors and higher education (%) 1993–94

Secondary

Higher Secondary

Graduate & Above

Total

Public Administration and Defence Education Health Personal Services Others 2011–12 Public Administration and Defence Education Health Other community social and Personal Services Private households with employed persons 2018–19 Public Administration and Defence Education Health Other community social and Personal Services Private households with employed persons

17.93

21.49

27.14

12.38

46.68 13.11 18.35 3.94

50.52 14.72 11.31 1.95

61.00 6.10 4.45 1.32

26.00 6.61 47.30 7.70

9.53

6.70

7.07

6.85

47.63 18.82 16.84

54.77 26.99 8.18

76.38 12.80 3.31

43.75 13.28 17.51

7.18

3.35

0.45

18.62

8.30

11.12

8.24

7.30

50.19 21.23 8.32

50.84 27.94 6.88

73.85 13.15 3.83

47.09 14.59 11.31

11.96

3.23

0.92

19.71

Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

Educated women in the education sector In the larger segregation of women, education does emerge as a prominent category of employment for educated women. However, the sector is also diverse and does represent hierarchies. Table 2.7 gives the distribution of women in education across various sub-categories of education. Since for the 1993–94 round of the NSS, sub-categories of education differ from later rounds of the survey, the data is for three periods, 1999–00, 2011–12 and 2018–19. The extent of concentration in the lower rungs of education is marked across all years, for all categories of higher educated. Even for those graduates and above, though the share is lower than the other two, it accounts for about 47 per cent of all those who are in the education sector. Given the requirement for more personnel at the lower levels of educational systems, some of this concentration could be understood as natural. What is disturbing is the 36

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

Table 2.7   Concentration of women in different segments of education across educational levels (%) Categories 1999–00 Primary education Secondary education Higher education Adult and Other education 2011–12 Primary education Secondary education Higher education Other education 2018–19 Primary education Secondary education Higher education Other education

Secondary

Higher Secondary

Graduate and Above

Total

76.59 10.18 1.85 11.38

75.56 14.61 0.67 9.17

43.34 36.60 10.84 9.22

60.10 24.66 6.07 9.17

65.68 10.02 1.61 22.69

71.77 14.46 0.97 12.81

39.66 37.91 9.45 12.99

52.97 27.04 6.29 13.70

86.12 6.80 2.18 4.91

69.80 14.83 1.50 13.86

46.52 35.73 10.44 7.37

57.66 27.25 7.41 7.68

Source: Various rounds of employment and unemployment data, NSSO and PLFS 2020.

almost stagnating share of women employed in the higher education sector, though secondary and higher education has also seen an expansion in the country. Concentration in the sub-sector of education needs to be seen in relation to other sectors to get a macro picture of women’s concentration in the sub-sector of services. Table 2.8 gives the distribution of those with higher secondary and graduate-and-above educated categories across various sub-sectors of services to provide a larger picture of the overall segregation for the year 2018–19. Women are still concentrated in the traditional sectors, which are branded as suitable for women based on social understanding. The data do demonstrate that though women are certainly far behind in terms of opportunities for employment though there are now increasingly present in all streams of education including science and technology studies. The solution of creating more college graduates to address gendered economic inequality is thus a matter of debate in the context of gender-based rigidities in employment and the existing social understanding of women’s roles, skills and capabilities. Caste and education: women across sub-sectors of services Within discussions on globalisation and integration of markets, caste and gender relations occupy key roles and a few studies have analysed the 37

N. NEETHA

Table 2.8  Distribution of women workers with education higher secondary and graduate and above across various sub-sectors of services (%) Higher Secondary

Proportion

Graduate and above

Proportion

Primary education Hospital activities Administration of the State and the economic and social policy of the community Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores Secondary education Other human health activities

23.69 8.65 6.22

Primary education Secondary education Higher education

23.80 18.28 5.34

Retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores Other education Other personal service activities Retail sale in nonspecialised stores

4.84

Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel Retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores Other social work activities without accommodation n.e.c. Retail sale of cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores Total share

2.15

5.55 5.03 4.97

4.53 4.31 3.00

2.14

Computer programming, consultancy and related activities Hospital activities Administration of the State and the economic and social policy of the community Other education

5.12

Monetary intermediation Other human health activities Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy Other personal service activities

3.39 2.23

Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores

1.65

4.55 4.51

3.42

1.91 1.86

1.91 1.54 78.53

Total share

76.06

Source: PLFS 2020.

interactions. Similar to the contradictory findings that exist in the literature on education and economic participation, diverse views exist on the impact of education on the economic empowerment of social groups and their gender dimensions. Changes in production relations and work organisations accompanying an increased role of the market were seen as an opportunity for breaking structural inequalities of gender and caste. Services are understood to show clear concentration across social groups, given their 38

E D U C AT I O N , D E V E L O P M E N T A N D E M P L OY M E N T

diversity in terms of occupations, which demand diverse educational and skill requirements. Since caste hierarchy has a strong bearing on the nature and forms of work that women from various caste locations can undertake, the educational background of women participating in the service sector can throw concrete insights into the dynamics of caste, education and economic processes. Given the predominance of the sub-sector, ‘public administration, education and health’, which accounts for the highest share of female workers in the services sector and the diversities that the sector has in terms of job profiles, the analysis is limited to this sector to understand the caste dynamics within women’s employment. Table 2.9 shows a complex relationship between higher education, caste categories and women. Caste differentiation can be understood only by looking at the share of each category in a given sector. Women from most caste groups are concentrated in education, both for higher secondary and graduate and above. The distribution of women from various caste groups across sectors clearly shows domination of upper castes and OBCs in all the sectors. The distribution of employment and shares across various caste categories are reflective of the caste-based segmentation of the labour market as well as caste-based prescriptions of women’s work. The share of OBCs is highest for those with higher secondary for public administration (50 per cent) and health (43 per cent) followed by upper caste. For education, the share of the upper caste is highest at 43 per cent. The share of upper caste women who have educational qualifications of graduate and above in the three important sub-sectors of women’s employment (public administration, health and education) are 42 per cent, 47 per cent and 48 per cent, followed by OBC at 38 per cent, 40 per cent and 34 per cent. This domination of socially and economically better-placed caste groups could be because of a possible short supply of qualified women from these categories alongside exclusionary practices. The lack of social capital and the discriminatory tendencies that exist in the labour market adds to the marginalisation of women from less privileged groups, resulting in their low presence as noted in other studies as well (Thorat and Mallick 2004; Madheswaran and Attewell 2007). The analysis shows how employment outcomes are affected by social and cultural inequalities. Thus, there are layers of exclusion and integration based on male–female identities and other social divisions such as caste.

Conclusion Despite rapid changes in many walks of life, many traditional structures of hierarchy exist, as is demonstrated in the analysis. At the same time, there are positive impacts of expansion of higher education and thus to reject possibilities of higher education is unrealistic as women are able to put 39

Table 2.9  Distribution of women workers across caste and sub-sectors of services (%): 2018–19 Educational Category and Caste Groups Higher secondary ST

40

OBC Others Total Graduate and above ST SC OBC Others Total

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

Total

8.08 (5.32) 13.31 (20.67) 14.56 (50.25) 7.14 (23.76) 11.12 (100.0)

56.70 (8.16) 43.68 (14.84) 45.77 (34.55) 58.27 (42.45) 50.84 (100.0)

20.65 (7.11) 23.68 (19.24) 23.59 (42.58) 17.84 (31.08) 21.26 (100.0)

0.00 (0.00) 6.94 (48.45) 2.30 (35.63) 1.06 (15.92) 2.47 (100.0)

8.53 (14.84) 2.80 (11.50) 3.23 (29.48) 5.02 (44.19) 4.20 (100.0)

0.00 (0.00) 0.00 (0.00) 0.28 (96.13) 0.01 (3.87) 0.11 (100.0)

0.98 (23.56) 0.00 (0.00) 0.26 (33.12) 0.35 (43.32) 0.30 (100.0)

4.90 (5.55) 7.40 (19.77) 5.38 (31.93) 7.46 (42.75) 6.46 (100.0)

0.17 (0.38) 2.20 (11.77) 4.63 (55.11) 2.85 (32.73) 3.23 (100.0)

100.00 (7.32) 100.00 (17.27) 100.00 (38.38) 100.00 (37.04) 100.00

13.20 (6.32) 11.45 (14.06) 8.07 (37.79) 7.27 (41.83) 8.24 (100.0)

66.67 (3.56) 66.66 (9.13) 76.97 (40.19) 73.45 (47.11) 73.85 (100.0)

15.82 (5.73) 12.87 (11.94) 9.62 (34.03) 11.12 (48.31) 10.91 (100.0)

0.01 (0.06) 1.54 (20.86) 0.76 (39.35) 0.62 (39.73) 0.74 (100.0)

1.65 (4.32) 3.66 (24.64) 1.23 (31.58) 1.25 (39.46) 1.50 (100.0)

0.00 (0.00) 0.15 (2.63) 0.24 (16.24) 0.99 (81.13) 0.58 (100.0)

0.34 (2.34) 0.52 (9.15) 1.08 (72.93) 0.19 (15.58) 0.57 (100.0)

1.19 (1.75) 1.03 (3.91) 1.76 (25.40) 3.90 (68.95) 2.68 (100.0)

1.13 (4.83) 2.12 (23.25) 0.26 (10.66) 1.19 (61.26) 0.92 (100.0)

100.00 (3.95) 100.00 (10.11) 100.00 (38.57) 100.00 (47.37) 100.00 (100.0)

N. NEETHA

SC

A

Total

ST

OBC Others Total

41.52 (5.66) 33.58 (14.09) 47.63 (39.68) 55.05 (40.58) 47.04 (100.0)

15.26 (9.27) 10.90 (20.40) 10.35 (38.44) 9.70 (31.89) 10.55 (100.0)

0.59 (2.91) 2.02 (30.86) 0.97 (29.34) 1.37 (36.89) 1.29 (100.0)

6.43 (15.06) 2.54 (18.32) 2.25 (32.24) 2.71 (34.38) 2.74 (100.0)

0.98 (11.03) 0.29 (10.21) 0.29 (20.22) 0.96 (58.55) 0.57 (100.0)

0.32 (2.83) 0.21 (5.56) 0.89 (47.83) 0.92 (43.78) 0.73 (100.0)

8.13 (5.15) 11.00 (21.47) 12.71 (49.29) 7.02 (24.09) 10.11 (100.0)

15.86 (5.16) 30.03 (30.11) 18.17 (36.16) 16.22 (28.57) 19.69 (100.0)

100.00 (6.41) 100.00 (19.73) 100.00 (39.19) 100.00 (34.67) 100.00 (100.0)

Note: A – Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; B – Education; C – Human health activities; D – Residential care activities; E – Social work activities without accommodation; F – Creative, arts and entertainment activities; G – Activities of membership organisations; H – Other personal service activities; I – Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel Source: PLFS 2020.

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SC

10.91 (9.60) 9.42 (25.51) 6.73 (36.21) 6.03 (28.69) 7.29 (100.0)

N. NEETHA

their mark in many higher education institutions which were inaccessible to them or discriminatory. The expansion and inclusive nature of higher education have widened opportunities for women, which is definitely helping women to respond and question differentiations. However, social hierarchies still exist and labour market does reflect these hierarchies. These are much more complex compared to the larger context in the 1970s or 1980s with multiple social and economic differentiations across class, caste and gender lines. It is clear that the commitment to non-discrimination in education and removing all gender biases from the curricula are not enough for gender equality in the labour market or larger women’s equality. The fact that with education, there have not been much changes in the gendered understanding of capacities, roles and responsibilities points to the lack of any concerted approach to shake structural issues. Without simultaneously framing policies to address gendered social structures and their new manifestations, it is unlikely that women’s increased presence in higher education will lead to favourable labour market outcomes. The exclusion of women and their subordination cannot be addressed unless other social inequalities are simultaneously addressed through setting up institutions that promote equality of sexes in the social and economic spheres.

Notes 1 UNICEF has emphasised the economic argument clearly as evident from the following quote, ‘The power of girls’ education on national economic growth is undeniable: a one percentage point increase in female education raises the average gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.3 percentage points and raises annual GDP growth rates by 0.2 percentage points’. 2 However, even within the UN understanding, the focus is not to eliminate inequality by addressing structural issues or altering the economic systems that perpetuate inequalities.

References Agarwal, Bina. 2021. ‘Livelihoods in COVID times: Gendered perils and new pathways in India’, World Development, 139, 1–7. Barro, R.J. 2001. ‘Human capital and growth’, American Economic Review, 91(2): 12–17. Desai, Neera, Mazumdar, Vina and Bhansali, Kamalini. 2002. ‘From women’s education to women’s studies: The struggle for legitimacy’, in Devaki Jain and Pam Rajput (eds), Narratives from the Women’s Studies Family: Recreating Knowledge (pp. 44–80). New Delhi: Sage. Desai, Neera. 1987. ‘Establishing gender justice through education: A case of women’s education in India, 1951–1987’, paper presented at the International Conference on Worldwide Education for Women: Progress, Prospects and Agenda for the Future. Ghai, Surbhi. 2018. ‘The anomaly of women’s work and education in India’, Working Paper 368. New Delhi: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

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Government of India (GOI). 1975. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. New Delhi: Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, GOI. Kannan, K.P. and Raveedran, G. 2019. ‘From jobless to job–loss growth: Gainers and losers during 2012–18’, Economic and Political Weekly, 54(44): 38–44. Kingdon, Gandhi Geeta and Jeemol, Unni. 1997. ‘How much does education affect women’s labor market outcomes in India? An analysis using NSS household data’, Working Paper No. 92. Ahmedabad: Gujarat Institute of Development Research. Madheswaran, Subramaniam and Attewell, Paul. 2007. ‘Caste discrimination in the Indian labour market: Evidence from the national sample survey’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(41): 4146–4153. Mazumdar, Vina. (ed). 2011. Education, Equality and Development in Persistent Paradoxes in Indian Women’s History. New Delhi: Centre for Women’s Development Studies & Pearson. Neetha, N. 2014. ‘Crisis in female employment: Analysis across social groups’, Economic and Political Weekly, 49(47): 50–59. Neetha, N. 2009. ‘Women’s work in the post reform period: An exploration of macro data’, Occasional Paper No 52. New Delhi: Centre for Women’s Development Studies. Nussbaum, Martha C. 2000. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. PLFS. 2019. Annual Report: Periodic Labour Force Survey, July 2017–June 2018. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. PLFS. 2020. Annual Report: Periodic Labour Force Survey, July 2018–June 2019. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Singh, Shalini. 2021. ‘How Covid–19 pandemic has affected women workers in Delhi’, IWWAGE. Thorat, Sukhadeo and Mallick. 2004. ‘Labour and occupation discrimination in rural areas’, Working Paper. New Delhi: Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. Varghese, N.V. 2007. ‘Higher education and development’, International Institute for Educational Planning Newsletter, 25(1): 1–3. Woodhall, Maureen. 1973. ‘The economic returns to investment in women’s education’, Higher Education, 2(3): 275–299.

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Part II WOMEN’S ACCESS TO HE AND THEIR EDUCATIONAL INTER-GENERATIONAL MOBILITY

3 WOMEN ENROLMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION Sachidanand Sinha and Biswajit Kar

Unequal access to resources is a source of persisting inequalities and deprivation of certain groups in the process of development. Women are placed in a disadvantaged position when resources are distributed. In the context of women, invoking tradition has been a cultural tool that subjugates women and defines their material and social standing at almost every stage of life, which almost always keeps her unfree. Although the extent of unfreedom may vary by class, caste, religion and ethnicity, the bottom line is that men make choices, and women are made to simply follow (Chakraborty 2018). Changes do happen, but in the case of women, it takes much longer to be felt and seen. Education of women in India has been one such attribute that took much longer in India to register some change in comparison to some of its neighbours in Asia, but all within the permissible structures of patriarchy. Equitable access to education, particularly higher education, is seen as a significant contributor to social and economic mobility in the highly stratified social structure of India. Besides having multiple positive spillovers at individual, household and social levels, higher average enrolment in secondary and post-higher secondary education in general and particularly among women has been found to be far more important in improving social well-being, reducing vulnerabilities to social and natural hazards and ameliorating quality of environment. Access to higher education has significantly altered the traditional institution of patriarchy and improved work participation and diversification in employment. It may be hypothesized that in the wake of global capitalism a new kind of gender segmentation in education and work has begun to take shape that may bring about change in the content patriarchy. This chapter proposes to examine the socio-economic and political structures of dominance and their changing contours and their impact on patterns of women’s enrolment in Higher education in India. The chapter attempts to present a descriptive account of patterns in women’s enrolment in higher education for 2017–18. In the first section, it

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-5

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describes inter-state patterns in gender differentials and disparities across social groups, communities and poor/non-poor in rural and urban areas, with special reference to metropolitan and non-metropolitan urban population. A brief subsection takes a look at the status of first-generation learners obtained from the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data. The second section describes gender differentials by major disciplines and courses in order to see whether there has been diversification of women across various disciplines and courses. The third section takes a look at the role of hostel facilities and other infrastructural inputs that are found to be of crucial significance in augmenting and sustaining enrolment among men and women in higher education. The study has been carried out with the help of NSSO and the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) data by the Ministry of Education.

Enrolment patterns: access by social groups The access to higher education measured in terms of gross enrolment ratio (GER) shows that a few years after independence India had an abysmally low 0.7 GER in 1950–51. This marginally increased to 1.4 in 1960–61 (Thorat 2009). By the turn of the new century, India’s overall GER in higher education stood at 10 per cent, whereby the figure for the rural population was nearly one-fourth that of the urban (20.4 per cent), revealing that access was significantly poor in rural areas. Access was more restricted to rural women, their GER stood at 3.6 per cent, almost 4 percentage points lower than that of their men counterparts. During the past two decades, the overall GER rose to 24.8 per cent with rural at 19.5 per cent and urban at almost 37 per cent. The spectacular increase in GER during 2004–05 and 2017–18 significantly narrowed the gaps between men and women, particularly in the urban population. GER for rural women also increased threefold from 5.7 per cent to 16.6 per cent during the same period (Table 3.1). The gains in enrolment figures did not remain confined to the non-­ scheduled, non-OBCs (Others), where nearly one-third of men and women attended various post-higher secondary classes but also reached the scheduled populations in significant proportions. While ST women remained the lowest in terms of access, the gender gap among the SCs showed some significant reduction. On the contrary, while the overall GER for the OBCs remained at 25 per cent, and in spite of nearly a three-fold increase from their level in 2004–05, the gaps in enrolment between men and women among the OBCs widened (Table 3.2). One may also need to recognize that the expansion of institutional capacities both in terms of the number of universities and colleges and socio-­ political mobilizations, coupled with the forces of economic liberalization, have had positive impacts in enhancing access to students to post-higher secondary education (Thorat 2009). Privatization of education, however, 48

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Table 3.1  India: GER in higher education by men and women (%) Years

M/W/T

Total

Rural

Urban

1993–94 1999–00 2004–05 2017–18 1993–94 1999–00 2004–05 2017–18 1993–94 1999–00 2004–05 2017–18

Men

11.66 12.13 14.12 24.74 5.9 7.94 10.6 22.2 8.9 10.1 12.6 24.8

7.22 7.53 9.28 22.17 2.01 3.6 5.7 16.6 4.7 5.6 7.51 19.5

23.1 22.0 24.8 38.5 16.9 18.7 22.6 35.3 20.2 20.4 23.8 36.9

Women

Persons

Source: NSSO: Calculated from various rounds.

Table 3.2  GER by social groups for selected NSSO rounds (%) Social Groups

M/W/P

2017–18

2004–05

1999–00

1993–94

STs

Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons Men Women Persons

18.57 11.61 15.21 21.16 17.14 19.30 27.21 21.73 24.60 34.68 31.38 33.13 27.01 22.22 24.74

8.8 6.4 7.6 9.2 6.3 7.8 12.5 7.6 10.1 21.4 18.3 19.9 14.4 10.6 12.6

7.2 5.7 6.4 6.6 3.5 5.1 9.0 4.9 7.0 19.2 14.1 16.4 12.1 8 10.1

4.9 2.1 3.4 4.9 1.6 3.8 NA NA NA NA NA NA 11.6 5.9 8.9

SCs OBCs Others Total

Source: NSSO: Calculated from various rounds.

may adversely affect access to higher education in the near future, as the neo-liberal economic architecture rebounds to unsettle and erode educational and employment-related reforms achieved within the democratic liberal polity (Sinha 2020). The inter-state patterns by socio-religious groups as presented in Tables 3.3 and 3.4 goes on to reinforce that socio-religious disparities in enrolment continue to hold. However, the gaps between the non-scheduled, non-OBCs (Others) and the OBCs have begun to narrow down in several states such 49

Table 3.3  GER for men and women by state/UTs and social groups in India, 2017–18 Men

Women

Social Groups

STs

SCs

OBCs

Others

All

STs

SCs

OBCs

Others

All

J&K Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttarakhand Haryana Delhi Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Manipur Mizoram Tripura Meghalaya Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Odisha Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra

20.79 # # # # # 17.32 # # # 37.02 31.02 36.11 16.88 7.73 12.11 26.88 14.20 9.38 8.61 17.95 13.40 6.76 39.39

33.07 22.12 15.40 40.18 10.17 5.88 24.76 17.82 12.96 # # # # # 19.26 # 22.85 20.13 19.84 10.17 19.35 17.26 21.81 37.30

41.66 44.12 21.01 31.76 28.63 47.43 39.45 20.20 21.42 25.82 #

45.91 45.42 31.26 43.02 31.28 46.21 49.36 39.66 37.36

39.44 35.09 23.37 40.22 25.43 34.75 35.33 23.30 22.24 27.19 34.87 29.45 42.14 16.67 14.29 13.53 21.78 22.91 19.67 18.70 22.81 20.71 18.69 36.27

21.63 # # # # # 17.14 # # # 26.67 24.51 23.30 17.67 5.97 17.14 13.45

35.90 21.49 21.38 26.64 18.96 # 26.06 13.75 2.86 # # # # # # # 13.75 14.23 18.46 10.98 12.64 15.61 12.34 14.42

24.20 55.29 31.05 30.31 25.06 # 22.55 18.50 10.79 # # # 28.08 # # # 16.62 15.51 19.61 12.65 13.94 17.80 16.82 30.90

39.23 41.27 38.54 38.22 35.30 55.01 43.69 40.39 33.61

34.17 38.47 29.76 34.48 28.67 39.59 26.36 22.14 11.54 20.51 25.01 24.46 25.87 18.88 17.70 16.73 13.75 17.50 16.22 12.05 13.54 16.17 15.73 25.90

47.96 # 12.75 # 20.82 28.79 21.75 25.87 23.98 19.93 17.87 31.74

# # # # 19.94 # 20.08 23.21 39.60 27.13 52.06 38.31 25.78 38.56

5.74 5.17 10.31 5.83 5.79 7.04

8.75 # # # 18.17 # 11.65 19.74 33.65 26.99 33.44 28.89 20.75 30.36

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50

States/UTs

# 9.06 # # # # # 20.22 18.57

# Negligible record in the sample. Source: NSSO 2019.

27.65 21.55 # 34.31 32.86 40.74 # 36.53 21.16

30.31 29.88 # 32.07 44.00 34.71 # 38.52 27.21

31.06 32.13 30.07 63.23 # # 20.63 33.34 34.68

29.35 27.18 27.74 38.79 40.20 37.61 24.34 35.34 27.01

# 16.13 # # # # # 8.49 11.61

23.30 13.53 # 23.98 29.35 # 37.93 17.14

24.25 23.45 # 41.29 33.20 51.97 # 21.01 21.73

33.06 28.27 # 65.50 # # 39.48 29.33 31.38

24.65 21.95 36.58 44.92 32.65 51.96 39.30 25.14 22.22

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Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Goa Kerala Tamil Nadu Puducherry A&N Islands Telangana India

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Table 3.4  Gross enrolment ratio of Muslims and others by gender, 2017–18 (%) States/UTs

J&K Himachal Pradesh Punjab Chandigarh Uttarakhand Haryana Delhi Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Manipur Mizoram Tripura Meghalaya Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Odisha Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Goa Kerala Tamil Nadu Puducherry A&N Islands Telangana All pop.

Male GER

Female GER

Muslim

Others (Excluding Muslim)

All

Muslim

Others (Excluding Muslim)

All

44.10 ng.spl.

31.95 35.78

39.44 35.09

34.00 ng.spl.

34.49 38.87

34.17 38.47

ng.spl. ng.spl. 12.21 9.07 ng.spl. 31.36 10.33 11.33 ng.spl. ng.spl.

23.43 50.35 43.85 27.03 38.18 35.71 26.47 24.22 27.85 35.60

23.37 51.87 40.22 25.43 34.75 35.33 23.30 22.24 27.19 34.87

ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. 5.97 11.36 7.20 ng.spl. ng.spl.

29.57 53.97 36.40 31.25 45.93 28.52 25.14 12.58 20.51 25.39

29.76 53.97 34.48 28.67 39.59 26.36 22.14 11.54 20.51 25.01

ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. 11.60 18.57 12.50 ng.spl. ng.spl. 12.95

29.38 44.30 16.67 14.16 13.70 26.71 25.07 20.97 18.81 23.01 21.14

29.45 42.14 16.67 14.29 13.53 21.78 22.91 19.67 18.70 22.81 20.71

ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. ng.spl. 6.12 11.35 9.41 ng.spl. ng.spl. 11.74

24.10 26.83 18.76 19.83 18.17 17.45 21.30 17.96 11.87 13.22 16.44

24.46 25.87 18.88 17.70 16.73 13.75 17.50 16.22 12.05 13.54 16.17

5.66 22.44 20.49

19.69 37.91 29.99

18.69 36.27 29.35

7.01 16.39 23.28

16.40 27.25 24.81

15.73 25.90 24.65

20.12 ng.spl. 31.51 42.47 ng.spl. ng.spl. 28.90 18.16

28.40 27.93 41.50 38.92 36.29 23.59 36.90 28.53

27.18 27.74 38.79 40.20 37.61 24.34 35.34 27.01

14.56 ng.spl. 21.29 37.14 ng.spl. ng.spl. 10.64 12.75

22.82 37.61 53.70 32.47 56.63 39.96 27.43 24.02

21.95 36.58 44.92 32.65 51.96 39.30 25.14 22.22

Source: NSSO 2019.

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as Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Himachal, Haryana, Assam, Odisha, Andhra and Karnataka; in several others, the OBCs have recorded higher GER than that of the ‘Others’, namely Delhi, West Bengal and Telangana. In this context, it may not be out of place to suggest that ever since the backward class movements have successfully impacted the legislatures and parliament for reservation in educational institutions and employment, the growth of OBC enrolment has been spectacular. However, it needs to be examined as to why in several states that have had a long history and deeply entrenched caste-based discriminations and feudal social relations, the enrolment gaps between the ‘Others’ and OBCs, on the one hand, and that of between the scheduled and the ‘Others’ continue to remain significantly wide in the favour of the ‘Other’. Enrolment among the SC women was found to be significantly lower than the all India average of 22 per cent. The situation among scheduled tribe women was almost lower by half of the all-India average. The lowest GER among the SC women was observed in Bihar at an abysmally lower level of 2.86 per cent. It was also found to be below all-India average in UP, Chhattisgarh, MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. All other states from the south have done comparatively much better than the states of the north, although the highest GER among the SC women was reported from J&K. Rajasthan and Uttarakhand among the north Indian so-called Hindibelt states have also reported significantly higher GER than that of the average for the SC women as well as that of all populations taken together. Uttarakhand though has a much smaller SC population than the rest of India. Punjab, which has the highest percentage of SC population, reported significantly lower enrolment among the men, but their women counterparts have done remarkably better with GER at 21.4 per cent. In Haryana too, SC women have reported higher GER than that of men. Maharashtra, which had seen strong Dalit movements, has shown a remarkably high gender gap, with men reporting GER over 37 per cent as opposed to 14.4 per cent for women. The gender difference for the SC population was observed to be in favour of women in J&K, Telangana and Andhra, while it was near parity in Odisha, MP, Himachal, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Among the scheduled tribes, women of Arunachal Pradesh had achieved the highest GER in India, followed by some of the other predominantly tribal preponderant states in the north-east. Jammu and Kashmir also reported high GER among its ST women. The tribe preponderant states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, MP, Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat, which constituted the mid-Indian tribal belt of India, present a contrasting picture than that of the north-east, whereby almost all reported women enrolment way below the all-India average for the STs. It will be illuminating to note that although tribal societies have been reported to be significantly more gender equal than others, largely owing to absence of structural restrictions and institutions, akin to those found among the caste societies in India, one may observe two contrasting contexts. First, the 53

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contexts represented by the north-eastern states, where gender differentials are found to be low but widening, with a few exceptions such as those in Arunachal, Manipur and Assam. The other context is presented by the mid-Indian tribal belt states that have seen massive influx of the non-tribal populations and consequently have undergone social transformation that has brought them structurally similar to the classical Hindu caste-based social formations. In these states, the gender disparities are widening, while the levels of enrolment among women remain low but changing very sluggishly. GER is observed to be over 30 per cent among the non-scheduled, nonOBC men and women in almost all the states and UTs. Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and Gujarat among the major states reported much below the all-India average. Table 3.4 presents GER for men and women among the Muslim populations for 2017–18. In general, Muslims are found to be having lower enrolments than the scheduled castes and tribes. The highest GER was observed in Tamil Nadu for the women and in J&K for the men followed by Rajasthan, Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala. In Rajasthan, however, the enrolment among Muslim women was observed to be one of the lowest, while the gender gap was one of the highest. Gujarat reported very low GER for Muslim men and women in higher education.

Poverty and enrolment Poverty has been identified in terms of its impact on enrolment and capability deprivation (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2011). Dubey in his study of determinants of post-secondary enrolment has comprehensively examined the significance of households with respect to the type of work and income for urban and rural populations using three rounds of NSSO data (Dubey 2009). He observes that GER among women from poor households was an insignificant 2.53 per cent in 1993–94, which marginally increased to 2.21 per cent in 2004–05. On the contrary, it declined from 4.86 per cent to 3.46 per cent for men. The decline among poor men was even sharper in urban areas. In the rural areas, GER in higher education for women from the same consumption category was recorded at 1.28 per cent, a marginal increase while the same declined for their men counterparts. The rural nonpoor households recorded an increase from 3.06 per cent in 1993–94 to 7.68 per cent in 2004–05. The comparable figure for the urban women from the non-poor category, which stood at 26 per cent increased to 32.6 per cent during the same period. Apparently, the level of GER for the urban non-poor females was not only high but comparable with their men counterparts as the gaps were found to be low and declining. In 2017–18 GER for women from poor households increased to 13.5 per cent, while those for men at 17.7 per cent (Table 3.5). The highest GER among the poor women was observed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala followed by J&K, while the lowest among the major states was found in Jharkhand, 54

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Table 3.5  GER for men and women by poor and non-poor, NSSO 2017–18 (%) State

J&K Himachal Pradesh Punjab Chandigarh Uttarakhand Haryana Delhi Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Manipur Mizoram Tripura Meghalaya Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Odisha Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Goa Kerala Tamil Nadu Puducherry A&N Islands Telengana Total

Men

Women

Non-Poor

Poor

Total

Non-Poor

Poor

Total

43.96 35.73

33.75 33.96

39.44 35.09

42.27 51.74

24.94 21.36

34.17 38.47

13.93 8.34 28.06 15.93 24.08 23.45 14.94 17.33 neg.spl. 30.69

23.37 51.87 40.22 25.43 34.75 35.33 23.30 22.24 27.19 34.87

44.93 neg. spl. 45.44 35.94 51.81 37.27 28.74 15.85 30.60 32.09

14.03 28.27 24.21 21.10 25.65 13.44 14.70 7.74 neg.spl. 14.14

29.76 53.97 34.48 28.67 39.59 26.36 22.14 11.54 20.51 25.01

43.13 56.23 27.27 20.31 22.43 30.63 36.35 25.98 25.72 30.72 30.90

11.39 28.94 3.77 8.29 2.39 13.49 8.49 11.81 9.94 13.43 9.47

29.45 42.14 16.67 14.29 13.53 21.78 22.91 19.67 18.70 22.81 20.71

32.77 31.98 29.52 29.23 24.88 19.81 28.33 24.69 16.16 17.18 24.60

13.72 20.43 4.84 8.80 6.96 7.52 7.12 4.89 6.57 9.08 6.55

24.46 25.87 18.88 17.70 16.73 13.75 17.50 16.22 12.05 13.54 16.17

21.44 43.25 34.94

15.19 27.54 22.00

18.69 36.27 29.35

22.37 33.79 34.41

8.92 16.86 12.77

15.73 25.90 24.65

34.13 39.42 42.49 48.74 51.69 39.96 39.70 34.73

18.66 14.24 32.60 27.76 22.23 neg. spl. 28.41 17.67

27.18 27.74 38.79 40.20 37.61 24.34 35.34 27.01

30.36 46.56 51.78 31.87 64.60 45.39 31.93 29.79

11.09 2.30 33.66 34.08 25.21 31.41 17.47 13.49

21.95 36.58 44.92 32.65 51.96 39.30 25.14 22.22

31.12 neg.spl. 52.16 34.84 43.68 44.14 30.25 27.43 36.86 37.99

Note: Due to very small sample size a few states have been excluded in this table. Source: NSSO 2019.

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Odisha, MP, WB, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. It would be instructive to note that these states comprise the mid-Indian tribal belt. Women from non-poor households showed very high GER in Puducherry, Himachal and Kerala, where it was over 50 per cent. The average for India stood at around 30 per cent for non-poor women in 2017–18. The comparable figure for their men counterparts stood at around 35 per cent. While there are significant inter-state variations, both among the men and women for the poor and non-poor households, one may underline that poor households continue to lag behind significantly and more so the women. The possibility of breaking through the vicious circle of poverty through higher levels of access to higher education, which could bring socio-economic mobility among the poor in general and women in particular looks still a distant proposition.

First-generation learners in higher education Enrolment of first-generation learners (hereinafter FGL) in higher education can be a very encouraging indication of how family and government’s policies could help ensure sustained transition through school education and further on to higher education. Poor and marginalized social groups in general and women in particular tend to suffer from early and frequent dropouts from education, more so when parents and elder siblings are uneducated. Tables 3.6 and 3.7 present a summary of the share of women Table 3.6  Per cent share of women FGL to total enrolled by categories 2017–18

Categories Areas Rural Urban Million cities Non-million urban Social STs SCs OBCs Others Muslims Non-Muslims Economic Non-poor Poor All

FGL

Non-FGL

23.97 9.47 6.85 12.49

76.03 90.53 93.15 87.51

23.79v 24.51 19.05 10.31 23.99 16.32

76.21 75.49 80.95 89.69 76.01 83.68

12.43 28.72 17.02

87.57 71.28 82.98

Source: NSSO 2019.

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Table 3.7  First-generation learners in higher education by states/UTs, 2017–18 States/UTs J&K Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttarakhand Haryana Delhi Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Arunachal Pradesh Manipur Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Odisha Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Telangana India

% Woman FGL to Total Enrolled 25.28 10.72 21.22 13.1 13.22 12.13 24.07 20.25 25.65 15.58 15.88 9.37 18.17 13.06 21.03 13.35 13.26 11.47 12.1 24.02 16.82 3.61 15.07 23.72 17.02

% Woman FGL to Total FGL 37.7 48.4 48.3 56.0 39.8 62.9 39.6 38.7 27.9 37.3 42.6 32.8 41.8 36.8 41.2 41.7 38.0 40.7 38.7 34.8 35.8 34.7 39.9 34.4 39.1

Note: Several states and UTs had to be dropped due to very low count of FGL men and women in the sample. Source: NSSO 2019.

FGL in higher education by various socio-economic characteristics and that for the states and UTs, respectively. The rural areas where the bulk of FGLs lived show a higher share of women FGL than urban and million cities. Similarly, the share of women FGLs among the socially and economically marginalized and poor is larger than that of the non-scheduled, non-OBCs. The participation of women FGLs in total enrolled also shows promising levels in most of the states. It was observed to be highest in Delhi followed by Uttarakhand, Himachal, Punjab, Manipur, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Manipur, where it is higher than that of the all-India average of pooled sample estimate. It was, however, significantly low in Bihar. The situation in the remaining states was closer to the all-India average. It may be construed that the 57

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conditions influencing access and increased enrolment have percolated amongst the larger sections of erstwhile-deprived populations. The role of various government schemes initiated by both the central and the state governments have had desirable outcomes, though this needs further investigation. The socio-economic structural impediments, however, continue to deter similar mobilities in Bihar. The low percentage of women FGL in total women enrolment in Kerala and Assam presents two divergent situations. In the former, the low share is due to an increasingly smaller stock of FGLs in Kerala due to progressive and sustained enrolment, while in the latter, it may be due to lower levels of access due to various reasons. The NSSO data sets 2017–18 do not cover FGLs in sufficient numbers and need to be analysed comprehensively in order to address the above hypothesis.

Programmes/disciplines and women enrolment – diversification or stereotypes? In this section, we take a look at the profile of disciplines and programmes in which women are enrolled in higher education. We have made use of two data sources – namely the NSSO 2017–18 as well as the AISHE 2019–20 (MOE 2020). The latter provides a much elaborate categories of disciplines and programmes ranging from the certificate, diploma, degree and research. Scholars are of the view that while enrolment among women in higher education has increased manifold during the past two decades, they continue to have poor representation in technical and vocational courses. It has been argued that in case of women, in addition to the gender disparities in higher education, societal biases enter in yet another form. Women are disproportionately represented in ‘soft options’ – arts and humanities as compared to sciences and other technical fields, such as engineering and skill-oriented courses (Raju 2009; Chanana 2007). Using the NSSO data sets for 1993–94, 1999–00 and 2004–05, Raju finds that in 1993–94 a significantly large share of women enrolled across social categories attended diploma/certificate courses. Their proportion was not very disparate in comparison to the men. However, one may observe noteworthy decline among both men and women as their share increased in degree levels programmes in 2004–04. This trend was the same for all social categories, with ST women showing greater decline. She further observes that women enrolment in technical courses, including medicine and management, is a redeeming feature of the direction of change that may become more pronounced in years to come. Table 3.8 suggests a mixed picture of the discipline-wise pattern of enrolment among women, which also varies between the urban and rural areas and significantly in large metropolitan cities. It may be observed that in rural areas, men and women continue to exhibit the classical pattern as over 50 per cent of total enrolment is found in humanities, following way behind is science and commerce. Only a little over one-fifth of them have joined 58

Faculty

59

Humanities Science Commerce Medicine Engineering Agriculture Law Management Education Accounts IT/computer courses ITI Voc. Others

Million Plus Cities

Other Non-Million Cities

Urban

Rural

Men

Women

GPI

Men

Women

GPI

Men

Women

GPI

Men

Women

GPI

19.6 15.9 22.0 3.3 24.3 0.7 1.1 3.2 1.3 2.1 4.5

27.4 19.0 23.5 4.3 10.8 0.4 0.9 3.0 2.8 1.0 2.9

1.4 1.2 1.1 1.3 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.9 2.3 0.5 0.7

25.9 21.3 20.1 1.6 18.9 0.7 0.7 2.8 1.7 0.8 3.1

34.0 19.9 15.0 5.7 11.6 0.3 0.9 2.3 3.1 0.8 3.4

1.3 0.9 0.7 3.5 0.6 0.5 1.4 0.8 1.9 1.0 1.1

22.3 18.2 21.2 2.6 22.0 0.7 0.9 3.1 1.4 1.5 3.9

30.5 19.4 19.5 4.9 11.2 0.4 0.9 2.7 3.0 0.9 3.1

1.4 1.1 0.9 1.9 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.9 2.1 0.6 0.8

50.8 20.1 14.1 0.7 6.6 0.9 0.3 0.8 1.6 0.1 1.7

57.3 16.6 12.1 1.2 3.4 0.4 0.2 0.7 3.5 0.3 1.7

1.1 0.8 0.9 1.8 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.8 2.2 2.2 0.9

0.1 1.8

0.0 3.8

0.3 2.1

0.1 2.2

0.1 2.9

0.5 1.3

0.1 1.9

0.0 3.4

0.4 1.7

0.2 2.1

0.1 2.7

0.5 1.3

Source: NSSO 2019.

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Table 3.8  Distribution of men and women in urban and rural areas, 2017–18 NSSO (%)

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technical/vocational courses. Courses such as engineering and education are the next fourth and fifth options for rural women. The picture is different for urban areas in general. The share of urban women registered a significant decline in humanities, giving way to commerce and science, the latter two reporting higher values. The share of total enrolment of women in education remains consistently the same in all areas at 3 per cent, while those in engineering, management and IT courses have entered into the fray, giving some semblance of diversification in the enrolment profile. Commerce has emerged as the second-most popular choice for women in the million plus cities next to humanities and science. A disaggregated profile is possible with the help of AISHE data (Table 3.9). Here we have attempted to develop specialization index for each discipline/programme for women by working out the women–men Table 3.9  Discipline/programme specialization index for women, 2019–20 Discipline/ Programmes

Levels*

All

SC

ST

OBCs Muslims

Administration & Management Agriculture Architecture

(a) (b) (c) (a) (a) (b) (a) (b) (f) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (d) (b) (f) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (g) (a) (b)

0.47 0.93 0.63 0.36 1.17 1.50 1.20 1.71 0.49 0.67 0.77 1.00 1.80 2.35 1.05 1.99 1.71 1.95 1.32 0.43 0.72 5.73 4.76 0.66 0.86 0.92 0.84 0.53 0.86 1.06 1.04 1.20

0.48 0.75 0.60 0.38 0.92 1.24 1.15 1.49 0.16 0.81 0.74 1.01 1.58 1.45 0.77 1.52 1.70 1.34 1.14 0.54 0.78 7.24 5.51 0.75 0.89 0.64 0.52 0.49 0.69 0.73 0.97 0.87

0.48 0.92 0.57 0.69 1.01 0.99 1.06 1.34 0.20 0.66 0.63 0.87 1.27 2.72 1.11 1.41 1.39 1.92 1.67 0.41 0.44 7.51 3.96 0.60 0.61 0.63 0.52 0.61 0.89 0.00 0.91 0.81

0.33 1.09 0.48 0.34 0.97 1.12 1.18 1.74 0.42 0.67 0.77 1.04 1.80 1.57 0.67 1.99 1.73 1.81 1.81 0.45 0.88 5.97 3.77 0.72 0.93 0.69 0.59 0.45 0.75 0.74 0.89 1.16

Liberal Arts & Humanities Business Commerce Design Education

Engineering Fashion Tech Info tech Journalism Law Library sciences

0.43 0.57 0.56 0.70 0.67 0.81 1.48 1.77 0.00 0.50 0.56 0.85 1.61 1.37 1.11 1.87 1.86 1.93 8.58 0.24 0.52 8.31 0.99 7.00 0.53 0.77 0.77 0.52 0.84 0.99 0.99 1.19

Other Minori­ ties 0.39 0.98 0.79 0.83 1.08 1.52 1.10 1.69 7.53 0.63 0.74 1.01 1.86 2.52 1.91 3.27 2.36 2.60 10.04 0.37 1.17 6.63 0.00 0.70 1.03 1.16 0.97 0.70 0.96 0.00 1.03 1.20

NonScheduled, Non-OBCs 0.51 0.94 0.70 0.36 1.34 1.77 1.25 1.86 1.18 0.66 0.79 0.97 1.92 2.76 1.29 2.40 1.77 2.58 0.89 0.37 0.61 5.37 5.07 0.60 0.84 1.05 1.09 0.59 0.95 1.42 1.22 1.51 (Continued)

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Table 3.9  (Continued) Discipline/ Programmes

Levels*

All

Marine & fisheries sciences Medical

(a) (b)

0.95 0.94

Nursing Paramedical Performing Arts Pharmacy Physical education Liberal Sciences Social work Technology Veterinary Vocational Other programmes Research (MPhil/ PhD)

(a) (b) (a) (b) (e) (d) (a) (b) (a) (b) (d) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (f) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (e) (d) (f) (g)

SC

OBCs Muslims

Other Minori­ ties

0.92 1.17 0.87 1.54

1.33 1.10

1.01 1.18

1.45 1.32 1.19 1.41 1.33 0.99 1.12 1.05 1.29 1.21 3.57 3.67 3.92 2.77 1.44 5.05 5.04 4.72 4.46 2.69 63.45 136.89 144.11 190.67 7.54 5.41 6.14 7.41 5.06 2.79 1.01 0.61 0.56 0.80 1.05 1.32 0.72 1.05 1.10 1.21 0.84 0.99 0.95 0.83 0.68 1.27 1.36 1.06 1.19 1.42 0.41 0.52 0.66 0.42 0.24 0.44 0.46 0.44 0.45 0.25 0.48 0.48 0.51 0.45 0.37 1.11 1.04 1.00 1.16 1.29 1.70 1.46 1.28 1.83 1.57 1.15 1.14 1.15 1.06 1.16 1.24 0.95 1.04 1.22 1.04 1.08 1.12 0.71 1.19 0.00 0.42 0.41 0.34 0.44 0.29 0.50 0.49 0.36 0.52 0.48 0.66 0.62 0.81 0.64 0.42 0.74 0.73 0.72 0.67 0.59 0.82 0.84 0.63 0.78 0.77 3.17 2.44 5.02 4.11 1.33 1.69 1.72 0.81 1.81 1.42 1.23 1.24 1.18 1.31 1.56 0.35 0.35 0.50 0.30 0.22 0.39 0.93 0.66 1.19 0.00 0.94 0.77 0.84 1.00 0.71

1.53 1.47 8.34 8.59 19.11 7.82 1.31 1.15 1.12 1.47 0.42 0.32 0.51 1.34 2.25 1.20 1.42 0.00 0.37 0.70 0.68 0.73 0.83 3.84 1.50 0.65 0.28 0.00 1.21

1.54 0.94 4.16 5.38 22.28 4.86 1.44 1.78 0.81 1.36 0.37 0.42 0.51 1.08 1.71 1.21 1.59 0.61 0.42 0.51 0.67 0.80 0.87 1.68 1.67 1.14 0.39 0.19 0.98

0.80 0.75

ST

1.14 0.71

NonScheduled, Non-OBCs

*(a) = Bachelor; (b) = Masters; (c) = PG Diploma; (d) = Diploma; (e) = Certificate; (f)= others; (g) = research Source: MOE 2020.

ratio for each discipline divided by the women–men ratio for total enrolment. The index doesn’t indicate courses that are favoured/opted for by women but informs as to considering the general distribution relative to the availability of seats in various courses and programmes, what is the extent of gender parity inter-se. This index is similar to GPI. In other words, GPI for each discipline/programme is divided by the GPI for total enrolment. The assumption is that if the ratio for a discipline/programme is the same then the index will be equal to parity. The index for socio-religious groups is also presented in the table and by the level of programmes, that is, degree (bachelor and masters), diploma, certificate and research. 61

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Subject/discipline specialization for the non-scheduled, non-OBC women as well as all socio-religious categories shows that some of the conventional areas such as liberal arts/humanities, sciences and commerce, education, medical, nursing, social work, paramedical and library sciences continue to remain in reckoning. However, one may also notice appreciable diversification of the non-scheduled, non-OBC women to areas such as business studies, architecture, administration and management studies, journalism, engineering, information technology, design, legal studies and pharmacy. For the SCs, and STs women besides the conventional courses, the emerging areas of enrolment are business studies, engineering, fashion, information technology, library sciences and legal studies. SC women have predominantly significant presence in Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANM) certificate courses as in also General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) courses. For Muslim women, fashion technology, performing arts, social work, legal studies, pharmacy and information technology are the emerging areas where they outnumber (in certain cases nearly so) their men counterparts. One may also notice indications of women from marginalized socio-­ religious groups having better presence than their men counterparts in master-­level programmes. Should one, therefore, opine that women from such categories find fewer employment opportunities after successfully completing the course and have to spend longer time, energy and resources to compete with men from within their community as well as with women and men outside? Could one see this as a reflection of patriarchal taboo, conjoined with their socio-religious standings in the hierarchical social structure of India? Dubey (2009) is of the view that increased enrolment and diversification in disciplinary programmes among women is a reflection of men joining the labour force earlier than women, thus allowing them longer time particularly in tertiary education. The gender disparities continue to remain there and as such are indications that expanded enrolment of women in tertiary levels is beginning to reverse in urban areas and that their educational life cycle is also getting robust (Husain and Sarkar 2011). On the contrary, Sahni and Kalyan Shankar (2012) suggest that the rising expansion of women in tertiary education coincided with massive systemic expansion; therefore, this has to be seen as an outcome of increased availability of educational institutions. They further point out how the systemic traits are shaping access and more significantly what courses women opt for and where. They ask if women becoming increasingly vulnerable to supply-side forces. Chanana (2007) too points out that the cost of tertiary education comes to women at very high individual costs in the overarching globalized economies driven by privatization of education. While the above observations are relevant and instructive from policy perspectives that may guide development of higher education in India, there is little to deny that women’s participation in higher education has not only increased significantly but has also diversified with respect to subject/skill specializations. However, 62

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gender disparities continue to plague the conventional divide between ‘soft options’ and hard areas of technology and professional courses.

Enrolment expansion and availability of hostels Availability of hostel facilities in universities and colleges has played a significant role in expansion of enrolment in higher education. While evaluating a sample of 1473 colleges for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation, for whom the self-assessment reports were available until 2007–08, it was observed that hostel facilities for students and teachers’ housing among other factors were the distinctive quality parameters of institutions that obtained higher NAAC ratings (Sinha 2009). Dipsita et al. (2021) using the NSSO data from the 75th (2017–18) round have shown that over 21 per cent of rural students hailing from the scheduled tribe background depended on institutions’ hostels while the comparable figures for the OBCs, SCs and ‘others’ were reported to be 38.9 per cent, 15.1 per cent and 24.6 per cent. Students from urban areas too had very high dependence. Hostels just not only facilitate successful and sustained completion of the course but for many are an escape from the poverty and misery of the households located in villages. These acquire even greater significance in the context of women students. Table 3.10 presents hostel intake capacity and per cent of students residing in hostels for men and women for 2019–20. It may be observed that the availability of hostel seats varies across the states. It is difficult to decipher any possible guidelines for setting up hostel capacities. The most reasonable possible criteria could be the share of rural population in the states – larger the size, greater should be the availability of hostel seats. For example, Karnataka has the highest percentage of seats to its enrolment, followed by Gujarat and Punjab. These states do not have the highest share of rural population. On the contrary, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have a very high percentage of rural populations, and they have the lowest percentage of hostel seats relative to their intake. It is intriguing to observe that given the size of hostel intake, most of the states have reported poor utilization barring the city-states of Chandigarh and Delhi. In the remaining states, hostel seats have gone underutilized – indicating sheer wastage of public resources as the paradox of low availability of seats is unmatched by poor utilization. Sahabdeen (2019), based on sample study of colleges from different parts of India, reports that most of the hostel buildings suffer from uninhabitable conditions due to their poor maintenance, lack of infrastructure such as electricity, hygienic toilets, water supply and mess facilities among several other shortcomings. The hostels, particularly those meant for the scheduled communities, also suffer from locational disadvantages as they are invariably found to be located at a considerable distance from the college. There are media reports about castebased segregation of students, even in some of the prestigious medical and 63

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Table 3.10  State-level profile of hostel intake and residing, 2019–20 AISHE State

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Ladakh Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana The DNH & Daman & Diu Tripura Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal All India

% Intake to Total Enrolled

% Residing to Intake

Men

Women

Men

Women

21.0

15.8

77.4

124.6

21.9 17.7 13.1 5.6 12.8 12.3 4.5 11.8 28.9 21.0 20.6 11.3 12.3 40.5 20.1 33.9 neg 7.9 14.0 10.1 14.6 13.9 27.3 28.9 39.5 38.8 11.5 15.7 33.2 18.3 22.6

31.2 16.0 14.3 5.5 18.6 16.4 5.1 7.4 40.2 20.0 23.0 12.1 8.0 47.6 30.1 9.7 neg 8.6 19.2 15.6 12.3 17.9 22.3 29.2 30.7 37.0 12.2 22.5 33.0 27.4 28.3

72.9 80.9 77.0 62.1 94.3 60.6 96.0 65.4 44.3 56.2 49.9 53.6 73.5 54.7 62.1 78.5 26.1 63.9 55.0 91.5 91.9 82.7 71.0 75.3 69.3 55.1 55.6 65.4 55.2 69.3 40.4

73.9 81.8 76.8 54.9 96.5 59.2 87.5 63.2 41.9 53.4 63.5 44.4 64.5 55.1 65.2 83.2 84.6 61.3 53.4 84.2 89.9 79.5 76.7 75.0 73.7 46.1 51.9 41.4 52.2 71.4 51.6

12.0 23.7 10.8 10.8 18.3

9.0 19.1 7.5 8.3 20.2

73.4 62.8 60.7 70.4 59.7

72.1 60.7 58.1 66.5 58.1

Source: MOE 2020.

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professional institutions, and that the quality of services amongst them also differed. The importance of hostels for ushering higher enrolment needs no emphasis. The state and central governments do not seem to be having any comprehensive policies and guidelines in this regard, more so with respect to women in higher education. Given the neo-liberal architecture and emphasis on privatization, there is widespread apprehension that public funded and subsidized hostels will increasingly come under private hands, which will make hostels costly and prohibitive for a larger section of students, particularly women.

Conclusion Expansion in enrolment among women in higher education has been coupled with diversification in subject specialization. The socio-economic and inter-state disparities have also begun to narrow down although the domination of non-scheduled, non-OBCs in technological and professional courses continues to exist. Much of expansion in enrolment in the past two decades has largely taken place due to increased availability of educational institutions, ascribed to participation of the private sector in higher education. The impact of reservations in augmenting greater participation of the scheduled communities and the OBCs has been important, and the government will need to further strengthen the positive discrimination framework. India needs a well-drawn comprehensive policy framework to guide further expansion in enrolment. The recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 have been put in place, but they rely more on participation of private sector in higher education. This will make higher education increasingly prohibitive that may adversely impact the process of socio-economic mobility among the marginalized sections, who can only rely on public-funded educational resources.

References Chakraborty, Uma. 2018. Gendering Caste. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Chanana, Karuna. 2007. ‘Globalisation, higher education and gender changing subject choices of Indian women students’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(7): 590–598. Dipsita, Soham, Debodeep, and Hitesh. 2021. ‘Closed Hostels, Closed Homes: Covid–19 and Women’s Education in India’, Indian Researcher, https:// studentstruggle.in/closed-hostels-closed-homes-covid-19-women-education-inindia/ (accessed on 11 November 2021). Dubey, Amaresh. 2009. ‘Determinants of post–higher secondary enrolment in India’, in Higher Education in India: Issues Related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance (pp. 139–198). New Delhi: UGC. Husain, Zakir and Sarkar, Swagata. 2011. ‘Gender disparities in educational trajectories in India: Do females become more robust at higher levels?’, Social Indicators Research, 101(1): 37–56.

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Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India. Nussbaum, Martha C. 2011. ‘Education and democratic citizenship: capabilities and quality education’, Journal of Human Development, 7(3): 385–395. NSSO. 2019. NSS 75th Round: Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistic & Programme Implementation, GoI. Raju, Saraswati. 2009. ‘Gender differentials in access to higher education’, in Higher Education in India: Issues Related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance (pp. 79–102). New Delhi: UGC. Sahabdeen 2019. ‘Impact of reservation on access and levels of attainment in higher education among the scheduled castes’, Unpublished post–doctoral research thesis submitted to JNU and ICSSR. Sahni, Rohini and Kalyan Shankar, V. 2012. ‘Girls’ higher education in India on the road to inclusiveness: on track but heading where?’, Higher Education, 63(2): 237–256. Sen, Amartya 1999. Development as freedom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Sinha, Sachidanand. 2009. ‘Identification of educationally backward districts’, in Higher education in India: Issues related to expansion, inclusiveness, quality and finance (pp. 56–78). New Delhi: UGC. Sinha, Sachidanand. 2020. ‘Pause and reboot: Reflections on economy, society and polity during COVID–19 global pandemic and lessons for India’, Geography and You, 20(8): 8–18. Thorat, Sukhadeo. 2009. ‘Emerging issues in higher education– Approach and strategy of 11th plan’, in Higher Education in India: Issues Related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance (pp. 1–26). New Delhi: UGC.

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4 ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN FROM DISADVANTAGED GROUPS AND MINORITIES Abdul Shaban, Zinat Aboli and S.K. Md Musharuddin

Introduction Indian women suffer from multiple social and economic deprivations. The economic deprivation and social disabilities deepen as one moves down along caste hierarchy and horizontally to some of the religious groups like Muslims. It is because of this that the ‘intersectionality’ framework has often been used to understand how their ascriptive identities (gender, caste and religion) and class affect their everyday lives. These factors also impair their access to higher education (HE), which is a crucial factor for individual and community mobilities. The women from scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) and those from religious minorities like Muslims and Buddhists (latter largely belong to scheduled castes) are especially adversely placed with regard to higher education vis-à-vis women from other castes and other religious minorities like Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Zoroastrians. The caste and tribe discrimination and disadvantages which shape the access to various social goods, including HE, have been well examined by various studies (Menon 1979; Ahmad 1981; Sachar Committee Report 2006; Basant 2007; Chanana 1993, 2000, 2001; Engineer 1994, 2001; Hasan and Menon 2004, 2005; Jayaram 1990; Manjrekar 2003; Robinson 2007; Kundu Committee Report 2014; Sudhir Commission Report 2016; Shaban 2018). However, access to higher education of women from these communities has received less attention in literature or such studies are scattered under different community frames. In many respects, the issues faced by these communities have not been very different from one another. Challenges for development of Muslims

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-6

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are similar to those faced by SCs and STs. In other words, today, an ordinary Muslim, so also a Muslim woman, suffers from similar kinds of discrimination, which largely originate from religion, as a lower-caste person is faced with (because of caste discrimination). The caste hierarchy within the Muslim community and conservative attitude manifesting through the purdah system further aggravates the access to higher education of Muslim women. In addition, secular factors like burden of poverty, geographies of uneven pattern of availability of higher educational institutions, the lack of choice of stream of education, overcrowded housing spaces, early marriages, lack of expectation of economic return from women’s education by family members, etc., act as barriers to higher education or accelerate early dropouts of women. However, in recent years, Muslim women have seen higher growth in enrolment in HE intuitions. Many argue that this may be because of the increased socio-political shocks from riots to changes in the citizenship and personal laws, which have conscientised the community with regard to HE, while others see it as the impact of general development, both the economic mobility of the community and increased geographic access to HE intuitions. In this regard, the present chapter attempts (a) to examine the share of female population in relation to male within higher education, and trend of enrolment of women from disadvantaged groups like SC and ST and religious minorities (especially Muslims) in HE institutions, (b) to understand their choices of educational streams and (c) to examine the role of factors like geographic access, economic affordability, government affirmative actions (reservation and scholarships), access to technologies and open access educational website, etc., play in enhancing HE among the disadvantaged groups. Since March 2020, COVID-19 has adversely impacted the access to and continuation of HE by disadvantaged groups in various ways while the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which is in the offing, may also in various ways impact the access to HE by women from the disadvantaged groups. The present chapter also briefly examines the impact of COVID-19 and discusses the possible bearing of NEP 2020 on this section of the population. The chapter examines both all-India and state-wise patterns. For this, all-India and state-wise data available from AISHE Reports, Population Censuses, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and other secondary sources have been used. The rest of this chapter is organised as follows. The second section examines the educational attainment of women from disadvantaged communities of India, while the third section analyses the enrolment of women in higher educational institutions. The choice of stream of higher education by women of disadvantaged communities is examined in the fourth section, while the fifth section discusses the factors determining the access of women from these marginalised groups towards HE. The sixth section attempts to understand the implications of NEP 2020 on disadvantaged groups, while the last section concludes the chapter. 68

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

Educational attainments of women from disadvanagted communities We find wide variations in women’s educational attainments by socio-religious categories (SRCs). Women from Muslims, SCs and STs have the lowest attainment of HE. As per the Census of India 2011, only 4.1 per cent of the Muslim male in the 7+ age group had graduation and above levels of education while the share for Muslim women in the same age group was as low as 2.5 per cent (Table 4.1, see also Appendix Tables A1 and A2). Both Muslim males and females show lowest educational attainments among all the major religious communities in the country in all the age cohorts. SC males perform better than Muslim males when we compute educational attainments in 7+ age category. However, both the SC and ST females have been the most deprived groups in terms of attainment of HE in the country.

Table 4.1  Percentage of males and females with graduation and above levels of education, 2011 Males Groups/Age

20–24

25–29

30–34

35–59

60+

7+

All Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain Other Minority SC ST Females All Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain Other religion ST SC

12.2 13.1 7.0 15.3 9.9 10.4 41.3 4.3

15.4 16.3 8.7 19.7 12.9 16.4 52.8 6.5

13.7 14.5 7.5 17.7 10.8 15.5 47.8 6.3

11.1 11.6 6.0 13.6 9.5 12.4 38.8 5.1

6.7 7.0 3.7 9.1 6.5 5.0 24.9 3.4

7.8 8.4 4.1 10.3 6.8 8.5 30.5 3.3

7.9 4.1

9.7 5.2

8.2 4.2

5.7 2.4

2.1 0.7

4.2 2.0

11.4 12.0 6.4 17.2 16.0 11.0 45.7 3.5

12.4 12.9 6.7 21.5 17.5 14.4 53.6 4.6

9.6 9.9 4.7 18.6 12.5 11.3 46.2 3.6

5.7 5.8 2.4 12.0 8.0 5.2 29.7 2.2

1.8 1.8 0.7 4.8 2.8 0.9 8.4 1.5

5.1 5.3 2.5 9.9 7.5 5.4 25.8 1.9

3.3 6.3

3.9 6.3

2.7 4.1

1.1 1.6

0.2 0.3

1.3 2.1

Source: Computed using data from Census of India 2011.

69

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

The SCs have overtaken the Muslim males below 35 years age group in terms of attainment of higher education. However, Muslims have better attainment for 35+ years age groups in the country in comparison to SCs. It denotes that young Muslim males are marginally lagging as compared to SCs and their position is relatively worsening. Muslim females have marginally higher share of graduates than SC/ST females across all age groups. The Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and even Buddhists (both male and female) perform far better than Muslims, SCs and STs. In sum, Census 2011 data reveals that Muslims and SCs and STs in the country are most derived in terms of access to higher education (HE), and gender-wise these are women who have relatively much lower attainment of HE in these groups. The age-group 20–24 years is often associated with completion of undergraduate graduation and/or completion of master’s degree. Therefore, the share of population in this age group over time with graduation and above levels of education will be instructive to understand emerging dynamics among the SRCs. Table 4.2 shows that during 2001–11 Muslims and STs experienced the least growth of the share of population in this age group in HE. In contrast to these communities, Jains (11.1 percentage point change), Christians (5.3 percentage points) and Sikhs (4.9 percentage points) experienced relatively higher changes. Even SCs experienced a change of 3.6 percentage points during 2001–11. Examining gender-wise differences, we find that both males and females among STs experienced the least change, but Muslim females experienced marginally higher change than that of Muslim males. It is not only Muslims, but we find that among Jains, Sikhs and SCs as well the percentage point change for women was higher than that of their respective male counterparts. It is interesting to note that Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists had a higher share of population in the 20–24 age group with graduate and higher levels of educational degrees. This trend, on one hand,

Table 4.2  Percentage of population with graduation and above levels of education in the age-group 20–24 years Groups

SC ST Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain Hindu All India

2001

2011

Difference 2001–11

Persons

Males

Females Persons

Males

Females Persons Males Females

3.6 2.3 4.0 10.9 7.9 7.4 32.3 7.9 7.5

4.7 3.1 4.7 10.0 6.5 8.3 30.6 9.0 8.4

2.4 1.5 3.3 11.9 9.5 6.4 34.2 6.8 6.6

7.9 5.0 7.0 15.3 9.9 10.4 41.3 13.1 12.2

6.3 3.3 6.4 17.2 16.0 11.0 45.7 12.0 11.4

7.1 4.1 6.7 16.3 12.8 10.7 43.5 12.6 11.8

Source: Computed based on data from Census of India 2001, 2011.

70

3.6 1.8 2.7 5.3 4.9 3.3 11.1 4.7 4.3

3.2 1.8 2.4 5.3 3.4 2.2 10.7 4.1 3.8

3.9 1.8 3.1 5.3 6.5 4.6 11.5 5.2 4.8

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

shows the growing empowerment of women across the major religious communities; on the other hand, it also shows that there are some communities like Muslims and STs, including females of those communities, far deprived and lagging in access to HE in the country. An enquiry into the growth differential between the HE attainments in age-group 20–24 years and the population growth rate in this age group will be instructive to understand whether the share of graduate and above population is growing at a higher rate to substantially increase the share of graduate and above levels of education in this cohort. Table 4.3 shows that indeed the graduate and above-educated population in this cohort is increasing very fast in all the religious communities in comparison to the growth rate of population in the age group. However, the growth rate of population with graduate and above levels of education is far higher in those communities which have lower base of such educated population. SCs, STs and Buddhists in this regard stand out. These communities have experienced higher growth of graduate and above-educated population in this age group for both males and females. However, the growth rate of females with graduate and above levels of education in these communities has been far higher than males in these respective communities. In fact, except Christians, all other communities experienced higher growth of females with graduate and above levels of education. This trend establishes two important points: (a) though Muslims, STs and SCs have a far lower share of graduates and above-level educated

Table 4.3  Growth (%) of population and population with graduation and above levels of education in 20–24 years age group, 2001–11 Socio-Religious Categories

SC ST Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain Other Religious Communities Hindu All India

Population Growth (%)

Growth (%) of Population with Graduation and Above Levels of Education

Persons

Males

Females

Persons

Males

Females

34.9 39.1 39.5 10.9 14.5 18.3 –6.2 37.5

36.7 41.7 37.6 11.0 14.3 16.6 –9.2 39.5

33.0 36.6 41.5 10.8 14.8 20.1 –2.8 35.7

169.0 150.8 134.0 64.8 85.0 71.8 26.2 74.4

130.3 124.8 107.5 70.3 74.2 47.3 22.7 50.3

247.8 200.9 174.6 60.5 93.1 105.9 29.8 114.5

22.1 24.1

22.6 24.3

21.5 23.9

94.1 94.6

78.7 79.7

115.9 115.0

Source: Computed based on data from Census of India 2001, 2011.

71

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

population, their population in the younger age with this level of education is growing at a higher rate and may catch up, in coming decades with the educationally advanced communities like Jains, Christians and Hindus, and (b) the growth rate of females with higher education degrees is also rising very fast and much higher than males in all the communities, except among Christians, and this also indicates that women will be on par with the male in the long run with respect to attainment of HE in all the communities. We have shown above that the share of females with graduation and above level of education among the disadvantaged group is far lower than not only males in advantaged groups but also males within those disadvantaged groups. In this regard, it will be instructive to examine the situation of females of disadvantaged groups across the states and whether there are some correlations between the share of population of these disadvantaged communities in those states and share of female population in younger age group with graduate and higher levels of education. Data presented in Table 4.4 shows that the situation of the females of disadvantaged groups like STs, Muslims and SCs is relatively worse across the states and union territories. However, females of these communities are performing much better in southern and western states than states of north and north-eastern India. In the latter group of states, even the performance of advantaged communities is lower than their counterparts in southern and western states. While examining the relationship between the share of population in major states/UTs of India and percentage of females with graduation and above levels of education in the age-group 20–24, we find that it has a negative relationship for all the three disadvantaged groups SCs, STs and Muslims (Figure 4.1). This indicates importantly that community diversities are very useful for educational development of females. The more the population of one specific community is concentrated, the more rigid their social norms often become against women. This is also true for Muslimconcentrated areas in the cities, where the community conservative practices compromise the educational mobilities of women. In the diverse community setup, the possibilities remain open to learn from practices and openness of other communities, which get compromised in same-community concentrated areas.

Enrolments of women in higher educational institutions As per the AISHE report 2019–20 (MOE 2020), there were a total of about 1,043 universities, 42,343 colleges and 11,779 stand-alone institutions of higher education in India in 2019–20. Out of these 1,019 universities, 39,955 colleges and 9,599 stand-alone institutions provided data related to enrolment of students and teachers of various communities working in these institutions. AISHE has been publishing such data, and now these data are available for consecutive years. The data relating to the share of students in the HE institutions are presented in Table 4.4. The table shows that where, 72

Table 4.4  Percentage of females with graduation and above levels of education in the age-group 20–24 years by states/UTs, 2011 States

STs

Muslim

Christian

Sikh

Buddhist

Jain

OM

Hindu

All

6.3 — 9.9 —

3.3 4.9 6.0 7.4

6.4 15.3 12.6 4.3

17.2 9.0 21.5 6.0

16.0 23.3 23.8 8.1

11.0 6.7 12.4 4.2

45.7 — 40.2 7.9

3.5 5.0 15.7 8.9

12.0 10.4 13.9 7.3

11.4 10.5 13.9 6.9

3.0 1.3 12.7 4.0 9.6 8.9 11.3 7.1 5.6 8.0

3.3 1.8 — 2.0 2.5 2.4 10.5 3.2 — 9.0

1.7 2.9 7.4 11.0 8.8 5.3 9.8 4.0 2.0 4.6

2.0 9.6 21.2 11.0 16.2 27.4 30.5 17.9 20.7 14.0

19.0 18.3 44.1 32.7 50.0 28.6 26.7 22.8 17.7 18.8

6.0 8.5 35.8 13.8 4.2 30.0 24.0 9.9 18.9 13.7

42.4 32.9 70.5 51.3 48.1 28.6 33.3 48.5 60.8 43.7

7.5 2.3 0.0 1.2 0.0 — 9.1 24.0 19.2 2.5

6.3 5.1 27.5 5.9 7.4 7.9 20.5 10.0 17.5 15.3

4.6 4.8 28.9 6.2 7.7 7.9 21.6 9.8 16.6 15.1

5.1 2.5 7.0 16.8 — 4.4 9.3 10.0 5.8 18.8

2.7 3.2 5.2 7.7 9.8 1.5 3.4 8.1 5.4 6.1

9.9 5.0 8.2 13.4 9.7 6.8 8.1 2.7 2.6 4.4

10.3 8.8 26.8 29.4 50.0 18.7 32.6 8.1 5.6 6.6

27.7 27.9 32.7 32.1 — 27.3 31.4 25.0 7.2 30.0

12.3 9.7 15.3 21.6 — 12.7 11.3 9.1 8.3 0.8

53.8 41.9 28.4 41.8 0.0 49.4 44.0 35.4 53.8 0.0

1.7 2.9 13.2 33.0 — 1.5 14.9 8.5 5.2 4.3

13.6 7.8 13.0 28.2 35.7 7.7 13.9 10.7 9.9 11.0

11.3 6.8 12.7 23.4 9.9 8.0 13.5 8.7 5.9 6.1 (Continued)

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

73

India A&N Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh D&N Haveli Daman and Diu Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram

SCs

Table 4.4  (Continued) SCs

STs

Muslim

Christian

Sikh

Buddhist

Jain

OM

Hindu

All

Nagaland NCT of Delhi Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal

— 12.3 2.7 13.5 5.5 3.9 3.6 10.7 3.0 6.4 11.5 3.5

8.8 — 1.3 — — 3.7 9.2 4.5 2.0 4.5 18.1 1.9

2.5 11.4 5.1 18.4 5.9 3.2 7.2 14.5 1.6 6.6 7.3 2.6

8.8 33.3 3.9 28.2 5.4 20.1 7.2 27.5 3.6 18.4 26.9 6.9

18.9 40.9 24.6 66.7 14.0 11.3 6.5 25.7 6.7 21.3 21.4 24.8

9.9 31.8 6.8 36.8 11.7 14.7 10.2 29.7 2.1 11.4 17.1 10.3

44.9 62.0 34.3 50.0 56.9 47.5 7.7 47.5 21.4 52.6 64.8 45.9

3.7 44.9 1.5 0.0 13.6 12.7 7.5 21.3 9.9 19.5 20.9 1.7

8.0 27.9 6.7 23.9 19.8 9.0 9.6 17.9 4.6 13.5 23.6 9.1

8.7 26.4 6.5 23.8 16.0 8.9 9.4 18.3 4.2 12.2 21.3 7.1

Note: OM: other minorities. Source: Computed using data from Census of India 2011.

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

74

States

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

% of female with HE in 20-24 years age-group

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0

10 20 30 40 50 % of population of communities to the total population of the states SCs

STs

Muslims

Linear (SCs )

Linear (STs)

Linear (Muslims)

60

Figure 4.1  The relationship between percentage of population of communities in states/UTs and percentage of females in the age-group 20–24 years with graduation and above levels of education, 2011.  Source: Based on data from Census of India 2011.

because of the constitutional guidelines, the share of the students from SCs and STs and OBCs has been closer to the shares of their population to the total population of the country, but the share of Muslim students enrolled in these institutions is far lower than that the share of Muslims in the country. This data shows that Muslims are emerging as an educationally disadvantaged group, and the gap between other disadvantaged groups like ST, SCs and OBC and Muslims is widening faster in this regard. Muslims, as per Census 2011, constitute 14.2 per cent of the total population, but their share in total students enrolled in the HE institutions was only 2.5 per cent in 2010–11, which has risen to 5.5 per cent in 2019–20. The share of SCs, STs and OBCs has also experienced growth, but it was much closer to their share of population. The enrolment share also shows that females across the communities and across the last ten years have almost performed as well as males in the respective communities. However, the gross number of enrolment of women students has been lower than the number of male students. Notwithstanding this, if one computes the change in absolute number between 2010–11 and 2019–20 in the number of male and female enrolments, one finds that female enrolment has experienced far higher change than male enrolment (Table 4.5). 75

Table 4.5  Share (%) in enrolment of students of various groups in higher education in India, 2011–20 Year

Scheduled Caste

Scheduled Tribe

Other Backward Classes

Muslim

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 Difference (2010–20)

11.2 12.2 12.8 13.1 13.5 14.0 14.4 14.4 14.8 14.5 3.4

11.0 12.2 12.8 13.1 13.4 13.8 14.1 14.4 15.0 14.8 3.9

11.1 12.2 12.8 13.1 13.5 13.9 14.3 14.4 14.9 14.7 3.6

4.5 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.2 5.2 5.5 5.5 1.0

4.3 4.5 4.3 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.2 5.2 5.6 5.7 1.4

4.4 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.2 5.2 5.5 5.6 1.2

27.0 29.6 30.7 32.0 32.6 33.6 34.4 34.8 36.0 36.7 9.7

28.3 30.7 31.9 32.8 33.3 34.0 34.6 35.2 36.7 37.3 9.0

27.6 30.1 31.2 32.4 32.9 33.8 34.4 35.0 36.3 37.0 9.4

2.5 3.8 4.0 4.3 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.2 5.3 2.8

2.5 4.1 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.7 4.9 5.2 5.3 5.6 3.0

2.5 3.9 4.2 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.9 5.0 5.2 5.5 2.9

Year

Other Minority Communities

Persons with Disability

India (All Count)

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

1.1 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.9 2.1 2.1 0.9

1.4 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 1.2

1.2 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.3 1.1

0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1

0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0

0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0

15,466,559 16,173,473 16,617,294 17,495,394 18,488,619 18,594,723 18,980,595 19,204,675 19,209,888 19,643,747 3,470,274

12,033,190 13,010,858 13,535,123 14,840,840 15,723,018 15,990,058 16,725,310 17,437,703 18,189,500 18,892,612 5,881,754

27,499,749 29,184,331 30,152,417 32,336,234 34,211,637 34,584,781 35,705,905 36,642,378 37,399,388 38,536,359 9,352,028

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 Difference (2010–20)

Source: Computed based on data from AISHE Annual Reports, MHRD 2014, 2019, MOE 2020.

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

76

Male

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

The community-wise differentials between male and female enrolment in HE institutions are further illustrated using Figure 4.2. The figure shows that where the OBCs and SCs have experienced a far higher rise in the number of male and female students, Muslims (both male and female) despite being at a far lower level in the initial year have a very flat trend in growth. However, the silver lining for the disadvantaged groups has been that the share of females in enrolment has increased, and now they constitute either equal or even more than the share of males of their respective communities in HE institutions (Table 4.6). Among the Muslims, SCs and STs, the share 8000000 7000000 6000000 5000000 4000000 3000000 2000000 1000000 0 Male

Female

Male

Female

Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe 2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

Male

Female

Male

Other Backward Classes

2014-15

2015-16

Female

Muslim 2016-17

Male

Female

Other Minority Communities 2017-18

Male

Female

Persons with Disability

2018-19

2019-20

Figure 4.2  Enrolment of number of students in higher education by communities, 2019–20.  Source: Based on data from AISHE Annual Reports, MHRD 2012, 2019, MOE 2020.

Table 4.6  Share (%) of female students in total enrolment in higher education across the socio-religious categories, 2010–20 Year

SC

ST

OBC

Muslim

Other Minority

PWD

India

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

43.3 44.5 44.9 46.0 45.6 45.8 46.3 47.4 49.1 49.5

43.0 44.4 44.6 45.6 45.5 46.2 46.9 47.6 49.1 50.3

45.0 45.5 45.8 46.6 46.5 46.6 47.0 47.9 49.2 49.5

43.9 46.9 46.7 46.4 46.5 46.8 47.3 48.9 49.3 50.2

49.2 54.0 55.2 54.2 54.3 53.5 54.2 55.5 54.3 54.4

50.9 43.3 47.4 39.6 45.9 46.6 42.4 42.6 43.9 48.5

43.8 44.6 44.9 45.9 46.0 46.2 46.8 47.6 48.6 49.0

Source: Based on data from AISHE Annual Reports, MHRD 2021, MOE 2020.

77

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

of women has experienced considerable growth during 2010–11–2019–20. The gap between males and females was higher in these communities in 2010–11, but in 2019–20 it came closer to being equal. In 2019–20, the share of females enrolled in HE institutions was 49.5 per cent for SCs, 50.3 per cent for STs, 49.5 per cent for OBCs, 50.2 per cent for Muslims and 48.5 per cent for persons with disabilities. As a result, the share of female students at the all-India level in HE institutions was 49.0 per cent. There are wide variations among states/UTs in the share of female students in HE institutions (Table 4.7). In 17 states/UTs, their share is less than 50 per cent. For SC females, it is less than 50 per cent in 22 states/UTs, and in this regard Bihar, Odisha, Gujarat, Jharkhand, MP and Rajasthan are lagging far behind. For ST females, 17 states (and UTs) have a share of less than 50 per cent and the state and UTs in which ST females are more disadvantaged are Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Tripura, Maharashtra, Chandigarh Andhra Pradesh Puducherry and Delhi. OBC females have a share less than 50 per cent in 21 states/UTs, and states with higher deprivation for OBC females are Mizoram, Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Bihar, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh. Muslim females have less than 50 per cent of a share in 25 states/UTs, and the states/UTs of special concern in this regard are Haryana, Punjab, Mizoram, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, which recorded share of Muslim female less than 40 per cent. Tripura, Odisha, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh recorded 40 per cent–45 per cent share of females in total enrolment of Muslims. So far, we have examined the share of population within HE in 20–24 age group for disadvantaged groups. Below we investigate the share of students to the total population in different age groups to understand the relative deprivation of females. Table 4.8 presents this age-specific attendance ratio (%), that is the percentage of population attending educational institutions in an age group to the total population in that age group. The attendance ratio between 18 and 23 years age group among Muslims, ST and SC is far lower than that of Christians, Sikhs and that for all-India level. This shows that a large share of the population of these disadvantaged communities does not attend HE (as this age-category is considered to be related to higher education). Further, in these disadvantaged communities, the female attendance ratio (%) is far lower than their male counterparts. This shows the potential of further increasing the number of students of these communities in HE institutions through encouragement and support to females. Additionally, as presented in Table 4.9, the attendance ratio in rural areas where the bulk of population of disadvantaged groups is located is far lower than that in urban areas. The attendance ratios for the SC, ST and Muslims in rural areas range below 70 per cent of those in urban areas. Further, the female attendance ratio is specifically lower in rural areas for all 78

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

Table 4.7  Share (%) of female students in higher education institutions in various states/UTs in India, 2019–20 State/UTs

All

SCs

STs

OBCs

Muslims

PWD

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Ladakh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal India

55.3

20.8

65.4

57.8

64.7

71.0

46.2 48.4 51.3 44.2 50.2 53.5 51.0 44.3 48.9 52.5 44.0 50.7 54.3 65.5 49.7 50.0 50.2 57.4 76.3 47.5 45.8 51.1 54.5 48.4 54.5 46.8 52.4 51.1 47.8 43.1 49.5 51.6 45.5 50.9 49.5 50.5 49.0

47.1 49.3 49.0 37.6 46.9 51.6 47.8 59.0 50.1 49.3 44.7 50.7 55.8 — 55.7 46.4 49.3 64.8 — 46.7 48.3 49.3 42.3 27.5 43.2 44.6 51.4 54.3 47.0 47.7 51.4 55.2 42.8 51.3 50.8 50.0 49.5

46.4 50.2 52.3 43.5 46.3 57.7 55.6 66.2 46.8 58.9 50.7 40.9 54.9 67.2 47.6 55.2 49.1 61.2 78.5 49.9 43.9 50.9 57.4 49.7 54.9 48.1 46.5 38.7 49.6 60.2 47.4 48.9 43.7 51.2 50.2 50.6 50.3

44.5 40.4 52.8 43.7 38.2 52.9 53.9 47.9 43.0 57.4 41.8 50.4 58.1 0.0 43.7 48.6 51.3 60.3 — 48.6 45.9 55.5 36.8 32.3 46.1 48.1 53.6 49.9 49.6 56.1 49.9 51.9 43.8 52.3 46.8 49.9 49.5

44.4 39.3 49.0 49.1 39.7 54.9 50.6 40.9 38.9 52.8 44.0 27.6 37.5 66.6 50.0 50.1 48.0 58.5 78.5 45.0 50.0 47.8 43.4 31.4 52.8 43.0 47.6 30.7 43.1 34.2 43.8 49.0 41.7 55.6 45.4 52.5 50.2

36.8 35.7 37.1 28.2 26.0 32.6 40.9 33.3 41.3 44.1 48.4 30.1 33.3 — 44.0 33.2 47.9 46.8 — 42.5 39.5 47.6 44.4 34.8 52.8 35.1 54.0 42.1 65.4 33.3 68.2 50.1 20.3 48.2 52.3 32.9 48.5

Source: Based on data provided in table 21(a) & 21(b) MOE 2020.

the disadvantaged groups. For Muslims in 2017–18, it was 13.9 per cent for females and 20.2 per cent for males, and for STs it was 11.7 per cent as against 23.0 per cent for males. Similar was the situation for SC females. This further shows that rural areas need special emphasis for increasing the female attendance ratio. 79

Table 4.8  Age-specific attendance ratio (%) for different age groups for socio-religious categories in India, 2017–18 Age Group

Scheduled Caste

Scheduled Tribe

Other Backward Classes

Muslim

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

18–23 24–29 30–35

27.4 2.4 0.1

20.1 1.3 0.1

24.0 1.9 0.1

24.6 3.2 0.1

14.8 1 0.1

19.9 2.1 0.1

32.9 2.5 0.2

24.2 1.4 0.1

28.7 1.9 0.2

24.0 1.8 0.1

16.9 0.8 0.2

20.5 1.3 0.1

Age group

Christianity

18–23 24–29 30–35

Sikhism

Other Minority Communities*

All India

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

34.6 4.5 0.3

37.8 3.4 0.4

36.2 3.9 0.3

33.2 2 0.1

35.0 2.4 0.4

36.2 3.9 0.3

32.6 2.7 0.2

24.6 1.5 0.1

28.8 2.1 0.2

32.6 2.7 0.2

24.6 1.5 0.1

28.8 2.1 0.2

* Note: Other Minority Communities include Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and others. Source: Based on data from NSS 75th Round, July 2017–June 2018, GOI 2020.

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

80

Male

Rural/ Urban

Scheduled Caste Male

Scheduled Tribe

Other Backward Classes

Muslim

81

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

18.2 26.7

22.2 30.3

23.0 35.5

11.7 33.9

17.6 34.7

29.5 41

20.2 32.9

25.1 37

20.2 29.5

13.9 22.1

17.0 26.0

Rural Urban

25.7 33.3

Rural/ Urban

Christianity Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Male

Female

Both

Rural Urban

31.6 40.2

23.4 64.8

27.6 52.2

31.4 39.5

31.4 47.5

31.4 42.7

29.7 45.1

20.7 37.5

25.5 41.5

28.7 41.9

19.9 35.4

24.5 38.8

Sikhism

Hinduism

Source: Based on data from NSS 75th Round, July 2017–June 2018, GOI 2020.

All India

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

Table 4.9  Age-specific attendance ratio (%) for 18–23 age group for socio-religious categories by rural and urban categories, 2017–18

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

Choices of streams of education by disadvantaged What is the preference of stream of HE of disadvantaged women groups? Is there significant male–female differentials across the gender among these groups? Among the disadvantaged groups and especially among the females of the group, arts stream has been the most preferred choice, followed by science and commerce (Figure 4.3 and Appendix Table A3). The share of those choosing stream of engineering and technology, medicine, IT and computer, journalism, management and law is far lower. However, male students of these SRCs have a marginally higher share in the streams of science, technology, management and journalism in comparison to their female counterparts. This shows that females of these disadvantaged groups opt more towards the streams which are considered softer and less expensive. This mainly happens because the families, due to their limited economic assets, do not invest on female higher education. Overall, arts, science and commerce streams are generally less expensive, and thus a majority of women get limited to these streams of higher education. Additionally, females are generally also not allowed to go to distant places for science, technology, management and journalism courses. The institutions offering these streams are often located in bigger towns. Because of these, the choices of females become quite constrained. Table 4.10 further shows that a share of Muslim females across the educational streams is very small, except in Indian languages and arts. ST females are more concentrated in social sciences, while SC females prefer arts and education. As opposed to Muslims, SC and ST females, OBC females prefer sciences.

40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Female Both Female Both Female Both Female Both Female Both Female Both Female Both All

SC

Arts Engineering & Technology Social Science Indian Language Other

ST

OBC

Commerce Medical Science Management Law

MUSLIM

OM

PWD

Science Education IT & Computer Journalism & Mass Communication

Figure 4.3  Discipline, gender and community-wise distribution of students in higher educational institutions in India, 2019–20.  Source: MOE 2020.

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ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

Table 4.10  Share (%) of females enrolled by major discipline in higher education institutions in India, 2019–20 Discipline

SC

ST

OBC

Arts Engineering and Technology Science Commerce Education Medical Science Social Science Management IT and Computer Indian Language Law Journalism and Mass Communication Others Grand Total

18.1 13.3

7.3 3.5

37.2 38.0

13.0 11.7 16.6 14.8 13.2 10.1 12.1 14.9 11.6 9.2

4.9 3.3 7.4 6.1 10.2 1.9 3.5 9.2 3.2 2.8

13.6 14.6

6.1 5.8

Muslims

OM

PWD

All

6.7 3.6

1.6 2.8

0.2 0.1

4966842 1412984

45.2 38.5 34.2 29.8 32.8 30.7 41.4 33.6 23.5 16.7

5.3 5.3 5.0 4.6 5.4 4.9 4.5 10.0 4.9 3.9

2.4 3.4 2.8 4.2 2.4 3.9 4.3 1.8 2.8 4.1

0.2 0.2 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1

2840052 2298531 1441413 1215412 965907 585452 459419 409908 219370 25986

34.5 37.2

5.9 5.6

3.1 2.6

0.3 0.2

877887 17719163

Source: Computed using data from MOE 2020.

Among the disadvantaged groups, the educational mobility of women is still limited. The share of females pursuing PhDs is far lower than their male counterparts, and it is also lower than that for all India total (Table 4.11 and Appendix Table A4). The share of females, within their respective groups, from Muslim, SC and STs in PhD is only about 41 per cent, 40 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively, as against the all-India-level share of females of 45.3 per cent in PhD programmes. The share of females in these disadvantaged communities is generally higher in undergraduate and postgraduate courses or in certificate programmes.

Factors determining access to higher education There are many social and economic factors which contribute to the disadvantages of the groups like SCs, STs, Muslims, Buddhists and specifically women with regard to access to higher education in India. Some of these factors are discussed below. Affirmative actions SCs and STs of the country have mandated reservation under Articles 341 and 342, respectively, of the Indian Constitution for employment in government and semi-government organisations and public-funded educational 83

Table 4.11  Share (%) of females in higher education by programmes, 2019–20 PhD

MPhil

Postgraduate

Undergraduate

PG Diploma

Diploma

Certificate

Integrated

All

ST SC OBC Muslims OM PWD All India

44.2 40.0 44.7 40.9 56.9 30.2 45.3

52.1 57.2 71.0 41.9 67.4 36.6 62.4

55.1 55.6 58.3 55.9 64.0 58.7 57.0

49.9 50.0 49.8 51.3 54.1 48.3 49.0

50.5 42.6 45.2 45.7 53.3 31.5 45.9

47.7 38.1 30.6 27.2 38.4 39.2 34.4

54.3 54.9 55.9 60.9 43.8 43.4 53.9

43.0 42.9 42.6 44.8 53.6 32.6 43.9

50.2 49.4 49.3 50.1 54.4 48.9 48.9

Note: OM: other minorities. Source: Based on data from MOE 2020.

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

84

Groups

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

institutions. Additionally, there have been well-designed affirmative actions since the independence towards furthering the socio-educational progress by the state and central government of India in terms of scholarship, several other incentives including refunds of travel for appearing for various competitive examinations, funding for training for competitive examinations and provision of coaching and orientation for entrance examinations conducted by various universities. This has considerably helped the SC and ST communities and females among these communities. This may be the reason the enrolment of female students from these communities in higher educational institutions has grown much faster than Muslims. The OBCs have been extended almost to similar support for education and employment as SCs and STs by state and central governments of India since the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendation in 1992. The OBCs which constitute the middle-caste Hindus and middle and lower castes of other religious communities of India have also progressed considerably in higher education since the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations. However, as revealed from the discussion above, the situation of SCs, STs and OBCs is far worse in comparison to higher caste Hindus, and other educationally empowered communities like Jains and Sikhs. The females among SC, ST, OBCs and Muslims are more deprived of access to higher education than males in these communities. The main reasons, among others, for this have been the massive deprivations, which needed enormous time to make the communities and specifically women conscious about their development, their rights, the rise against discrimination and the patriarchy within and outside the communities (against females). As far as Muslims, and Muslim women, are concerned, their educational empowerment currently is just above the STs. SCs in many respects have moved much ahead of the Muslims with regard to higher education. While examining the educational deprivation of Muslims, Sachar Committee Report (2006) points out that, among others, Muslims do not invest in (higher) education as they do not see a return from it because a large share of the community has a perception that they will not get government and non-government employment because of their religion. Additionally, the lack of financial resources and poverty push the younger generation to informal employment. Given the poverty and level of perceived and real discriminations in various spheres of life, Muslims required an affirmative policy and plan to be implemented in the past. However, in the real sense, some affirmative actions started for the community after the Sachar Committee Report (2006), which brought to the fore the massive deprivation of the community. As a consequence, a larger number of scholarships from metric to PhD level was started by the Government of India and also by several state governments. This has helped the community in its educational mobility and specifically women of the community whose share has risen significantly in enrolment in HE institutions. However, the programmes started for empowerment of the Muslim community and women face several challenges which range from (a) inconsistent 85

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

policies related to Muslims from one government to another government on the basis of ideological orientation of the political parties forming the government, (b) a lack of sufficient resources in dealing with the massive demand of the scholarship and educational institutions in Muslimconcentrated areas, (c) a lack of appropriate administrative machinery to take the resources and empowerment initiatives to the individuals and specifically females of the community, and (d) the conservative attitude among some groups of the community (like purdah) with regard to education of women and their employment (Kundu Committee Report 2014). Geographic access Whereas for SCs and OBCs, social and educational deprivations are associated with the caste system in the country, Muslims are faced with factors which can be categorised as both endogenous and exogenous. The exogenous factors are associated with emerging religious discrimination and violence, which has kept this community largely marginalised in higher education (Shaban 2018). Sachar Committee Report (2006) has also very well brought out that Muslim-concentrated districts of the country have lower development of infrastructure, which includes the unavailability of institutions of higher education. As such limited geographic access has been one of the major reasons of the lack of enrolment of Muslim students in higher educational institutions. In fact, the lack of geographic access acts as a major barrier for women, and more so among the Muslims as the community is relatively conservative with regard to women’s education and also fears about the safety of women in case they have to travel to far-off places and to other religious community-dominated areas. STs in the country also massively suffer from a lack of geographic access to higher educational institutions as they are mostly located in areas where infrastructure is poorly developed. This may be the reason they also experience low enrolment and lower share of their population educated with graduate and above level of education. However, it is also a fact that because of affirmative actions, a large number of individuals from the community, as among SCs and OBCs, are able to move to cities and towns which have better-developed higher educational infrastructure. This helps them, and specifically women, in their educational mobility. Belonging and connection with institutions Despite enormous social progress in many respects since the independence, Indian social groups still display more comfort in attending educational institutions where their likes are located. In other words, each of the religious and caste communities still prefers to send their children where teachers from their own castes and religions are also there. This helps individuals of the communities to identify themselves with the educational institutions 86

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

and enrol for education. This perception or attitude of the communities’ demand for religious and caste-diverse teachers in educational institutions attracts the students of all the communities and prevents the feeling of discrimination (real or imagined). However, Indian HE institutions display a massive deficit of teachers from disadvantaged groups, which often faced discrimination in everyday life. As against about 16.6 per cent of the population of SCs in the country (Census 2011), the share of teachers from this community in HE institutions was only 9.0 per cent in 2019–20 (Table 4.12). The STs constitute 8.6 per cent of the total population, and the share of teachers belonging to this community in HE institutions in 2019–20 was only 2.4 per cent. Similarly, Muslims constitute 14.2 per cent of the total population of the country, but there were only 5.6 per cent of the total teachers belonging to the community in HE institutions. This deficit runs across the states and in majority of the states disadvantaged communities have disproportionately lower shares of teachers in comparison to their shares in total populations of the states. The share of female teachers is also lower in comparison to the share of their male counterparts across the religious and caste communities in HE institutions in the country. The share of female teachers of the respective disadvantaged communities is less than 40 per cent in the majority of the states/UTs (Table 4.13). The lack of female teachers discourages many female candidates from enrolling. Conservative families especially avoid sending their females to male-dominated institutions. This shows that there is a need of auditing diversity of the teachers and other employees of the HE institutions for ensuring greater inclusion and participation for all the communities and helping larger enrolment of students from different communities, specifically that of women. Access to ICT technologies, open-access educational websites and COVID-19 Information and communication technologies (ITCs) are transforming access to education. The increasing access to smartphones, laptops/desktops and the internet is revolutionising access to information and knowledge. The middle and higher classes of society are largely benefitting from access to ICT, but the lower class and disadvantaged groups, who traditionally had limited access to information and transformative knowledge, are now also benefitting. The disadvantaged community is benefiting from the access in many ways. First, information availability has become better and cheaper, which improves ICT affordability and saves their limited resources. Second, the information is instantly available. Third, access to open-source lectures and problem-solving videos helps students from marginalised communities not only to understand the issues better but also to overcome the deficiency with regard quality of teachers in far-off places or at the margins of geographic/social locations. The ICT has been beneficial for women who often face restrictions for their geographic mobility. 87

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

Table 4.12  Share (%) of teachers in higher education institutions by socio-religious categories in India, 2019–20 States

SC

ST

OBC

A&N Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh D&N Haveli Daman and Diu Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal All India

3.0 13.8

3.2 1.6

17.7 36.4

4.1

51.4

6.2 5.2 8.3 8.4 5.5 8.5

Muslims

OM

PWD

4.8 4.7

15.8 4.0

0.0 0.2

11.8

2.6

47.1

0.4

12.9 0.7 0.7 6.6 5.5 1.8

24.3 35.7 5.5 28.5 17.4 19.5

12.3 8.8 0.8 2.7 3.0 2.6

3.2 1.2 23.5 6.9 8.1 3.7

0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.3 1.8

8.9 1.3 5.7 6.5 8.9

2.7 2.6 4.6 0.1 3.6

10.3 9.2 18.9 11.5 6.0

6.5 2.0 2.8 1.9 0.8

7.4 24.5 3.5 4.2 3.6

1.0 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.4

4.7 4.2 8.5 3.7 17.8 6.6

3.3 9.2 2.2 0.3 42.2 2.3

3.3 27.5 36.8 38.8 37.8 22.2

57.2 6.6 5.9 13.1 68.9 4.1

5.3 8.3 8.2 32.0 0.0 4.8

0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.3

11.6 5.4 2.2 2.4 2.0 5.0 10.6 7.1 7.9 3.7 11.1 11.3 13.6 8.5 6.8 10.9 9.0

1.6 15.7 67.1 82.7 80.8 2.9 0.7 0.1 3.2 24.1 0.3 3.6 14.7 0.2 0.9 1.5 2.4

22.6 16.6 3.8 4.3 4.6 14.2 56.8 5.2 30.8 23.8 70.9 42.7 11.2 28.2 11.1 9.6 32.1

5.0 2.3 4.4 0.8 1.1 1.0 2.7 1.1 2.9 1.7 3.0 8.8 1.2 6.5 3.4 7.9 5.6

7.7 19.4 67.5 83.2 84.7 1.2 9.7 50.4 3.2 25.2 12.8 3.7 6.5 1.8 2.4 1.2 9.0

0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3

Source: Computed using data provided in table 21(a) & 21(b) MOE 2020.

88

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

Table 4.13  Share (%) of female teachers in respective SRCs in higher education institutions by states, 2019–20 States

All India

SC

ST

OBC

Muslim

OM

PWD

A&N Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh D&N Haveli Daman and Diu Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal All India

45.1 35.7

21.4 41.5

73.3 31.5

48.8 33.4

54.5 34.6

53.4 55.0

15.4

39.5

23.2

51.5

28.3

21.2

53.0

0.0

41.2 21.6 57.6 48.5 49.4 40.1

40.4 16.6 34.5 38.5 23.1 21.7

45.8 45.9 29.6 53.6 53.8 40.0

44.0 18.3 36.7 45.8 34.1 39.6

21.7 17.7 48.3 53.9 28.6 42.9

52.6 58.7 67.8 67.2 52.6 80.0

17.7 13.6 15.0 45.5 0.0 0.0

54.0 54.1 41.0 52.7 47.6

42.6 35.4 36.6 39.9 40.9

42.7 52.1 40.7 35.6 44.7

40.9 57.8 36.4 48.5 44.2

33.0 59.7 38.0 24.8 41.6

65.4 69.8 50.7 63.5 49.0

30.7 42.9 21.6 30.5 22.7

41.7 30.5 45.6 61.5 44.4 41.5

47.5 23.2 33.2 60.4 37.5 34.6

31.2 60.3 31.7 53.5 57.9 38.6

27.2 23.6 45.0 61.3 35.3 37.6

32.3 26.1 46.2 48.8 45.2 43.1

60.1 62.0 67.1 63.8 — 58.3

23.3 10.9 27.1 27.4 — 33.6

41.5 49.2 55.9 46.4 56.3 37.4 43.9 59.5 36.6 41.6 49.3 40.3 37.2 31.9 38.8 34.7 42.5

35.8 36.4 41.3 27.7 27.1 36.6 39.1 55.5 23.1 25.0 45.4 41.2 31.4 22.9 30.4 25.8 36.7

29.0 51.9 64.4 52.4 63.7 48.9 28.9 42.0 24.5 59.0 40.4 22.0 37.6 27.3 37.4 40.9 41.8

37.9 45.8 36.0 18.1 26.8 31.6 46.5 58.4 31.8 45.5 49.4 36.7 34.6 25.7 33.3 23.3 41.0

40.8 23.4 34.2 6.3 22.2 37.1 36.0 30.6 28.0 17.2 42.9 44.3 30.0 30.3 32.1 21.5 36.8

46.1 48.9 64.4 52.4 62.4 60.8 52.2 63.9 54.8 59.0 61.2 65.8 42.7 57.6 55.9 49.2 60.6

24.9 64.3 20.0 0.0 0.0 26.3 13.9 33.6 25.4 0.0 40.3 27.5 14.3 19.7 23.9 17.1 26.3

Source: Based on data provided in table 14 & 15 MOE 2020.

89

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

Although the World Bank data shows that in 2019, 34.4 per cent of Indian population had access to the internet (World Bank 2021), the National Family and Household Survey 2015–16 data shows that only 10.7 per cent of the household in India had access to the internet (Table 4.14). Table 4.14  Percentage of households having access to internet in India, 2015–16 States/UTS

A&N Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh D&N Haveli Daman and Diu Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Delhi Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Telangana All India

Total

16.4 3.8 16.4 11.8 6.1 59.5 13.7 6.2 4.7 18.5 4.0 25.8 28.9 26.1 6.4 10.2 14.4 3.0 13.0 15.9 8.7 7.2 37.4 26.6 19.5 6.1 13.0 40.3 11.4 7.5 7.8 5.2 7.7 26.8 6.9 6.0 10.7

Social Category

Muslims

SC

ST

OBC

Upper Castes

26.5 2.2 18.2 10.6 3.2 37.3 12.6 8.3 2.7 12.8 2.4 13.7 21.8 16.4 3.7 6.5 4.2 9.2 9.7 14.0 6.6 18.7 17.9 22.3 7.8 3.4 10.1 22.8 6.4 5.4 3.6 2.7 3.5 18.5 4.4 2.0 6.7

1.4 0.8 16.1 8.9 3.3 45.0 6.5 1.7 4.2 4.7 0.7 19.9 31.9 12.8 1.8 7.0 4.4 2.9 3.4 7.7 6.3 6.6 38.1 26.7 8.6 2.2 3.9 49.5 3.5 7.1 3.7 5.3 4.9 21.0 2.1 1.4 5.0

21.4 3.4 21.6 11.9 5.8 50.6 14.1 8.6 2.1 15.7 2.1 25.4 28.9 31.0 6.9 10.7 10.6 0.0 12.6 15.6 12.0 18.3 16.0 30.9 16.2 5.6 13.9 37.5 10.6 5.5 9.2 5.6 6.0 24.8 6.9 4.9 9.1

14.4 6.7 15.5 13.7 11.0 72.9 41.1 14.5 9.7 22.6 9.3 38.8 31.7 32.2 19.4 16.9 23.4 14.0 29.4 19.3 9.8 8.4 98.2 47.1 30.0 14.6 6.6 56.8 23.5 11.5 25.8 8.1 16.5 31.9 10.2 17.5 19.6

Source: Computed using data from NFHS 2017.

90

36.1 3.8 12.8 5.8 5.0 37.2 26.9 10.0 2.9 6.6 2.4 11.7 23.0 31.6 7.6 10.7 12.6 2.8 15.0 12.9 7.2 4.1 3.3 14.0 10.6 5.9 13.9 29.1 10.3 13.0 10.3 4.0 5.5 17.9 3.7 5.6 8.7

ACCESS TO HE OF WOMEN

The major disadvantaged groups were SC, ST and Muslims. The disadvantage of these communities ranged across the states/UTs in comparison to upper caste Hindus. This shows that only fractions of the disadvantaged communities may be currently benefiting from ICT and integrated technologies for education (ITE). The desperation of the marginalised communities, and specifically of women to ICT and the internet became much visible during the current COVID-19 crisis, when the delivery of education in higher educational institutions shifted to online platforms. A large section of students from disadvantaged communities face the challenge and many dropped out. Farid (2020) shows that Muslim girls’ dropout rate in Bhiwandi was as high as 60 per cent in each of the classes due to the lack of technology and means to pay the fee. Further, the conservative attitude of families with economic constraints acts as a barrier to access these technologies by females, as smartphones with internet access are considered moral-corrupting devices. As a result, the dropout of Muslim female students from colleges was disproportionately higher than Muslim males. Other studies have shown that the lack of economic affordability of a laptop and the internet compromised the education of many first-generation learners and specifically of women in top-technology institutes in India (Deeksha 2021). This shows that where ICT and the internet have potential to transform educational delivery, the lack of access to them can compromise the quality of education received by students, specifically by women students from disadvantaged communities. Early marriages and religious institutions like purdah Early marriage has been another reason for the dropout of female students of marginalised communities and their not being able to complete their highest levels of education. A majority of Indian females get married between 18–22 years, the age group for undergraduate and postgraduation. The mean year of marriage in India in 2011 was 22.1 (Census of India 2011) and for women in 2020 it was estimated to be about 21 years (Beniwal 2020). However, about 35 per cent of females were getting married below that age group. A majority of such women belong to disadvantaged communities. As a result, many female students drop out of HE, and they are not able to realise their career and academic potential. Women get affected by marriages more as they start taking care of families and managing domestic chores (Shaban 2016). Additionally, Muslim females educated in Urdu medium schools are also largely not able to progress much in higher education as they face difficulty in other languages like English and in Maharashtra in Marathi (Shaban 2016), and the situation may be similar at all-India level.

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NEP 2020 and its possible impact on women from disadvantaged groups The National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020 is recognised to be potentially a revolutionary document in terms of its focus on the expansion of the higher education sector in India. For social and gender inclusion, the NEP 2020 promises education to be in the framework of diversity and multiculturalism and argues for equity and universal access. The NEP 2020 situates itself in the context of global changes and advocates for pedagogy to be more experiential aiming for the development of rational human being/ scientific temperament/critical thinking. It argues for holistic development of institutions and teachers as a focus of fundamental of reforms, and advocates for robust merit-based structure of tenure, promotion and salary. The policy focus is on consolidation of schools, argues for about 50 per cent of learners through the school and higher education system to be exposed to vocational education by 2025, promotes multiple exit and credit bank systems and pledges for promoting multidisciplinary universities – possibly, among others, to balance thoughts and ideas and stop casteism and communalisation. Although it also argues that education will not be for profit, the government itself has started promoting privatisation of higher education by inviting foreign universities and also cutting down the grants of public-funded universities. The privatisation of higher education can negatively impact the enrolment of students, specifically female students, from disadvantaged sections of the population and may stop their social and economic mobilities. Further, privatisation may have a massive cost to women’s education as families first cut the spending on women education. Thus, progress made for decades and momentum established for gender justice can be derailed by privatisation of higher education in the country.

Conclusions India is a society based on a social hierarchy determined by caste, religion and gender. The economic strata of the population largely conform to the caste groups, religious groups and gender. The SCs and STs largely form the disadvantaged sections of society in India, while Muslims and Buddhists are other groups of population suffering from severe educational and economic deprivations. The women (suffering patriarchy within and outside their own respective communities and families, and caste and religious discriminations) across the caste and religious groups, and specifically from the disadvantaged groups, have been lagging far behind in terms of access to higher education. The major objective of this chapter is to understand the situation of females from disadvantaged communities with regard to higher education and examine their educational mobilities. The chapter uses the data available from various sources 92

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on attainments of higher education and also the literature available from secondary sources on reasons for the educational deprivations of females from such communities. The major findings and conclusions emerging from the analysis are as follows. First, the share of females with graduate and higher levels of education among SCs, STs and Muslims is far lower than in other communities in the country. Higher caste women among Hindus, Jains and Sikh communities perform far better than these disadvantaged communities. Second, though women have experienced a significant rise in enrolment in HE institutions, they still suffer from relative deprivation against men within their own communities across states/UTs of the country. Third, the women (also men) of the disadvantaged communities are largely concentrated in a few traditional streams of education like arts, Indian languages, science and commerce. Their enrolment in technology, medicine and journalism is relatively lower than males within their respective SRCs. Fourth, the share of women teachers in HE institutions is much lower than male teachers across the states and for all major disadvantaged communities like SCs, STs and Muslims. Fifth, the attendance ratio for females among the disadvantaged groups is also relatively quite low. Overall, SCs, STs and Muslims emerge as major communities with women significantly lacking access to higher education in the country. There are many reasons for the deprivation of women from these communities. Some of these factors are related to the socio-economic situation of the communities as a whole and others are specific to women. At the community level, their lower economic status, discriminations, the lack of development of educational infrastructure in their areas of concentration, the lack of quality primary and secondary education institutions and early marriages, among other reasons, compromise the overall growth of higher education among the communities. These also affect women’s educational mobilities. The factors which specifically compromise the access of women to higher education are conservative attitude of the communities with regard to women’s education, purdah among Muslims, early marriages, preference of families with limited resources to shift the expenses in favour of male children, preference of families to educate women in mother tongues (like Urdu), which compromises their ability to deal with other mediums of instruction in higher education, the lack of access to ICT and new emerging technologies. It seems that the policy of reservation and affirmative action over the years for SCs and STs have significantly helped them in their educational mobility. The OBCs are also benefiting from the same since the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendation in 1992. Muslims as a religious community have undergone significant relative deprivation. Though Muslims suffer from socio-economic disadvantages, affirmative action for them started, though partial in nature, very late, that is, after 2006. It seems that scholarships have especially helped these students with access to higher 93

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education. The expansion of HE institutions to Muslim-concentrated areas has been another reason for the rising trend of enrolment of Muslim students, especially of women students. The rising ICT platforms and websites have opened another source of learnings for students from primary to university levels. The UGC has also promoted the SWAYAM platform, which provides open access to high-quality educational materials and lectures. Besides YouTube and MOOCs, other university websites offer open lectures and educational materials. However, the disadvantaged groups of India, especially women, due to the lack of access to technologies and the internet are not able to take full advantage of this ICT-led revolution in higher education. Many reports and studies have shown that during this COVID-19 period when higher education delivery has shifted online, the lack of access to technologies and the internet has compromised the learning of students from disadvantaged groups. A considerable share of them, specifically women students, have dropped out of colleges and universities. The privatisation of higher education under NEP 2020 may further compromise access to higher education in these communities. Women from disadvantaged communities may suffer disproportionately as a result of privatisation of higher education as families start cutting the expenses on women’s education first. This chapter shows that concerted efforts, through strengthening affirmative action, need to be made for inclusive and equal educational development of all communities and women. The privatisation of education at this formative stage of Indian social development may constrain the social and economic mobilities of disadvantaged groups and can compromise the goal of gender justice.

A  Appendix Tables Table A1   Educational Attainment: Graduate and Above, Persons Aged 20 and Above (2011–12) Socio-Religious Groups (a)

Male (b)

Female (c)

Gender Disparity (b–c)

Hindu–SCST Hindu–OBC H–GEN Hindu–All Muslim–OBC Muslim–others Muslim–All OM All

5 10 24 12 5 8 6 14 12

3 5 6 5 3 4 4 12 7

3 4 17 7 2 4 3 2 5

Source: Post Sachar Evaluation Committee Report based on NSS data 68th (2011–12) rounds.

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Table A2  Percentage of graduates and above in the age-group 20 years and above (2011–12)

95

Hindu SC/ST Hindu OBC Hindu Others All Hindu Muslim OBC Muslim Others All Muslim Other Minorities All

Rural

Urban

Differences by Area

Male

Female

Male–Female Differences

Male

Female

Male–Female Differences

Male

Female

3 6 12 6 3 4 4 6 6

1 2 6 3 1 2 2 5 3

2 3 6 4 1 3 2 1 3

14 21 38 27 8 13 10 28 24

9 14 28 19 6 8 7 23 17

5 7 10 8 2 5 4 6 7

10 15 25 20 5 9 7 22 18

8 11 22 16 4 6 5 17 14

Source: Post Sachar Evaluation Committee Report based on NSS data 68th (2011–12) rounds.

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Socio-Religious Groups

Table A3  Discipline-wise percentage of students, 2019–20 Discipline

SC

ST

OBC

Muslim

OM

PWD

Female Both Female

Both

Female

Both Female

Both

Female Both

Female

Both

Female

Both

28.0 13.0 16.0 8.0

25.9 12.6 14.7 15.0

34.6 10.3 14.2 7.2

32.5 10.1 13.8 13.5

35.3 7.3 13.5 4.7

34.9 7.7 13.3 9.1

28.0 13.4 19.5 8.1

25.8 12.8 17.6 15.2

33.7 12.3 15.2 5.1

27.8 13.0 13.2 13.3

17.3 16.8 14.8 8.5

16.5 16.2 12.4 16.3

26.9 11.6 12.8 4.0

26.0 11.2 11.0 10.7

6.9 8.1 5.5 3.3 2.6 2.3 1.2 0.1

5.5 6.3 4.8 4.0 3.0 1.7 1.7 0.1

7.0 9.2 4.9 2.3 2.1 2.4 1.0 0.1

5.0 7.7 4.7 2.6 2.4 1.8 1.4 0.1

7.1 10.3 9.5 1.1 1.6 3.7 0.7 0.1

5.0 8.9 9.1 1.4 1.8 3.0 0.9 0.1

5.5 7.5 4.8 2.7 2.9 2.1 0.8 0.1

4.6 5.8 4.5 3.3 3.2 1.6 1.2 0.1

5.7 7.2 5.3 2.9 2.1 4.1 1.1 0.1

5.7 5.6 4.7 4.3 2.9 3.4 1.5 0.1

11.0 8.5 5.0 4.9 4.2 1.6 1.3 0.2

8.0 6.5 4.7 6.1 4.8 1.3 1.5 0.2

16.8 9.6 4.6 2.4 2.5 2.1 0.8 0.1

10.6 9.7 5.4 2.7 2.3 2.2 1.5 0.1

5.0 100

4.6 100

4.6 100

4.4 100

5.2 100

5.0 100

4.6 100

4.3 100

5.2 100

4.6 100

5.8 100

5.3 100

5.6 100

6.3 100

Source: Based on data from AISHE (www.aishe.gov.in).

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Arts Commerce Science Engineering and Technology Medical Science Education Social Science Management IT and Computer Indian Language Law Journalism and Mass Communication Other Grand Total

All

Table A4  Share (%) of Females of various groups in different programmes in India, 2019–20 Gender

ST

SC

OBC

Muslim

Other Minority

PWD

All India

PhD

Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All Male Female All

3.6 3.4 3.5 6.5 4.3 5.1 5.4 5.0 5.2 5.6 5.8 5.7 5.4 6.5 5.9 5.1 8.9 6.4 6.8 6.9 6.8 4.9 4.7 4.8 5.5 5.8 5.7

10.5 8.4 9.6 16.9 13.6 14.8 13.0 12.3 12.6 14.2 14.8 14.5 11.8 10.3 11.1 17.4 20.5 18.5 13.6 14.1 13.8 11.8 11.3 11.6 14.3 14.6 14.5

24.7 24.1 24.4 29.2 43.3 38.0 32.6 34.5 33.7 37.1 38.2 37.6 28.8 28.0 28.4 38.9 32.7 36.7 35.3 38.2 36.9 27.4 25.9 26.7 36.6 37.2 36.9

5.5 4.6 5.1 6.9 3.0 4.5 4.5 4.3 4.4 5.4 6.0 5.7 1.9 1.9 1.9 5.6 4.0 5.0 5.5 7.3 6.5 4.7 4.9 4.8 5.3 5.6 5.5

3.3 5.3 4.2 6.3 7.9 7.3 2.3 3.1 2.7 2.1 2.5 2.3 2.3 3.1 2.6 2.0 2.3 2.1 4.5 3.0 3.7 2.2 3.3 2.7 2.1 2.6 2.4

0.4 0.2 0.3 0.9 0.3 0.6 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2

105,985 87,638 193,623 8,960 14,846 23,806 1,781,447 2,358,517 4,139,964 14,633,948 14,085,138 28,719,086 105,407 89,296 194,703 1,664,225 873,115 2,537,340 69,752 81,636 151,388 164,495 128,977 293,472 18,534,219 17,719,163 36,253,382

MPhil Postgraduate Undergraduate

97

PG Diploma Diploma Certificate Integrated All

Source: Based on data from AISHE (www.aishe.gov.in).

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Programme

ABDUL SHABAN ET AL.

References Ahmad, Imtiaz. 1981. ‘Muslim educational backwardness: An inferential analysis’, Economic and Political Weekly, 16(36): 1457–1465. Basant, Rakesh. 2007. ‘Social, economic and educational conditions of Indian Muslims’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(10): 828–832. Beniwal, Vrishti. 2020. ‘Modi govt’s plan to raise legal age of marriage for women can bring enormous gains, says SBI’, The Print, October 22, https://theprint. in/india/modi-govts-plan-to-raise-legal-age-of-marriage-for-women-can-bringenormous-gains-says-sbi/528931/ (accessed on 21 September 2021). Census of India. 2001. Social and Cultural Tables C Series. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI, https://www.censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/TablesSeries 2001.aspx (accessed on 21 September 2021). Census of India. 2011. Data on Education, Table C–08, C–09. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI, https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/population_ enumeration.html (accessed on 21 September 2021). Chanana, Karuna. 1993. ‘Accessing higher education: The dilemma of schooling women, minorities, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in contemporary India’, Higher Education, 26(1): 69–92. Chanana, Karuna. 2000. ‘Treading the hallowed halls: Women in higher education in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 35(12): 1012–1022. Chanana, Karuna. 2001. Interrogating Women’s Education: Bounded Visions, Expanding Horizons. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Deeksha, Johanna. 2021. ‘The agony of navigating college on a smartphone’, Scroll. in, August 11, https://scroll.in/article/1002343/the-agony-of-navigating-collegeon-a-smartphone (accessed on 21 September 2021). Engineer, Asghar Ali. 1994. ‘Status of Muslim women’, Economic and Political Weekly, 29(6): 297–300. Engineer, Asghar Ali. 2001. ‘Muslims and education’, Economic and Political Weekly, 36(34): 3221–3221. Farid, Oneza. 2020. ‘Bhiwandi: Muslim girls dropping out of colleges due to pandemic–induced economic disruption’, The Dialogue, September 9, https://thedialogue.co.in/article/XlBZG1SHyO8ZjnX7vgcN/bhiwandimuslim-girls-dropping-out-of-colleges-due-to-pandemic-induced-economicdisruption- (accessed on 21 September 2021). Government of India. 2020. Household Social Consumption on Education in India, NSS 75th Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, NSS Report No. 585(75/25.2/1). Hasan, Zoya and Menon, Ritu. 2004. Unequal Citizens. A Study of Muslim Women in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Hasan, Zoya and Menon, Ritu. 2005. Educating Muslim Girls: A Comparison of Five Cities. New Delhi: Kali for Women. Jayaram, N. 1990. ‘Ethnicity and education: A socio–historical perspective on the educational backwardness of Indian Muslims’, Sociological Bulletin, 39(1–2): 115–129. Kundu Committee Report. 2014. Post Sachar Evaluation Report. New Delhi: Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Manjrekar, Nandini. 2003. ‘Contemporary challenges to women’s education: Towards an elusive goal?’ Economic and Political Weekly, 38(43): 4577–4582.

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Menon, M. Indu. 1979. ‘Education of Muslim women: Tradition versus modernity’, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 10(1): 81–89. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India, https://www.education. gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/aishe_eng.pdf (accessed on 21 September 2021). Ministry of Human Resource Development. Various years. All India Survey on Higher Education AISHE Final Reports from 2010–2019. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. www.education.gov.in (accessed on 21 September 2021). NEP. 2020. National Policy on Education 2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. NFHS. 2017. National Family Health Survey (NFHS–4) 2015–16. Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Robinson, Rowena. 2007. ‘Indian Muslims: The varied dimensions of marginality’, Economic and Political Weekly, 54(30): 839–843. Sachar Committee Report. 2006. Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India. New Delhi: Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. Shaban, Abdul. 2016. ‘Muslim girls in Urdu medium schools of Maharashtra: Progress, retention and aspirations’, Economic and Political Weekly, 51(25): 65–70. Shaban, Abdul. 2018. Lives of Muslims in India: Politics, Exclusion and Violence. London: Routledge. Sudhir Commission Report. 2016. Socio–economic and Educational Conditions of Muslims in Telangana, Commission of Inquiry to Study the Socio–economic Status of Muslims in State of Telangana. Hyderabad: Chief Ministers Office, Government of Telangana. World Bank. 2021. World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: The World Bank, https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/ (accessed on 21 September 2021).

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5 FROM GENDER PARITY TO GENDER PRISM Looking beyond enrolment parity to explore gendered conditions of access to higher education in Haryana, India Emily F. Henderson, Nidhi S. Sabharwal and Anjali Thomas

Introduction The most common analytic used to explore women’s higher education (HE) participation is the gender parity index, which assesses the gender balance of women and men in HE systems. It is cause for celebration when gender parity is reached, as has recently been the case in the GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) for undergraduate HE in India (MHRD 2019). It is also noteworthy that there tends to be public consternation when gender parity is surpassed and the gender balance tips over into feminisation, where women outnumber men in various aspects of HE (Leathwood and Read 2009; Morley 2011). Gender parity of enrolment as a concept refers to equal proportions of women and men in HE but does not capture the differentiated condi­ tions that underlie women and men’s access to HE. These conditions relate to educational pathways, including schooling background (e.g. medium of instruction or school type) and family educational background (e.g. differentiated education of mothers and fathers). A refinement of the gender lens is required to address persistent gendered differences in educational choices as HE massifies and gender parity of enrolment increases across disciplines and courses. The chapter asks, how is it that a daughter and a son from the same family can enrol in HE (i.e. demonstrating gender parity), yet arrive in such different ways? What lies beyond the gender parity of enrolment? When gender parity has been reached, many studies on gender and HE look beyond parity in a temporal manner: towards student’s experience once students have entered HE (Trotter and Roberts 2006; Sabri 2011; Cotton et al. 2016; Richardson, Mittelmeier and Rienties 2020), through student retention (Tight 2020; Thomas 2002) and towards employment 100

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-7

FROM GENDER PARITY TO GENDER PRISM

outcomes beyond the completion of HE (Prix 2009; Vuorinen-Lampila 2016; Lažetić 2020). This chapter takes the opposite approach and looks to the past, exploring the gendered inequalities that precede and underlie enrolment, demonstrating that young people entering HE do not arrive at HE in the same ways and that their HE choices are highly gendered. As such, the chapter argues that a more nuanced gender lens than parity – hence the proposed prism – is necessary to fully understand gender equality in HE. In India, a subsidised public HE system, scholarship schemes for women, women-only colleges and special provisions in the reservations of seats in public higher education institutions (HEIs) have all helped to increase women’s enrolment in HE, including those from the socially excluded groups (Sabharwal 2015; Sudarshan 2018; Varghese, Sabharwal and Malish 2019). Importantly, gender has been a focus of affirmative action measures in public policies on equalising access to HE opportunities in India. Haryana, the state which is the focus of this chapter, has also reached gender parity in its HE system (MHRD 2019). However, delving deeper into the state context of Haryana reveals persistent gender discrimination towards women, which is manifested in poor sex ratios and juvenile sex ratios (Census 2011) as well as violence towards women (Ahlawat 2012) and cultural practices that limit the mobility of young women (Chowdhry 2012). Yet, Haryana as a state is relatively highly economically developed and benefits from its proximity to and inclusion in the National Capital Region surrounding Delhi (Apex Cluster Development Services 2015). Haryana presents a conundrum where high levels of economic development and indeed gender parity in HE enrolment, have not necessarily resulted in marked improvements in the lives and rights of women. In this case, gender parity indicators cannot give the full picture of women’s access to HE – it is necessary to go ‘beyond access’ (Aikman and Unterhalter 2005). This chapter argues that a refractive approach, where gender acts as a prism for analysing young people’s lives from different angles, is necessary to understand the complexity of how gender and HE participation intersect in Haryana and more widely in India. The chapter first discusses the use of a ‘gender prism’ analytic, which goes beyond the enrolment parity measure and which is vitally important in retaining a gender priority for education policy, even when enrolment parity has been achieved. This section places the gender prism in the context of patriarchal gender regimes that result in differentiated choices for sons and daughters. The subsequent section presents the design and rationale of the empirical study that forms the basis of this chapter. It also includes contextual information about Haryana in order to set the scene for the analysis. The next section includes literature on what we call the conditions of access to HE in India and globally, and presents the refractive gender analysis of women’s conditions of access to HE. The refracted analyses presented in this chapter are then compiled to form a final discussion proposing a more 101

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complex and in-depth gender lens to influence the ongoing analysis of gendered inequalities in a post-parity era. The chapter concludes with the policy implications, including the necessity of linking schooling policy with HE policy and emphasising the important role of state support in ensuring equality of conditions of access to HE for young people in India.

Gender parity to gender prism In India, women have made substantial gains in accessing HE. India achieved a gender parity of one for the first time in 2018–19 (MHRD 2019). Genderbased equality commitments in education at the national level have taken multiple forms. These include the right to free and compulsory elementary education and the universalisation of secondary education, both of which play an important role in increasing the number of young women who are eligible for and seeking admission to HE (Varghese, Sabharwal and Malish 2019). Laws prohibiting child marriage and supporting the right to education (RTE 2009) and loosened societal norms on early marriage have translated into increased chances of girls completing school education and enrolling in HE. Importantly gender has been a focus of affirmative action measures in public policies in India to equalise access to HE opportunities. Although enrolment parity at the undergraduate level is reached, there are a number of different dimensions which demonstrate that numerical parity covers up emerging differences in terms of programmes of study and areas of their specialisations. The research on HE has already begun and will likely trace these routes in the years to come. The likely directions include exploring gender in relation to subject, course and institution choice; retention; grades; graduate outcomes; gender enrolment in post-graduate qualifications; gender balance in the academic profession and HE leadership positions. Additionally, a smaller set of research studies have begun to explore HE access and experiences of transgender and non-binary students. While all of these directions go beyond the enrolment indicator and lead to meaningful analyses of prevailing gendered inequalities in HE, they also imply that the undergraduate enrolment parity indicator is still an important achievement. In our chapter, we maintain a focus on undergraduate enrolment but seek to complicate the indicator, moving beyond a single statistic to a multifaceted exploration of gendered access to HE. We conceptualise a ‘gender prism’, which seeks to refract (rather than homogenise and simplify) the ways in which access to HE is gendered. We acknowledge that the enrolment indicator has dominated gender analyses of access to HE at the policy level because of its simplicity. As such, we recognise that proposing a multifaceted gender lens runs the risk of appearing less appealing to a policy audience. We are clearly engaged in conceptual work by proposing a gender prism, rather than gender parity. However, in recognition of the policy audience, we propose indicators, that is, ways of measuring our multifaceted gender lens. These indicators are outlined later 102

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in the chapter using empirical examples from our research project on gender and access to HE in Haryana (Henderson et al. 2021). They are designed to allow policymakers and institutional leaders to understand undergraduate populations and their different needs more comprehensively. Moreover, the indicators aim to differentiate between more- and less-privileged entrants to HE, where privilege is understood in gendered terms (as well as based on socio-economic and caste-based dis/advantage). The gender prism is based on a holistic understanding of gender, which has two principal facets in our conceptualisation. First, we recognise that gender is more than the sex that people are assigned when they are born (or indeed during a pre-natal scan). Gender writ large is a complex intertwining of biological eventualities and the social significance which is attached to and read from these biological eventualities (Butler 1993, 1999 [1990]; Connell 2002). The social significance is often naturalised at a cultural level, as a set of norms and roles which come to be understood as ‘normal’, even as they shift across time and place. Very few or arguably no social phenomena are exempt from gendered conditions, including HE (Leathwood and Read 2009). While institutional processes are increasingly designed to be gender-neutral and inclusive of all genders, the implementation of these processes is carried out by people who are themselves gendered and have beliefs about the norms of gendered behaviour (Morley 1999). This brings us to the second (interlinked) facet. Gender is often understood as an individual attribute or identity characteristic: an individual has a gender (Connell 2002). In a holistic understanding of gender, an individual’s gender is continually ascribed to them, both by themselves and by others (Butler 1999 [1990]). In a majority of cases, this means that an individual’s biological attributes and/or a display of socialised gendered attributes (clothes, hair and so on) are recognised as belonging to a particular gender and interpreted as such, according to norms of behaviour. In some cases, this can also mean that there is ambiguity or a perceived mismatch (in normative terms) of attributes and appearance, which can be intentional or not, and which is understood as gender transgression (Rasmussen 2009). Whichever may be the case, gender is not solely in the hands of the gendered individual but is constantly interpreted and reacted to by others. Gender is therefore a social practice, involving gendered individuals interacting with other gendered individuals. If we consider that all institutions involve gendered individuals implementing processes while simultaneously interpreting and reacting to gendered individuals, then we can posit that both educational institutions and families are gendered spaces – and indeed that families shape individuals’ interactions with educational institutions in gendered ways. Rather than understanding parity of enrolment as a single measure based on an individual’s ascribed sex, we consider that access to HE is influenced by various processes which unfold along gendered lines, and which may mean that a daughter and son from the same family (and so with the same socio-economic and caste positioning) experience different levels of gender-related dis/advantages. 103

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As noted above, gender norms and expectations are rooted in the social significance which is ascribed to gender and naturalised via cultural assumptions. Gender transgression pushes against these norms and may succeed or fail to achieve a wider change (Butler 1999 [1990]). But in order to understand gender norms and transgressions – that is, to operationalise the gender prism analytic – we need a framework in which to locate the norms. Here we draw on the concept of ‘gender regimes’ (Connell 1991[1987]; Connell and Pearse 2015) to set out the foundation for the gender norms of a society, against which individuals’ actions can be analysed. Gender has been explained in this section as a set of norms, expectations and behaviours within a particular social and cultural context. These arrangements based on gender are crystallised as ‘gender regimes’ (Connell and Pearse 2015). Gender regimes manifest through roles, identities, expectations and behaviours. Connell (1991[1987]) argues that, in terms of gendered inequalities, almost universally gender regimes are associated with patriarchy, which is imbued with an ideology of masculine superiority and authority. We can therefore understand gender regimes as foundations for gendered social arrangements which are usually patriarchal in nature but always culturally specific. In terms of gender, education and families, Mukhopadhyay and Seymour (1994) identified that, within the large proportion of Indian communities which are patriarchal, patrilocal (focused around the paternal residence) and patrilineal (with inheritance operating through the male bloodline), gender regimes within families are patrifocal, which means that male family members are at the centre of this arrangement. Patrifocal gender regimes include the prioritisation of the needs and wishes of male family members, in terms of financial as well as social and cultural resources, which can lead to placing sons in a more advantageous position vis-à-vis daughters. A patrifocal gender regime also features elements such as monitoring of young women’s movements outside the home and regulation of female sexuality. The gender prism analytic we propose (i) takes gender as socially interpreted based on naturalised assumptions about biological attributes, (ii) understands gender as a socially enacted process between gendered individuals and (iii) bases analyses on the idea that gender norms (and transgressions) unfold within gender regimes which provide common understandings of gender. Using this prism means that, rather than taking gender parity as an individual property associated with an individual’s ascribed sex, we need to look further into the ways in which gendered individuals interact with each other within a gender regime to arrive at HE enrolment.

Presentation of the empirical study This chapter is based on the initial exploratory phase of the five-year (2017–) collaborative project entitled ‘A Fair Chance for Education: Gendered Pathways to Educational Success in Haryana’, funded by the Fair Chance 104

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Foundation.1 The project is based on the understanding that access to HE is gendered, and the project aims to improve informed access to HE. It is also based on the understanding that all individuals’ (both young women’s and men’s) educational pathways are affected by gender and intersecting factors such as caste and social class (Henderson 2019). Government colleges (i.e. state-funded, often relatively local HE providers) were the chosen site for the project. This is because, as education massifies (Varghese 2015) and reaches gender parity (MHRD 2019) in India, government colleges are providers of HE to students from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, especially first-generation students and women students (Tierney and Sabharwal 2016; Varghese, Sabharwal and Malish 2019). Phase 1 of the project was an exploratory study designed to understand the social background of students accessing HE and to identify how their educational trajectories and experiences of accessing HE were gendered within their particular social context in Haryana (Henderson et al. 2021). The study was designed as a mixed-methods case study of three colleges located in three separate districts of Haryana.2 Initially, two colleges were selected, with a third added in Sirsa as a rural comparator with only the survey being possible to implement. Within the case study design, the methods chosen were as follows: a survey of undergraduate students (N = 326); institutional profile and background statistics; semi-structured interviews with the college Principal or nominated member of senior leadership, and undergraduate students (two women and two men in each sampled college); and focus group discussions with five women students and five men students in each college. This design was implemented after ethical approval was granted from the appropriate University of Warwick ethics committee. The colleges and all study participants were carefully anonymised, with the colleges being given the following pseudonyms: Mahendergarh District College (MDC), Sonipat District College (SDC) and Sirsa District College (SiDC). These districts were chosen based on (i) contrast (e.g. proximity to NCR); (ii) statistical profile regarding sex ratio and education (Table 5.1); and (iii) strength of local contacts. One co-educational government college was selected in each sampled district.

Table 5.1  District comparison District

Urban Population (%)

Sex Ratio

Juvenile Female Sex Literacy (%) Ratio

Overall Literacy (%)

Mahendargarh Sonipat Sirsa Haryana (State)

14.41 31.27 24.65 34.88

895 856 897 877

775 798 862 834

77.7 79.1 68.8 75.5

Source: Census of India 2011.

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64.6 69.8 60.4 65.9

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The research instruments for the study were initially workshopped in January 2018 by the Warwick project team in consultations with partners and piloted by partners along with members of the project’s consultative group in India. Additionally, research assistants were recruited and trained to conduct data collection activities in the sampled colleges. All data collection occurred in 2018. The qualitative interviews with different groups of participants and focus group discussions were deductively and inductively coded. This was a multi-staged process involving collaboration with project team members to identify key themes. The survey data were transliterated/translated and then inputted to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and the free-text responses were coded. Each variable was analysed using descriptive statistics and graphic representations. The survey was designed to provide a general picture of the college populations, against the specific detail of the qualitative data. In terms of the gender balance of the survey, at SDC, which was transitioning to being a women’s college, 66 per cent of the study sample were women and 34 per cent were men. MDC was a mixed-gender college but was located near a women’s college. It was therefore attended by more men (84 per cent men and 16 per cent women in the study sample), with the women attending this college having made an active choice to do so (e.g. for sciences). At SiDC, the gender balance of the study sample was 48 per cent women and 52 per cent men.

Through the gender prism: a refractive analysis of gendered conditions of access to HE Exploring gendered access to HE using the gender prism results in a different set of questions being asked about access. The gender parity of enrolment indicator reduces gender analysis to the labelling of an individual’s gender, correlated with a yes/no question of whether they have enrolled in an HEI. The holistic conceptualisation of gender that we outlined in the previous section suggests that, even if a parity of enrolment has been achieved, the process of enrolment is still gendered. Parity suggests a ‘level-playing field’; we suggest that, within an enduring patriarchal, patrifocal gender regime, young people are arriving into HE with different levels of gendered dis/ advantage. Although we acknowledge that the way gender is experienced rests on aspects of identities such as class, caste or religious background, here we are referring to dis/advantage that cannot (only) be ascribed to caste – or socio-economic – or religious-based privilege or marginalisation; this is dis/ advantage that plays out with children from the same families and communities. We suggest that looking beyond parity includes exploring family background, schooling trajectory and, within these, decision-making processes pertaining to HE choice, which we bring together in this chapter under the term ‘conditions of access’. 106

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To understand gendered conditions of access to HE further, in this section we explore the literature on access to HE, including India and where possible Haryana, where conditions of access are discussed in relation to gender. This section presents the refractive analysis of the gendered conditions of access to HE. In the analysis, we distil the prism into three core principles of analysis: (i) the social significance of gender and identifying naturalised gender norms, (ii) gender as a social practice of interactions between gendered individuals and (iii) gendered interactions understood as unfolding within a gender regime. Within the analysis, we explore specific factors pertaining to HE access and choice, which we have identified from the exploratory study as being conditions of access. The analysis sets out to show the ways in which a parity of enrolment approach disguises other inequalities underlying the supposed equal access to HE that parity proclaims. As noted in the ‘Gender prism’ section, in order to increase the utility of our conceptual analysis, we propose indicators that will help institutions and policymakers to measure un/equal conditions of access. We presented three sets of conditions in this section, though of course there are many more, and we have settled on two sets to fit within the scope of the chapter. These are family background and schooling trajectory. These are initially related to the three core facets of the gender prism analysis and then divided into indicators, with findings presented from the Haryana study on gendered HE access and choice. Family background Family background is recognised as a significant factor affecting how students from different communities access HE across the world (Reay, David and Ball 2005) and in India (Majumdar and Mooij 2012; John 2012; Velaskar 2018). A young person entering into HE is, generally speaking, not an isolated individual with complete autonomy over their HE choices (Thomas 2021). A young person’s gender goes beyond the sex that is ascribed to them but rather is a social practice. The family is an important site where social gender regimes are re/produced between different members of the family, and this, in turn, leads to the gender roles that young people are expected to play (Dube 1988; Mukhopadhyay 2019). The family comprises gendered individuals who act according to gender norms (which they sometimes resist and/or transgress) and who form expectations of other gendered individuals in the family. When a young person enters HE, they bring with them various aspects relating to the family (O’Shea 2015; Thomas 2021). Internationally, studies have recognised the significance of parents and other family members (Häuberer and Brändle 2018) such as siblings and members of the ‘familial networks’ (Archer and Hutchings 2000: 561), who provide information and influence educational decisions to access HE. Indian women’s educational pathways are steered in directions that are perceived to be in accordance with patriarchal norms, safety 107

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concerns and matrimony (Chakravarti 2012; Verma 2014; Gautam 2015; Sudarshan 2018). In this analysis, we focus on two indicators: place in family (a version of birth order) and parents’ educational attainment. These are just a small number of potential options for this set of conditions, but they are valuable in providing a guide on analysing how family background leads to young men and women – potentially from the same family – entering HE in unequal ways. Indicator 1: Place in family Place in family is an indicator that resembles birth order but takes into consideration the number of children as well as the place in that family; whereas birth order states for instance ‘first child’, we argue that this misses the fact that a first child may be first of two or seven, which has different implications. Analysing place in family from a gender perspective means that we see young people as being placed within sibling sets (particularly in a society where there are few only children) and that these sibling sets are in themselves gendered and demonstrate gender norms and regimes playing out within families. In Haryana, a state with a strong son preference which results in a skewed sex ratio, the practice of trying for a son is commonplace (Larsen and Kaur 2013). In our study, we identified that many of the families of the students we surveyed included a number of older sisters which culminated in a younger brother. At MDC, for instance, 89.5 per cent of women survey respondents had at least one younger brother, as compared to 39 per cent of men respondents from MDC having a younger brother. An interview participant from SDC (F13) stated that she was the last of seven daughters and that her parents treated her as an honorary son as they had not managed to produce a boy. These findings indicate that families were continuing to have children until a son was born, and then they ceased childbearing. This indicates the inherent patriarchal practice of son preference, which also means that each daughter produced means another mouth to feed, another education to consider and another wedding to pay for (Kukreja and Kumar 2013; Larsen and Kaur 2013). It also means that family structures involve gendered interactions between siblings, where sisters are older than brothers, but brothers are more prized. Place in family is a gendered condition of access to HE because, in a family where there is no history of HE in the parental generation, the first child in the family to access HE is likely to be a daughter. As such, daughters are more likely to cross the hurdles of access as unfamiliar territory, with fewer informed choices being made and the choice reflecting an end in itself, and not the best means in pursuit of a desired goal. Once they have forged the path, the younger brothers can follow with more ease and more informed choices. Thus, place in family (disaggregated by gender) becomes a valuable 108

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indicator of the differentiated path to access that young men and women in the same family may face. Indicator 2: Parents’ educational attainment Many young people of the massification generations are entering HE with no history of HE, or indeed of higher levels of formal education, in their nuclear families (O’Shea 2015, 2020; Häuberer and Brändle 2018). This was the case in our study (Figure 5.1). This means that there is a lack of concrete experiences of higher levels of formal education to underpin the decisions that are taken about young people’s education (Reay, David and Ball 2005). This is a gendered phenomenon as there are gendered expectations of educational attainment that align with dominant gender regimes. For instance, there is an expectation that women should be less educated than their husbands (Lin, Desai and Chen 2020), meaning that young men’s educational attainment acts as a ceiling for young women’s education. While a family may have direct experience of higher levels of educational attainment, our study showed that this was generally on the part of the father, with the mother having been educated to a similar or lower level (Figure 5.1). In our study, in 10.3 per cent of parental pairs the mother was more educated than the father, in 22 per cent of pairs mother and father were educated to the same level, in 67.7 per cent of pairs the father was more educated than the mother. Fifteen fathers were more educated than their wives by ten or more classes. This disparity creates a contradictory situation in terms of an

Figure 5.1  Parents’ education levels by maximum class attained. Note: ‘13’ signifies any higher or further education attained beyond class 12.  Source: Henderson et al. 2021.

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overarching family aspiration for higher levels of education, and differentiated ideals of what counts as an appropriate level of education for young men (following on from fathers) and young women (following on from mothers). Our study showed that young women entering HE were making a much greater leap in education across generations than young men, potentially resulting in more obstacles and opposition as well as challenges about how to be an appropriately feminine young woman whilst also occupying the role of an undergraduate student. Parents’ educational attainment is a gendered condition of access to HE because fathers tend to have attained a higher level of formal education than mothers. This accords with cultural norms where men are supposed to be more educated than their wives. Young women are making a greater leap in education across generations (from mothers’ educational attainment) than young men (from fathers’ attainment) when they access HE. They are likely to be encountering more obstacles and challenges in terms of aligning an appropriate feminine comportment with an unfamiliar role of being a HE student. This results in different criteria for decision-­making for sons and daughters. Thus, parents’ educational attainment (disaggregated by gender of parents and students) is an important indicator of differentiated challenges that young men and women in the same family may face. Schooling trajectory It has been established in the international HE research field that, in addition to family background, previous schooling experiences are highly significant in terms of HE choices and successes (Reay 1998; Reay, David and Ball 2001; Majumdar and Mooij 2012, Hemsley–Brown 2015). A young person’s schooling history demonstrates the decision-making process and means of the family, as well as the young person’s potential preparedness for HE. The dominant gender regime is underpinned by the idea that men are the principal breadwinners and that they provide financial support to their natal family (Karve 1953; Dube 1988; Chowdhry 2011; Agrawal, Unisa and Agrawal 2013). Women are seen as providing supplementary support alongside their household and care work roles – and are expected to provide support to their marital family (Thakur, Varma and Goldey 2001; Chowdhry 2011). The education of sons is known to be prioritised over the education of daughters, resulting in more financial investment and more care taken about specific choices (Narwana 2019). Investment in schooling is based on gendered arrangements of priorities and parental decision-making for girls and boys (Connell et al. 1981; Reay and Ball 1997; Watson 1997). Schooling choices within families are gendered based on cost and parental perceptions regarding gendered disciplining practices within the schools for girls and boys (Goswami 2015). Previous schooling, therefore, becomes a gendered condition of access to HE. 110

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In this analysis, we focus on two indicators: type of school and schooling pathways. These indicators help to measure the different levels of preparedness for HE between young men and young women. Indicator 1: Type of school While there are many different types of schools in India within the state and private sectors – including selective government schools and private schools offering free and means-tested places – generally one can distinguish between government and private schooling as an indicator of family investment in education. There is a clear caste-related dimension here, with our study revealing substantial discrepancies between marginalised caste and/or rural groups and more privileged groups in terms of schooling choices (Kumar and Choudhury 2020). This reflects a combination of reduced economic capabilities and less potential for fully informed educational decision-making due to lower levels of educational attainment in the parental generation (Borooah et al. 2015). Alongside the caste dimension, our study identifies that daughters and sons from the same communities are being enrolled in different types of schools, particularly in the later stages of schooling. Taking the combined sample of MDC and SDC, we found that, by classes 11–12, 45.1 per cent of women survey respondents had been enrolled in private schools as compared with 65.2 per cent of young men. At the rural college (SiDC) this was even starker, with only 2.6 per cent of women having been enrolled in private school for classes 11–12 as opposed to 42.9 per cent of young men. These gender differences in enrolment patterns by type of schools found in our survey are also reflected at the state level. According to the 2017 National Sample Survey (NSO 2017), of the total students studying in classes 11–12 in private schools, the majority (68 per cent) were young men and the rest (32 per cent) were women students. These findings, which reflect other studies’ findings that families prioritise sending sons to more expensive private schools (Azam and Kingdon 2013; Saha 2013; Sahoo 2017), show discrepancies in the prioritisation of investment in sons’ education over daughters’ education. This may suggest that in situations of financial hardship and/or limited aspirations for daughters’ attainment, sons’ education is selected for special investment – as demonstrated in the data from the rural college. This reflects and reinforces gender regimes that value men’s earning potential. Type of school is a gendered condition of access to HE because the differentiated choices about investment in schooling for daughters and sons from the same communities reflect the gendered prioritisation of education within a gender regime that values men’s financial contribution to the natal household. It is necessary to explore previous schooling types to understand (i) that young women often enter HE having received a less-privileged education than their brothers; (ii) that young women are more likely to enter HE following schooling in government institutions with large classes and 111

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Hindi medium instruction (LaDousa 2005; Narwana 2019), meaning that they are less thoroughly prepared for HE. Thus, type of school (disaggregated by gender) is an important indicator of young people’s unequal value and educational preparedness, even within the same families and communities. Indicator 2: Schooling pathways In addition to the type of school, we also argue that examining schooling pathways is an important indicator of gendered conditions of access to HE. This indicator emerged from the findings of our study, where our survey revealed that respondents had switched between government and private schools during their schooling trajectories (Figure 5.2). Respondents were asked to state their schooling type for classes 1–5 (primary), 6–8 (lower secondary), 9–10 (upper secondary) and 11–12 (high school). In our analysis of the combined sample of MDC and SDC, we found that women were more likely to have remained in government schooling throughout (23.6 per cent versus 21.6 per cent of men) and that men were more likely to have remained in private schooling throughout (54.5 per cent versus 37.1 per cent of women). The finding of interest however is that women were more likely than men to have switched schooling types (39.3 per cent versus 23.9 per cent of men). This finding is important as it signals two eventualities. First, young women’s education is more likely to be disrupted than young men’s education. Switching between government and private schooling is potentially disruptive due to, for example, differences in teaching approaches, class sizes and medium of instruction, particularly as the switch tends to be

Figure 5.2  Schooling pathway by college and gender.  Source: Henderson et al. 2021.

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from private in the early schooling to government institutions in the later stages. This means that young women entering HE are both more likely to have experienced government schooling throughout and to have experienced disruption in their schooling. Second, it is possible to interpret this disruption as related to the dominant gender regime: daughters’ schooling pathways seem to reflect family fortunes to a greater extent than sons’. Since daughters are more likely to be the older siblings, the arrival of more siblings, and especially brothers, means that early educational investment may be abandoned when resources are shared between more children and/or diverted to fund brothers’ private schooling. Alternatively, changes in family resources, for example from employment issues, may show up in daughters’ educational trajectories, since we know that families privilege educating their sons above their daughters. Schooling pathway is a gendered condition of access to HE because young women are more likely to have received disrupted school-level education characterised by switching between government and private schools. This means that young women may be less well prepared for HE if they have spent time adjusting to different schooling types. It also means that young women could have watched young men in the same families and communities remain in private education throughout while they have switched. This, we conjecture, reflects the dominant gender regime, where young women are aware of their lesser value which may as a result adversely impact their sense of worth and educational aspirations. Thus, schooling pathway (disaggregated by gender) is an important indicator – to accompany school type – of young people’s unequal value and educational preparedness, even within the same families and communities.

Discussion and concluding observations This chapter has proposed a gender prism analytic to supplement the use of gender parity of enrolment at the undergraduate level as a proxy for gender equality in HE. The gender prism is comprised of three principal facets: (i) the gender prism takes gender as socially interpreted based on naturalised assumptions about biological attributes; (ii) the prism understands gender as a socially enacted process between gendered individuals; (iii) the prism bases analyses on the idea that gender norms (and transgressions) unfold within gender regimes, which provide common understandings of gender. We have translated this theoretical analytic into a means of conducting a more nuanced analysis of the gendered conditions of access to HE. We proposed indicators to enable institutions, policymakers and other researchers to measure gendered conditions of access to HE so as to better understand the unequal starting points that young men and women from the same families and communities may face when beginning their HE learning. In our analysis, we applied the gender prism analytic to family 113

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background – with two indicators being placed in family and parents’ education attainment – and schooling trajectories – with the indicators being school type and schooling pathways. Importantly, disaggregating by gender is proposed as a necessary step within the analysis of both young people and their family members, understanding young people as gendered individuals who are situated within gendered family groupings. The importance of analysing gendered conditions of access to HE lies in the fact that young men and women – even from the same families and communities – come to HE with different levels of preparedness, as well as different ideas about self-worth, the value and purpose of education, and different levels of self-confidence. This needs to be taken into consideration alongside – and interwoven with – considerations of caste and economic status. The empirical study that underpinned the chapter focused on government colleges as relatively local and less expensive HE providers, which are important sources of HE for the generations of HE massification. We thereby highlight the important role of state support in order to ensure equality of conditions of access to HE for young women and men in India. As a consequence of this chapter, we propose that HEIs and state governments should consider implementing further data collection about student populations in order to understand the support needs that young people have when they enter HE, for example, by adding questions to a student survey or to admissions paperwork. Second, we propose that HE outreach activities seeking to support HE access and choice need to include special support for women (and advice for women’s families) as women often confront more obstacles than their brothers to access HE. Third, we propose that HE policy and schooling policy and policymakers should be more linked, to ensure fully informed access to HE for students in government colleges. For both the research and policy communities, we caution against considering that access to HE is achieved when parity of enrolment is achieved. The parity of enrolment at the undergraduate level is just one indicator. As noted in the introduction, once parity of enrolment has been achieved, HE research tends to move on from researching access as a priority to experience, retention, outcomes and employability. However, we argue that there is an ongoing need to continue researching access, and moreover to understand access in a more complex way, including HE choice and unequal conditions of access. For this, a nuanced gender lens – such as the gender prism elaborated in this chapter – that recognises how gender enters into young people’s educational trajectories is necessary.

Acknowledgements The research project that this chapter is based on was generously funded by the Fair Chance Foundation. We are grateful to the volume editors for the invitation to write this chapter, and to Ann Stewart and Julie Mansuy for comments on the draft. 114

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Notes 1 See www.warwick.ac.uk/haryana for more information. 2 For more information on the study design and implementation, see Henderson et al. (2021). 3 ‘F1’ is the code used for FGD participants, where F indicates a young woman participant and 1 is her allocated speaker number.

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6 GENDER, INTER-GENERATIONAL MOBILITY AND HIGHER EDUCATION Manika Bora

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) to adopt emergency measures to continue teaching, learning and assessment activities. Students currently enrolled in HEIs as well as aspiring candidates face an uncertain future, with dropouts, incomplete training, poor learning outcomes and backsliding of potential gains occurring disproportionately among young women and men belonging to rural, marginalised social groups. The disruption has revealed the limitations and structural inequities (‘digital divide’) of India’s higher education system, and this is an opportunity for critical reflection and reorganisation of priorities for scholars and policymakers. This chapter discusses the relationship between gender, mobility and higher education in the context of rural India. Mobility is conceptualised broadly vis-a-vis access to higher education, to include differential mobility of social groups, as well as mobility across generations, or intergenerational mobility. The risk of simplifying the discussion on women or gender more broadly in higher education can be looked at in two ways. First, by examining the multitudinous issues in access, participation and practices existent within the domain of higher education. Second, by expanding on the structural issues and barriers that hinder the progress of women into stages before they enter HEIs, that is, secondary education or after completion of higher education, that is, labour market and other life opportunities. This chapter intends on studying the latter by highlighting the trends related to educational mobility using a primary dataset. Based on this analysis, the chapter elaborates on the structural factors and barriers to entry into higher education. This is followed by a discussion on the education and occupational linkages for women in the rural agrarian context of a state such as Bihar. Finally, the chapter concludes by DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-8

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reflecting on the role of public policy and HEIs in stimulating mobility, particularly for women and marginalised social groups.

Data and context The empirical basis of this chapter is drawn from the Cycle to Empowerment (CTEP)1 dataset, especially the implication for women’s participation in higher education. The sample used is a part of the data collected2 from a total of 50 villages (25 from each district) from the two districts of Madhepura and Muzaffarpur. Information on caste, religion, land/asset ownership and consumption expenditures as well as education attainment levels (measured by the years of schooling) and occupations of all household members of the households was collected as part of the dataset. The study of intergenerational mobility requires location analysis of the temporal changes for the quasi-birth cohorts of individuals in the sample. Since the CTEP dataset gives us a cross-sectional snapshot of the households, it is possible to conceive segregation of various individuals across households based on the year of their birth. Further, the parent–child pairs are located in the household using co-resident members and information on ‘relationship to the head of the household’ from the survey. Creation of the matching parent– child pairs usually excludes the married daughters of the household who no longer reside in the household due to customary patrilocal practice. As a result, there are limited datasets that have been able to comment on the intergenerational mobility of daughters in the literature (Azam 2015; Choudhary and Singh 2017). The dataset expands the scope of the parent–child matching exercise, in the literature on intergenerational mobility. Therefore, this study allows examination of women’s mobility in education, overcoming the exclusion bias commonly found in the literature. Bihar, the site of the study, has been a subject of keen interest among scholars, policymakers and development practitioners. A densely populated, largely agrarian and rural state, Bihar is often treated as a signifier for the deficiencies and failures of India’s post-colonial development experience. Characterised by high rates of poverty, out-migration, agricultural stagnation, social unrest and low health and education outcomes, scholars attribute its development trajectory to a combination of historical, geographical and governance-related factors (Banerjee and Iyer 2005; Prasad 1988; Sharma 2005). The development story of Bihar is said to have taken an unexpected turn in recent years with higher GDP growth alongside social and economic transformation (Mukherji and Mukherji 2012; Panagariya and Rao 2015; Singh and Stern 2013). Given the context of this chapter, we are specifically interested in the development of education and women’s progress in the state. In recent years, the Government of Bihar has undertaken noteworthy initiatives in launching several schemes and policies encompassing different aspects – health, education, employment opportunities, political 120

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representation, non-discriminatory practices and social protection of the lives of young girls and women (Mahendru et al. 2020). The focus of most of these schemes was to better the life outcomes for women in the state, and coalesced in the form of the Women Empowerment Policy, 2015. The formulation of such a policy also meant commitment of resources across different government departments towards women’s empowerment. The education department in particular has witnessed one of the highest gender budgetary allocations in the past decade (Dixon and Mishra 2020), which is expected, considering the manifold policies introduced by the state government (Table 6.1). Table 6.1  Evolution of educational programmes and policies Year

Programme/Policy

Description

Beneficiaries

1989

Total Literacy Campaign District Primary Education Programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) National Programme for Education of Girls at the Elementary Level Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana Mid-day Meals in Schools Mukyamantri Balika Poshak Yojana

To establish mass literacy among adults To achieve universalisation of primary education

All, 5–10 years

1993 2001 2003

2004 2006 2007 2008 2009

Mukhyamantri­ Akshar­Aanchal Yojana

2009

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan Mukhyamantri Balika Utthan Yojana

2018

To achieve universalisation of elementary education (UEE) Gender Component Plan of SSA to focus on retention and participation in school activities To set up residential schools for girls from disadvantaged groups Programme to provide conditional cash transfer to girls of class 9 to go to school Expansion of the nutritional prog­ ramme to elementary school To provide support to girls in grades 6–7 by providing them conditional cash transfer To promote education of adult women (special focus on Mahadalit and EBC communi­ ties) who are illiterate or have not had formal education Programme for the development of secondary education in India

All, 5–13 years Girls, 5–13 years

Programme to empower adult women and to promote dignity and education among girls with financial incentives

Girls, after completion of school & college education

Girls, 5–13 years Girls; 13–14 years All, 5–13 years Girls Women, 15–35 years All, 15–16 years

Source: Multiple sources including Bihar Vikas Mission 2020, Women’s Empowerment Policy and IWWAGE (Pandey 2020).

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Development of educational attainment in Bihar We consider growth of educational attainment for men and women over time, using a cohort analysis for individuals born in different time periods 1951–60, 1961–70, 1971–80, 1981–90 and 1991–2000. Taking individuals born in the sample born in different decades, we can see that human capital as measured by the average years of education is increasing for all (Figure 6.1). The absolute average years of schooling continued to be higher for men compared with women throughout the 50-year period, from 1951–60 to 1991–2000. This growth in average years of schooling was especially accelerated for those born in the 1980s and 1990s. Incidentally, this was also the period of macro-level changes in the national economy due to the liberalisation and privatisation policies. Although the educational programmes in the state have gathered momentum in the decades after 1980s as per India’s commitment to ‘Education for All’, there is a clustering of several policies directed especially at restoring the gender imbalance in the past few decades. These policies-cycle programmes, uniform entitlements and scholarship programmes were not gender neutral in the way earlier programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid–Day Meals have been. Extending this intertemporal analysis to include the intersectional perspective, we observe that men and women across caste groups in rural Bihar experience differential educational growth over five decades. We consider Dalit women and men to refer to those caste groups that are included in the Scheduled Castes in the Constitution of India. Conversely, the non-Dalit group includes the erstwhile upper castes (referred to as Others) and the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in our sample. The Central List of OBC for the state of Bihar includes both Hindu and Muslim caste names. However,

Average years of schooling

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

1951-60

1961-70

1971-80

Men

1981-90

Women

Figure 6.1  Intertemporal growth of years of schooling.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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for the purpose of this analysis, the OBCs will include only those individuals or households that identify themselves as Hindus. Historically, Dalit communities have been spatially segregated, socially marginalised and further stigmatised by practices such as untouchability. This has meant exclusion from formal education for many decades, which is reflected in low attainment outcomes for both Dalit men and women in Figure 6.2 in the early post-independence decades. Despite the acceleration of growth of average years of schooling overall, considered across the caste and gender intersection, we observe that the outcome for Dalit women especially continues to lag behind. Both compared to the men from their community and the women from other caste groups. Absolute and relative gaps in educational attainment The analysis of convergence or divergence of educational outcomes for men and women requires us to measure both absolute and relative gaps (Deshpande and Ramachandran 2019). The relative and absolute gap for any cohort between any two groups j and k, for the ith indicator and nth cohort are defined as follows: AbsoluteGapjk = Indicatorijn − Indicatorikn

and

RelativeGapjk =



Indicatorijn Indicatorikn

The indicator of interest for analysis is the average years of education for individuals. Therefore, the absolute gender gap in education attainment is

Average years of schooling

9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00

1951-60

Dalit women

1961-70

1971-80

Non-Dalit women

1981-90 Dalit men

Figure 6.2  Caste disaggregated growth of schooling years.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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the excess of the average years of education of men over women for a particular cohort (corresponding to the decade in which the individual is born). While the relative gender gap is a ratio of the average years of education of men over that of women. The relative gaps in Figure 6.3 present a gradual lessening over time indicating convergence between average educational attainment of men and women. The ratio of average years of schooling for men to women has declined from 4.94 for the cohort born in 1951–60 to 1.33 for the youngest cohort born in 1991–2000. The absolute gap, on the other hand, shows more or less static picture with a slight increase for some cohorts, and a small decline for the youngest cohort finally. The absolute gaps between men and women remain significant because the returns to education, which are usually measured by employing the Mincerian equation, assume a constant return for every additional year of education (Card and Krueger 1992). However, if the absolute years of schooling between men and women diverge or do not close by as much, then the returns to schooling between men and women will also continue to diverge (Deshpande and Ramachandran 2019). This picture of overall convergence becomes more complicated when we disaggregate the gender gaps across different levels of schooling. Figures 6.4 to 6.7 represent the absolute and relative gaps for a proportion of men and women for the following educational categories. • • • •

Edu1: No schooling Edu2: Completed grade 5 only Edu3: Completed grade 8 but below grade 12 Edu4: Completed grade 12 or above

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

1951-60

1961-70

1971-80

Absolute gap = Men- Women

1981-90

Relave gap= Men/Women

Figure 6.3  Absolute and relative gaps in years of schooling.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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Although there has been some improvement over time for lower levels of education, there is still a very small proportion of girls who complete secondary and higher levels of education. Figure 6.4 presents the absolute and relative gaps in the proportion of men and women reporting no formal education. There is a greater proportion of women than men who have no formal schooling across all cohorts, represented by the negative values for the absolute gaps. The absolute gap between men and women for primary school reduces considerably for the cohorts born in the 1980s and 1990s. The change in relative gap, however, for the same level of education shows a steady decline. Figure 6.6 presents a slow decline in absolute and relative gaps between men and women for those beyond the elementary and senior secondary levels. Finally, the absolute gap for higher education in Figure 6.7 shows no clear trend, while the relative gap decreases steadily. The change in absolute

No formal schooling 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 Absolute Gap

Relave Gap

Figure 6.4  Gaps in Edu1.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

Primary schooling 20 15 10 5 0

Absolute Gap

Figure 6.5  Gaps in Edu2.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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Grade 8 & Below 12 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Absolute Gap

Relave Gap

Figure 6.6  Gaps in Edu3.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

Grade 12 & above 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Absolute Gap

Relave Gap

Figure 6.7  Gaps in Edu4.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

and relative gaps for men and women born in the 50-year period shows convergence for the lower levels of schooling, even as higher levels continue to diverge. Figure 6.8 presents the proportion of male and female students currently enrolled in educational institutions. The percentages corresponding to the levels of education represent those who have completed the particular level of schooling and have enrolled for the next advanced grade. The age appropriateness of the student has also been incorporated in calculation of the percentage. For instance, 63.86 per cent of males in the sample have completed primary schooling and are now enrolled in grade six, that is, upper primary level of schooling. Since a student is admitted in grade 1 at the age of six, it is assumed that if there is no repetition, the student would be in

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Primary

Elementary

HSC

Male

SSC

Female

Figure 6.8  Proportion of girls and boys currently enrolled across levels of schooling.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

grade 5 at the age of ten years. Therefore, 63.86 also refers to only those who are above the age of ten years and enrolled in school. There is a considerable difference between the males and females currently enrolled at different levels of education in the sample. The male enrolment has no discernible trend of an increase or decrease. However, female enrolment declines as we reach higher levels of education. There are two implications of this trend. One, more girls are dropping out as we reach higher levels of education. Two, the difference between male and female enrolments is maximum at the highest levels of education, that is, for those who have completed school and are now at the stage of advancing to an undergraduate level. Therefore, there is shift visible at the bottom end of the educational distribution in society, while the top end remains accessible to boys more than girls. This gender difference especially at the higher education levels as implies, while transformation resulting from expansion of basic capabilities in a society might be underway, accessing economic opportunities linked to higher education will remain unrealised for girls and women. Figure 6.9 presents the excess in proportion of women over men in higher education in Bihar for the periods 2004–05, 2009–10, 2011–12 and 2014. For the age group 25–59 years, the gap between men and women has reduced from –6.89 in 2004–05 to –2.88 in 2014. However, the gender gap for the age group 20–24 years is higher throughout the period from 2004– 05 to 2014. The percentage values for both age groups are negative, indicating that there is greater proportion of men in the population in higher education compared with women.

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2004-05

2009-10

2011-12

2014

-4 -6 -8 -10 -12 -14 -16 -18 -20 25-59 years

20-24 years

Figure 6.9  Gender gap in proportion of population in higher education in Bihar (various years) in percentage.  Source: Employment and Unemployment Survey, 66th, 68th, 71st NSSO (GOI, 2014, 2015 and 2016).

The difference in educational outcome has to be seen together with the difference between men and women in educational opportunities as well. The measures of intergenerational mobility allow us ample scope to understand the difference in the persistence of parental characteristics on the educational attainment of men and women in Bihar’s society.

Gender, education and intergenerational mobility Intergenerational mobility is measured by the extent to which the educational attainment of individuals is independent of the education of their parents, using the coefficient from regressions of children’s years of education on the education of their parents. Greater values of this regression coefficient indicate greater persistence and hence lower mobility. In other words, a greater value of the regression coefficient implies that there is more influence of parental characteristics. To equalise education outcomes, the state can play a proactive role in creating a level playing field in opportunities (Varghese 2018). To extend the analysis with the parent- and child-matched sample, we construct four cohorts of five years each between the ages of 16 and 35 years (Table 6.2). Further, we present the descriptive statistics of the four cohorts to trace the temporal growth of education attainment in the sample of matched parent–child pairs. Table 6.3 shows the average years of schooling for fathers, mothers and their sons and daughters in the recent span of 20 years. The older generation

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Table 6.2  Five-year cohorts for intergenerational mobility analysis Cohort

Birth Year

Age in the Year 2016*

Cohort 1 Cohort 2 Cohort 3 Cohort 4

1981–85 1986–90 1991–95 1996–2000

31–35 26–30 21–25 16–20

* Note: Age in years as in 2016, which is the time period in which the CTEP survey was conducted. Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

Table 6.3  Descriptive statistics All Sample Cohorts

Cohort1 Cohort2 Cohort3 Cohort4 Son Cohort1 Cohort2 Cohort3 Cohort4 Daughter Cohort1 Cohort2 Cohort3 Cohort4

Years of Schooling

Years of Schooling of Father

Years of Schooling of Mothers

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Observations

4.99 5 6.13 7.12

4.73 4.55 4.69 3.82

4.32 3.87 3.85 4.2

4.26 4.39 4.39 4.5

0.74 0.91 1.08 1.39

2.07 2.56 2.75 3.06

107 318 595 1065

7.43 6.97 7.57 7.54

4.56 4.32 4.1 3.55

4.46 4.2 4.34 4.35

4.36 4.59 4.53 4.47

0.55 1.26 1.26 1.38

1.8 3.14 2.86 3.06

44 135 280 540

3.28 3.55 4.68 6.7

4.08 4.17 4.72 4.05

4.22 3.62 3.41 4.05

4.22 4.23 4.23 4.53

0.87 0.66 0.92 1.4

2.24 2.01 2.65 3.07

63 183 315 525

Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

of parents has lower average years of education compared to the younger generation. There is considerable difference in the mean years between fathers and mothers, despite some closing over time. Comparing between sons and daughters over the cohorts, we observe an increase in education attainment for both. In a continuing trend of gender disparity, daughters report lower average years of schooling compared to sons. However, even within a span of 20 years, we observe a discernible acceleration for the daughters compared to the sons. For sons born during 1981–85, the average years of schooling is 7.43 years. This increases to an average of 7.54 years

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of schooling for the sons born during 1996–2000. For the same time period, daughters born during 1981–85 attain 3.28 years on an average, indicating twice the increase for the daughters born in 1996–2000 at 6.7 years. This phenomenal increase in the educational attainment of daughters present clear signs of catch-up between men and women in the younger generation. Another positive indicator over these 20 years is the decline in the standard deviation for sons and daughters across cohorts, suggesting at least marginal suppression of inequality within males and females independently. After a brief look at the descriptive statistics, we move towards measuring intergenerational mobility, which allows us to describe the changes observed in educational attainment across generations. We estimate the following equation (1) to determine the intergenerational persistence in education in a simple OLS model:

Ci = β0 + β1 Pi + εi

(1)

where Ci denotes the completed years of schooling for the ith child, Pi is parental years of schooling and εi denotes the unobserved influences. Here βi is the coefficient measuring the intergenerational persistence, which is the extent to which the child’s education depends on the education of the parent for cohort i. In other words, higher value of this coefficient implies greater persistence. Conversely, a value of ‘0’ would imply that the child’s educational attainment is independent to that of the parent. Also, persistence and mobility represent analogous concepts; that is, a high level of persistence implies lower mobility and vice versa. Comparing the regression coefficient from the above equation across the birth cohorts gives us an insight into the changing nature of intergenerational persistence in education over time. In Figure 6.10, the regression coefficient for the sons across the 20-year period falls considerably from 0.44 to 0.32, signifying mobility. The influence of father’s educational outcome on the son’s educational outcome has declined over time. In other words, there is some equalisation of educational opportunity for the men born in these decades. Figure 6.8 also presents the regression coefficient for the daughters over the 20-year period. The influence of father’s educational outcome on the daughter’s outcome has fallen marginally over the same time period. For every one additional year of father’s educational attainment, the daughter’s attainment increased by 0.45 years for the daughters born between 1981 and 1985. This intergenerational coefficient changes for daughters born between 1996 and 2000 in such a way that for every additional year of father’s educational attainment, the daughter’s outcome increased by 0.42 years. Comparing the intergenerational coefficient, we could also infer that for the same time

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for Father-Son & Father-Daughter Cohort1 0.60 0.50

Cohort2

Cohort3

Cohort4

0.56 0.44

0.45

0.39

0.40

0.49

0.53 0.42

0.32

0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00

Son

Daughter

Figure 6.10  Intergenerational regression coefficient for father–child pairs.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

for Mother-Son & Mother-Daughter Cohort1

Cohort2

0.90

Cohort3 0.82

0.80

Cohort4 0.79

0.77

0.70 0.60

0.52

0.50

0.47

0.42

0.40

0.33

0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00

0.06 Son

Daughter

Figure 6.11  Intergenerational regression coefficient for mother–child pairs.  Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

period in Bihar’s society, there was greater equalisation of educational opportunities for men than women. The regression coefficient for the sons across the 20-year period has risen and then fallen from 0.06 in 1981–85 to 0.52 in 1986–90 and finally 0.33 in 1996–2000, signifying mobility. The influence of mother’s educational outcome on the son’s educational outcome has declined eventually. In other words, there is some equalisation of educational opportunity for the women born in these decades. Figure 6.11 also presents the regression coefficient

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for the daughters over the same period. The influence of mother’s educational outcome on the daughter’s outcome has fallen considerably over the same time period. For every one additional year of mother’s educational attainment, the daughter’s attainment increased by 0.82 years for the daughters born between 1981 and 1985. This intergenerational coefficient changes for daughters born between 1996 and 2000 in such a way that for every additional year of mother’s educational attainment, the daughter’s outcome increased by 0.47 years. We can also conclude that even though father’s educational level obviously has impact on both sons and daughters, it is mother’s educational level which clearly has a considerable influence on the education of the daughters. This inference also holds if we control for the social and economic circumstances of the individuals (Bora 2021b). Measuring intergenerational poverty and privilege To complement this linear measure of intergenerational mobility, the chapter also presents selected transition probabilities: • Poverty to privilege refers to the share of individuals who reach the top level of educational outcome in their generation among all individuals who are born to parents with educational attainment in the lowest educational outcome in their respective generation. This mobility is akin to moving out of relative poverty. • Intergenerational poverty refers to the share of individuals who end up at the bottom half of educational attainment in their generation among all individuals born to parents at the bottom half of educational attainment in their respective generation. • Intergenerational privilege refers to the share of individuals who reach the top levels of educational attainment of their generation among all individuals born to parents who are in the top levels of educational attainment in their respective generation, referred to as intergenerational privilege. The calculation of the probabilities takes into account parent (in our case father) and child pairings to analyse the prevalence of privilege and poverty over time (Corak and Strain 2016). The probabilities are shown in percentage form in Table 6.4 to encapsulate the movement of individuals above as (1), (2) and (3). The three levels of education used for this analysis are (a) with either no formal schooling or below primary, (b) with schooling between primary and elementary and (c) with schooling above elementary level. Table 6.4 presents a comparative picture of intergenerational poverty and privilege for men and women of the older and younger cohort. Consider, the younger and older cohorts of sons as mentioned in the column of the table. The share of individuals who observe intergenerational 132

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Table 6.4  Transition matrix for the father–son and father–daughter pairs Son

Intergenerational poverty Poverty to privilege Intergenerational privilege

Daughter

Older (1981–90)

Younger (1991–2000)

Older (1981–90)

Younger (1991–2000)

41.18

31.46

74.66

48.92

22.55 78.72

33.93 81.64

6.16 41.07

22.4 78.98

Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

poverty reduces from 41.18 per cent in the older cohort to 31.46 per cent for the younger cohort. Next, sons whose fathers were at the bottom of the educational distribution but have reached the highest level in the educational distribution have increased from 22.55 to 33.93 per cent across the two cohorts. Finally, sons who were born to the most educated fathers have increased across the two cohorts. This analysis shows that the intergenerational privilege for men has increased in the distribution, and there has been marginal decrease at the ‘floor’ of the distribution. In the case of women across the two cohorts, we observe a substantial decrease in intergenerational poverty, and increase in intergenerational privilege. A greater proportion of daughters born to lesser-educated fathers were able to break through to the top of the educational distribution in their generation across the two cohorts. Therefore, educational opportunities for women are relatively more sticky at the top while those for men are relatively sticky at the bottom of the distribution. Conversely, we can say that there is greater movement of women at the bottom and of men at the top of the educational distribution. In other words, if parents’ educational circumstances continue to influence the education levels of their children (Figures 6.8 and 6.9), then lower education of fathers weighs and inhibits the daughters from reaching higher levels of education more than the sons.

Early marriage, gender roles and dropping out ‘I cook, clean, fill water and play with my friends till my mother comes back from the fields in the evening’. Babita, a young Dalit girl spoke of her daytime routine. Although enrolled in primary school at the time of fieldwork, education did not ‘fit’ in the life of the household that she was a part of. Her father was too old for working and her mother worked in the fields as a labourer. After the marriage of an older sister, it was Babita who had to take on the household chores for her family to be able to maintain the household. The role of self-fulfilling 133

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expectations and stereotypes becomes relevant in the construction of life aspirations, including education and occupation choices among boys and girls (Correll 2004; Hoff and Pandey 2006). The difference in the valuations of the children and their parents manifests in the form of tense negotiations, especially in the case of young girls once they attain a certain age. For the girls to continue schooling beyond the primary level, it is not enough that they devote the time, effort and space required for schooling but also that their households accept it (Nathan 2005). This acceptance on the part of the parents and the older generation relies greatly on the care and labour demands but also on the socio-economic location of the households. The same transformative and liberating aspects of schooling that generate aspirations of higher education or work among girls are viewed by the older generation imbued in value systems defined by traditional agrarian life as a threat. Parents of adolescent girls find sufficient value in the literacy and numeracy skills attained at the basic/elementary levels. The qualitative data collected from fieldwork3 indicates that older generation continues to abide by the organisation of the household in the likeness of male-breadwinner and female-homemaker model. The exceptions to the rule notwithstanding most girls are attuned to ultimately agreeing with the views of adult household members and therefore altering and reconciling their life aspirations in the course of attaining adulthood (Froerer 2012). Often non-confirmation of these norms is met with disapproval, coercion and even violence, leading to a tense observance of status quo within and outside the households (Bora 2021a). There are a total of 724 ‘out-of-school’ children in the school-going age of 7–18 years, representing approximately 23 per cent of the total individuals in the same age group in the sample. Table 6.5 presents a limited sample between the ages of 7 and 18 years, further divided into two groups based on age. The first group includes children between the ages of 7 and 14 years. This group represents those at the forefront of the recent state

Table 6.5  Proportion of out-of-school children in the age groups 7–14 Years

Total Social Group Other Backward Classes Others Dalit Muslim

15–18 Years

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

103

137

240

231

253

484

9.48

10.71

10.09

35.16

62.45

38.71

3.85 12.25 16.36

12.5 23.21 17.09

8.62 17.55 16.74

4.76 31.6 16.88

0.79 30.83 15.81

30.23 50 55.63

Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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initiatives, such as the Right to Education (RTE), intended to increase enrolment of children till the elementary level of education. The second group includes children between the ages of 15 and 18 years. It is expected that there will be greater numbers discontinuing education among the second group, compared to the first group. Next, the table makes a distinction between the gender and social group membership of the individuals. In the younger age group, there are 10.09 per cent children from OBCs, 8.62 per cent from Others, 17.55 per cent from Dalits and 16.74 per cent from Muslims who have dropped out and are no longer enrolled in school. More children drop out of the schooling system in the older age group compared to the younger group. This is expected as the older-aged children in households face more pressure to drop out either by participating in the labour market (more often in the case of boys) or in maintenance of the household. The dropout for girls compared to boys is higher in the younger age group than in the older group. The proportion of dropouts between boys and girls, however, does not provide a singular trend, with some social groups displaying more dropouts among boys while others record unfavourable reports for girls. Also, more girls and boys from Dalit and Muslim communities drop out4 across both age groups compared to Others and Other Backward Classes. Table 6.6 presents data related to the occupational status of the ‘out-ofschool’ children of school-going age. Four categories capturing the status of occupation are presented in the table. The first category of non-domestic work includes children who report their occupations as either farmer, labourer, wage earner or self–employed. The second category includes those reporting domestic work as their primary occupation. The third category is unemployed, and the fourth includes those reporting none of the codified occupations at the time of conducting the survey or NEET6 (only used for the older cohort). My own fieldwork shows that often these children were involved in ancillary tasks in a rural household such as maintenance of the household chores, livestock, care work and other seasonal tasks in the agrarian cycle.

Table 6.6  Proportion of ‘out-of-school’ children across occupations Age Categories

Non-domestic work Unpaid domestic work Unemployed NEET5 Total

7–14 Years

15–18 Years

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

22.33 0.97 0 76.7 100

2.19 24.09 0 73.2 100

74.89 0.87 10.39 13.85 100

7.12 74.31 0.79 17.79 100

Source: Calculated by author using CTEP data.

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Most of the boys between the ages of 7 and 14 who drop out do not report as employed in any of the codified occupations at the time of the survey. Some of these out-of-school boys already report working at the farm or as labourers. Similar to the boys, approximately three-fourths of the girls between the ages of 7 and 14 years are neither in school nor in any of the codified occupational categories. The most obvious explanation is based in the organisation of households in a rural agrarian economy. In fact, there might be no concrete occupational activity requiring their parents to withdraw them from school. The labour of children used in many ancillary tasks is significant for the maintenance of the rural household. It is for this reason that none of the children who have discontinued education report being unemployed, as they are usually involved in many ordinary activities that make formal/regular schooling incompatible. However, this youth in the NEET category for the older cohort of children between the ages of 15 and 18 years reports a visible gendered shift. On the one hand, almost 75 per cent of boys in the age group report that they are engaged in paid work. On the other hand, similar proportion of girls, that is, 75 per cent report their primary occupation as unpaid domestic work. Therefore, the life trajectories of men and women begin to diverge from an age as early as adolescence. The trend of more girls reporting an increase in domestic duties in the age group of 15–18 years is presumably also on account of the reasonably high proportion of girls married (Table 6.7) in the older age group. Given that marrying before attaining 18 years of age is illegal for girls, it is plausible that the figure in the table is an underestimate. An increase in the number of girls completing secondary education is crucial for their entry into higher education. Given the increase in mean years of schooling in a span of a few decades and consistent state-led campaigns and initiatives, there is certainly greater enthusiasm and stake in the education of young girls in rural Bihar. Schemes launched since the success

Table 6.7  Early marriage and girls’ schooling in rural Bihar Proportion of early marriage in the 15–18 years cohort (in percentage) Proportion of girls dropping out of school, if married in the 15–18 years cohort (in percentage) Average years of schooling for girls between 15–18 years who are married Average years of schooling for girls between 15–18 years who are not married Average age of marriage for those below 25 years

16.58 80.95 4.34 years 7.09 years 16.78 years

Note: Early marriage is referred to as those individuals who married before reaching the legal age of marriage. For men, this age is 21 years and for women it is 18 years. Source: Calculated by author using the CTEP data.

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of the flagship Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana were specifically intended to encourage enrolment and completion of secondary education (Table 6.1). In terms of perceptions, as far as the families are concerned, schooling of girls at the secondary level presents a dilemma. On the one hand, completing secondary education offers chances of upward mobility through a better marriage match. On the other hand, girl’s sexuality is no longer as controlled as before (Still 2011). Even parents convinced of the value of schooling in shaping these young girls as educated wives and mothers in the future were anxious once the girls reached elementary school, which coincided with most girls reaching puberty. Expectations of mobility shift for the girls and their families once they reached such an age (Dyson 2015). Since most secondary schools and intercolleges require travel outside of the village, there were also more concerns about the safety of the girls. There is yet another aspect to the restrictions on mobility of young girls that is pervasive in a caste society. Caste as an institution relies on endogamous marriages for its reproduction, and girls of reproductive age become the bearers of this caste and family honour, thereby subject to more scrutiny about their behaviour and conduct (Chowdhry 1997). This was made explicit during fieldwork also, as conversations of women’s education and empowerment with village elders (men and women) would soon find a way into a lament about girls becoming ‘too free’ and recalling of incidents of elopements in the village (Bora 2021a).

Education and participation in paid work Joining the labour market as a working individual remains an important destination in the post-education futures of young men and women. However, Bihar has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the country, especially in rural areas (Mahendru et al. 2020; World Bank 2016). Figure 6.12 presents the occupation status of men and women between the ages of 16 and 55 years in our sample. The category of paid work was created in the data by addition of the occupational categories of labourers and wage earners. Quite visibly, there is more diversification observable among men compared to women. Most women (about 75 per cent) reported their primary occupation as domestic workers. There is heavy out-migration of men from rural Bihar over the past few decades, which has led women to become more involved in agriculture (Rodgers 2012). Despite that a lot of women are engaged in economic activities such as cultivation and animal husbandry, they are often not paid for it if it is on the land and livestock owned by the household (SEWA 2014). Due to the unpaid labour that women contribute to the household in rural areas, their occupation often gets incorrectly labelled as domestic work. Since a majority of the Dalit and Muslim households are landless, it is women from these communities who are more visible in the workforce, especially in paid labouring activities (Bora 2021b). 137

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80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Farm work

Paid Work Self-employed Male

Unpaid Housework

Unemployed

NEET

Female

Figure 6.12  Occupation of men and women (16–55 years).  Source: Calculated by the author using the CTEP data.

Surprisingly, the advances made in attainment of education in recent years have not necessarily opened up greater employment opportunities for women (Table 6.8). The table presents the participation of men and women between the ages of 16 and 55 years in paid work, including both insecure labouring work and more regular wage-earning work. Almost 81.54 per cent of men with no formal education report participation in paid work, while only 15.56 per cent of the women report such participation. The least-educated women are the most visible in the workforce, and even with higher levels of education the participation of women in paid work remains low compared to men. Although educated men participate lesser in paid work as well, their numbers are reported in other occupational categories such as farmers and unemployed. For educated women, however, the majority continue to report domestic work as their primary

Table 6.8  Education and participation in paid work Proportion Participating in Paid Work by Education Level (in per cent)

Male

Female

Illiterate Below Primary Completed Primary, Below Secondary Completed Secondary, Below Higher Education Higher Education

81.54 74.07 53.28 39.22 21.31

15.56 4.27 4.33 2.64 5.05

Source: Calculated by the author using the CTEP data.

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Table 6.9  Education and occupational outcomes across age groups for women Age Group

Paid Work

Housework

Mean Edu.

16–25 26–35 36–45 46–55

4.63 14 22.4 28.87

73.22 84.29 75.05 65.49

5.6 2.94 1.63 0.72

Source: Calculated by the author using the CTEP data.

occupation. The limited proportion of women reporting paid work, especially wage-earning work, were employed as school teachers and Anganwadi workers, which were considered socially acceptable. In fact, even among the younger women with higher levels of education attainment compared to their older counterparts, there is withdrawal from paid work (Table 6.9). This contradictory trend of higher educational attainment for women accompanied by a decline in work participation has been observed elsewhere (Das and Desai 2003; Datta and Satija 2020). Bihar’s economy has shown high rates of growth in the past decade, but growth rates alone are no guarantee that the gains will be redistributed to include all sections of the society equitably. At least in partial, the reason for withdrawal of women from the rural workforce is on account of the nature of jobs that have been generated in the non-farm sector, where males are employed more than females (Sabreen and Behera 2020).

Concluding reflections: women in higher education and role of public policy This chapter argues that the pathways to higher education for women in rural India are obstructed by formidable structural barriers. Taking the example of Bihar, it has been demonstrated that girls are unable to enrol in HEIs because of a number of reasons that are rooted in the economic structure, social norms and gendered ideologies of rural society. Even though the absolute and relative gaps between education levels of boys and girls have declined over time – a testament to the success of public policy initiatives at the subnational and federal levels – there is considerable divergence at higher levels of schooling, and for girls from marginalised social groups like Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes. Since many girls are forced to drop out before they can complete school, they are not eligible to enrol in HEIs and realise their capabilities for education and employment. The problem of dropouts that once plagued primary and secondary levels of schooling has now shifted to secondary and higher secondary levels. This represents a crisis as well as an opportunity – while it is indicative of the socio-economic barriers to higher education for women, policy successes and lessons from school education over the past three decades can be creatively adapted to increase access and enrolment in HEIs as well. 139

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Based on data from the Cycle to Empowerment (CTEP) survey, the chapter shows that influence of parents’ education on the educational prospects of girls, that is, intergenerational mobility, has reduced over time as can be expected in a developing society. Girls born between the years 1996 and 2000 have been able to access higher levels of school education compared to earlier cohorts (i.e. those born between 1981 and 1995) even if their mothers were not educated to similar levels, suggesting increased opportunities and social acceptance of female schooling in rural India. However, the gender gap in intergenerational mobility persists in rural Bihar, with the chances of girls schooling more likely to be affected by the education levels of their parents as compared to boys. The transmission of intergenerational poverty and privilege – borne out of historical legacies of caste, gender and economic class – continues to shape the life trajectories of current and future generations of women (and men), and this is a serious indictment of public policy in education. This chapter has focused on those factors that prevent women from participating in higher education and has underlined the challenge of dropouts at senior secondary levels and NEET youth. Youth in rural poor households at the cusp of adulthood face the pressure of contributing to the family income and labour pool, and the opportunity cost of higher education is measured in terms of (temporary) loss of earning and working members. For women, the pressure to conform to social norms of a padhi–likhi ladki (educated girl) (Bora 2021a) means that education is seen widely as a means to a ‘good marriage’ rather than an instrument of economic and self-empowerment. CTEP data shows that before they can become eligible for higher education, a majority of girls in the 15–18 age cohort drop out of school and are engaged in unpaid household work and ancillary tasks in farming. For women from poor and vulnerable households, senior secondary school and graduate and professional education are often seen as an obstacle to marriage with gendered ideologies of suraksha (security) and izzat (honour) occupying hegemonic positions in rural society. Marriage and education are inversely related for rural women in this age cohort, with girls who are not married early having greater opportunities and years of education. This is a significant result for public policy intervention, since the CTEP data also demonstrates how policy initiatives like the Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana have been able to positively influence access, enrolment and completion of schooling for girls at earlier (elementary) levels of education (Mitra and Moene 2017). Greater public policy support in terms of scholarships and financial incentives, and senior secondary schools in every village and mohalla will go a long way in ensuring that girls are not withdrawn from school before they can complete their school education. The second policy challenge that follows from this research is to develop greater incentives for rural women to participate in higher education, in ways that are able to overcome entrenched patriarchal norms and hegemonic ideologies. This will require greater synergies between opportunities 140

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for higher education and skilled employment in an agrarian economy, where it can be seen that most women who are engaged in paid work are the least educated. Unlike industrial economies elsewhere in the Global South, women in rural Bihar withdraw from the labour force and paid work once they complete higher levels of education. This suggests that the economic structure and the pattern of economic growth have not opened up enough opportunities for educated women. As long as skilled and dignified employment is not available for rural women, they will be forced to make a choice between marriage and higher education and will often choose the former as a more secure route to upward economic mobility. Subnational governments need to take greater steps in making such opportunities available and schemes like the Jeevika scheme (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project) of the Government of Bihar need to be scaled up in terms of its outreach, inclusion and financial outlays (Government of Bihar 2015). The challenge of higher education in the 21st century is to create meaningful opportunities for women whose aspirations of autonomy and dignity are constrained by the realities of a rural society that is rapidly changing in certain respects but not adequately transforming in others.

Notes 1 CTEP is a large dataset created to study the long-term impacts of the onetime in-kind transfer on the lives of the beneficiary girls of the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana in Bihar. The CTEP study conducted under the aegis of International Growth Centre (IGC), Patna, includes household surveys in six districts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. 2 The CTEP survey was conducted in 2016. 3 As a separate exercise, I collected qualitative data through unstructured interviews with young girls, boys, parents and elders in the village at the time of the CTEP survey in 2016. 4 My fieldwork presents evidence that in the case of Dalit girls, the decision to drop out from school was not always entirely due to the economic constraints of the household but also on account of continued practices of untouchability and discrimination that existed in schools. 5 Not in employment, education and training. 6 Technically, youth in NEET are referred to as individuals between the ages of 15 and 24, who are neither engaged in education, employment or training. https:// databank.worldbank.org/metadataglossary/world-development-indicators/ series/SL.UEM.NEET.ZS

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Bihar Vikas Mission. 2020. Human Development Submission. Bihar: Government of Bihar Retrieved from, https://www.bvm.bihar.gov.in/content/2999/humande velopmentsubmission (accessed on 27 September 2021). Bora, Manika. 2021a. ‘Dilemmas of being a Padhi–likhi Ladki: A study of girls’ education in Eastern India’, in Rajib Nandi and Ratna M. Sudarshan (eds), Recognizing Connectedness: The Practice of Feminist Evaluation. New Delhi: Zubaan Academics, https://zubaanbooks.com/shop/recognizing-connectednessthe-practice-of-feminist-evaluation/ (accessed on 27 September 2021). Bora, Manika. 2021b. ‘Inequality and Education Attainment: A Study of Intergenerational Mobility in Bihar.’ Unpublished thesis. New Delhi: National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. Card, David and Krueger, Alan B. 1992. ‘Does school quality matter? Returns to education and the characteristics of public schools in the United States’, Journal of Political Economy, 100(1): 1–40. Choudhary, Akanksha and Singh, Ashish. 2017. ‘Are daughters like mothers: evidence on intergenerational educational mobility among young females in India’, Social Indicators Research, 133(2): 601–621. Chowdhry, Prem. 1997. ‘Enforcing cultural codes: gender and violence in Northern India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 32(19): 1019–1028. Corak, Miles and Strain, Michael R. 2016. ‘How much social mobility? More, but not without other things’, in Miles Corak (ed), The US Labor Market: Questions and Challenges for Public Policy (pp. 2–13). Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute Press. Correll, Shelley J. 2004. ‘Constraints into preferences: Gender, status, and emerging career aspirations’, American Sociological Review, 69(1): 93–113. Das, Maitreyi and Desai, Sonalde. 2003. ‘Why are educated women less likely to be employed in India? Testing competing hypothesis’, Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0313. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Datta, Amrita and Satija, Shivani. 2020. ‘Women, development, caste, and violence in rural Bihar, India’, Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 26(2): 223–244. Deshpande, Ashwini and Ramachandran, Rajesh. 2019. ‘Traditional hierarchies and affirmative action in a globalizing economy: Evidence from India’, World Development, 118(6): 63–78. Dixon, Shrijna and Mishra, Yamini. 2020. ‘A roadmap for closing gender gaps in Bihar’, Working Paper S–19031–IND–1. London, United Kingdom: International Growth Centre, https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Dixon-andMishra-2020-paper.pdf (accessed on 27 September 2021). Dyson, Jane. 2015. ‘Life on the hoof: gender, youth, and the environment in the Indian Himalayas’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 21(1): 49–65. Froerer, Peggy. 2012. ‘Learning, livelihoods, and social mobility: Valuing girls’ education in central India’, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 43(4): 344–357. Government of Bihar. 2015. Department of Social Welfare. Bihar: Government of Bihar. Retrieved from http://www.wdcbihar.org.in/Publication/30.Women%20 Empowerment%20Policy%202015.pdf (accessed on 27 September 2021). Government of India. 2014. Social Consumption–Education Survey 2014, NSS 71st Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI. Government of India. 2015. Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups in India, NSS 68th Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI, NSS Report No. 563(68/10/4).

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Government of India. 2016. Employment and Unemployment Survey 2009– 2010, NSS 66th Round. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI. Hoff, Karla and Pandey, Priyanka. 2006. ‘Discrimination, social identity, and durable inequalities’, The American Economic Review, 96(2): 206–211. Mahendru, Apoorva, Diwakar, D.M., Dutta, Mayurakshi and Das, Ranjana. 2020. Mapping Inequality in Bihar (pp. 87–109). Patna and Oxfam India: A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies. https://www.oxfamindia.org/knowledgehub/ workingpaper/mapping-inequality-bihar (accessed on 27 September 2021). Mitra, Shabana and Moene, Karl Ove. 2017. Wheels of Power: Long Term Effects of Targeting Girls with In–Kind Transfers (S–34304–INB–1). London, United Kingdom: International Growth Centre, https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/ uploads/2017/02/Mitra-et-al-2017-Final-report.pdf (accessed on 27 September 2021). Mukherji, Arnab and Mukherji, Anjan. 2012. Bihar: What Went Wrong? And What Changed? New Delhi: National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Nathan, Dev. 2005. ‘Capabilities and aspirations’, Economic and Political Weekly, 40(1): 36–40. Panagariya, Arvind and Rao, M. Govinda. (eds) 2015. The Making of Miracles in Indian States: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat. Studies in Indian Economic Pol. USA: Oxford University Press. Pandey, Nidhi G. 2020. Policies and Programmes for Women and Girls Bihar. Delhi: IWWAGE. Prasad, Pradhan H. 1988. ‘Roots of uneven regional growth in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 23(33): 1689–1692. Rodgers, Janine. 2012. ‘Labour force participation in rural Bihar: A thirty year perspective based on village surveys’, Working Paper WP04/2012. New Delhi: Institute for Human Development, http://www.ihdindia.org/PDFs/Labour_Force_ Participation_in_Rural_Bihar_A_Thirty-Year_Perspective_based_on_Village_ Surveys.pdf (accessed on 27 September 2021). Sabreen, Maryam and Behera, Deepak Kumar. 2020. ‘Changing structure of rural employment in Bihar: Issues and challenges’, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 63(3): 833–845. SEWA. 2014. Shram Jeevani: Report of the Special Task Force on Women in the Informal Economy in Bihar. New Delhi: SEWA Bharat. Sharma, Alakh N. 2005. ‘Agrarian relations and socio–economic change in Bihar’, Economic and Political Weekly, 40(10): 960–972. Singh, N. K. and Stern, Nicholas (eds.) 2013. The new Bihar–Rekindling Governance and Development. Noida: Harper Collins India. Still, Clarinda. 2011. ‘Spoiled brides and the fear of education: Honour and social mobility among Dalits in South India’, Modern Asian Studies, 45(5): 1119–1146. Varghese, N. V. 2018. ‘Criticality, empathy and welfare in educational discourses’, Contemporary Education Dialogue, 15(2): 122–142. World Bank. 2016. World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends. Washington, DC: World Bank.

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Part III WOMEN’S FIELD OF STUDY, REPRESENTATION IN RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND CAREER TRAJECTORIES

7 HIGHER EDUCATION, CAREER AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Between compulsion and choice Anirban Sengupta

Introduction Education, in general, and higher education, in particular, is expected to have a potential for empowerment. It is particularly so when one considers the socially marginalised sections of society. As popularly advocated, women’s education has a developmental implication for themselves, their families and the community. It is in this context that an increase in enrolment of women in education becomes a developmental target. In addition to liberating women through exposure to a world of advanced knowledge, higher education transacted in a classroom mode is also expected to function as an enabler for adult learners to independently step out of their homes to participate in teaching–learning activities. One presumes that higher education may also create scope for having control over one’s personal lives and, in some instances, lead one to the world of appropriate work. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that in a country like India, the pursuit of higher education ends with graduation or its equivalent for most learners. Furthermore, at this stage, critical questions, including what a learner should study, where the learner should study, and the purpose of pursuing higher education, are shaped mainly by the worldview of the learner’s family and community. The views of the family and community are often shaped by their engagement with dominant structural forces. Likewise, the decisions of highly educated women to enter or opt out of the world of work or consider a particular kind of work as ‘suitable’ for them get shaped by their socio-cultural milieu. Therefore, while choices get made regarding courses and careers, such choices hardly involve the decisions of a single individual. Besides, to what extent even collectives have scope to decide independently needs to be carefully examined. For Dalit-Adivasi women lacking the necessary social and cultural capital for pursuing higher DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-10

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education and appropriate careers, these decisions also get mediated by their experiences of deprivation, discrimination and capacity for negotiation. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the pattern of participation of diverse groups of women in higher education and the world of work to understand the meaning of choice. If the choice of pursuing higher education or a career based on higher education gets structurally mediated, to what extent can they empower an individual? While studying choice concerning career pursuits, it appears appropriate to focus on highly educated women entrepreneurs who are often perceived as self-directed, empowered agencies exercising their own decisions. Being highly educated and having professional experience, they are a minority among women entrepreneurs. However, the dominant understanding often prevails even though a diversity of positions exists around the independence enjoyed by such women entrepreneurs. While it is probably pointless to explore any direct correspondence between choices of education and career pursued by women and trajectories of highly educated women entrepreneurship, it is relevant to explore the diverse ways in which higher education and professional career contribute towards its evolution. Considering the role that structural forces play in shaping the choices of individuals, it is crucial to understand how family relations and the socio-cultural identity of women shape their journey in the world of work and where lies the space for agency. Some of the questions that the present chapter intends to look at include 1) how do decisions regarding women’s entry and continuity in higher education and professions get taken, 2) how does women’s experience in these spaces differ depending on their identity and 3) how do higher education and professional experience influence women’s entrepreneurial journey? While macro-data exists around the participation of women in higher education and work, to understand the decision-making process shaping such participation and negotiations around it, there is a need to engage with relevant micro-data-based literature. As for macro-data around enrolment, occupation and entrepreneurship, the present chapter analyses data from the All India Survey of Higher Education; Census of India; and All India Census of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. As for micro-data, the chapter engages with literature related to higher education enrolment, career pursuit and women entrepreneurship.

Identity and women’s ‘choice’ in education Of the diverse forms of identities that have shaped developmental disparities, gender was probably the earliest to receive some attention in understanding the level of inclusion in higher education. Since the early days of independence and even before, the primary aim of inclusion was to increase the enrolment of girls in terms of absolute number as they were nearly absent in the classrooms. Only after the total number of girls in higher 148

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education, in general, started increasing, there were attempts to measure equity within the system in terms of other dimensions. In a predominantly patriarchal society like India, boys were the first to enter higher education. Therefore, girls were considered competent in higher education only if they could catch up with the boys (Sahni and Shankar 2012). Even today, patriarchy continues to be a significant gatekeeper of higher education. While patriarchy operates across diverse communities, its manifestation differs depending on the social location of a community. With the increase in participation of female students in higher education, one question which has emerged as a significant lens to understand the nature of their involvement concerns the fields of study where they are clustering. At this stage, it is important to note that clustering is visible for both male and female students, although the nature of their clustering differs. While the diversity of programmes has increased over the years, Figure 7.1 indicates continuity of such clustering in specific programmes. While AISHE lists close to 250 programmes, it is interesting that more than 85 per cent of

Figure 7.1  Gender-wise choice of education among different social categories (in terms of percentage).  Source: MHRD 2015, MOE 2020.

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Figure 7.1  (Continued)

male and female students enrol in less than 30 programmes. These programmes include BA, BSW, MA, MSW (in humanities and social sciences), BA LLB, LLB (in Law), BSc, MSc (in natural sciences), BBA, BBM, BCom, MBA, MCom (in commerce and management), BCA, BE, BTech, MCA, MTech (in technology), BDS, BPharm, BSc-Nursing, DPharma, GNM, MBBS (in health sciences), BEd and DEd (in education). While the distribution of students across these programmes is changing over the years, mainly indicating a move from non-professional humanities and social sciences programmes towards alternate options, the trend of moving out of these programmes altogether appears to be limited. Studies on the process of choosing subjects show that family and school are two critical institutions that mediate the subject-choice process for girls in higher education (Chanana 2001; Verma 2014; Gautam 2015). It is 150

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recognised that both these institutions in India are often shaped by patriarchal norms. At times, the exclusion process from science gets initiated at the level of final years at school itself when students need to choose a particular stream of education. If the science stream is unavailable at the schools that the family considers ‘suitable’ for girls, the opportunity to study science is automatically closed. Even when girls pursue science, they often excel only when their family has the capacity and intention to finance coaching. Even with readiness to invest, family permits girls to go for coaching only when it is available at a location that is considered ‘safe’ for girl students. To pursue science, girls also require role models that are in short supply. Patriarchal families, concerned with their honour, often emphasise girls’ chastity, safety and marriageability and seek to control female sexuality through diverse strategies, including seclusion, segregation, early marriage and denial of public spaces. It is, therefore, not surprising that decisions regarding the choice of higher education institutions for girls are often based less on the availability of specific subjects at an institution. Instead, it depends on the institution’s location (preferably close to home), its reputation, whether it is a single-sex institution, and whether a secure hostel facility is available or not (in case the institution is away from home). Besides, families who need to bear dowry expenses are often reluctant to invest in their daughter’s education when they feel they cannot bear both costs. Being socialised in an environment that emphasises girls’ purity and the need for its protection, girls groomed to be obedient often agree with their family’s decisions regarding their education. Therefore, it is not surprising that many girls have no plans to seek employment based on their higher education. The involvement of family members (primarily fathers) in this decision-making process depends on their level of awareness. For example, while fathers in urban middle-class professional families use their understanding to participate actively in these decision-making processes, those in rural and lower-middle-class families largely remain dissociated as they are often unaware. It is often a norm in many families for boys to take science. However, fathers in urban middle-class professional families also instruct daughters to take science, provided they are ‘good and hardworking’ mainly considering the profession of medicine for girls and engineering for boys. Even in families where parents are unaware of the ‘right choice’, boys and girls are often familiar with the larger social construction of the hierarchy of disciplines. They are often aware that science is the most important and prestigious subject, and social sciences and humanities are just the opposite, while commerce appears somewhere in the middle. Ranking subjects in terms of their importance and employability makes it quite common for patriarchal families to think of ‘important’ and ‘employable’ subjects for boys and the opposite for girls. At the same time, girls are often discouraged from science subjects as it involves long hours in the laboratory. It is also perceived to harm eyesight and therefore affect marital prospects for girls. 151

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Unlike professional families, business families are often less bothered about what girls study, given that they do not expect girls to work. However, like elsewhere, business families also expect male children to take up the science stream to pursue engineering (Chanana 2001; Gautam 2015). AISHE data also indicate similar trends though there are some signs of change. Figure 7.1 demonstrates that most male and female students concentrate on humanities and social sciences programmes. However, the concentration of female students is considerably higher than that of male students. While this concentration has reduced between 2012–13 and 2019–20, it is still close to 40 per cent for female students and more than 30 per cent for male students. This concentration is considerably higher for female students from SC and ST communities than the female students from the OBC and the general category, which are more or less at par. 53.84 per cent of female ST students and 45.19 per cent of female SC students concentrate there. Humanities and social sciences programmes are slowly being vacated by both the privileged and the marginalised. Enrolment figures here primarily indicate levels of marginalisation than choice. With the reduction in the proportion of students going for social sciences and humanities, the share of male and female students pursuing natural sciences and health sciences has increased across the communities. However, in the natural sciences, the increase in the proportion of female students today is higher than that of male students. This development reflects the broad trend (Chanana 2001) of feminisation visible in the sciences. Female students can often enter science subjects today as many male students are drifting towards more lucrative opportunities in professional fields that have evolved due to the effects of economic liberalisation and globalisation (Chanana 2001). On the contrary, in health sciences and education, the two branches of knowledge considered ‘suitable’ for women in India for long, the growth in the proportion of female students is much higher than that of male students. While across the communities, the proportion of male students going for commerce and management-related programmes has stagnated or slightly fallen, the same for girls has somewhat increased. The proportion of female students going for technology-related programmes continues to be substantially lower than that of male students from each social group. However, what is essential is that the proportion of both male and female students pursuing technology programmes has fallen to some extent. This trend appears to contradict the slow increase in female enrolment in technology-related programmes over the years (Chanana 2007). Besides looking at the proportion of students enrolling in different subject areas, it is also essential to look at the gender balance. While gender balance based on total enrolment is not the best way to understand how gender may operate in a subject area, this is the closest that one may go to understand the larger scenario in a specific field of study. As per 2019–20 AISHE data, total female student enrolment in higher education is more than 48 per cent of the total enrolment in higher education. This figure was 152

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less than 45 per cent during 2012–13. This increase in the presence of women in total enrolment in higher education is also reflected in similar improvements in different subject areas. Table 7.1 indicates that the participation of women has improved among all social groups in almost all subject areas. Only in health sciences, the existing high share of female students has come down due to the higher participation of male students. Unlike in health sciences, in education, another field traditionally considered ‘suitable’ for women, a further increase is visible in the already high share of female students. While improvement in the share of female students is appreciable, the presence of female students is still considerably low in traditionally male-dominated fields like technology and law. The share of female students in technology-related programmes has stagnated for students from the general category and other backward classes. In fact, the number of students from the general category has fallen in terms of absolute number,

Table 7.1  Category-wise gender balance in different subject areas Subject Areas

Gender

Years

Humanities and Social Sciences [BA, BA (Hons.), BSW, MA, MSW.] Law [BA LLB, LLB] Natural Sciences [BSc, BSc (Hons), MSc] Commerce and Management [BBA, BBM, BCom, MBA, MCom] Technology [BCA, BE, BTech, MCA, MTech] Health Sciences [BDS, BPharm, BSc (Nursing), DPharma, GNM, MBBS] Education [BEd, DEd]

Female

Female

Gen

SC

2012–13 51.83 2019–20 54.53

52.50 55.51

49.37 47.22 53.41 52.31

52.99 54.55

2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20

32.20 34.82 48.91 52.96

34.40 36.60 47.73 52.16

27.40 33.97 47.00 51.47

38.71 39.02 45.01 51.11

27.48 30.99 51.68 54.36

Female

2012–13 42.42 2019–20 48.31

42.34 47.30

41.08 39.83 49.45 46.75

43.24 49.49

Female

2012–13 30.28 2019–20 30.63

29.30 29.11

29.85 25.83 33.23 28.39

32.53 32.17

Female

2012–13 64.38 2019–20 59.83

63.96 58.31

69.34 70.19 67.49 71.98

62.36 56.87

Female

2012–13 63.17 2019–20 65.46

65.80 68.31

55.85 50.96 60.59 59.46

65.55 65.94

Female

Total

Source: MHRD 2015, MOE 2020.

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ST

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whereas the number of OBC students has increased marginally. On the contrary, the share of female students has increased for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities as the number of female students has increased at a rate higher than that of the male students. On the other hand, given that natural science is no more a sought-after subject, the share of female students in science has become favourable. Table 7.1 indicates that the share of female students in natural sciences has gone above 50 per cent of the total number of students for all social groups. A similar development is visible in humanities and social sciences due to a lesser increase in the number of boys. It should be noted that the number of general category students in social sciences and humanities, both male and female, is falling in absolute number. While balance in terms of number is not sufficient in creating proper gender sensitivity in the classroom, its absence plays a significant role in shaping the outcome of educational processes. At the school level, girl students are often at a disadvantage in subjects like science and mathematics. They are usually in the minority there and find it challenging to participate in the discussion groups as male students dominate them (Gautam 2015). In doctoral education in science, women receive heightened visibility because of their small number. Men scrutinise the actions of women more carefully. While a critical mass of women is considered significant, a mere increase in number does not create a critical mass in experimental science if these women are placed in different laboratories. When interaction mainly occurs among those who work under a single supervisor or at a particular laboratory, informal peer groups consist primarily of men. Such a phenomenon excludes women from informal peer groups resulting in poor access to informal sources of information and support that are pretty important for academic progress (Gupta 2007). One crucial reason why a mere increase in the number of women does not help in making the education system work for women lies in the caste categories into which women are divided. While in doctoral education in science, the dominance of women from privileged upper-caste backgrounds replaces this diversity (Gupta 2007), the number of women from marginalised sections is slowly increasing elsewhere. As visible from Table 7.2, the percentage of students from the general category has reduced in all programmes. However, it has not fallen evenly in all programmes. For example, in sought-after subject areas like law, commerce and management, technology and health sciences, the share of students from the general category amongst the social groups is still above or close to 50 per cent Further, in all these subject areas leaving aside law, there is a gender imbalance with dominance of male general category students in these fields of study. In contrast, the percentage of the general category students has fallen substantially in subject areas like humanities and social sciences and natural sciences, while it has remained more or less stagnant in education. To a large extent, the fall in the share of the general category students is due to 154

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Table 7.2 Category- and gender-wise share of students (in terms of percentage) Subject Areas and Programmes

Gender

Years

Gen

SC

ST

OBC

Total (rounded off)

Humanities and Social Sciences [BA, BA (Hons.), BSW, MA, MSW] Law [BA LLB, LLB]

Total

2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20

47.65 38.35 46.99 37.53 48.27 39.04 62.36 56.43 60.34 54.90 66.62 59.31 48.94 37.82 50.07 38.47 47.77 37.25 58.98 48.81 59.06 49.76 58.87 47.79 57.56 49.08 58.36 50.15 55.71 46.66 59.88 48.41 60.57 50.24 59.49 47.18

15.37 17.24 16.16 17.66 14.64 16.88 12.24 12.77 13.10 12.94 10.41 12.45 11.97 13.38 12.41 13.80 11.50 13.00 9.26 11.15 9.48 10.90 8.97 11.41 8.59 11.04 8.65 10.63 8.47 11.98 11.83 13.69 10.18 11.08 12.75 15.44

6.31 8.36 6.91 8.77 5.75 8.02 3.16 3.12 2.85 2.92 3.80 3.50 3.95 4.94 4.25 5.13 3.63 4.76 2.25 3.13 2.35 3.22 2.11 3.03 2.02 2.78 2.14 2.87 1.72 2.57 3.99 5.41 3.34 3.77 4.35 6.51

30.63 36.01 29.90 36.00 31.31 36.03 21.97 27.52 23.50 29.14 18.76 24.49 35.04 43.77 33.14 42.47 37.03 44.92 29.37 36.79 28.95 35.95 29.94 37.69 31.68 36.76 30.66 35.94 34.03 38.61 22.92 32.01 24.22 34.37 22.21 30.43

100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20 2012–13 2019–20

41.60 40.25 38.63 36.92 43.33 42.00

17.10 18.57 20.49 21.19 15.12 17.19

5.67 6.88 7.55 8.08 4.58 6.25

35.62 34.29 33.32 33.81 36.96 34.54

100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Male Female Total Male Female

Natural Total Sciences [BSc, BSc (Hons), Male MSc] Female Commerce and Total Management [BBA, BBM, Male BCom, MBA, MCom] Female Technology Total [BCA, BE, BTech, MCA, Male MTech] Female Health Sciences [BDS, BPharm, BSc (Nursing), DPharma, GNM, MBBS] Education [BEd, DEd]

Total Male Female

Total Male Female

Source: MHRD 2015, MOE 2020.

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the rise in the share of the OBC students. The percentage of SC and ST students has also increased. However, that increase is much less when compared with that of the OBC. And it is also important to note that in many career-oriented subject areas like commerce and management and technology, the share of SC and ST students is well below the constitutionally mandated figure. In contrast, their share is close to or even higher than the constitutionally mandated share only in subject areas like humanities and social sciences and education, which others are less interested in pursuing. In both these subject areas share of these communities are higher among male students than among female students indicating the priority that males receive even in marginalised sections of society. The only other subject area where the share of students from these communities has come close to or has crossed the constitutionally mandated figure is health sciences. Their percentage here is higher among women than men. Unlike the SC and ST, the share of OBC students is rarely below the constitutionally mandated figure. It may be feasible to correlate the higher presence of OBC students with their higher academic performance, self-esteem and self-efficacy due to better access to cultural capital than the SC and ST students, as observed by Gupta (2019) in the study of an Indian Institute of Technology. While an increase in the number and percentage of students from the marginalised sections of society does not automatically make the education system more inclusive and equitable, it contributes in diverse ways towards the continuity of these students in higher education. As in the case of female students, the presence of a critical mass contributes to the creation of support groups within the marginalised (Vandana 2020). Even then, the minority upper-caste students seek to dominate through direct and indirect means by using their dominant caste-class position than the majority of the Dalit students (Narwana and Gill 2020). Unlike such unique contexts, in a typical higher educational institution, Dalits are in the minority. And in such an institutional context where caste identity plays a prominent role, everyday experiences are often shaped around caste hierarchy and involve contestation over reservation entitlement for the marginalised (Verma 2014). In elite educational institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, everyday politics around meritocracy and hierarchy often operate extensively, further subjugating the marginalised. While this politics plays an active role in bringing down the self-esteem and performance of Dalit-Adivasi male students, it contributes towards the alienation of Dalit-Adivasi women students (Gupta 2019). Of course, this alienation of Dalit-Adivasi women at higher educational institutions is not just a product of higher education. It is also an outcome of their social construction of inferiority, which begins at home and continues through the hidden curriculum at school and in society. Scholars (Paik 2009; Verma 2014; Vandana 2019) have argued that caste-gender identity of Dalit-Adivasi women negatively influences their scope to gain social recognition. It restricts their opportunity to be treated at par with their male siblings at home and with other classmates from privileged social locations 156

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at educational institutions. Typically these restrictions impose constraints on their ability to travel independently for education, pursue English medium education at good private schools, stay away from home independently and get accepted as equals by authorities and peers at educational institutions. While many upper-caste girls undergo similar experiences, girls from Dalit-Adivasi families get further marginalised as their identities block them everywhere. Besides, their families lack the financial and cultural capital that higher education or even school education demands. On the whole, it appears that while the number and percentage of women have increased in higher education, this often operates as an adverse inclusion as female students get concentrated at particular programmes and particular levels based on their suitability in terms of gender. Such concentration gets mediated by diverse blockages women experience at home, educational institutions and larger social contexts. The scenario only gets further nuanced when one looks at the socially marginalised sections among women belonging to SC and ST communities. These pictures become complex when the disparity between regions (Sahni and Shankar 2012) and public and private educational institutions (Sengupta 2020) is considered. Families often do not have professional ambitions for women (Verma 2014; Gautam 2015) and socialise them accordingly. Therefore, educational pursuit gets compromised as soon as it conflicts with the interests related to women’s chastity, family’s honour and marital plans. Socially marginalised women’s journey gets further blocked due to their restricted access to resources and social construction of marginality. Higher education is the gateway to employment as a skilled professional. Therefore, it is not incorrect to argue that women’s ability to grow professionally gets stunted by a socially myopic vision of their higher education and barriers constructed intentionally to block the free flow.

Higher education and career trajectories among women In the Indian context today, women’s higher education is often taken for granted among upper- and middle-class urban families. However, these same families often do not see education as an immediate investment in women’s careers. Instead, it is valued more in terms of its contribution towards enhancing social status by pursuing suitable marital alliances. It is also valued as a resource to fall upon in case of premature termination of a marital relationship. Therefore, it is not surprising that many women stay out of the labour market even after receiving higher education or work until marriage (Chanana 2007). Even female students keen to pursue a career after their higher education often lack specific information on how to go ahead about it (Verma 2014). Even when they manage to enter and continue in the labour market, they tend to cluster in specific occupations. Clustering of women in particular professions often emerges out of their clustering in specific subject areas during their educational pursuits. If these 157

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are the entry-level determinants, another set of challenges shapes women’s experience after entering a particular occupation based on their higher education and requisite skills. Given this broad context, it is not surprising that the majority of the higher-educated women are either out of the labour market or are present there as marginal workers (Table 7.3). Given that rural areas are often Table 7.3  Identity-wise share of the higher educated as per their work status (in terms of percentage of the total within Total/Rural/Urban) Work Status

Gender/ Location

Total

SC

ST

Main Worker

Total Male

32,383,853 (80.55%) 7,818,086 (19.45%) 11,216,569 (84.77%) 2,014,758 (15.23%) 21,167,284 (78.48%) 5,803,328 (21.52%) 2,967,924 (68.56%) 1,360,759 (31.44%) 1,769,956 (73.39%) 641,849 (26.61%) 1,197,968 (62.5%) 718,910 (37.5%) 12,122,844 (39.11%) 18,874,224 (60.89%) 4,958,350 (50.77%) 4,807,666 (49.23%) 7,164,494 (33.75%) 14,066,558 (66.25%)

2,670,643 (81.93%) 588,987 (18.07%) 1,318,723 (85.13%) 230,366 (14.87%) 1,351,920 (79.03%) 358,621 (20.97%) 382,347 (75.68%) 122,868 (24.32%) 278,737 (79.04%) 73,935 (20.96%) 103,610 (67.92%) 48,933 (32.08%) 1,282,628 (49.47%) 1,310,133 (50.53%) 690,947 (57.61%) 508,348 (42.39%) 591,681 (42.46%) 801,785 (57.54%)

858,468 (76.69%) 260,913 (23.31%) 524,824 (80.18%) 129,721 (19.82%) 333,644 (71.78%) 131,192 (28.22%) 130,459 (67.91%) 61657 (32.09%) 109,939 (69.09%) 49,174 (30.91%) 20,520 (62.18%) 12,483 (37.82%) 317,697 (53.86%) 370,920 (46.14%) 240,743 (61.42%) 151,236 (38.58%) 130,177 (43.88%) 166,461 (56.12%)

Total Female Rural Male Rural Female Urban Male Urban Female Marginal Worker

Total Male Total Female Rural Male Rural Female Urban Male Urban Female

Non-Worker

Total Male Total Female Rural Male Rural Female Urban Male Urban Female

Source: Census of India 2011.

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characterised by higher restrictions on women’s employment and offer lesser job opportunities for the higher educated, it is not surprising that the share of women as main and marginal workers is higher in urban areas. This pattern is visible not only for the total population but also for SC and ST communities. However, interestingly the share of women working as main or marginal workers in the urban area is higher for ST communities when compared with the total population or the SC communities. The same is valid for rural areas, indicating higher work participation culture among higher-educated women from ST communities. It is also important to note that gender disparity visible in the case of the non-workers among the total higher-educated population is less for SC and ST communities. However, when compared between the rural and urban areas, the share and the absolute number of higher-educated non-working women are found to be more in urban areas than in rural areas. And this is despite the higher availability of work opportunities for the higher-educated in the urban areas. While on the one hand, we may understand this apparent contradiction in terms of the patriarchal expectations on time of higher-educated women, on the other hand, it also raises questions around preparedness of diverse public spaces that women need to traverse for working. The predominantly disproportionate distribution of higher-educated women regarding their status as workers indicates that the benefits of gender parity achieved in higher education in terms of total enrolment hardly continue in work participation. Even for the women who work as main workers, it is essential to explore what they work as to understand the role of higher education. Here it would have been appropriate to engage in this exploration based on the data on higher-educated persons. However, considering certain limitations with that data, we consider the information on all the main workers assuming that people without specific higher education and skill may get restricted from entering relevant occupations. In continuation to the trend observed in higher education enrolment, Table 7.4 indicates the concentration of the female main workers was higher than the males’ concentration only in spaces considered ‘suitable’ for women even in higher education. Such spaces in the occupational domain include professions related to life and health sciences, teaching and social sciences for the total population and SC and ST communities. In the case of the total population, the concentration of female workers marginally surpasses that of male workers for computing professionals. However, the same is not true for SC and ST communities, indicating the concentration of the non-marginalised there. Even in the professions mentioned above, where the concentration of women is higher than the men, the absolute number of women is lower than the men except in the case of Nursing and Midwifery Associate Professionals where higher education may often be unnecessary. For Nursing and Midwifery Associate Professionals, the number of women is higher both in the case of the total population and SC and ST communities. 159

Table 7.4  Occupational classification of main workers other than cultivators and agricultural labourers (in terms of percentage of males and females belonging to a category) Occupations

Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Science Professionals Computing Professionals

160

Architects, Engineers and Related Professionals Life Science and Health Professionals Teaching Professionals Business Professionals Legal Professionals Social Science and Related Professionals Technicians and Associate Professionals Life Science and Health Associate Professionals

SC

ST

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

11,868,224 (8.19%) 2,290,922 (1.58%) 911,139 (0.63%) 1,261,289 (0.87%) 967,980 (0.67%) 1,699,954 (1.17%) 1,189,204 (0.82%) 596,682 (0.41%) 90,794 (0.06%) 9,013,276 (6.22%) 576,571 (0.40%)

1,266,468 (3.56%) 381,481 (1.07%) 243,001 (0.68%) 122,488 (0.34%) 324,072 (0.91%) 996,558 (2.80%) 231,906 (0.65%) 75,165 (0.21%) 129,311 (0.36%) 5,389,762 (15.15%) 1,910,949 (5.37%)

629,154 (3.20%) 132,342 (0.67%) 36,584 (0.19%) 39,682 (0.20%) 91,017 (0.46%) 169,770 (0.86%) 68,200 (0.35%) 42,500 (0.22%) 12,534 (0.06%) 1,035,649 (5.27%) 80,447 (0.41%)

73,003 (1.31%) 16,861 (0.30%) 8,878 (0.16%) 3,430 (0.06%) 29,289 (0.52%) 70,783 (1.27%) 11,563 (0.21%) 5,058 (0.09%) 18,240 (0.33%) 654,230 (11.71%) 340,585 (6.10%)

187,852 (3.50%) 33,604 (0.63%) 5,479 (0.10%) 26,713 (0.50%) 26,851 (0.50%) 67,961 (1.26%) 30,384 (0.57%) 6,681 (0.12%) 9,155 (0.17%) 446,538 (8.31%) 24,682 (0.46%)

34,966 (1.59%) 3,884 (0.18%) 1,389 (0.06%) 2,242 (0.10%) 11,762 (0.53%) 39,930 (1.81%) 7,932 (0.36%) 1,426 (0.06%) 18,919 (0.86%) 345,758 (15.68%) 154,664 (7.01%)

A N I R B A N S E N G U P TA

Managerial Staff

Total

Administrative Associate Professionals Clerks Service Workers and Shop & Market Sales Workers Models, Sales Persons and Demonstrators

369,221 (0.25%) 160,735 (0.11%) 3,168,599 (2.19%) 1,407,871 (0.97%) 5,134,851 (3.54%) 27,073,291 (18.68%) 20,357,607 (14.05%)

137,544 (0.39%) 1,769,079 (4.97%) 2,845,934 (8%) 225,078 (0.63%) 1,188,655 (3.34%) 3,869,857 (10.87%) 1,762,471 (4.95%)

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Note: This table contains data about all the main workers and not just the higher-educated ones. Source: Census of India 2011.

47,166 (0.24%) 28,060 (0.14%) 422,254 (2.15%) 150,605 (0.77%) 545,168 (2.78%) 2,349,548 (11.97%) 1,545,147 (7.87%)

15,672 (0.28%) 324,339 (5.80%) 254,278 (4.55%) 21,203 (0.38%) 103,434 (1.85%) 585,235 (10.47%) 217,438 (3.89%)

14,536 (0.27%) 8,724 (0.16%) 285,035 (5.30%) 48,600 (0.90%) 175,220 (3.26%) 651,585 (12.13%) 283,730 (5.28%)

5,833 (0.26%) 148,581 (6.74%) 163,310 (7.41%) 12,893 (0.58%) 52,173 (2.37%) 258,465 (11.72%) 100,047 (4.54%)

H I G H E R E D U CAT I O N , CA R E E R A N D WO M E N

Modern Health Associate Professionals (Except Nursing) Nursing and Midwifery Associate Professionals Teaching Associate Professionals

A N I R B A N S E N G U P TA

The concentration of women is often higher among different associate professionals and junior-level occupations where higher education may not always be necessary. This observation elaborates on the low presence of women among the main workers, as observed in Table 7.3. The concentration among professionals is not high for either male or female main workers. The reasons for this trend may be diverse, including lower general enrolment ratio in higher education in India, uneven quality of higher education and limited availability of jobs at that level. However, the absolute number of women professionals is substantially lower than male professionals. This trend has significant implications for the development of first-generation entrepreneurship by higher-educated persons. Often the higher-educated entrepreneurial aspirants identify their business idea, develop business networks and accumulate part of start-up capital while working as a professional. Junior staff like diverse associate professionals, even if they are higher-educated, often are excluded from the resourceful networks that the creation of business demands or have the opportunity to save enough out of their salary to use that as start-up capital in the absence of investors or loans (Dy, Marlow and Martin 2016). There is a need to understand the poor presence of women professionals in terms of the blocks women experience in entering and growing in a profession. Most of these obstacles are grounded in gender-stereotyped expectations from women. Western functionalist models of sex roles and role conflicts often influenced the initial research around the relationship between women and careers. Critiques of this perspective have highlighted the significance of understanding the complexity of gender relations and their historical evolution to understand the operation of subordination and discrimination based on gender. In the more traditional contexts earlier and even at present, employed women often do not receive any special privileges in their families. The forces quite often operate on the contrary. The hegemonic operation of these patriarchal forces quite often makes women internalise their familial roles as biological and not cultural, thereby making it difficult to question them. Early functionalist research on role conflict often reported guilt among working women for being unable to fulfil their familial responsibilities adequately. It also argued that such an attachment with traditional roles often negatively affected women’s performance at the workplace. However, by considering the guilt and poor work – performance of women as given, these researches ignored the social construction of the roles that working women played. Instead of blaming the socio-cultural structures, these researches tend to blame the victim, the working women. While academically, such perspectives were extensively challenged by later research, socially, these perspectives still play a dominant role (Krishna Raj 1986). Even today, women’s ability to participate in the workforce considerably depends on the support that they receive from their family members. Besides, a shift in geographical location due to marriage often makes it 162

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difficult for women to continue working. In an urban setting, the availability of various services, including childcare centres, professional domestic help, medical support services needed for the elderly in the family, contributes substantially towards facilitating women’s entry and growth in competitive professions. Even then, women’s career opportunity often involves negotiation within the family to ensure that it does not conflict with their stereotyped gender roles. And these negotiations are more when the job is more demanding (Tiwari 2019). Much before marriage itself, women are made familiar with these gendered challenges around working actively. Therefore, they either have a short-term plan regarding their career or are prepared to scale down their ambitions as they proceed in life. All these being realities, it is also important to note that some changes are also visible mainly in the new economy. In many familial contexts, work has helped young women professionals to earn financial independence and respect. Some contexts also attribute prestige to husbands for having a working wife, and it is not unusual there to find husbands wanting wives to continue working. However, considering their share out of the total population, such familial context is usually rare. Instead, it is pretty usual to find young women lacking control over their hard-earned salary or the family saving their salary for their marriage. But at the same time, in specific underprivileged contexts, women’s entry into prestigious workplaces has also facilitated the family’s social mobility (Clark and Sekhar 2007). Like familial context, systems prevalent at the workplaces often play a critical role in determining women’s ability to participate in the workspaces. Some of the typical characteristics of women’s experience in the labour market involve the difficulty of entry, slow growth and continuity challenges. Many women professionals get forced to quit their jobs after becoming pregnant when they find that their workplace is not flexible enough to provide adequate leave or childcare facilities (Clark and Sekhar 2007). As a result, breaks often characterise women’s careers and affect their ability to grow uninterrupted (Singh and Vanka 2020). The culture of ‘long hours’ in managerial positions, mainly referring to working till late, often affects women professionals adversely. Women’s inability to work till late often gets wrongly interpreted as their lower commitment towards the workplace. As network essential for career growth develops out of co-working, women’s inability to adhere to ‘long hours’ also affects their networking opportunities. In the Information Technology industry that carries a tag of being flexible and egalitarian, gender plays a significant role in determining the allotment of sought-after projects, higher wages and favourable terms for promotion. Social limits placed on women often prevent them from making frequent international travels that higher positions demand. Likewise, in a fast-changing technology industry, the need for constant upgradation of skills usually requires an investment of substantial time, which many women with care responsibilities cannot afford. Therefore, unlike their male colleague, women 163

A N I R B A N S E N G U P TA

often need to choose between commitment towards work or fulfilling familial obligations. Because of such systemic exclusions, it is not unusual that women hardly find role models to look up to or mentors to consult (Verma 2011). The route to first-generation entrepreneurship among the higher-educated is usually through a successful career pursuit. It is, therefore, not surprising that women professionals, continuously blocked by their gender identity, hardly reach there.

Social locations, access to opportunities and women entrepreneurship Considering the limited opportunities women receive in higher education and occupation, it is not surprising that the number of higher-educated women entrepreneurs is substantially low. If one focuses on the first-generation entrepreneurs among these women, the number is likely to be abysmally low. However, given the difficulties in capturing data on business founders as separate from people holding senior positions in companies and firms, it may be challenging to precisely determine how low the share of higher-educated women entrepreneurs is. Given their small number, the literature on this category of entrepreneurs is considerably limited. In the absence of specific literature, the attempt shall be to learn from women entrepreneurs’ experiences in general, including the international literature. Considering the challenges that women experience in higher education and career, it may not be incorrect to presume that all those challenges may carry forward to constrain higher-educated women’s attempts to set up and run a business. Between the Third All India Census of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) 2001–02 and the Fourth All India Census of MSME 2006–07, the share of women-owned enterprises has increased from 11.32 per cent to 14.7 per cent. In contrast, the share of women-managed enterprises has risen from 9.56 per cent to 11.54 per cent, indicating a nominal presence of women in control over businesses. In the rural areas where the share of women is relatively higher as per the Fourth MSME Census, it is still just 16.91 per cent (for women-owned enterprises) and 13.72 per cent (for women-managed enterprises). In the urban areas, women own 12.86 per cent of the enterprises and manage just 8.99 per cent of the enterprises as per the Fourth MSME census. Higher-educated women are likely to be more in urban areas because of the availability of suitable opportunities there. Given that the figures mentioned above are for all women, their share of higher-educated women will naturally be meagre. And after all, the majority (98.37 per cent) of the enterprises owned by women are micro-enterprises as per the Fourth MSME Census (Deshpande and Sharma 2013). This small share of higher-educated women entrepreneurs, despite the increase of women in higher education, begs an explanation. Therefore, this section seeks to understand how other than patriarchal 164

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social norms, higher education and professional background may push many women out of business. Contrary to the popular imagination about web-based businesses being a level playing field, research on women entrepreneurs conducted in Britain has brought out that even in the context of web-based businesses, the social location of the entrepreneurs plays a vital role (Dy, Marlow and Martin 2016). The social class location of one’s parents provides one with access to an elite educational background. Good-quality education does not just help provide exposure in terms of knowledge, it also provides the confidence that one requires to pursue a business. Quality exposure in terms of education and a robust professional career also integrates individuals into networks that provide access to diverse resources that business demands. Such entrepreneurship pathways in the British context are mediated by race, gender and social class location of the women entrepreneurs. As a result, a non-white woman entrepreneur or one from the working class lacked access to many of these resources and constantly needed to prove one’s ability (Dy, Marlow and Martin 2016). Besides, women with care responsibilities often tend to suffer in terms of their ability to grow in the profession and be part of resourceful networks as they need career breaks due to childbirth and children/elderly care. First-generation entrepreneurs mostly start a business in an area they are familiar with through their past occupational exposure as an employee. Women often tend to cluster in specific gendered occupational fields that are lower in skill, status and wage. Therefore, they usually start businesses in those areas, irrespective of their demands and remunerative potential (Marlow and Patton 2005). Entrepreneurship is often understood in terms of independence that an individual attains through it. However, women entrepreneurship is often glorified in terms of its potential for creating a work–life balance. Narratives of women entrepreneurs also indicate that many women opt for entrepreneurship for this purpose. Depending on the nature of their business and the market they serve, women entrepreneurs attain differential success in achieving this goal. When women opt for entrepreneurship to find this balance, they are likely to prioritise it over business growth. However, if the business is home-based, an individual’s business and home-related responsibilities tend to demand attention simultaneously, which can be pretty stressful. Even otherwise, family obligations often continue to hold women back from concentrating on business. Therefore, as in the labour market, women’s participation and continuity in entrepreneurship are not free from negotiations within the family (Harvey 2005; Dy, Marlow and Martin 2016). It is not surprising that even highly educated women enter business primarily when they receive support from their family members (Sengupta 2016). Interestingly, while patriarchal socio-cultural context constrains women entrepreneurs’ growth opportunities, it also creates an adverse inclusion! Higher-educated women professionals who enjoy the luxury of having a 165

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supportive family despite being in a patriarchal context at times find it easier than their husbands to quit their professional careers and start a business venture. Such resignation is relatively easy when the family does not consider women the primary earner (Sengupta 2016). Likewise, if women opt to run their business in gender-stereotyped spaces, they get preferred because of their gender (Dy, Marlow and Martin 2016)! While these practices demonstrate how hegemonic patriarchy operates concerning entrepreneurship, adherence to such practices also opens up limited opportunities for those at the margins.

Towards a conclusion Business involves the existence and construction of entry barriers to restrict new competition. The presence of such barriers facilitates the continuity of existing business. Existing business attempts to put up such barriers with the help of business networks, significant capital investment, niche knowledge, technical expertise and various other tools. New business creation involves constant negotiation with the existing entry barriers. In the absence of existing business networks, new entrepreneurs use their educational qualifications, background of being from a prestigious alma mater, work experience at reputed workplaces, professional networks developed at those workplaces and cultural knowledge developed as an insider for setting up their business. Considering the challenges of securing business investments and bank loans, first-generation entrepreneurs also need to save sufficiently to use that for business. What all this requires is a privileged upbringing, the opportunity to receive a quality education at premier educational institutions and the opportunity to work for reputed employers. It also requires support from family members to get a scope to work uninterrupted. As discussed through the chapter, the satisfaction of these requirements remains quite challenging for most women in general. Moreover, women from socially marginalised sections find it even more difficult to penetrate through these barriers. While little work exists on the challenges experienced by Dalit entrepreneurs (Jodhka 2010; Guru 2012) or the ways private sectors practice discrimination (Thorat and Attewell 2010), research on the experience of higher-educated Dalit and Adivasi women in reputed workspaces and entrepreneurship is hardly visible. Considering their marginalised existence in higher education, it is not difficult to presume that they are likely to be largely excluded from these competitive spaces. The route to entrepreneurship by the higher educated primarily involves a gradual progression through quality education at elite educational institutions and prestigious workplaces. Therefore, the marginalised are likely to get pushed out. Even when Dalits exist in entrepreneurship, their inclusion is often adverse, forcing them to hide their identity, restricting them to the lower end of the supply chain and in business areas related to diverse stigmatised caste-based 166

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occupations. All these structural forces constrain the majority of the marginalised to less sought-after spaces in education, occupation and entrepreneurship. However, it is interesting that a minority among the marginalised manage to create a niche for themselves despite all these blocks. Therefore, it is crucial to study the experiences of these individuals to explore the possibilities of role models in spaces where it hardly exists.

References Census of India. 2011. Census of India.B–1 Main Workers, Marginal Workers, NonWorkers and Those Marginal Workers Seeking/Available for Work Classified by Age and Sex. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI. Chanana, Karuna. 2001. ‘Hinduism and female sexuality: Social control and education of girls in India’, Sociological Bulletin, 50(1): 37–63. Chanana, Karuna. 2007. ‘Globalisation, higher education and gender: Changing subject choices of Indian women students’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(7): 590–598. Clark, Alice W. and Sekhar, T.V. 2007. ‘Can career-minded young women reverse gender discrimination? A view from Bangalore’s high-tech sector’, Gender, Technology and Development, 11(3): 285–319. Deshpande, Aswini and Sharma, Smriti. 2013. ‘Entrepreneurship or survival? Caste and gender of small business in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 48(28): 38–49. Dy, Angela Martinez, Marlow, Susan and Martin, Lee. 2016. ‘A web of opportunity or the same old story? Women digital entrepreneurs and intersectionality theory’, Human Relations, 70(3): 286–311. Gautam, Meenakshi. 2015. ‘Gender, subject choice and higher education in India: Exploring “Choices” and “Constraints” of women students’, Contemporary Educational Dialogue, 12(1): 31–58. Gupta, Namrata. 2007. ‘Women in doctoral education in science and engineering: A study of informal milieu at the reputed Indian Institutes of Technology’, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 32(5): 507–533. Gupta, Namrata. 2019. ‘Intersectionality of gender and caste in academic performance: quantitative study of an elite Indian engineering institute’, Gender, Technology and Development, 23(2): 165–186. Guru, Gopal. 2012. ‘Rise of the “dalit millionaire”: A low intensity spectacle’, Economic and Political Weekly, 47(50): 41–49. Harvey, Adia M. 2005. ‘Becoming entrepreneurs: Intersections of race, class, and gender at the black beauty salon’, Gender and Society, 19(6): 789–808. Jodhka, Surinder. 2010. ‘Dalits in business: Self-employed scheduled castes in northwest India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 45(11): 41–48. Raj, Maithreyi Krishna. 1986. ‘Research on women and career: Issues of methodology’, Economic and Political Weekly, 21(43): WS67–WS74. Marlow, Susan and Patton, Dean. 2005. ‘The financing of small businesses: Female experiences and strategies’, in Sandra L. Fielden and Marilyn J. Davidson (eds), International Handbook for Women and Small Business Entrepreneurship (pp. 66–77). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, GOI.

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Ministry of Human Resource Development. 2015. All India Survey of Higher Education 2012–13. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI. Narwana, Kamlesh and Gill, Angrej Singh. 2020. ‘Beyond access and inclusion: Dalit experiences of participation in higher education in rural Punjab’, Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 12(2): 234–248. Paik, Shailaja. 2009. ‘Chhadi lage chham chham, vidya yeyi gham gham (the harder the stick beats, the faster the flow of knowledge): Dalit women’s struggle for education’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 16(2): 175–204. Sahni, Rohini and Shankar, V. Kalyan. 2012. ‘Girls’ higher education in India on the road to inclusiveness: On track but heading where’, Higher Education, 63(2): 237–256. Sengupta, Anirban. 2016. Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Relationships and Start–ups in Indian ICT Industry. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Sengupta, Anirban. 2020. ‘Rapid growth of private universities: Transformation of the university space’, Economic and Political Weekly, 55(22): 45–52. Singh, Swati and Vanka, Sita. 2020. ‘Career break, not a brake on career: A study of the reasons and enablers of women’s re-entry to technology careers in India’, Business Perspectives and Research, 9(2): 195–214. Thorat, Sukhadeo and Attewell, Paul. 2010. The legacy of social exclusion: A correspondence study of job discrimination in India’s urban private sector. In Sukhadeo Thorat and Katherine S. Newman (eds), Blocked by Caste: Economic Discrimination in Modern India (pp. 35–51). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Tiwari, Himanshi. 2019. ‘Encounters with gendered realities in career decision-making while scouting women participation in the Indian workforce’, Business Perspectives and Research, 7(2): 147–162. Vandana. 2019. ‘Negotiating with patriarchy and access to higher education’, in Supurna Banerjee and Nandini Ghosh (eds), Caste and Gender in Contemporary India: Power, Privilege and Politics (pp. 43–67). London: Routledge. Vandana. 2020. ‘Dalit girls and sexual harassment in the university’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 27(1): 33–54. Verma, Monica. 2011. ‘Barriers to career advancement of women in Indian IT industry: A conceptual framework’, Metamorphosis, 10(1): 29–41. Verma, Smita. 2014. ‘Women in higher education in globalised India: The travails of inclusiveness and social equality’, Social Change, 44(3): 371–400.

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8 GENDERED ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES THROUGH RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION Influences and implications Ratna M. Sudarshan and Anjali Thomas

Introduction With the expansion of higher education facilities in India, overall gender parity in enrolment has been reached. However, differences in women enrolment within disciplines and sub-disciplines persist. Overall, 80 per cent of students are registered for undergraduate degrees, 8 per cent for diploma courses, 11 per cent for masters and less than 1 per cent are in research (Varghese 2018). Completion of a research degree is likely to indicate a preference for an academic career, whether within university or research organisations. It is probably a fair assumption that the proportion of those accessing other work would be small. In 2010, the UGC had said that in the absence of a National Eligibility Test (NET)1 qualification, a PhD was necessary for recruitment as faculty in a higher education organisation, further reinforcing the link between a research degree and academia. For those with a NET qualification, an MPhil degree offers added value in the job market. The number of completed doctoral dissertations has increased rapidly after 2000, as has women’s enrolment in MPhil/PhD courses. As expected, there is also a strong presence of women in faculty positions (although concentrated in certain segments as discussed below). The contribution of women faculty to publications is significant and can be taken as evidence of sustained interest and contribution to the world of academia, as seen from the limited gendered data on publications that is available. The education sector has been the biggest employer of women, after agriculture and manufacturing, suggesting a particularly gendered social acceptability for this particular career path. Being an educator resonates well within the gendered norms and expectations which operate across a majority of communities in India, especially in relatively developed urban and urbanising geographic contexts. However, this resonation between a career in education and gendered social DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-11

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norms becomes turbulent as women’s educational and career trajectories progress into positions of authority and leadership. The data reveals gendered trajectories in post-education careers, pointing both to underlying systemic constraints within the academic world, as well as gendered roles within family and community, that influence observed outcomes. Let us first present a snapshot of women’s presence and performance in the MPhil and PhD programmes, the gendered structure of faculty positions and some observations regarding publications. We then go on to review available literature that has looked at the ways in which reproductive challenges, and the perceptions of others regarding women’s roles in everyday life, may influence women’s choices and careers, and the likely ways in which the institutions of higher learning may either reinforce or weaken such challenges. The concluding section tries to make an assessment of the implications of women’s expanding presence in research and academic careers on broader questions of gender equality and empowerment. As the first service sector to see such high participation by women, the question is posed as to whether we can view education as being a leading sector in the search for gender equality, and what the barriers are to its playing this role.

Women’s presence and performance in the MPhil and PhD programmes The All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) reveals how the participation of women across all levels of higher education, especially enrolment in MPhil and PhD courses, has increased overall in the last ten years (Table 8.1). Apart from enrolment, in terms of successful completion or out-turn, women have begun outnumbering men across undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil courses; however, this outperformance by women is not continued at the PhD level (Table 8.2). Those completing a PhD were Table 8.1  Enrolments in MPhil and PhD, M/F, 2011/12–2019/20 Enrolment in past years All India

2019–20 2018–19 2017–18 2016–17 2015–16 2014–15 2013–14 2012–13 2011–12

MPhil

PhD

M

F

Total

M

F

Total

9,043 11,623 12,287 16,464 17,473 14,107 13,632 13,257 15,913

14,891 19,069 21,822 26,803 25,050 19,264 17,748 17,117 18,241

23,934 30,692 34,109 43,267 42,523 33,371 31,380 30,374 34,154

111,444 95,043 92,570 81,795 74,547 69,584 64,772 55,645 49,296

91,106 74,127 68,842 59,242 51,904 47,717 43,118 39,771 32,134

202,550 169,170 161,412 141,037 126,451 117,301 107,890 95,416 81,430

Source: MHRD various years, MOE 2020, Table 43.

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All India

171

2019–20 2018–19 2017–18 2016–17 2015–16

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

MPhil

PhD

M

F

Total

M

F

Total

M

F

Total

M

F

Total

3099051 3042301 3067201 3142649 3128466

3551020 3432414 3352438 3313737 3203533

6650071 6474715 6418639 6456386 6331999

655690 637265 656776 660749 665846

921014 862799 847627 817170 739150

1577704 1500064 1504403 1477919 1404996

6018 7829 8655 8805 8701

12202 17958 19404 17520 14423

18220 25787 28059 26325 23124

21577 23765 20179 16274 14887

17409 17048 14221 12505 9284

38986 40813 34400 28779 24171

Source: MHRD various years, MOE 2020, Table 33.

GENDERED ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES

Table 8.2  Course completion year-wise

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1.89 per cent of those completing postgraduate degrees in the case of women, and 3.29 per cent in the case of men. A cursory look at enrolment and outturn seems to indicate that women’s education reaches a crescendo at the MPhil level, and men begin to outnumber women at the doctoral level. This warrants the need to explore the similarities and differences between an MPhil and a PhD research degree. The MPhil degree is a lower qualification than the PhD, taking less time for completion. Looking back to what was expected when the degree was first introduced in the USA, at Yale University in 1968, the primary purpose was stated as being to provide a new intermediate degree which represents mastery of a discipline in the full scope and depth required of the PhD except for the demonstrated ability to organise and complete a major research project on a specific subject in a sub-field of the discipline. We believe that the competence represented by the MPhil will be a sound foundation for many careers in college teaching, government or private service (Miller 1966). India has been awarding doctoral degrees since the early nineteenth century (Sen 2015). Since independence, there have been several trends and development in research degrees in India. Varghese (2020) has mapped the changing trends and disciplinary choices in doctoral education in India. This section of the chapter further examines enrolment and successful completion of research degrees across degrees with a particular focus on women and gendered inequalities. In India, the MPhil degree, which is either a one-year or a two-year course, has come to be seen as a preparation for further research, since coursework for undergraduate and master’s degrees does not usually require the development of research skills. On the other hand, a PhD in India ranges between three to six years (ibid.). The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 anticipates a restructuring of the undergraduate and master’s programmes to rectify this, such that ‘Undertaking a Ph.D. shall require either a Master’s degree or a 4–year Bachelor’s degree with Research. The M.Phil programme shall be discontinued’ (NEP 2020, 11.10: 38). Although overall the number of PhD enrolments is greater than MPhil enrolments, it is interesting to see that over the period 2015–19, the number of PhD holders in each year from the latter actually exceeded that from the former, in the case of women (Table 8.2). In 2018–19, the total number of females completing PhD was 17,048, while in the case of MPhil, the number stood at 17,958. In contrast, there were 7,829 males awarded an MPhil degree against 23,765 from the PhD. So not only were there twice as many women as men completing the MPhil in that year; there were actually slightly more women completing the MPhil than PhD. In 2019–20, the latest year for which data is available, more women have completed their PhD (Table 8.2). The popularity of the MPhil among women will be discussed below. The data shows that the proportion of women graduating with PhD and MPhil degrees have improved considerably between 2011–12 and 2018–19. In 2011–12, the shares of men and women awarded with PhD degrees in 172

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India were 64 per cent for men and 36 per cent for women. For MPhil, this share was 46 per cent for men and 54 per cent for women. In 2019–20, the all-India PhD completion gender pattern shows 55 per cent being men and 45 per cent women. In the case of total MPhil awardees, 33 per cent were men and 67 per cent women. Moreover, an overview over the last eight years shows that there has been some fluctuation in the numbers enrolled in MPhil for both men and women (Figure 8.1), while in the case of PhD courses, there is a steady upward trend in enrolments (Figure 8.2). A direct comparison of the enrolments for MPhil and PhD may not be appropriate since the PhD enrolments would include students at various stages and hence in any given year the numbers will be fewer than indicated above. With that caveat, the number of women enrolled in MPhil in 2011– 12 was over 56 per cent of those enrolled for the PhD (32 per cent in the case of men). By 2019–20 this fell in the case of women to about 16 per cent of those enrolled for the PhD (as against 8 per cent in the case of men). For all India, the ratio of women to men in MPhil enrolment in 2019– 20, the latest year for which data are available is 1.64. For PhD in the same year, it is 0.82. Chandigarh and Punjab, Kerala and Meghalaya are exceptions to the overall gender picture for PhD, with more women than men enrolled for the PhD. This is also true for Nagaland and Haryana (Table 8.3). When we examine the successful completion of MPhil and PhD degrees across states, we can see women are outnumbering men in some states. While it is not surprising to observe women outnumbering men in Kerala, given its history of high participation of women in both education and employment, women are also outnumbering men in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Nagaland,

MPhil Enrolments 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 Mphil M

Mphil F

Figure 8.1  MPhil enrolments in number from 2011–12 and 2019–20.  Source: MHRD various years, MOE 2020.

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PhD Enrolments 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 PhD M

PhD F

Figure 8.2  PhD enrolments in number from 2011–12 and 2019–20: All India.  Source: MHRD various years, MOE 2020.

Table 8.3  State-wise enrolments State-wise Enrolment at Various Levels (where F outnumber M in PhDs) MPhil M All India Kerala Nagaland Punjab Chandi­ garh Haryana

PhD F

9,043 14,891 204 685 10 28 307 315 140 48 80

230

F/M ratio

% of F M

F

F/M ratio

% of F

1.646 3.357 2.8 1.026 0.342

100 4.600 0.188 2.115 0.322

111,444 2,817 270 4,111 409

91,106 4,687 307 4,888 550

0.817 1.663 1.137 1.189 1.344

100 5.144 0.336 5.365 0.603

2.875 1.544

1,810

2,356 1.301

2.585

Source: MOE 2020, Table 6.

Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (Table 8.4). Matching the data on PhDs, AISHE 2018–19 and 2019–20 data on overall teachers across states indicate that women are outnumbering men as teachers in regions such as Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab. Additionally, when we examine enrolment social group-wise, we can observe that women are outnumbering men in terms of enrolment in MPhil programmes across communities and men are outnumbering women in terms of PhD programmes. When we examine the gender difference across social groups, we see that the OBC group has a higher ratio of women to men enrolled for MPhil than other groups. Relatively more women than men are enrolling in PhD programmes within the non-SC/ST/OBC communities (Table 8.5). 174

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Table 8.4  State-wise pass out State-Wise Pass-Out (where F outnumber M in PhDs) MPhil M All India 6,018 Chandigarh 23 Goa 0 Haryana 96 Himachal 40 Pradesh J&K 41 Kerala 137 Manipur 0 Meghalaya 12 Punjab 74 Rajasthan 303 Tamil Nadu 2,293

PhD F

F/M ratio

12,202 27 0 45 57

2.028 1.174

61 493 2 32 96 264 7,797

1.488 3.599

0.469 1.425

1.297 0.871 3.400

% of F 100 0.221 0.000 0.369 0.467

M

F

F/M ratio

21,577 17,409 0.807 261 309 1.184 43 53 1.233 366 471 1.287 96 109 1.135

0.500 4.040 0.016 0.262 0.787 2.164 63.899

193 415 50 79 363 1,060 2,556

229 681 55 97 383 1,087 2,768

% of F 100 1.775 0.304 2.705 0.626

1.187 1.315 1.641 3.912 1.100 0.316 1.228 0.557 1.055 2.200 1.025 6.244 1.083 15.900

Source: MOE 2020, Table 33.

Table 8.5  Enrolment by social groups for 2019–20 Programme-Wise Enrolment MPhil M Overall SC ST OBC SC+ST+OBC non-SC/ST/ OBC

PhD F

F/M ratio

% of total F

M

F

F/M ratio

% of total F

9,043 14,891 1.65 1,522 2,021 1.33 590 636 1.08 2,656 6,439 2.42 4,768 9,096 1.91 4,275 5,795 1.36

100 13.57 4.27 43.24 61.08 38.92

109,249 11,890 4,009 27,542 43,441 65,808

89,976 7,681 3,140 21,804 32,625 57,351

0.82 0.65 0.78 0.79 0.75 0.87

100 8.54 3.49 24.23 36.26 63.74

Source: MOE 2020.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 (GOI 2007) provides for reservation in admission to all HE courses as well as in teaching positions at 15 per cent for SC, 7.5 per cent for ST and 27 per cent for OBC since 2006. The data above suggests that this policy may have helped to enhance the presence of women students from the SC and OBC communities successfully at the MPhil level, while the representation of students from 175

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ST communities remains low. At PhD level, the representation from all three groups is lower and is below the reservation level, particularly for the SC and ST groups. Additionally, in terms of enrolment across disciplines, between 65 and 75 per cent of all enrolments are concentrated in 5 out of 30 listed areas, for both men and women. Science, social science, Indian languages, foreign languages and commerce top the MPhil choices. With PhD, it is science, engineering and technology, social science, management, Indian languages (women) and medical science (men) (Table 8.6). A similar pattern can be observed in terms of successful completion of MPhil and PhD degrees across disciplines (Table 8.7). It is also interesting to note that in terms of disciplines, although men outnumber women in PhD in Indian languages, women outnumber men in PhD enrolment in Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and Malayalam, and successful doctoral degrees in Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam and Odiya. In states like Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where more women are successfully completing their PhD degrees, the vernacular state languages are also popular disciplinary choices in terms of research degrees. Women are outnumbering men in MPhil degrees across all disciplines except agriculture and defence studies. Women are also outnumbering men in terms of doctoral degrees in fields such as commerce, criminology,

Table 8.6  Discipline-wise enrolment – top five disciplines Top 5 Disciplinary Preferences of Young Men and Women Enrolled in MPhil and PhD Courses in 2019–20 Rank

MPhil

PhD

F

M

F

M

1

Science (19.60%)

Social Science (24.01%)

Science (27.07%)

2

Social Science (14.85%) Indian Languages (11.81%) Foreign Languages (10.57%) Commerce (8.21%)

Science (16.98%)

Engineering and Technology (18.25%) Social Science (10.87%)

Engineering and Technology (32.16%) Science (23.57%)

3 4 5

Indian Languages (12.08%) Commerce (6.20%) Foreign Languages (5.72%)

Source: MOE 2020.

176

Social Science (9.02%)

Management (5.73%)

Management (5.32%)

Indian Languages (4.94%)

Medical Science (4.34%)

GENDERED ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES

Table 8.7  Course completion discipline-wise, top five Top Five Disciplines Where Young Men and Women Successfully Completed MPhil and PhD Courses in 2019–20 Rank

1 2 3 4 5

MPhil

PhD

F

M

F

M

Science (29.76%) Social Science (15.05%)

Social Science (23.09%) Science (20.63%)

Science (25.49%)

Foreign Languages (11.76%) Indian Languages (11.54%) Commerce (9.11%)

Indian Languages (11.96%) Commerce (9.80%)

Engineering and Technology (12.24%) Social Science (10.15%)

Science (20.14%) Engineering and Technology (9.67%) Social Science (8.02%)

Agriculture (10.02%)

Agriculture (7.92%)

Indian Languages (6.62%)

Indian Languages (5.23%)

Foreign Languages (8.02%)

Source: MOE 2020.

cultural studies, disability studies, fashion technology, home science, IT and computer, linguistics, oceanography and women’s studies. Women are also outnumbering men within traditional STEM disciplines such as medicine in terms of specialisations such as nursing and public health and within science in disciplines such as zoology, botany and relatively new disciplines such as bio-chemistry, life sciences, bio-technology and genetics. We do not know the motivations behind enrolling for and completing a research degree, and in the Indian context there can be different aspirations. For one group, the PhD is an entry card for the world of academia; for another group, it is a ticket to a secure job; and in the case of women, there is likely to be a third group for whom it is a waiting period before marriage or the birth of children. The first two groups would actively participate in job search after completing their degrees, and while faculty positions in Indian universities are not the only possible career option, it is not unrealistic to expect some correlation between expanding presence of women in research and in faculty jobs. In the realm of teaching, women had around 42 per cent of all jobs in 2019–20. Looking at the distribution of male and female staff at various levels of the educational hierarchy, women are largely concentrated in the entry-level grades of lecturer/assistant professor – 69 per cent of all-women faculty are at this level, which is quite close to the figure of men, 67 per cent in these grades. About 6 per cent of women faculty (as against about 11 per cent of men) are at the professor level, forming 27 per cent of all those in this grade. 177

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Table 8.8  Gender-wise faculty positions Faculty Position

Gender Male

Professor and Equivalent Reader and Associate Professor Lecturer/Assistant Professor Demonstrator/Tutor Temporary Visiting Teacher Grand Total

Female

Total

Female/ Male ratio

101,319

38,478

139,797

0.38

100,652

59,485

160,137

0.59

583,231

440,288

1,023,519

0.755

27,650 43,387 8,098 864,337

52,522 41,569 6,477 638,819

80,172 84,956 14,575 1,503,156

1.90 0.96 0.80 0.74

Source: MOE 2020.

While being just 6 per cent of all-women faculty, 65 per cent of those in the demonstrator/tutor grade were women (Table 8.8). In terms of intersections with social marginalisation and regional differences, the data shows that SC, ST and OBC women teachers are outnumbering men teachers in Goa and Kerala. In Meghalaya ST women outnumber ST men and in Punjab SC and OBC women outnumber SC and OBC men in terms of overall number of teachers. Teaching positions across India are gendered with men significantly outnumbering women in Professorial positions. Women begin to outnumber men in Associate Professor and Reader positions in regions such as Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Punjab (MHRD 2019). A proportion of those who move into regular faculty positions are likely to contribute actively to further research and publications, while others would focus on teaching. It is probably not incorrect to assume that the ratio of time spent on teaching/administration/ research is skewed towards teaching for more junior staff and that publications are likely to increase as one goes up in the academic hierarchy. Moreover, research and doctoral studies are largely limited to university departments; affiliated colleges tend to focus on teaching (Varghese 2018).

Gender differences in publications Publications are an index of commitment and contribution to academia. While it is difficult to judge the quality of publications by numbers alone, scientometric studies focusing on selected reputed journals give some clue on gender productivity. Paswan and Singh (2019) review the existing

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literature, which suggests that male authors tend to have higher productivity than female authors, and this is generally true across countries. Using research output data from the Web of Science for 50 Indian institutions for the period 2008–17, they examine gender differences. The gender of authors could be successfully determined for about 64 per cent of the papers, and out of these 28 per cent had a female first author and 72 per cent a male first author. The ratio of female to male first-authored papers has increased over the period studied from 0.35 to 0.43. They find that there are relatively more female first-authored papers in some disciplines, including biology, agriculture, social science and medicine, where they are between 31 and 37 per cent, as compared to engineering, information science and mathematics, where the range is 20 per cent–22 per cent. The data presented by Paswan and Singh suggests that overall, research output from women academics varies across universities and is lower than that from male academics (with variations by discipline and university). The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) report for 2018–19 provides some information regarding publications by teaching faculty. Our quick calculation for two universities from the IQAC database shows a higher percentage share for women than seen in the analysis by Paswan and Singh. For TISS, Mumbai, female author publications form 56 per cent of the total publications, and for Punjab University 47.5 per cent of those papers for which gender could be clearly identified were published by women. For both higher education institutions, 86 per cent of all papers were published by women (Table 8.9). From IQAC 2018–19, we see that 47 per cent of awards and recognition at Panjab University, Chandigarh (including membership in academic networks and editorial position in journals, being a chief guest and awards), were received by women faculty. Similarly, 45 per cent of extension Lectures by members of teaching departments in affiliated colleges and other institutions were given by women (Table 8.10). The most recent data from two selected universities, given above, would suggest roughly equal contribution on some indicators of professional contribution.

Table 8.9  Publications analysis for TISS and Punjab University from IQAC 2018–19 Institution Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Punjab University, Chandigarh

M

F

Not sure

Total

20

26

0

46

738

670

223

1631

Source: IQAC 2018–19 reports for Punjab University and TISS.

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Table 8.10  Information on academic awards, recognition and lecturing in other institutions from IQAC 2018–19 Institution Awards and Recognition Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (only awards) Panjab University, Chandigarh (includes membership in academic networks and editorial position in journals, being a chief guest, awards, etc.) Extension Lectures by members of teaching departments in affiliated colleges and other institutions Panjab University, Chandigarh

M

F

11 490

10 435

634

524

Source: IQAC 2018–19 reports for Punjab University and TISS.

Gendered structure of faculty positions From the above data, it is clear that there has been a steady expansion of women obtaining research degrees, and that their presence in faculty positions, at an aggregate level, is commensurate with this. However, one fact that stands out is the very high number of women in the more junior and insecure faculty positions and while one cannot identify the likely reasons from these numbers alone, one might speculate that women are more willing to accept such positions – either because there are no other suitable jobs available near to home, or because they do not wish to accept transfers, or other such reasons related to the management of everyday reproductive responsibilities within an existing set of gendered norms that shape behaviour. Women’s educational status has several social implications, especially in terms of matrimony and matrimonial practices. Lin et al. (2020) have observed that improvement in the educational level among women in India has led to an increase in homogamy and hypogamy, where more and more women are marrying men who are equally or less educated than themselves. They have argued that although this trend can be interpreted as a relaxation of patriarchal patterns of hypergamy where the man in the heteronormative matrimonial couple is more educated, the increase in hypogamy is symptomatic of social adherence to caste, class and community-based practices of endogamy. In other words, highly educated women are marrying men who might have fewer educational credentials as they fit criteria of caste and class-based matrimonial eligibilities, thereby contributing towards a caste and class-based reproduction of privilege and inequality. To explain why fewer women appear to show the ambition to progress within the field, or why they accept the less-secure positions, one could advance an explanation pointing to active or passive discrimination within academic institutions, and/or one might seek explanations in the social 180

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context and the gendered roles that women irrespective of their profession are expected to perform. The demands of social reproduction influence the nature of everyday life. Teaching has traditionally been considered as ‘compatible’ with gendered norms regarding the management of the everyday in a household with children. This is because of such considerations as a shorter workday (compared to ‘office’ jobs which require full-day attendance), regular vacations and the restricted nature of work interactions – primarily with children and other teachers. Such ‘compatibility’ may not exist in the case of senior university positions or those with administrative responsibilities. Longer working hours and being ‘on call’, and interactions with a wider range of persons, make these jobs far more visible and in the public space. The strong presence of women in research degrees is matched by their presence in academic jobs, although as shown earlier, a much higher proportion of women faculty tend to be in short-term or lower-end positions. However, the picture changes somewhat when we look within disciplines. For example, while science and engineering account for a good proportion of female research scholars, very few are employed in scientific research institutes. According to a government report, women formed only 16 per cent of the total scientific community of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs. Gupta (2016) in her study of two national laboratories of the CSIR finds that it is perception, rather than any actual difference in capabilities, that shapes the responsibilities given to men and women scientists. It is assumed that women would rather not take on administrative and other duties at work because of their responsibilities at home. She makes the interesting point that while hierarchy affects both men and women, men’s greater ability to develop informal networks partly subverts this, while women are less able to engage in such informal interactions due to their acceptance of social norms. She also notes a generational shift, with the younger generation of scientists receiving more support from their spouses for their work decisions. Gupta (2016) says, While a woman’s role in the family continues to be regarded as pivotal by the society, including by women scientists themselves, change is witnessed in terms of greater family support and a higher determination among women to pursue a career. (459) Managing work and home responsibilities is of course not unique to India. However, the context of strong and persistent patriarchal norms makes such management more difficult. Care work is almost entirely managed within households, with a small contribution from state Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)2 centres and even smaller by market or community arrangements. A study conducted of early and mid-career Indian academics in science and engineering in a particular research-intensive 181

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university in the UK (Fernando and Cohen 2015) finds that even in this immigrant setting, extended family continued to support women in their care tasks and that the ‘Indian family support systems effectively transferred to the UK context’ (17). Management of care according to the findings of this study continued to be familial even in a different context where other options would have been available. Highly motivated women with adequate family support were able to successfully concentrate on their careers. Chanana (2003) draws on data from two studies, one that sampled faculty members from 18 universities in different states in India, and a second case study of one department in a university to examine gendered trajectories. She found that 53 per cent of men, compared to 34 per cent of women, reported having reached ‘the most significant position in their career’. Differences included starting at a lower level and frequent job changes that were reported by women but not by men, with only one exception. All but one of the women respondents were married, and they attributed the interruptions in their career to marriage-related reasons, usually a husband’s job transfer. Chanana further suggests that women are unable to be ‘visible’ in the same way as men, since informal networking by women outside of work hours gets restricted by concerns about transgressing gendered norms of behaviour. In turn, this can act as a brake in taking on more responsibilities. Gender differences in social networks have also been identified as one of the reasons behind differences in publications, an aspect of mobility within the profession. Women tend to have smaller social networks, face greater demands and implications of social reproduction, given gendered roles and expectations, and may face discriminatory norms within academic disciplines, with lower access to resources, including time. Research has shown that in general, men tend to have more contacts with co-workers, friends and non-kin, while women tend to have more familial relationships. Women tend to work in occupations or tasks dominated by women; having young children tends to restrict wider contact, and changing jobs because of reproductive responsibilities or because of changing location due to marriage, spouse’s work, etc., can disrupt networks (Lin 2000). Such factors operating during the course of higher education and in academic jobs could limit the information and access to resources or persons that encourage and enable continued research and publication. As women move to higher levels, the number of male contacts goes up and networks widen. In a survey of 136 women faculty from five state public universities in Karnataka offering arts, science, commerce and management programmes, it was found that about 47.8 per cent of the women faculty opt out of, or decline, administrative positions. Interestingly, a significantly higher proportion of those engaged in research were found to be willing to take on administrative positions. The invisible barriers within the departments along with routines at home that are difficult to change largely explain why fewer women were found in leadership positions (Mayya et al. 2021). 182

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Leadership among women also have implications regarding care work, which can lead to disenchantment with leadership (Blackmore 2014), women perceiving leadership positions as stressful (Acker 2014) or a punishment which is similar to domestic labour (Morley 2013). Morley (2013) also emphasises that women leadership can be misleading as not all women leaders might be allied to feminist goals which seek to challenge and address inequalities. In relation to women leadership in the STEM discipline, a rare Indian study on preparedness for leadership in Indian universities (Mohnot 2019) observed that faculty in STEM disciplines are relatively less prepared to perform leadership roles than faculty in other disciplines. This means that women in STEM faculties, who have to overcome relatively greater degrees of social barriers and opposition, are also less prepared than their peers in humanities and social sciences to pursue and perform leadership roles. Leadership among women could be developed and prepared through mentorship and role models, leadership development programmes and gender mainstreaming policies (Agarwala 2017; Morley 2010). The distribution of women in teaching positions by level will reflect qualifications and competitive ability. However, the education sector as a whole has always had a strong presence of women. This is greatest in school teaching. The number of female teachers per 100 male teachers shows a steady decline by level of education, so that in 2018–19 at the primary level this ratio is 120, at upper primary 93, at secondary 77 and at higher secondary 79 (GOI 2020). And at the university level, as seen above, the overall ratio drops to 42 per cent. Data shows that while the work participation rate (WPR) in urban areas for men over the age of 15 years stood at 69.9 per cent in 2019–20, it was just 21.3 per cent for women. The gender gap is only slightly less for those educated to postgraduate and above. The WPR in urban areas, for those 15 years and above and educated to PG level and above, stood at 78.4 per cent for men and for women at 38.1 per cent (PLFS 2021). There is greater parity within the education sector, with women being 42 per cent of all faculty, in an overall context where the ratio of working women to working men is skewed as indicated above. Census data confirms that marriage is virtually universal: only 10 per cent of women between the ages of 20–59 are never married in urban areas (Census 2011). These data suggest that the majority of women who complete research degrees and go on to access faculty positions would be married and would be working women in an environment where the majority of educated women have chosen not to work outside their homes. A second important fact about the education sector is that it provides largely formal employment. About 71 per cent of women (and 75 per cent of men) in education are in the formal sector (Raveendran 2010). This is higher than in the health sector, for example, where the corresponding percentages are 66 per cent for women and 46 per cent for men. That is, these are jobs with security of tenure and benefits. The combination of formal employment 183

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and reasonable gender parity overall makes this sector a ‘leading’ sector as far as women’s work goes. The question is whether and to what extent it contributes to empowerment and enhancement of women’s agency.

Way forward and concluding observations Returning to the question of motivation, the presence of women in university faculty positions in greater measure in entry-level and in less-secure jobs suggests that while there are few social barriers to women seeking academic careers, pursuing independent careers remains difficult. That is, women academics tend to be pragmatic about their ambitions in order to avoid disruptions to family and household routines. There is also evidence from different studies that even when women themselves are willing to expand the scope of their responsibilities, unless others around them change their attitudes and assumptions accordingly, they may not be able to do so. Enabling a more ambitious pursuit of academic careers by women requires first of all their own sense of self and own identity to be linked to the career that they pursue. Looking within the work environment of universities and research organisations with a particular view to making informal interactions easier, and avoiding gender-based segregation in responsibilities and expectations, would help create an enabling workplace. Changes within the household are equally essential, and as the younger generation of academics takes on new roles at work, gendered expectations within households may gradually shift as well. Education has traditionally been a safe space for women to seek work, acceptable to families and with (apparently) relatively undemanding work schedules. The aspect of women in academia lowering their career expectations and conforming to social norms for the sake of social harmony has a positive side to it too. It has enabled women to continue in their jobs and retain their identity as teachers/researchers. This stands in contrast to women who start their careers in high-intensity corporate jobs that require very long hours of work; here, conflicts with home responsibilities can rarely be resolved through changing work commitments, and women in such jobs tend to quit work. A student survey carried out by Lady Shri Ram College with about 350 respondents, women teachers in colleges of Delhi University spread across the city and in women-only as well as mixed colleges, gave some interesting insights. Social connectedness with colleagues at work emerged as a significant influence on perceived well-being. This was highest in the all-women colleges, where peer group support was high (LSR 2015). However, although the education sector may provide in this way a space for sustainable work of women, there is less evidence on the ways in which it could contribute to gender equality in society. A new and emerging trend identified in literature from the global north exploring the changing patterns of universities is that of neo-liberal managerialism (Shepherd 2018; Deem 1998) as the emerging and growing form 184

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of governance and leadership within an increasingly corporate university (Blackmore 2014; Morley 2013). This involves a renewed focus on efficiency and performance outcomes, which significantly influences hiring and promotion procedures within academic faculties. Similar changes can be gleaned from successive UGC notifications (UGC 2018) regarding recruitment and promotion of academic faculty in Indian universities wherein faculty’s performance is evaluated on the basis of academic services such as participation in collaborative and international research, organisation and participation in academic conferences and publishing in recognised national and international academic journals with higher citation indices. These new conditions of recruitment, evaluation of performance and promotions have gendered implications. For instance, Uhly et al. (2017) survey faculty across several countries in the global north and south to argue that there is a glass fence which influences how academicians are able to engage in international academic collaborations. They argue that engaging in academic research, especially international academic research collaborations, requires a certain degree of social, economic and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986). Academic mobility and participation in conferences are unequal (Henderson and Moreau 2020) and linked to a combination of social discrimination within institutional cultures (Sabharwal et al. 2020) and gendered caring responsibilities (Acker 2010; Grummell et al. 2009). The Glass fence (Uhly et al. 2017) is located significantly in the family wherein presence (and number of) of children, employment of spouse and employment of spouse in academia or industry influences the ability of women faculty to engage in international collaborations. Similar gendered inequalities have been recognised as a barrier in Indian universities as women attempt to participate in academic conferences (Sabharwal et al. 2020). These emerging patterns of neo-liberal governance and institutional structures in universities also produce new rules of the (academic) game (Acker 2010) where women in academia have to practice managerialist leadership in a neo-liberal organisation catering to the student who is a consuming citizen (Morley 2013). These new career-advancement and leadership requirements collide with gendered norms in India. The roles and expectations from academic leaders in universities require skills and dispositions which contradict normative gender-appropriate behaviour and lifestyles (Morley and Crossouard 2016a). Morley and Crossouard (2016b) observe that in South Asia institutional practices frequently worked against women’s socialised dispositions. Women, in many societies, are encouraged not to draw attention to themselves, often as a strategy to avoid unwanted attention or gender-based violence. This can professionally translate into a reluctance to engage with selection procedures that require self-promotion and high visibility. Whether the managerial ethos with its behavioural expectations will make it more difficult for women to strengthen their academic careers, or whether academia will provide the springing board for wider gender equality to emerge, remain open questions. 185

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Notes 1 An eligibility test which is administered by the UGC. Passing this test makes a scholar eligible to be a lecturer in Indian Higher Education Institutions. 2 A state-funded initiative to address nutritional and development needs of children. This is often manifested in Aanganwadi centres (where ICDS workers execute the scheme) in rural India.

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Lin, Nan. 2000. ‘Inequality in social capital’, Contemporary Sociology, 29(6): 785–795. Lin, Zhiyong, Desai, Sonalde and Chen, Feinian. 2020. ‘The emergence of educational hypogamy in India’, Demography, 57(4): 1215–1240. LSR. 2015. The ‘Successful Professional Woman’: Work–Life Balance and Well– Being. New Delhi: Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, Innovation Project 2014. Mayya, Shreemathi S., Martis, Maxie, Ashok, Lena and Monteiro, Ashma Dorothy. 2021. ‘Women in higher education: Are they ready to take up administrative positions?–A mixed–methods approach to identify the barriers, perceptions, and expectations’, SAGE Open, 11(1): 1–13. Miller, John Perry. 1966. ‘The master of philosophy: A new degree is born’, The Journal of Higher Education, 37(7): 377–381. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India. Ministry of Human Resource Development. 2019. All India Survey on Higher Education 2018–19. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Mohnot, Hina. 2019. ‘The impact of some demographic variables on academic leadership preparedness in Indian higher education’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(1): 1–11. Morley, Louise and Crossouard, Barbara. 2016a. ‘Gender in the neoliberalised global academy: The affective economy of women and leadership in South Asia’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(1): 149–168. Morley, Louise and Crossouard, Barbara. 2016b. ‘Women’s leadership in the Asian Century: does expansion mean inclusion?’, Studies in Higher Education, 41(5): 801–814. Morley, Louise. 2010. ‘Gender equity in higher education: Challenges and celebrations’, International Encyclopedia of Education, 2(3): 629–635. Morley, Louise. 2013. ‘The rules of the game: Women and the leaderist turn in higher education’, Gender and Education, 25(1): 116–131. NEP. 2020. National Policy on Education 2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Paswan, Jyoti and Singh, Vivek Kumar. 2019. ‘Gender and research publishing analysed through the lenses of discipline, institution types, impact and international collaboration: a case study from India’, Scientometrics, 123(1): 497–515. PLFS. 2021. Annual Report: Periodic Labour Force Survey, July 2019–June 2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. Raveendran, G. 2010. ‘Contribution of women to the national economy’, ILO Asia– Pacific Working Paper Series. New Delhi: International Labour Organisation. Sabharwal, Nidhi S., Henderson, Emily F. and Joseph, Roma Smart. 2020. ‘Hidden social exclusion in Indian academia: Gender, caste and conference participation’, Gender and Education, 32(1): 27–42. Sen, Bimal Kanti. 2015. ‘Doctorate degrees from India: 1877 (first award) to 1920’, Indian Journal of History of Science, 50(3): 533–534. Shepherd, Sue. 2018. ‘Managerialism: An ideal type’, Studies in Higher Education, 43(9): 1668–1678.

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Uhly, Katrina M., Visser, Laura M. and Zippel, Kathrin S. 2017. ‘Gendered patterns in international research collaborations in academia’, Studies in Higher Education, 42(4): 760–782. University Grants Commission. 2018. UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher education, 2018. New Delhi: UGC. Varghese, N.V. 2018. ‘Education research and emergence of higher education as a field of study in India,’ in J. Jung, H. Horta and A. Yonezawa (eds.), Researching Higher Education in Asia: History, Development and Future (pp. 299–313). Singapore: Springer. Varghese, N.V. 2020. ‘The role of doctoral education in developing research capacities in India’, in M. Yudkevich, P. Altbach, and H. Wit (eds.), Trends and Issues in Doctoral Education: A Global Perspective (pp. 295–315). New Delhi: SAGE Publications.

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9 WOMEN IN SCIENCE EDUCATION AND SCIENCE CAREERS IN INDIA Deepika Bansal

Introduction One of the goals of higher education in a country is to prepare students for participating in and contributing to the economy. According to the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), ‘it [higher education] must prepare students for more meaningful and satisfying lives and work roles and enable economic independence’ (2020: 33). The nature of work roles and occupations that are the most coveted and required in the current knowledge economy are those related to the fields of science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM). The global challenges of sustainable development and climate change, and local challenges of maintaining international competitiveness and economic growth, have created a heightened demand for trained STEM professionals. While formal education documents since the Kothari Commission Report in the 1960s have emphasised the importance of science and technology education in ensuring national development, the latest national policy of education situates the entire enterprise of education in the context of changing ‘employment landscape and global ecosystem’ (NEP 2020: 3). Given this background of the economic function of higher education and the important place of STEM in it, along with a small proportion of scientists per million population in India (Vadlapatla 2021), there has been an increasing interest in drawing more and more individuals into science-related fields. A vital component of widening the pool of future scientists has been a focus on improving the numbers of women and individuals from other marginalised groups in STEM. However, according to the latest data on the Science and Technology Indicators, only 18.8 per cent of women are employed in R&D establishments in India (S&T Indicator Tables 2020). The low number of women scientists/researchers stands in direct contrast to the proportion of women who enrol in PhD degrees in science-related fields which is 47.61 per cent (MOE 2020). This chapter, therefore, examines this perplexing reality DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-12

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when it comes to the higher education of women and their subsequent career choices in STEM fields. The chapter starts with a brief overview of contemporary perspectives on the problem to situate it in the larger field of gender, science and science education. Following that, it will lay out the detailed data of women’s participation in STEM courses in higher education to understand the distribution of their chosen subjects and explore reasons for the observed trends. The chapter will then go on to explore the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in STEM-related jobs and suggest some recommendations for improving the situation.

Women in science: Situating the problem Over the past two decades, there has been a steady increase in scholarship that examines the lives of women who study or work in science. International agencies like UNESCO, UNCTAD, the World Bank and national bodies like MHRD/MOE and DST provide some form of data on the number of women who take up science/STEM-based courses and professions. For instance, according to the latest Factsheet published by UNESCO on women in science, only 29.3 per cent of the world’s total researchers are women. The percentage for South and West Asia (which includes India) is the lowest in the world at 18.5 per cent, and Central Asia has the largest proportion of women researchers at 48.2 per cent. In scientifically and economically advanced societies of North America and Europe, the percentage of women researchers stands at 32.7 per cent (UIS UNESCO 2017). These figures include both full-time and part-time researchers; a relevant observation because women form the majority of part-time researchers in the sciences in India (Kurup 2017). Evident from this data is that the problem of fewer women in science is indeed global. But the factors that lead to such low participation of women in scientific professions, particularly as researchers, vary with context. The metaphor of a leaky pipeline has been extensively used to capture the gradual narrowing of the pool of female science students at progressively advanced levels resulting in their underrepresentation in scientific professions (Pell 1996). Young girls, starting from early middle school onwards, express negative attitudes towards and low aspiration in sciences, particularly for disciplines like physics, maths and engineering (Moote et al. 2020). Even students reporting positive attitudes towards science-related fields at the primary level start to have low aspirations in science and engineering as they move to high school. The masculine stereotyping of these disciplines further distances girls and women as they perceive embracing the study of science as a threat to their feminine identity (Francis et al. 2017). Upon entering colleges and universities for higher education in STEM, women students experience a ‘chilly climate’ comprised of alienation, sexual harassment, excessive competition and constant pressure to prove themselves as worthy as men to be in science (Morris and Daniel 2008). Coupled with 190

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implicit biases in evaluations, recruitments and promotions, exclusion from informal peer networks, gendered expectations of appropriate behaviour and burdens of family care, women have to constantly struggle to stay and excel in STEM higher education and workforce (Settles 2014; Sheltze and Smith 2014). While girls and women, to a large extent, encounter similar experiences in their science education trajectory in India, some scholars have argued that the metaphor of a leaky pipeline does not adequately capture the phenomenon of underrepresentation of women in science in India (Godbole and Ramaswamy 2008; Venkatesh 2015). In India, women do not leave the science training and professional ladder in a gradual, dripping manner. Instead, a sharp fall occurs in STEM participation of women after their doctoral and postdoctoral education. While there is no consensus on to what extent STEM subjects are male-stereotyped in the Indian context, there is an agreement over the major role played by complex and intersecting structural factors which result in women exiting from STEMrelated careers. The familial and social pressures to get married and start a family force women to either leave the scientific workforce or look for other opportunities that help them balance a career and a family together. As a result, more women are found in contractual positions and other lower-paying and less stable jobs than equally qualified men in science (Kurup 2017). Science in India has a distinctive caste character too, which is apparent in the caste and class backgrounds of the women scientists as well. According to one report, almost 80 per cent of women researchers belong to the General category and 79 per cent of women engaged in science outside of research-related jobs belong to the upper castes too (Kurup et al. 2010). As women are not a homogeneous group, their attitudes, aspirations, experiences and careers in science are influenced by the other social categories they belong to. Caste, class, religion, region, language, disability and sexuality all have an impact on the educational and professional experiences of all students including girls and women. On the one hand, 52.3 per cent of the total students enrolled in undergraduate science programmes are women, but on the other, only 29 per cent of women are enrolled in undergraduate engineering and technology programmes (MOE 2020). This trend supports emerging recommendations that it is necessary to investigate women’s participation in different disciplines that make up STEM and to focus more on physics and engineering due to larger gender gaps in these fields (Su and Rounds 2015). Some of the latest studies have investigated students’ interests and career aspirations in physics (Hazari et al. 2010; Sax et al. 2016) and engineering (Godwin et al. 2016; Moote et al. 2020), but they remain few. The general trend in the ‘women in science’ research has been to group together different science-related fields to understand the underrepresentation of women, and this tendency is prevalent in India too. But a few recent works do provide glimpses of the kind of 191

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insights that can be generated through disaggregated studies of STEM disciplines with respect to the participation of women (Gupta 2020). In this chapter, therefore, an attempt is made to understand the participation of women in higher education in the different disciplines that make up the acronym STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Since in India, the difference between technology and engineering degrees is minuscule (Education Desk 2020), they will be considered as one category. An analysis of the representation of women in the field of medicine is included too. Using the latest data from the All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20, some discernible patterns in women’s participation in higher education in science-related subjects (including mathematics) will be highlighted. Women make up almost half the student population in science at each level of higher education (except for engineering), thus contributing to the overall gender parity ratio of 1.01 (MOE 2020). Despite this, there exists a kind of horizontal segregation where more women are concentrated in certain fields/courses of study over others. At the same time, the number of women science professionals is much less relative to the number of women in science higher education. Tracing women’s educational trajectory enables us to appreciate the force of gender in women’s educational choices and the consequent relationship between these choices and their career decisions. It also becomes clear that for a majority of women a professional degree does not necessarily translate into a profession in the future. This disconnect between higher education and training and future career has implications for not just women but for science too. It has been established that a diverse scientific workforce in which women and individuals from other marginalised groups are well integrated is essential for innovation and creativity (Smith–Doerr et al. 2017). Having recognised the problem, a number of governmental and institutional efforts have been made to facilitate the science career journeys of women in the government institutional sector, but a lot still remains to be done.

Women and STEM higher education Women’s education has progressed immensely in India. The post-independence improvement in access to public higher education and the private players in the post-liberalisation period provided a strong impetus to women’s participation in higher education, particularly in professional education (Chanana 2007). But the trajectories of women’s (and men’s) higher education are marked by their gender, which in turn evolves in response to the changing economy and social norms. Current social norms have made higher education almost necessary for most urban, upper-class and caste men and women. Women not aspiring for careers undergo at least undergraduate education too because it improves their chances of finding suitable men for marriage later. 192

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Families play an important role in the educational decision-making of their children in India – an important factor that shapes the situation of both men and women in higher education. As quality higher education often involves substantial resources and impacts the status and the broader social and economic condition of the family, educational decisions are often driven by collective family goals and concerns. Different familial obligations of boys and girls, and a much greater concern with the girls’ character and marriageability, influence the educational trajectory of girls (Mukhopadhyay 2018). From the choice of subject at the senior secondary level to access to coaching centres for competitive exams, individual gender identities, the social structure of gender and the symbolic gender of institutions, fields and disciplines continue to influence the educational experiences of women and men differently (Harding 1986). For example, the social norms necessitating a job and career for men make families ‘invest’ more in boys’ expensive technical education, the preparation for which often begins in grade 11 and sometimes even earlier. Often these preparations also involve boys moving to a different city to access good coaching centres, a move that raises security concerns for girls. In contrast, the desirability (sometimes on account of the family and sometimes individual) of a job for women does not exert a similar pressure on the families to expend comparable resources on their daughters’ education, which explains the low numbers of women in engineering colleges. Even when women do join coaching centres, they do so in their towns and cities and do not move out to a different city to access better coaching centres in as many numbers as boys do. But the enhanced status of the individual studying to be a doctor, and by extension of the family, sometimes outweigh the security and financial concerns, leading to a better representation of women in medical colleges, as evident in Table 9.1. As a result, middle-class parents who possess the resources do spend them on training and education of their daughters, but that decision changes with perceived value and status of the course of study, and the potential flexibility offered in terms of work hours by that profession.

Table 9.1  Undergraduate-level enrolment according to disciplines Discipline

Male

Female

Female %

Total

Arts Science Commerce Engineering and Technology Medical Science

4,547,708 2,295,673 2,132,311 2,638,085

5,107,878 2,459,711 2,030,817 1,089,100

52.90 51.72 48.78 29.22

9,655,586 4,755,384 4,163,128 3,727,185

547,516

804,602

59.51

1,352,118

Source: MOE 2020.

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Gender relations between men and women impact educational decisions too. Boys are expected to be breadwinners and to take care of their parents in their old age, therefore their success in professional education and later in careers is emphasised by families more than for girls. As girls leave their parental homes and move to their husbands after marriage, the families do not derive any direct economic benefits from the girls’ education. This process constructs and reinforces hierarchical gender relations between men and women by producing male privilege on the one hand and on the other, positing women in secondary roles in the public sphere. Enrolment of women in UG courses In terms of absolute numbers, the number of women who study science at the UG level is almost half the number of women students in the arts discipline. Of the total number of students enrolled in the UG BA courses, 52.9 per cent are female, in BSc 52.3 per cent are female and approximately 29.2 per cent of female students are enrolled in engineering and technology programmes (MOE 2020). In medicine, which includes nursing and pharmacy, out of 13.5 lakh students almost 59 per cent of students are female. The much higher representation of women in the ‘pure sciences’ can be attributed to the fact that the former has become less attractive for men who earlier were a clear majority (Chanana 2001). In the globalised era, engineering and other professional courses have become much more lucrative both in terms of the availability of jobs and salaries drawn. Therefore, men from the middle classes who earlier studied sciences are now increasingly moving to engineering and related fields, creating a gap which women from these classes have been filling leading to what has been referred to as the ‘feminisation of sciences’. Table 9.1 shows the percentage of enrolment of women in different programmes at the UG stage. While there is no separate data available for specialisations that students choose in the sciences during their undergraduate education, we do have numbers for specific engineering streams chosen by students. Some of the popular engineering branches and the percentage of female enrolment in these streams are given in Table 9.2. Computer engineering, mechanical engineering and electronics engineering have the highest student enrolments in descending order. While the total share of women in mechanical engineering is approximately 5 per cent, the other two streams have female participation between 38 and 40 per cent. Females constitute almost 29 per cent of total engineering students, and the top three choices for women among the core engineering streams are electronic engineering (41.69 per cent), information technology (39.19 per cent) and computer engineering (38.11 per cent), streams that lead to jobs in the IT sector. The somewhat higher representation of women in computer-related streams in India is interesting because a number of developed countries have identified the underrepresentation of women in computer science/engineering 194

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Table 9.2  Enrolment at undergraduate level in major engineering streams Discipline of Engineering/ Technology

Total

Percentage Women

Computer Engineering Mechanical Engineering Electronics Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Information Technology Chemical Engineering Agriculture Engineering Aeronautical Engineering Metallurgical Engineering Mining Engineering Total

935,270 684,926 611,442 484,167 373,300 200,703 52,195 22,661 18,694 9957 7028 3,725,338

38.11 5.87 41.69 22.52 27.28 39.19 23.20 35.34 23.59 22.73 4.78 29.20

Source: MOE 2020.

as a problem area along with physics and engineering in general (Su and Rounds 2015). In these societies, working with computers is associated with a geeky, nerdy, asocial kind of masculinity, which women avoid or feel threatened with. The preference for computer-related branches in the case of Indian women although challenges the masculine stereotyping of the field can be explained on the basis of a different set of gendered assumptions. The attraction of computer-related jobs stems from the fact that they are office-based, have fixed hours, do not require working with heavy machinery, and are therefore considered ‘safe’ for women (Varma 2010). The masculine work culture of machine-based industries often based in remote locations deters young women and their families to prefer streams like mechanical engineering and mining or metallurgical engineering for their daughters. While in 1991–92, the number of women in engineering courses was 19,950, in 2019–20 it has increased manifold to 1,088,284 (Chanana 2000; MOE 2020). The increased number of women in engineering and technology fields is driven by the mushrooming of private colleges during the 1990s. Despite these gains, the number of women students in elite government institutions such as the IITs and the NITs continues to be low in comparison to that of men (Table 9.3). From Table 9.3, we can see that women make up almost 10 per cent of students in the top ten engineering institutions in the country, and while in the bottom ten institutions (recorded by NIRF), they constitute almost 33 per cent of the student population. This clustering of women in lower-ranked, mostly private colleges indicates that the gender gap when it comes to elite institutes of engineering is quite large, possibly due to the reasons discussed earlier. Similar is the case in medical institutions too. While overall women constitute 59 per cent of all medical 195

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Table 9.3  Percentage of women students in UG (4 years) programs in the top 10 and bottom 10 ranked engineering institutions in India Name of the Institute

% Women Students

NIRF 2020 Ranking

IIT Madras

13

1

IIT Delhi

10

2

IIT Bombay

9

3

IIT Kanpur

8

4

IIT Kharagpur

9

5

IIT Roorkee

9

6

IIT Guwahati

9

7

IIT Hyderabad

19

8

IIT Indore

9

9

BHU IIT

8

10

Average

10.3

Name of the Institute Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata Sri Sai Ram Institute of Technology, Chennai Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadlad The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar Dr. D. Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Pune Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Pune Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology, Navi Mumbai BVRIT Hyderabad (women only) NIT Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar

Source: NIRF 2020.

196

% Women Students

NIRF 2020 Ranking

18

191

41

192

15

193

17

194

14

195

28

196

34

197

32

198

100

199

14

200

32.7

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students, in elite institutions they form a small portion of the student body. For example, in the All India Institute for Medical Science, women are only 24.5 per cent in the UG course, and in King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, they form only 35 per cent of the UG student population. Women in master’s and PhD programmes The relative enrolment of women increases from UG to PG and then drops again in doctoral studies in science and engineering fields, except for medical sciences where the relative proportion of women falls at every successive stage. In almost all the sub-disciplines of the sciences, women outnumber men at the postgraduate or master’s level, including in mathematics. Even in the so-called hard sciences like physics and mathematics, women constitute 58.8 per cent and 63.9 per cent of the student population at the master’s level, respectively (Table 9.5). In ‘softer’ disciplines such as zoology and botany, their proportion is 72.5 per cent and 75.3 per cent, respectively, at the PG level. In engineering and technology, however, women still form only 35 per cent of the student population at the PG level. The sizable increase from 29.2 per cent at UG (as seen in Table 9.1) to 35 per cent at the PG level in engineering can be attributed to two reasons. One, getting a master’s degree makes one eligible to teach in educational institutes at a higher level of education. Since teaching, whether in school or colleges, in India is considered an appropriate job for women, by earning a master’s degree, women get into teaching jobs more easily and thus are able to balance their work and family in a better fashion (Parikh and Sukhatme 2004). The other reason could be that in families where women are not encouraged to work, further education serves as a legitimate way to delay marriage and ‘settling down’. Therefore, while only 5.8 per cent of women do a BTech in mechanical engineering, their share doubles to 10 per cent at the MTech level (MOE 2020). Similarly, in computer engineering, women form almost 52 per cent of students at the PG level (MOE 2020). Another possible factor could be that most women are in lower-ranked private engineering colleges. Doing an MTech from a reputed institution often improves the professional standing of both women and men, thus giving them a competitive edge in the job market. In the case of medicine, PG is the stage of making a specialisation choice and similar to UG engineering, we see horizontal segregation. More men are present in streams like general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics, cardiology and neurology. Women, on the other hand, are overrepresented in gynaecology, dentistry, pathology and nursing. Male-dominated sub-disciplines such as surgery, cardiology and orthopaedics are more lucrative and carry a higher status. Women’s choice of fields like dentistry and pathology can be seen in the light of the opportunity they provide for somewhat fixed and flexible hours, thus again helping women manage work and family better (Gupta 2020). 197

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The MOE (2020) further shows that at the UG level, the largest proportion of total students are enrolled in arts/humanities courses (33 per cent), at PG in social sciences (19 per cent) and at the level of PhD, the largest proportion of total students are enrolled in engineering and technology streams (26 per cent). This indicates that there is a greater chance of those studying engineering at the UG stage moving up to the PhD level. Moreover, it also indicates that students coming to study engineering and related sciences come from more privileged, predominantly urban backgrounds than those studying arts/humanities. As the latter can defer working in a ‘stable’ job for a longer period of time than their humanities counterparts and their families possibly can appreciate the value of higher education up to a PhD and beyond. The drop in the proportion of women from MTech to PhD can be explained due to the fear of the families that an advanced doctoral degree would make them overeducated and over-aged for marriage (Thakkar et al. 2018). In life sciences, women doctoral students account for almost 56 per cent of the student population and for mathematics 44 per cent (Table 9.4). The relatively low percentage of women in engineering PhD can be attributed to the low numbers of women who take up engineering at the UG level, to begin with, and then the pool just keeps on becoming narrower at higher stages. Another reason, as Gupta (2020) surmises, is possibly related to the less value accorded to the pure sciences than engineering. This means that not only learning sciences at UG level is approved by the families, but an advanced research degree in pure sciences possibly does not make girls overeducated either. Another factor is that it is easier to find well-paying jobs after an engineering degree – both UG and PG – while the same cannot be said for corresponding science degrees. Hence, more women may take up science PhDs than engineering courses. Women form a majority of PhD candidates in biological science programmes, such as zoology (62 per cent), botany (60 per cent) and life sciences (56 per cent), reflecting an international trend that the life sciences are more attractive to women than the physical sciences (Table 9.4). The ‘softer’ nature of these sciences also corresponds with more female presence in these fields. While concerns over education and long lab hours remain for women and their families, they do not seem to deter them completely. While the phenomenon of clustering of women in a few disciplines such as life/ biological continues to hold (Chanana 2000), as shown in Table 9.4, they are increasingly dispersed across different disciplines within the sciences. The presence of almost 44.7 per cent of women in mathematics at the PhD level, as seen in Table 9.4, is a positive indicator, given how mathematics is considered a masculine subject in the west. It also challenges the universal gender stereotyping of maths as a ‘hard’, abstract subject, difficult for women and minorities alike. But on the other hand, the presence of only 37 per cent women in another ‘hard’ science of physics aligns with such a characterisation. While indicated here are enrolment figures, the out-turn figures 198

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Table 9.4  Female PhD students in the sciences PhD

Enrolled

Passed out

Discipline

Female

All

% Female

Female

All

% Female

Maths Chemistry Physics Zoology Botany Life Science Geology Genetics Geo-Physics

2,360 3,972 2,807 1,711 1,755 1,268

5,284 9,526 7,439 2,756 2,888 2,252

44.66 41.70 37.73 62.08 60.77 56.31

528 749 522 310 318 151

1,068 1,809 1,398 581 541 303

49.44 41.40 37.34 53.36 58.78 49.83

318 66 16

920 119 85

34.57 55.46 18.82

49 29 9

180 59 20

27.22 49.15 45

Source: MOE 2020.

tell the same story. More importantly, the latter indicates that women enrolling into PhD courses predominantly finish them too, a situation which is different from western countries where as much as 10 per cent of women entering male-dominated PhD programs drop out within the first year itself (Bostwick and Weinberg 2018). Particularly in disciplines like maths, chemistry and physics, both the enrolment and out-turn figures are almost the same. But in some disciplines of biological sciences such as zoology, life science and genetics, and in geology the share of women who complete their PhDs is slightly less than those who enrol in the programme. In a limited way, the hierarchy of disciplines with the physical sciences at the top followed by biological sciences holds in India, but other factors complicate the neat picture of women’s differentiated presence along this hierarchy. Since MPhil is also a research degree albeit of a shorter duration (two years as compared to five years for a PhD), more than 70 per cent of MPhil students are women. Women outnumber men in all disciplines in MPhil programmes except for geology as shown in Table 9.5. These numbers reflect the coming together of gender norms for marriage and a preference for teaching as a career for women. Since the degree requires a short time period, and it improves one’s eligibility for teaching in colleges, it is highly preferred by women. MPhil degrees are not popular in engineering, but of the total nine MPhil students in engineering, six or 67 per cent of them are women. Since the majority of benefactors of the MPhil programme were women, it remains to be seen what would be the consequences of discontinuation of the course as suggested by NEP 2020 for women’s participation in scientific research. The number of women pursuing PhDs in the sciences in the country has been rising over the past few years (Gupta 2007). Possible reasons could be that women’s education is becoming more valuable among the middle 199

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Table 9.5  Percentage of women in master’s and MPhil courses Discipline

Maths Chemistry Physics Zoology Botany Life Science Geology Genetics Geo-Physics

Master’s

MPhil

No. of Female students

% female

No. of female students

% female

91,503 78,800 44,973 42,845 36,848 7,576 3,698 944 510

63.94 57.60 58.88 72.56 75.30 70.57 46.98 63.96 43.04

1,183 495 548 222 229 177 16 5 0

79.08 64.37 69.10 67.48 64.87 64.13 34.04 100.00 0.00

Source: MOE 2020.

classes. Also, with the growth in colleges and universities, more UG teaching positions are available which women and their families find more appropriate. Kurup et al. (2010) had found that among female science and engineering doctorates not engaged in research, a majority of them are engaged in UG teaching. The gendered environment of doctoral research affects the decision of many women to pursue research further as a career or not. The experiences of women during their PhD are highly marked by gender relations both inside science institutions and outside them, in the larger social and cultural milieu. It is during PhD that students learn the ‘hidden’ aspects of doing science such as writing research grants, creating and growing their network of fellow scientists, organising conferences and people and labs, and so on. Like in the west, women in India, too, are disadvantaged when it comes to these informal processes of learning that require open and extensive interaction with faculty, other students and peers in science. Gendered norms for social interaction prevent women from uninhibited interactions with their peers, seniors and advisors – making women rely on their merit and hard work to climb up the scientific professional ladder while men often get supported through their networks (Gupta et al. 2005). The role of informal interactions in the life and career of a PhD is prominent. In a study of PhD students at an IIT, a majority of women interacted only formally with their supervisor while 64 per cent of men interacted informally with the advisor both inside and outside the department (Gupta 2007). There is a direct link of the extent and nature of interaction with advisors with the academic support received by a student as ‘lack of informal interaction with the supervisor affects the level of mentoring received’ (Gupta 2020: 123). Because men are able to interact with supervisors outside labs and offices, beyond office hours, they tend to build a better rapport 200

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with their advisors. These informal avenues of communication are sources of information on upcoming conferences, talks and opportunities to visit other labs, in building their network. The increase in the number of experiences reflects in the students’ CVs. These diverse experiences allow the faculty supervisor to work with and learn about the student more closely, which then reflects in their overall evaluation of the student expressed in the form of recommendation letters, career advice and other kinds of guidance with future application processes. Compounding this otherwise rationally understood issue is that men are believed to be intellectually superior to women (Gupta 2007; Subramanian 2007). While all women in the above-mentioned study (Gupta 2007) rejected the notion that women are not as smart as men when it comes to science and engineering, a considerable share of men did believe that these fields require abilities that are better suited to men. There also exists a preference for male scholars in the lab because they can work at any time and spend extended hours, which further makes them (appear) more productive and intelligent. Such observations imply that perhaps in India, while science and maths may not be seen as completely masculine disciplines, but the notion of merit, talent and intelligence certainly seem to be gendered. The gendering of talent and intelligence has consequences for students’ careers. The expectations of faculty and peers are shaped by their evaluations of the ‘talent’, ‘merit’ or ‘potential’ of the student, thus impacting their interactions with students and the kind of mentorship, academic and personal support they provide. All of which go on to shape the career choices, decisions and experiences of graduate science students.

Women in scientific professions According to the latest data available for the percentage of women employed in research and development establishments in India, only 18.8 per cent of the total R&D personnel are women. This data includes women who work in administrative positions too. When it comes to government research institutes such as various departments and scientific agencies, including institutes of higher education, women are 17.7 per cent of the workforce, with only 15 per cent of them actually engaged in R&D activities. The industrial sector (both public and private) has a total of 19 per cent women, with those engaging in research almost 17 per cent (S&T Indicator Tables 2020). From almost 48 per cent of PhDs to almost 18 per cent of science and technology professionals engaging in research, the sharp decrease in the number of research professionals is striking. If we contrast this data to teaching personnel in higher education institutes, about 57.5 per cent are male teachers and 42.5 per cent are female teachers (MOE 2020). While there is no data on the subject-wise distribution of teachers, the considerably higher percentage of women in teaching agrees with the observation that most women PhDs are not working in research, but in UG 201

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teaching positions (Kurup et al. 2010). The contrast in the numbers of women in teaching and in research can be attributed to a number of factors. In the governmental institutional sector, most higher education and research institutions/laboratories have an age limit for entry-level research-based jobs, which is 35 years. Women who take a break due to family reasons or end up spending more time in contractual, short-term positions, find it difficult to meet this age limit. While there are provisions for relaxing this eligibility condition in some institutes, more research is needed to understand why women still do not find research careers appealing. Complicating the picture is the finding that women who have dropped out of S&T post their PhDs have reported that they did so not because of family reasons but because they could not find appropriate jobs. This indicates that perhaps women choose not to work over working at a job or an institution that they find lacking in any respect. Even when they do find suitable positions, they have to compete with men who are considered smarter, and more hireable, even when both have similar qualifications and experiences. Such kinds of implicit biases in hiring, in writing recommendation letters, in deciding winners of grants, awards and prizes, in nominating members of scientific academies and so on, can negatively impact women’s trajectories in science – from academia to the economy (Gupta 2016). Even after joining the scientific workforce, women continue to face difficulties to advance to higher decision-making levels. Gender biases in peer review and citations of research, performance evaluation and appointment to higher-level administrative positions affect gender composition of the scientific workforce and job satisfaction of women scientists all over the world (Gupta and Sharma 2002; Poonacha and Gopal 2004). In addition to this, women science professionals have noted that they have to work almost twice as hard as their male peers to get noticed and to get promoted to similar positions (Godbole and Ramaswamy 2015; Venkatesh 2015). In the industrial sector, women bear the brunt of gendered interactional norms at the workplace. At these workplaces, gender-based inequality is constructed through practices and norms that, on the one hand, favour men, and on the other, devalue women (Gupta 2020). Similar to an academic institution, women often get left out of male-only networks, where important, career-related opportunities and information are often discussed. At the same time, most organisations work with the image of an ‘ideal worker’ as someone who can spend long, uninterrupted hours at the workplace (similar to the image of an ideal scientist) – an image which further marginalises women. Sometimes, men inadvertently contribute to the gendering of workplace hierarchy by engaging in an apparent benevolent behaviour of not assigning extra administrative kinds of work to women. They assume that she will not be able to take out time due to family commitments, which adds to women’s low status. It is important to note here that while women may have to struggle with demands on time from the domestic front, the gendered assumptions and expectations of their male 202

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colleagues end up lowering their chances of advancing in their careers. These assumptions work in tandem with the assumptions about women’s inferior intellect and leadership qualities to negatively impact their professional experiences (Gupta 2020).

Discussion Indian society, and along with it, women’s higher education, is experiencing a change in its norms and also exhibits a sense of continuity with the past (Gupta 2020). Chanana (2000) characterised the reality of higher education of women as clustering in some programmes and dispersion into others. We observe a similar phenomenon in the case of women in science, which can also be understood in terms of simultaneous subversion and reinforcement of gender. Women continue to be present in large numbers in some scientific fields understood as softer and easier, which then are also less lucrative. So, between pure science and engineering, they are present more in the former, and within the pure sciences, they tend to cluster more in the biological sciences. At the level of professions, they are mostly present in relatively less lucrative jobs like UG teaching in which men are less interested. Unlike the west, however, the gendering of disciplines happens in a different way in India. Computer sciences and mathematics do not appear to be gendered on the surface, but physics and other streams of engineering such as mechanical and electrical engineering can be understood to be more masculine. Although some sub-disciplines of science may not be gender-stereotyped, the notion of talent and intelligence are masculine-biased (Subramanian 2007; Subramanian 2015). The gender parity in higher education in the sciences has done little to change the practice, institution and culture of science which continues to be masculine. Even when women enter the S&T workforce, the larger masculine culture, values, norms and beliefs embedded in gender ideology work to keep women out or hinder their progress, both in academia and in industry. It is worth noting here that women’s low participation in science-related careers is partly due to some practices and peculiarities of the enterprise of science, and partly due to gender ideologies prevalent in society. To that extent, the experiences of women in STEM-related fields would be similar to women in other fields where they constitute a minority. The situation, therefore, with respect to the women in science question is complex. When it comes to a connection between higher education and careers, family plays a very important role. As Chanana (2001) writes, for the higher education of girls, a lot of families remain indifferent to what subject the daughter wants to study in general UG and PG courses, there is no active encouragement, nor discouragement to learn science or arts. This means that even if families may not typecast science and mathematics as masculine endeavours, they could still prevent advanced degrees or careers in science for the amount of time they take during the day, and because of 203

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marriageability concerns for their daughter. The popular notion that the most appropriate jobs for women are related to teaching gives a message that even if women go out to work, they have to take care of the family and children and it is their responsibility to make time for family-related activities. There is a possibility that it makes women not have strong career aspirations. The women who get into science in higher education come from privileged backgrounds; values of a portion of conservative but affluent part of the society do not dictate that a woman needs to be independent, or earn a living, thus contributing to women science students not participating in the economy. A lot of women who have studied science or any other subject do go back to join the workforce in a limited manner after their kids grow up a little and they have spare time. For example, they will take up voluntary or parttime jobs which they can do out of interest in their spare time left after taking care of the family needs. Since the nature of science jobs is very time consuming, there are hardly any limited-time jobs that individuals can do, these women end up engaging in occupations that are not directly or indirectly linked to science. So, there is a larger structural factor of the nature of science jobs that are available that precludes women from participating in them. An excessive focus on research careers also tends to obscure other ways in which women participate in science – when they work as school teachers, tuition or coaching teachers, as curriculum developers, as ‘content’ or ‘module’ creators in educational technology firms and so on – all of which utilise their scientific knowledge. This is not to imply that women are indeed present in ‘science’, and there exists no problem within the scientific enterprise. But the problem of women’s underrepresentation at prestigious and powerful positions in science should also be understood in connection with their presence in lower-level science-related jobs. This will help us to sharpen our understanding of different pathways that women take post their science education to engage in science-related ways of participation but if we want to increase the number of women science practitioners, efforts to encourage women to take up science-based careers have to start from the university level or school level. While we may not have to work towards introducing a different pedagogy or a curriculum to attract women to science, given their almost equal representation in science education, we may have to introduce and emphasise the idea of research as one of the viable future options. Perhaps, a drawback of not characterising the women in science problem as a pipeline issue is that systemic efforts have not been made to investigate, understand and improve the science aspirations of students at school and college/UG level. Moreover, as Chanana (2007) writes, higher education of women does not automatically lead to careers. In the light of the economic function of higher education, mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, one of the fundamental things to do to improve women’s participation in the scientific 204

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workforce would be to establish and strengthen that connection. This can be done, again, by allowing students to think in terms of careers, and as researchers or scientists. Providing students with an early exposure to research during their college education has the potential to strengthen their ‘science identity’ and can contribute to promoting their ‘researcher identity’ too (Faber and Benson 2015).

Conclusion In this chapter, we have made use of the latest AISHE data to understand the participation of women in STEM higher education and their career trajectories. It is clear that at every stage of decision-making in higher education, post-class 12, UG, PG and PhD, a multitude of gender-related factors guide the decision-making process, which then have consequences for women’s educational and occupational trajectories. Even when women persist in the sciences, they encounter and have to struggle against the gendered views of their peers, co-workers, seniors and supervisors; it is not just the individual gender of women which limits their opportunities, the social structure of gender prevalent in scientific institutions and workplaces creates hurdles for women’s progress even women find ways to tackle their internalised gender and negotiate with gendered norms within the family. Given the peculiarity of the problem, we need more data on women academics, researchers, scientists and other professionals at every level of government and private education/institutions. A detailed and sharp data would help point out the areas where interventions can be designed and will enable institutions and governments to track their progress on the women in science issue. Although the numbers from the latest AISHE are quite promising, upon juxtaposition with the S&T indicators, they lose their charm. The problem of women in science is improving, but it still exists and requires focussed efforts to be solved.

References Bostwick, Valerie K. and Weinberg, Bruce A. 2018. ‘Nevertheless she persisted? Gender peer effects in doctoral stem programs’, Working Paper 25028. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research. Chanana, Karuna. 2000. ‘Treading the hallowed halls: Women in higher education in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 35(12): 1012–1022. Chanana, Karuna. 2001. ‘Hinduism and female sexuality: Social control and education of girls in India’, Sociological Bulletin, 50(1): 37–63. Chanana, Karuna. 2007. ‘Globalisation, higher education and gender: Changing subject choices of Indian women students’, Economic and Political Weekly, 42(7): 590–598. Education Desk. 2020. ‘BE vs B.Tech: What should be your pick?’, The Indian Express, July 04, https://indianexpress.com/article/education/jee-main-be-versusbtech-what-should-be-your-pick-6272805/ (accessed on 18 December 2021)

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Faber, Courtney June and Benson, Lisa Clemence. 2015. ‘Undergraduate engineering students’ development of a researcher identity’, Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Conference. Francis, Becky, Archer, Louise, Moote, Julie, Witt, Jen de and Yeomans, Lucy. 2017. ‘Femininity, science, and the denigration of the girly girl’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38(8): 1097–1110. Godbole, Rohini and Ramaswamy, Ram. (eds.). 2008. Lilavati’s Daughters: Women Scientists of India. Bangalore: Indian Academy of Sciences. Godbole, Rohini M. and Ramaswamy, Ramakrishna. 2015. ‘Women scientists in India’, in Women in Science and Technology in Asia (pp. 67–84). Republic of Korea: The Association of Academies and Societies of Science in Asia. Godwin, Allison, Potvin, Geoff, Hazari, Zahra and Lock, Robynne. 2016. ‘Identity, critical agency, and engineering: An affective model for predicting engineering as a career choice’, Journal of Engineering Education, 105(2): 312–340. Gupta, N. and A. K. Sharma. 2002. ‘Women academic scientists in India’, Social Studies of Science, 32(5–6): 901–915. Gupta, Namrata, Kemelgor, Carol, Fuchs, Stefan and Etzkowitz, Henry. 2005. ‘Triple burden on women in science: A cross–cultural analysis’, Current science, 89(8): 1382–1386. Gupta, Namrata. 2007. ‘Indian women in doctoral education in science and engineering: A study of informal milieu at the reputed Indian institutes of technology’, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 32(5): 507–533. Gupta, Namrata. 2016. ‘Perceptions of the work environment: The issue of gender in Indian scientific research institutes’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 23(3): 437–466. Gupta, Namrata. 2020. Women in Science and Technology: Confronting Inequalities. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Harding, Sandra G. 1986. The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Hazari, Zahra, Sonnert, Gerhard, Sadler, Philip M. and Shanahan, Marie-Claire. 2010. ‘Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study’, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47(8): 978–1003. Kurup, Anitha, Maithreyi, R., Kantharaju, B. and Godbole, Rohini. 2010. Trained Scientific Women Power: How Much Are We Losing and Why?. New Delhi: IAS– NIAS Research Report. Kurup, Anitha. 2017. ‘Gender, science and technology education in India’, in S. Krishna and G. Chadha (eds), Feminists and Science: Critiques and Changing Perspectives in India, Volume 2 (pp. 278–298). New Delhi: Sage Publications. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India. Moote, Julie, Archer, Louise, DeWitt, Jenifer and MacLeod, Emily. 2020. ‘Comparing students’ engineering and science aspirations from age 10 to 16: Investigating the role of gender, ethnicity, cultural capital, and attitudinal factors’, Journal of Engineering Education, 109(1): 34–51. Morris, LaDonna K. and Daniel, Larry G. 2008. ‘Perceptions of a chilly climate: Differences in traditional and non–traditional majors for women’, Research in Higher Education, 49(3): 256–273. Mukhopadhyay, Carol. 2018. ‘Family matters: Understanding educational choices and gendered science in India’, in H. E. Ullrich (ed), The Impact of Education in South Asia (pp. 53–82). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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NEP. 2020. National Policy on Education 2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. NIRF. 2020. India Rankings 2020: Engineering. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India, https://www.nirfindia.org/2020/EngineeringRanking.html (accessed on 17 September 2021). Parikh, P. P. and Sukhatme, S. P. 2004. ‘Women engineers in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39(2): 193–201. Pell, Alice N. 1996. ‘Fixing the leaky pipeline: Women scientists in academia’, Journal of Animal Science, 74(11): 2843–2848. Poonacha, Veena and Gopal, Meera. 2004. Women and Science: An Examination of Women’s access to and retention in scientific careers. Report published by Research Centre for Women’s Studies. Mumbai: SNDT Women’s University. S&T Indicator Tables. 2020. Research and Development Statistics 2019–20. New Delhi: Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Sax, Linda J., Lehman, Kathleen J., Barthelemy, Ramón S. and Lim, Gloria. 2016. ‘Women in physics: A comparison to science, technology, engineering, and math education over four decades’, Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(2): 1–17. Settles, Isis H. 2014. ‘Women in STEM: Challenges and determinants of success and well–being’, Psychological Science Agenda, American Psychological Association, https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2014/10/women-stem (accessed on 17 September 2021). Sheltzer, Jason M. and Smith, Joan C. 2014. ‘Elite male faculty in the life sciences employ fewer women’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(28): 10107–10112. Smith–Doerr, Laurel, Alegria, Sharla N. and Sacco, Timothy. 2017. ‘How diversity matters in the US science and engineering workforce: A critical review considering integration in teams, fields, and organizational contexts’, Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 3: 139–153. Su, Rong, and Rounds, James. 2015. ‘All STEM fields are not created equal: People and things interests explain gender disparities across STEM fields’, Frontiers in Psychology, 6: 189. Subramanian, Ajantha. 2015. ‘Making merit: The Indian Institutes of Technology and the social life of caste’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57(2): 291–322. Subramanian, Jayasree. 2007. ‘Perceiving and producing merit: gender and doing science in India’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 14(2): 259–284. Thakkar, Divy, Sambasivan, Nithya, Kulkarni, Purva, Kalenahalli, Sudarshan Pratap and Toyama, Kentaro. 2018. ‘The unexpected entry and exodus of women in computing and HCI in India’, Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–12). https://doi. org/10.1145/3173574.3173926 (accessed on 5 October 2021). UNESCO UIS. 2017. Women in Science. Fact sheet No. 43. Retrieved from: http:// uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs43-women-in-science-2017-en.pdf Vadlapatla, S. 2021. ‘Indian trails smaller Asian countries in scientists/million ratio’, The Times of India, February 15. Varma, Roli. 2010. ‘Computing self–efficacy among women in India’, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 16(3): 257–274. Venkatesh, Sujatha. 2015. ‘Forms of Social asymmetry and cultural bias: Of gender and science in India and the world’, Transcience, 6(1): 1–19.

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Part IV WOMEN IN ACADEMIC PROFESSION AND LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

10 STRUCTURES OF EXCLUSION Promotion procedures and gender inequality in the professoriate in India Karuna Chanana

Overview India, along with other countries, has made significant strides in offering women equal opportunities in undergraduate and postgraduate enrolment. Women students now comprise 49 per cent of enrolment in higher education (HE). In 2019–20 Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of women in HE was more than that of men in the age group of 18–23 years: 27.1 per cent for all students, 26.9 per cent for men and 27.3 per cent for women. At the pre-doctoral degree level, that is, MPhil, women were 44.5 per cent of students who were awarded the degree in 2019 (MOE 2020: 25). Yet, it is commonly acknowledged that while the number of women students has gone up internationally, this does not translate into increased career opportunities (UNESCO 2012: 107. Cited in David 2015: 12). For instance, increased representation in entry-level faculty positions has not translated into equality for women teachers in senior positions in HE, especially in management or administration (Chanana 2018; Ramsay 2000). They remain clustered as assistant professors. Thus, they simultaneously experience inclusion if we look at numbers and exclusion from senior positions and leadership roles (Chanana 2020). Like in other sectors, women face a glass ceiling to moving up in academia that persists across subjects and universities (David 2015: 11). It persists despite specific regulations and processes designed in India to open up professional mobility for all faculty, women and men, such as rotation of the headship/chair of the department/centre and the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS). Nonetheless, given that women are well represented at lower levels but not at upper levels, especially as professors, and most senior positions are recruited and promoted internally, the reason for the glass ceiling could be the interview and the procedure for promotion to professorship. While the absence of women leaders in top jobs and in management has received attention, the question of why there are fewer women professors DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-14

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has received less attention. Therefore, this chapter interrogates how effective the process of promotion of women through CAS to professorship is, which is crucial as a stepping stone to moving to top managerial and administrative jobs in the universities. It also unpacks the discursive practices of interviewers and the manner in which gender inequality is reinforced. This is a qualitative exploratory study based on anecdotal experience of being a facilitator in the UGC programme entitled Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education (CBWM), and also being a member of selection committees for professors through Direct Recruitment (DR) or open selection and CAS. Examples of CBWM participants are cited to elucidate the contribution of the first woman head of an elite engineering institute, the differential impact of a women’s college and coeducational university established in 1887 headed by the first woman VC on women’s visibility on campus. Additionally, experientially a case study of a promotion committee for CAS is presented.

Women as professors The under-representation of women as professors has lately been the centre of attention of scholars, who look at the absence of women in top management and administrative positions (Johnson et al. 2015; Diezmann and Grieshaber 2010). Johnson et al. quote Riordan (2011: 2) thus, ‘In particular, persistent under–representation of women in the professoriate of universities contributes to the ongoing difficulties in being considered for senior management positions’. According to Shepherd, the under-representation is not due to women’s agency, leading to ‘misrecognition of women’s leadership capacities’ (Morley 2013: 1) but due to structural factors associated with the selection process (Shepherd 2017: 82). Academic institutions are no longer viewed as gender neutral spaces, and their structures and organizations are gendered (Chanana 2003; Chanana 2008a; Chanana 2016). While the focus is on the university, institution and institute will be used interchangeably depending on the context in HE. According to Danell and Hjerm (2013), women were much less likely to become ‘full professors’ compared to men in spite of pro-gender policies. This gap remains over time because it is the result of earlier career events. Moreover, although the number of full women professors has increased over time, promotion rates to full professorship have remained unequal (Bagilhole and White 2011).1 Quoting Savigny (2014) Shepherd says ‘that at the current growth rate of 0.75 per cent per annum it will take over 100 years for women to achieve equal numbers in the UK professoriate’ (2017: 83). The representation of women as full professors is important in HE, as the academic career path is generally considered the standard 212

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path into university leadership roles and it can be difficult to become a top leader in HE without being a professor. (White 2017: 77) The outcome of a promotion committee meeting for professorship under CAS led to the idea to explore the chances of women getting promoted to professorship through CAS and whether and to what extent it is an enabler. The experience also underlined how critical the head of the institution can be in the promotion prospects of women if he/she is not gender sensitive. The interviews for Direct Recruitment for tenure track or permanent positions mentioned later are no different since the process of committee formation and interviews are the same and similar nonacademic factors are in play in both situations (Chanana 2008b). DR does not promote merit alone nor does CAS provide unfettered chances of promotion by undermining merit as is commonly communicated in academic discourse. This chapter takes a deeper look at the formal procedures that institutionalise implicit gendered stereotypes of women by asking questions based on feminine stereotypes and perceptions.2 They also exacerbate the gender gap in myriad ways, especially through body language, content and tonal quality of the interviewers, most of whom are men. A few women are given token representation in critical committees and positions ‘and every successive administration keeps them visible in ways that underline a form of passivity’ (Chanana 2003: 386). In addition to gender of the committee members and candidates, other factors such as political ideology, caste, religion, region or being one’s former student (Chanana 2008b) also operate. However, here the focus is on gender and other factors will only be touched upon in the way they operated in the case study. This chapter will also call out areas for further research, orientation and training of heads of higher educational institutions (HEIs) and on their seminal contribution in promoting women.

Affirmative action to promote women in academia How does women’s leadership impact women’s careers in the university? The University Grants Commission had two women chairpersons, and both of them started programmes aimed at reducing gender inequality in universities and colleges. The first woman chairperson (1981–86) set up the Standing Committee on Women’s Study, which established women’s study centres (WSC) in various universities and colleges to encourage research and fieldwork on women and teaching focussed on gender equality. There are 67 WSCs in universities and colleges (MOE 2020). The second woman chairperson from February 1995 to April 1999 introduced a training programme for women faculty to perceive the systemic barriers in the HEIs and to understand their own strengths and help them move up the career ladder. Entitled Capacity Building of Women Managers 213

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in Higher Education (CBWM), between 2003 and 2013, it organised 140 workshops and trained nearly 7,500 women faculty from across disciplines and from mostly public and some private HEIs across India. The programme was ready to take off when she retired, but it was not supported by her immediate successor. UGC implemented it successfully from 2003 with the support of the two successive chairpersons. Thereafter, with change in UGC chairperson, it was merged with WSC scheme but in reality discontinued in 2014. All four UGC chairpersons were men. So the programme got support from two men and was not promoted by two men chairpersons. The point to note is that the combination of being gender sensitive and being the head of an organisation or institution is imperative for women-oriented programmes to be introduced and implemented. Several women that were trained in the programme have moved up since and have become associate professors, professors, principals of colleges, vice chancellor, directors of Indian Institute of Management and are heading other institutions of importance (Chanana 2020). Therefore, women’s leadership with state support becomes critical in promoting women in universities (Chanana 2020). But universities and HEIs can also take steps in that direction. For example, the first woman director, out of 40 top engineering institutes in India, a participant in the CBWM programme, has been organising these workshops periodically for women faculty. Denmark is another example of affirmative action to promote women in universities. In the late 2000s, two Danish universities, Aarhus and Copen­ hagen, provided financial incentives to departments and faculties to promote women to associate and full professorships (Nielson 2015). Additionally, the Danish Council for Independent Research allotted DKK 110 million (10 per cent of its 2014 budget) for affirmative programmes for women researchers. At the EU level, the European Research Council decided to incorporate gender balance as a criterion in evaluating Horizon 2020 research funding. Nielson mentions that these measures started debates as to whether academia was really a meritocracy or if it was dysfunctional disadvantaging women requiring affirmative action (Nielson 2015: 1). Further afield still, White studied in a newly established university in Australia which was known for promoting gender equality. It had two women Vice Chancellors (VCs) at the helm since the early 2000s. ‘It has been awarded national employer of choice citations each year for the last decade in recognition of sustained efforts to improve employment outcomes for women’ (White 2017: 78). The proportion of women professors in this university is higher than the national average. These VCs had evolved and implemented a gender equality strategy, and accountability was decentralised among senior managers and senior executives who became responsible for improving the representation of women. The VCs were thus successful in being change agents in the organisation and changing its culture (White 2017: 79–80). 214

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Why merit promotion and CAS? As mentioned earlier, two important changes that impacted women in Indian universities related, first, to the appointment by rotation of departments as heads/chairs and Deans of Faculty and, second, to the promotion of associate professors to professorship. Prior to the introduction of rotation, the senior-most professors, once appointed as heads/chairs remained until they retired. Now this position rotates among professors (in some cases among associate professors too) by seniority for a period of two to three years. This policy of rotation, in response to demands from men teachers, played a significant role in neutralising some aspects of gender inequality by providing chances for some women to become chairs or heads of departments.3 Headship of a department provides ex-officio membership of critical committees, opportunities for networking, access to critical information about the promotion policies and development of the department and the university and also access to mentors as well as to become a mentor to other women. Another change in professional mobility for faculty since 1998 is the Merit Promotion Scheme (MPS), later named Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) which is applicable, like the rotation of headship, to all faculty and has had an impact on the upward mobility of women. According to this scheme, promotion is possible from one position, that is, assistant professor to associate professor and from associate professor to professor in the universities and colleges on a time scale. This chapter will confine the discussion to the promotion of associate professor to professor. Promotion chances through direct recruitment (DR) or open selection, though always limited, have been almost non-existent since 1991. After economic liberalisation, and with HE being declared a private good by the then Government the universities and HEIs were asked to raise their own funds.4 This change resulted in reduced state funding for permanent/tenure track faculty positions, thereby reducing options for advancement for existing faculty members, especially women.5 Thus, in order to remove stagnation of teachers as assistant and associate professors in 1998, the UGC introduced the MPS, renamed CAS in 2010, to cover all faculty. Very expansive conditionalities for promotion were specified, and the Academic Performance Indicator (API) was introduced. Further changes were made in 2018 with the replacement of API by a research score.6 Under this scheme, a faculty member applies to the university for promotion subject to a minimum years of teaching experience, publications, research experience, etc., as per the Academic Performance Index (API) and also on the basis of positive evaluation by external experts of her publications. The candidate is assessed for 80 per cent of the total score prior to the interview, which carries a score of the remaining 20 per cent. The interview for CAS is conducted by a committee constituted following the same criteria as for DR or open selection. The DR post has to be advertised in public

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newspapers and is open to candidates from across the country to apply. However, there is no competition in CAS, and the faculty member is being judged against the criteria established by the UGC. While it is often presumed that the DR selection process is merit-based, that is not necessarily the case. In fact, the chair and the committee members have much more leeway in DR to select their preferred candidates as the interview is the main measure for selection. The CAS removes this barrier to advancement but is not entirely unproblematic. First, interviews are generally not held in the year in which the faculty become eligible, with a few years of delay being common. Faculty promotion may either be rejected by the external evaluators of published work or by the interview committee; individuals can be asked to reapply and to reappear for interview after a few years; and when promotions do take place, they may not be from the date of eligibility (DoE). As with DR, notably, the interview process of CAS is the crux which tends to consolidate privilege and is discussed as a case study.

Women teachers in higher education Recently, a 134-year-old university appointed a woman as its VC for the first time. According to a faculty member, who was a CBWM participant, women who were not in visible roles are becoming so in the short tenure of less than a year of this happening. Some profile change in terms of gender presence has happened in the past six months with the first woman Vice Chancellor… at the helm of affairs. More women are a part of crucial administrative work…. For example, I have been in this university since 2010. She has appointed me as the Public Relations Officer. The women now hold charge… as officers In Charge, Legal Cell and Medical Cell, apart from being the Director of the Institute of Professional Studies. In addition they are heading various Centres which were being held by male faculty members earlier. Women also saw a stronger numerical presence in various committees. (Maya, email communication, 12.9.21) Kalra refers to a gender inequality report by Edushine Advisory Group, according to which in 2005 only 6.67 Indian educational institutes (54 out of 810) were headed by women; in 2018 this decreased in proportion to 6.25 per cent, that is, 63 out of 1,008 though the absolute number had increased (Kalra 2019). The report does not indicate whether women-only universities are included. A standout example is one of the premier Institutes of Technology (NIT) established in 1964. As mentioned earlier, it is headed by a computer engineer who was also a participant of the CBWM programme. The first woman 216

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faculty was hired here in 1975. The present Director, appointed less than five years ago, is the first woman heading one of the top 40 engineering institutes in India. In 2021 she was able to recruit 21 women assistant professors for the first time in the history of the institute. For reasons of confidentiality, the names of the institute and universities are not mentioned and those of individuals have been changed. We don’t have merit promotion, it’s all open selections. We advertised for 147 positions, all at Assistant professor/entry level. We recruited 69, out of which 21 are women, 68 joined including all 21 women. Thus, 31 per cent women engineers selected. (6.9.21, email communication) There is a special category of professors in the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG). When the present woman director joined, there were only two women professors who were eligible and were promoted to HAG.7 There are 24 men in this category (6.9.21, email communication). This is an example of how a gender-sensitive woman head can recruit eligible women to access faculty positions in engineering, a masculine discipline (Chanana 2018), and also support eligible women to move up to senior academic positions. Given the CAS, the representation of women professors would have gone up substantially. Let us look at the proportion of women faculty in all the HEIs in India. In 2019–20, there were 1,503,156 teachers: 57.5 per cent men and 42.5 per cent women (MOE 2020: 26). These statistics are for all institutions, that is, for universities, colleges and institutions which are designated standalone institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and Teacher training colleges. The figures for the three categories of institutions separately are somewhat different (figures for 2010–11 are given in parenthesis). For example, of the 214,000 teachers in universities (which include 17 women-only universities out of 1,043 universities) 37.1 per cent are women (27.15), they are 47.6 per cent out of 1.13 million teachers (38.7) in the colleges, and 42 per cent out of 157,000 teachers in the standalone institutions (MOE 2020: 27). As you will see, there is an increase in overall proportions since 2011 (MHRD 2013: 28). However, by the level of posts there has been limited change in the representation of women professors. A majority of teachers are assistant professors.8 Gender-wise there are 27.5 per cent of women professors, 37.1 per cent associate professors and 42.8 per cent assistant professors in all institutions. In 2010–11, they were 25.5 per cent, 31.1 per cent and 38.5 per cent, respectively, as professors, associate professors and assistant professors (MHRD 2013: table 22: T60)9. In comparison, the proportion of women professors in university teaching departments, its constituent units and off-campus centres is lower, for example, there are 24.4 per cent women professors, 32.4 per cent associate professors and 40.7 per cent 217

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assistant professors, respectively (MOE 2020: table 22b: 22b). The above figures are for women in all disciplines while women in the science faculties are much less.10

Why interrogate the selection and promotion procedure in CAS Nielson undertook a study and interviewed 24 heads of departments of Aarhus University in Denmark to look at how hiring and promotion practices reproduce gender inequality. He focused on hiring of associate professors and professors through what are called Direct Recruitment interviews in India to identify ‘a discrepancy between the institutionalized beliefs among managers in the meritocracy’ (Nielson 2015: 1). But how exactly do highly formal recruitment procedures allow space for mobilizing informal, potentially gendered, network ties? Focusing on the preliminary stages of recruitment, this study… identifies a discrepancy between the institutionalized beliefs among managers in the meritocracy and the de facto functioning of the recruitment procedures… The interviews reveal a myriad of factors explaining these patterns showing how department heads sometimes exploit decoupling processes to reduce external constraints on management function and ensure organizational certainty. (Nielson 2015: 1) Even before the formal interviews begin, the names of the experts to be invited for the interview become critical. The names of experts are generally proposed by the head through the Dean to the Vice-chancellor (VC), who then selects the names from the list. However, he11 may use his discretion to replace the names from the list. He also heads the promotion, selection and recruitment committees at the university. The invitations to the experts go out from the office of the VC. This applies to DR as well as to CAS interviews. It is pertinent to look at the interview process and its outcome through a case study of CAS for promotion to professorship.

CAS interview: a case study The interviews under the CAS took place in the middle of 2019 in a federally/centrally funded public university. The interview committee for professorship consisted of nine members: VC; pro-VC; visitor’s12 nominee, a young scientist, with no background in education; three academic experts, all women; a mandatory SC/ST observer to eliminate the possibility of discrimination. He was from the medical faculty of the university. The last was the Dean, Faculty of Education (a woman). One expert formerly belonged to this faculty. 218

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The discussion and analysis focus on the interviews of six candidates of which five were women and one man who was the junior most in service.13 All of them had a doctorate degree. They all appeared under the 2010 revised CAS scheme, which made them eligible for promotion after three years of associate professorship plus publications, teaching, research and several other requirements. All were appearing for the first time after a long wait. In that university, five to six years delay in holding interviews was quite normal. Sushma, the first woman candidate, the senior most had a doctoral degree from a foreign university and had been on tenure track as assistant professor in the United States. Her qualifications and publications were of high quality, and the interview was conducted in a positive tenor. VC and all the experts agreed about her suitability for promotion. Puneet, the male candidate, came in as the fourth candidate. His interview was also conducted positively. However, two of the experts were neither impressed with his interview nor with his publications. But one expert and the VC favoured his case. In spite of the vast difference in the opinions of the experts about the two candidates and also the qualifications, both were promoted from the year of eligibility (DoE). The remaining four women candidates had several years of teaching and research experience, departmental work and publications. On the whole, the women candidates discussed their work with confidence with the experts, but the ambience would change as soon as the VC started interviewing them. He was very terse, except with Puneet and Sushma, and generally aggressive. Women candidates would lose their poise and confidence. Additionally, the committee members were expected to limit the questioning to the period between becoming an associate professor and when they became eligible, that is, the assessment period. However, the VC would abruptly ask about the latest and earliest publications. But the content of what he asked was as important as the manner and the tenor in which he asked. He prolonged the interview with his aggressive tone of questioning. He also did not allow the Dean to speak. In fact, he was very rude to her and literally shut her up when she wanted to say something. One wonders if he could have been like this with a male dean. All four women were given promotion from the date of interview (DoI) without any differentiation. They were deprived of promotion from the DoE on the basis of their publications, which had already been approved by the external experts and the approval is a precondition to holding the CAS interview. What was the point of sending the publications to three evaluators if the VC is going to overrule them? And the interview is just 20 per cent of assessment. Although the year of eligibility was being decided, the Dean was not given a voice. The experts were also overruled. He conveyed that either all go along with him or none of the four will be promoted. The Pro-VC was quiet all through. The Dean had to agree with the VC’s decision, though she 219

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could dissent, thereby indicating that it is better that they get promoted from any date rather than not get promoted at all which is what the VC was likely to do. One could see disappointment writ large on her face. The experts were forced into a position to support the final decision. Being gender sensitive did not help either the expert or the dean. Thus, the four women associate professors lost seniority and became junior to Puneet who will become the head and dean of the faculty of education. They lost the chance of holding the top post in the faculty. After the meeting was over, it was discovered that similar political ideology of Puneet and the VC played a positive role. One expert was nominated, bypassing the list sent to him, for the same reason. She supported the promotion of Puneet. What is notable is that the VC subverted and undermined the elaborate formal markers of CAS by overruling the external experts’ recommendations with support from nominated experts. It was also a case in which the objective criterion of merit was manipulated and undermined to promote a preferred male candidate. It is also erroneous to argue that CAS provides unfettered chances for promotion to women. Is this VC an exception who denies promotion from DoE and also the manner in which he conducts the interviews of women candidates? It is notable that after this interview the same VC chaired a promotion committee in another department of his university and denied promotion to women faculty from DoE. Four women faculty went to High Court and won the case to get promotion from the DoE. Now the university has appealed to the Supreme Court.

What makes the glass ceiling fall? It has been argued elsewhere that women-only institutions in which women hold all the leadership positions are excellent examples of women being capable leaders (Chanana 2020). In the words of a CBWM participant cited earlier and who changed her job after 11 years of service in a women’s college to a coeducational university located in a different city: I began my career at a women’s institution and from the very beginning we were a part of various administrative responsibilities of the institution. I handled assignments in Admission committee, Cultural Committee, Examination Committee, Proctorial Board, and several other assignments…. As in any other all women’s institution, the responsibility of running the college was ours…. When I shifted to the University, to my dismay, women generally had a very limited and token presence in the administration…. Even after offering to take up more active role…, either my suggestion went unacknowledged or I constantly came across courteous replies like ‘Why should you trouble, we will manage’. This limited my exposure to handling administrative responsibilities and interaction with 220

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faculty from other departments and social and professional interaction at workplace…. That was the point in time I realized the actual need for programmes like CBWM. (Maya, email communication, 7.9.21) The woman director of NIT had also taken pro-gender steps to ensure that women candidates do not face gender-biased questions in the interview. She would articulate these before the interview so that personal and family-related questions, such as what would your family do if you move, are not asked by the experts. In spite of that some men, and sometimes even women, would still ask such questions. Further, soon after joining she realised the need for gender sensitisation of all faculty. So she organised oneday workshops, under a different heading, in a resort for all (300) of them, women and men by dividing them into four groups. Moreover, of the 21 newly recruited assistant professors, one had a few-month-old child and two were pregnant. The latter two would ask for maternity leave sometime after joining. So, there were a few anticipated gender-biased reactions in the selection interview. Her response was that it is not an individual but a family matter. Let us decide whether they are competent or not (Personal communication 8.9.21). All of them were recruited. Further, the key enablers for women’s career promotion and retention include the rotation of leadership especially chair of departments and government-led programmes such as CBWM for women to aspire to and to enter senior management positions (Chanana 2020: 142), and CAS to become professors. How effective they are depends on their implementation with support from the state and the head of the institution. For example, talking of Australian universities, Ramsay (2000) says that since 1986 Australian government enjoins all organisations with more than 100 employees to initiate programmes to promote gender equality in employment, monitor the outcome and report annually to a national public authority. Further, one of the effective strategies is to empower women to see and remove the biases and obstacles in the functioning of the university system. The CBWM training programme aimed just at that in addition to providing role models, a network of colleagues, widening their vision about future role in the academia and working towards it. In the process, women faculty began to aspire to become associate and full professors and move to top positions. As a result, they moved to different universities in new geographical locations in order to move up the career ladder. They defied the stereotype that women do not like to move out of their comfort zones since it might upset work–home life balance (Chanana 2020).

And what keeps the glass ceiling up? The gender inequality in Indian universities is similar to the situation of women internationally. Fisher and Kinsey identify as a barrier male-dominated 221

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culture of ‘endemically homosocial gentlemen’s club’, where ‘there is gendered division of labour and gendered academic rules and these together construct the definition of gendered academic excellence’ (2014: 44). ‘Homosocial gentlemen’s club’ is very telling of the situation in India too. The director of the engineering institute mentioned earlier has been in office for nearly five years and her term is coming to an end. She has not been invited to a single selection interview in the top engineering institutes to date. She explained the reason in terms of the men’s club in which she would not fit (Personal communication 8.9.21). The additional common barriers to moving to top positions are choice of undergraduate subjects and the decision to apply for an academic post (Shaw and Stanton 2012), absence of networks, mentorship and role models, gendered institutional procedures and functioning, membership of decision-making committees, lack of support from the start of career, and invisibility in higher administrative and managerial roles. Maya refers to the need for a mentor from the start of career. The need for women to take up administrative responsibilities also comes with the flip side of being offered these responsibilities from the days as junior faculty so that they are getting trained and exposed to various aspects of institutional administration. That is where working in an all–women’s institution was an advantage for me. (Email communication, 4.9.21) The invisible and intangible barriers identified in the context of women’s absence in leadership positions are also applicable to women not becoming professors. For instance, stereotyped gendered socialisation constraints converted into systemic barriers and the perception that some subjects are masculine and others feminine impact women’s career opportunities (Chanana 2018). Although their representation at the doctoral level has increased and even though more women may still apply for the National Eligibility Test (NET), mandatory for appointment as an assistant professor, more men than women qualify. For instance, in June 2019, as per National Testing Agency, 3,975 more men than women qualified the NET (Kalra 2019). Moreover, while there are fewer women professors in all subjects, their under-representation in senior positions in science and technology has been a matter of concern internationally. Howe–Walsh and Turnbull (2016) explored this dimension through personal narratives of women in ST faculties in UK universities. They reported that women ‘struggle to navigate their careers’ in the gendered ST faculties. They cited the negative impact of organisational arrangements such as temporary work, networks of men colleagues, intimidation and harassment and individual factors such as lack of confidence. However, these are common to all subjects as are those highlighted by Datta (2021). 222

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Datta (2021) has highlighted sexism in the workplace in the context of science. Quoting Dogra (2016), he mentions that women scientists have to work twice as hard and there is absence of women in decision-making bodies, the presence of boys’ clubs and insecurity on the field. He quotes some women scientists. ‘I have experienced that when you are rising higher than your male colleagues, they try and stop you by pointing fingers on your personal life’. (Computer scientist) ‘Some members of my team even travelled to Ladakh for testing purposes–I would have liked to go but because I was a woman–just 22 years old–but the management would not allow that’. (Engineer in the Indian Space Research Organization) ‘I just had to trust that their intentions in accompanying me were honest. In the chance I was wrong and they wanted to harm me, then not even a trace of me would be found’. (Archaeologist) Talking of institutional sexism, Ghosh (2006), a woman physics professor and now the first VC of a newly established reputed private university, also says that women have to work harder than men scientists to prove their abilities, along with poor working conditions in the laboratory, for example, lack of security at night. Additionally, there are other problems common to all teachers, for example, absence of childcare facilities, career breaks, insufficient network ties and subtle gender biases among recruiters and evaluators.

Concluding observations Education has been a contested domain for long, and within it merit is also equally contested. For example, whether universities promote merit has been long debated and questioned by feminist scholars. It is one of those critical intangible factors which also comes into play in the educational discourse on reservations, on making special provisions to promote women students in technical institutions and women faculty to higher positions, and also in the context of CAS. Again, whether merit is an objective criterion or not is a matter that can be discussed at length, but it will suffice to say that feminist research has established that academic institutions are gendered institutions, do not necessarily uphold ‘merit’ and are sites of reinforcing privilege. Further, the power of the head of the institution to nominate members of important committees and the discretion to replace experts’ names contribute, in a big way, to the social construction of the universities. Additionally, 223

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these powers undermine set procedures and have to be regulated so that the best-intentioned promotion procedures are not subverted. Moreover, the prevalence and persistence of inequalities between women and men faculty is a complex issue. Therefore, it is imperative to undertake research and collect statistics to see how many women and men became professors through CAS and DR, after how many years and after facing how many interviews in order to work out comparative promotion rates. It is also critical to analyse if the gender composition of the faculty has changed, if so how much, in which universities and HEIs and whether headed by women and men. Additionally, apart from training women faculty, orientation programmes for gender sensitisation of VCs and heads of HEIs, women and men, should be undertaken. They can play a proactive role by ensuring that women get promotion to professorship and do not lose seniority due to delayed interviews. These programmes will also have to be combined with set targets for achieving gender equality. Further, the interview, which reinforces privilege, has to be made transparent and gender friendly to break the glass ceiling. A critical step will be to nominate gender-sensitive women members to the interview committees as is being done for the SC/ST candidates. Further, women professors should be made visible by appointments in critical and decision-making positions in the administrative system. To sum up, policymakers and academic managers must take a closer look at and redesign promotion procedures for academic positions, especially for professors. The composition and functioning of the interview committees will have to be looked at afresh with the aim of introducing changes for achieving gender equality and inclusion in higher academic system.

Acknowledgements I am grateful to Professors Mini Thomas, Namita Ranganathan and Dr. Jaya Chadha Kapoor for their inputs in this chapter. In addition, Dr. Benu Gupta, Professor Aarti Shrivastava and Professor Seema Parihar provided important information about CAS.

Notes 1 Danell and Hjerm (2013) also compared the career progress of postdoctoral fellows, a step to academic mobility. The difference in promotion was not between women and men who received fellowships but between those who did not. Men were more likely to move to senior academic positions than women in the latter category (cited in Johnson et al. 2015: 3–4). 2 Subtle gender biases among recruiters and evaluators relates to almost all life stages of a professional woman. For example, if women are unmarried, it is anticipated that they will get married and leave and so reluctance to hire; those who are newly married would want leave often for childbearing and rearing; if husband is located outstation or she has very young children then she would

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want leave often; and those who have children also require to look after their children and will not devote full time to the job. So women in all life stages are negatively perceived for hiring and promotion. 3 Younger men teachers were also deprived of headship. So they raised the demand for rotation of head/chair of a department by seniority through men dominated teachers’ unions. This demand was projected as a measure to promote equality and democracy in university. This change also helped women get some positions of leadership. 4 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), a federally funded university, was asked by the UGC keep 10 per cent of its faculty positions vacant. Additionally, some of the higher educational institutions such as Indian Institutes of Technology and universities such as JNU were asked to accept a fixed grant and raise the rest of the funds on their own. Till then, the federal/central universities used to prepare a budget and present it to the UGC and would get the funds accordingly. 5 As a result, the situation is such that in some universities and departments there are more temporary and casual faculty than those in permanent/tenure track positions. 6 For details of the scheme and its modifications, see Ishaq 2018. 7 Only 40 per cent of professors can be promoted to Higher Administrative Grade after six years as professors plus other academic criteria. There is no interview; they are promoted on the basis of the evaluation by the screening committee. 8 The proportion of women is higher in lower and casual positions. Among the demonstrators/tutors, which are the lowest positions, women are 65.5 per cent. Among the temporary teachers, the proportion of women teachers is 49.0 per cent (MOE 2020: 27, figure 24). 9 For the first time, All India Survey of Higher Education provides some gender segregated data on women faculty in higher education for the year 2010–11. 10 Their representation in STEM subjects has been a matter of concern. The available data does not provide information designation wise but for all designations and even then the representation of women is very low. The highest is 23.2 per cent in biology and lowest 7.9 per cent in engineering. In the other disciplines it is mathematics, 15.2 per cent; computer sciences, 12.2; earth sciences, 11.5; physics, 10.7; and chemistry, 8.5 per cent. Godbole and Ramaswamy (2008) showed very low proportions of women in physics departments, and very few INSA awardees except in medicine (25 per cent) (Datta, PPT 2021, BiasWatchIndia). 11 I could use she or she/he instead of he, but I am using he intentionally since most VCs have been and are men even though lately some women have been appointed VCs. 12 The President of India is the Visitor of the university. 13 In all eight persons appeared for the interview on two days: six for the post of professor and two for the post of Associate Professor. The chapter excludes those who appeared for the post of associate professor.

References Bagilhole, Barbara and White, Kate. (eds) 2011. Gender, Power and Management: A Cross–Cultural Analysis of Higher Education. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Chanana, Karuna. 2003. ‘Visibility, gender and the careers of women faculty in an Indian university’, McGill Journal of Education, 38(3): 381–389. Chanana, Karuna. 2008a. ‘Women in the Indian academe: Difference, diversity and inequality in a contested domain’, Journal of Indian Education, 34(1): 5–19. Chanana, Karuna. 2008b. ‘Situating the Indian academic profession in guru

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tradition, modernisation and globalisation: Implications for research and knowledge’, in Rose Marie Salazar Clemena and V. Lynn Meek (eds), Competition, Collaboration and Change in the Academic Profession: Shaping Higher Education’s Contribution to Knowledge and Research. Quezon city, Philippines: Libro Amigo Publishers for UNESCO and De La Salle University, Manila. Chanana, Karuna. 2016. ‘Gender representation in higher education: going beyond numbers’, in N.V. Varghese and Garima Malik (eds), India Higher Education Report 2015 (pp. 113–133). London and New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. Chanana, Karuna. 2018. ‘Gendered Subject Choices: unequal access and participation of Indian women in higher education’, in K. Kumar (ed), Routledge handbook of education in India: Debates, practices and policies (pp. 216–227). London and New York: Routledge. Chanana, Karuna. 2020. ‘Women and leadership: Strategies of gender inclusion in institutions of higher education in India’, in Gail Crimmins (ed), Women and Leadership: Strategies of Gender Inclusion in Institutions of Higher Education: Enabling the Movement of Women Academics Upward and Forward (pp. 141– 162). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Danell, Rickard and Hjerm, Mikael. 2013. ‘Career prospects for female university researchers have not improved’, Scientometrics, 94(3): 999–1006. Datta, Sayantan. 2021. ‘Pushing for a feminist science practice in India: The role of science communication and science journalism’, The Life of Science.com. PPT presented at a webinar on entitled ‘Pushing for a feminist science practice in India: The role of science communication and science journalism’, Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, India. 8 April. David, Miriam E. 2015. ‘Women and gender equality in higher education?’ Education Sciences, 5(1): 10–25. Diezmann, Carmel M. and Susan J. Grieshaber. 2010. ‘Gender equity in the professoriate: A cohort study of new women professors in Australia’, in M. Devlin, J. Nagy, and A. Lichtenberg (eds), Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education (pp. 223–234). Melbourne: Australia. Dogra, Aashima. 2016. ‘Some findings after eight months of Labhopping’, The Life of Science.com, https://thelifeofscience.com/2016/10/27/some-findings-from-eightmonths-of-labhopping/ (accessed on 13 August 2021). Fisher, Virginia and Kinsey, Sue. 2014. ‘Behind closed doors! Homosocial desire and the academic boys club’, Gender Management International Journal, 29(1): 44–64. Ghosh, Rupamanjari. 2006. ‘Women in science: Some personal reflections’, PPT presented at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 13 November. Godbole, Rohini and Ramaswamy, Ram. 2008. Lilavati’s Daughters: The Women Scientists of India. New Delhi: Indian Academy of Sciences. Howe–Walsh, Liza and Turnbull, Sarah. 2016.‘Barriers to women leaders in academia: Tales from science and technology’, Studies in Higher Education, 41(3): 415–428, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2014.929102?src= recsys (accessed online 19 August 2021). Ishaq, Geer Mohammad. 2018. New Challenges posed by UGC regulations 2018. UGC–HRDC, University of Kashmir, http://hrdc.uok.edu.in/Files/c2ce2564-691e4c9a-ae8a-44f8e3244c60/Custom/New%20UGC%20Regulations%20of%20 2018-%20New%20Challenges.pdf (accessed online 19 August 2021).

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Johnson, Katherine A., Warr, Deborah J., Hegarty, Kelsey and Guillemin, Marilys. 2015. ‘Small wins: An initiative to promote gender equity in higher education’, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(6): 1–13. http://doi.org/ 10.1080/1360080X.2015.1102820 (accessed on 20 August 2021). Kalra, Shyna. 2019. ‘India has over 2 lakh lesser female teachers than males fewer at top ranks’, Indian Express, September 7, https://indianexpress.com/article/jobs/ india-has-over-2-lakh-lesser-female-teachers-than-males-fewer-at-top-ranks-ugcnet-nta-5948223/ (accessed on 28 August 2021). Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Ministry of Human Resource Development. 2013. All India Survey of Higher Education 2010–11. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Morley, Louise L. 2013. ‘The rules of the game: Women and the leaderist turn in higher education’, Gender and Education, 25(1): 116–131, https://www.tandfonline. com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2012.740888 (accessed on 17 July 2021). Nielson, Mathias. 2015. ‘Limits to meritocracy? Gender in academic recruitment and promotion processes’, Science and Public Policy, 43(3): 1–14, https://www. researchgate.net/publication/281332865_Limits_to_meritocracy_Gender_in_ academic_recruitment_and_promotion_processes (accessed on 16 August 2021). Ramsay, Eleanor. 2000. ‘Gender Employment Equity for Women in Australian Universities – Recent research and current strategies’, Keynote address delivered at the Second European Conference for Women in Higher Education, Zurich, 13 September. Riordan, Sarah. 2011. ‘Paths to success in senior management’, in B. Baglihole and K. White (eds), Gender, power and management: A cross–cultural analysis of higher education (pp. 110–139). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Savigny, Heather. 2014. ‘Women, know your limits: Cultural sexism in academia’, Gender and Education, 26(7): 794–809. Shaw, Allison K. and Daniel E. Stanton. 2012. ‘Leaks in the pipeline: Separating demographic inertia from ongoing gender differences in academia’, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 279: 3736–3741. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2012.0822. Shepherd, Sue. 2017. ‘Why are there so few female leaders in higher education: A case of structure or agency?’ Management in Education, 31(2): 82–87. UNESCO. 2012. World Atlas on Gender Equality in Education. Available online: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000215522 (accessed on 6 September 2021). White, Kate. 2017. ‘Women vice–chancellors as change agents? An Australian case study’, in K. White and Pat O’Conner (eds), Gendered Success in Higher Education: Global Perspectives (pp. 71–90). London: Palgrave McMillan (accessed on 28 August 2021).

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11 WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION Opportunities, challenges and the way forward Madhulika Kaushik

Introduction The concept of leadership, at all levels, encompasses many facets of a person’s abilities: a clarity of institutional vision, the capacity to inspire as well as to organise, to handle power, to assume responsibility and, perhaps, most importantly, to contribute to the society at large in a significant way. In a world of increasing complexity, the quality of leadership has certainly assumed new proportions which are essential to the survival and success of any enterprise or institution. Definitions of successful leadership vary and are patterned by gender in two key ways: (1) women and men who are effective leaders are expected to demonstrate different behaviours and leadership styles, and (2) male and female leaders’ assessments differ as to what it means to be successful in their roles (Eagly and Johnson 1990). The current focus on feminine leadership and a number of related issues, notably whether women will be able to claim their right to participate in higher education decision-making at all levels and whether this will be on their own terms, has been discussed often but possibly not researched enough in the Asian context, including India. This chapter explores the very topical and critical theme of women’s leadership in higher education in India. Over time, the pipeline for female leaders seems to be widening. Women have made significant gains in educational attainment in recent decades, better positioning themselves not only for career success but also for leadership positions (The Global Gender Gap Report 2016). While women’s participation in higher education and in tertiary education employment has registered growth from the 1990s onwards, the presence of a critical mass of women in decision-making positions remains vastly inadequate. Recent evidence clearly shows that even when economies across the globe reach gender parity in higher education enrolment with a greater presence of

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women in the universities, leadership roles in higher education institutions remain in the hands of men (UNESCO 2021). A number of cultural and perceptual barriers still exist, which seriously impede their active participation in leadership roles in academia. This chapter makes an attempt to unravel some of the challenges faced by women in leadership roles in higher education institutions in India. After discussing the context of women’s leadership situation in the higher education sector in India, the chapter seeks to analyse the contributing factors that act as barriers to accessing leadership positions and factors that may explain the reasons for the inadequate participation of women in leadership roles. Based on an in-depth analysis of the leadership journeys and experiences of 44 women leaders in higher education in India, the objective of the study is to share the major leadership challenges encountered by women HE leaders, coping strategies used to overcome these challenges, the capabilities developed and the critical lessons learnt. The study is based on in-depth interviews of women Vice Chancellors (VCs) and Principals drawn from different parts of the country and from different types of higher education institutions.

Women’s leadership in higher education – the Indian scenario India has shown a heartening growth in women’s participation in higher education (HE) from the post-independence period with a faster increase in female participation in HE as compared to men. In 2019–20, India achieved gender parity in access to HE, with equal number of male and female students in higher education at the national level (MHRD 2019). Gender Parity Index (GPI) in Higher Education in 2019–20 is 1.01 against 1.00 in 2018–19 indicating an improvement in the relative access to higher education for females of eligible age group compared to males (MOE 2020). Although regional variations exist, women have gained more than men in some states in India with gender parity index in access to higher education becoming skewed towards women (Varghese 2022). Furthermore, from 2015–16 to 2019–20, there has been an overall increase of over 18 per cent in female enrolment in higher education. This increase in women’s participation in higher education, however, has been characterised by clustering in the feminine, non-professional and non-market-oriented courses offered in general education (Varghese, Sabharwal and Malish 2022). For comparison, the OECD data shows a far better participation of women in HE even in 2009. Across OECD countries, the proportion of women who held a university-level qualification was equal to or more than men in 29 of the 32 countries for which data are comparable. On average, 59 per cent of all graduates who held a first university degree in 2009 were women; this proportion is below 50 per cent only in China, Japan, Korea and Turkey. In every OECD country except Japan and Turkey, more than 70 per cent of higher education students in the field of education were women. On average 229

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across OECD countries, 75 per cent of the degrees awarded in the field of health and welfare also went to women. By contrast, in most countries, fewer than 30 per cent of all graduates in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction were women (OECD 2012). In India, there has been concerted efforts to support the participation of women in HE. There are 17 Universities exclusively for women, three in Rajasthan, two each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. And while India achieved gender parity in HE enrolment as mentioned before, the share of women students is the lowest in Institutes of National Importance and female participa­ tion in professional courses is lower in comparison to academic courses (MOE 2020). The picture is even less rosy, when we look at numbers in employment in higher education. At the all-India level, there are merely 74 female teachers per 100 male teachers and this situation gets more skewed in case of technical education programmes. The national average of about 42 per cent of female teachers in HE touches a low of 21.6 per cent and 30 per cent in states like Bihar and Jharkhand. If we look only at universities, the proportion of women teachers is only 37 per cent. Similarly, for non-teaching posts, the proportion of women workers is also much lower (33.7 per cent) as compared to men. The situation from a pipeline to leadership perspective looks even more dismal when we look at the skewedness in the participation of women in HE employment across levels. Of the overall 42 per cent for all women teachers, the majority are at the middle level, and only about 15 per cent reach the higher levels comprising associate and full professors, directors, Pro-Vice Chancellors and VCs (Ghara 2016). The participation of women as VCs in universities is alarmingly low at 5.5 per cent, even with including women-only universities in the count of the number of women VCs in India (AIU data on Women VCs).

Barriers to leadership for women in HE Published research across developed and developing countries shows that barriers to women’s leadership have continued to exist on account of socio-economic and cultural factors, deeply gendered socialisation processes, as well as institutional cultures (UNESCO 2021). One of the most evident barriers that is structural in nature is the progressively narrowing pipeline for supply of female leadership talent along the career ladder. As noted in the previous section, as career graphs progress, women seem to be losing out to their male counterparts in ascending to the higher levels of the academic ladder. Their numbers begin to shrink from Associate Professorship onwards, narrowing further at Professorships and Deanships and reducing to a mere trickle where VC’s position is concerned. The picture 230

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is even more dismal where Institutions of National Importance or technical/ professional institutions and stand-alone institutions are concerned. The narrow pipeline of supply of female leadership is a global phenomenon, for instance, data from Insights on Global Business Education indicates that 25.2 per cent of deans, 33.7 per cent of associate deans and 26.2 per cent of academic department chairs in American business schools were women (Insights on Global Business Education | AACSB 2018). Quoting from a US study, it is apparent that the skewed situation is not just an Asian or Indian phenomenon – while women have outnumbered men in college enrolment for more than 30 years, women still hold only 45 per cent of tenure-track faculty positions and 31 per cent of tenure positions (Branch– Brioso 2009). The statistics are even more unbalanced on the administrative side of the academy, where women hold just 23 per cent of college and university presidencies (Branch–Brioso 2009; Touchton, Musil, and Campbell 2008). While this is an almost twofold increase in 12 per cent of all college presidents – in 1992 (Touchton, Shavlik and Davis 1993), the rise in female college presidents has not kept pace with the rise in educational attainment of women. In a time where women far outnumber men in the undergraduate student population, women still lag far behind men in high-ranking faculty and administrative positions in higher education. The other barriers to leadership positions include socio-economic and cultural biases against women in a fairly patriarchal society that places several restraints on women’s growth, especially for positions of power and decision-making. While men’s claim to leadership positions is taken as a natural right by those who have risen to that level, women’s claim to leadership is often seen with little concealed scepticism and a special case of privilege. This is abundantly demonstrated in the composition of the search committees and selection panels, the condescending attitudes of the panel members and the strongly held beliefs about feared limitations in women’s effectiveness. Women’s own lack of self-confidence and belief in their own capabilities, encultured through a deeply gender-determined socialisation process and social institutions like family, extended family, reference groups and societal expectation of what a woman’s role ideally should be, make most women highly unsure of their potential and capabilities. As a result of deep social conditioning, women tend to undervalue and underplay their own capabilities and performance and find it difficult to claim credit for achievements. The deeply entrenched societal belief that still perceives women as primary caregivers in a family creates guilt-related pressures on women seeking to pursue senior positions, which are more demanding on their time. Disruption of academic and research work during childbearing stages also interferes with comparative productivity in academics, which has been seen to be compensated through extreme hard work later, which again creates stressful work–life balance situations. Lower flexibility to relocate in pursuance of leadership opportunities on account of family commitments is another barrier that results in placing women at a disadvantageous position. 231

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Moreover, limited networks of women academics result in lower regular interactions with senior leaders, lower access to information on leadership opportunities, as well as lower possibilities of finding a mentor in a leadership position. Having been participants in the leadership track for a longer time, men have far better networks and influence circles that help them access leadership opportunities, in terms of both information and managing useful references. Women being latecomers in the game have smaller networks and have also reported negative social judgement and aspersions levelled at their efforts to develop networks. Low incidence of mentorship by other women leaders and fewer role models also creates a reference vacuum for women aspiring to be leaders.

Women’s leadership in Indian HE: a qualitative analysis of issues, challenges, coping strategies and lessons drawn In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the issues and concerns regarding women’s leadership in higher education in India, this study collected detailed experiential inputs from women leaders in universities and colleges in India. A fairly comprehensive interview schedule of issues was prepared to guide personal interaction with university and college leaders. Their consent to participate in the study was taken in advance after sharing the intended objective of the study and the scope of the research. Based on prior appointments, in-depth interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured schedule of questions comprising six sections and about 30 questions which were used to guide in-depth interviews. The schedule of questions was shared in advance with all respondents. The in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 VCs and 17 women principals, taking the total sample size to 44. With regard to the sample for the VCs, almost 50 per cent of the total population was chosen from the list of women VCs published by the Association of Indian Universities. An attempt was made to draw representation from different regions of the country – from central and state institutions, from both public and private universities as well as from open and conventional universities. In the case of college principals, almost all of the respondents were from state-funded institutions. The interviews were conducted electronically, using video calls, Google Meet or Skype modality. Only two interviews were conducted in person. The average time taken was about 65 minutes for each interaction. The researchers found almost all respondents eager to share their personal journey of leadership with reasonable candour and openness. The six sections over which the interview session was structured were: • Tracking the journey towards leadership • Circumstances that created the opportunity for leadership and factors that worked in favour of the respondent • Leaders’ personal views on nature of the leadership task in higher education 232

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• Personal experiences as a woman leader • Managing the leadership role • Lessons they would like to share with other aspiring women leaders Tracking the journey towards leadership This section explores the choice of career, early influences, personal growth, major contributors and early realisation, if any, of the leadership qualities. For majority of the respondents (60 per cent), higher education was the first choice of career, the major influences being either their own teachers or parent. In some cases (almost 25 per cent), the choice was influenced by the perception of higher education being a conducive career for women instead of a commercial or professional career choice. The rest of the respondents reported choosing their career in higher education after exploring options like getting into civil services or working for some time in the chosen profession of engineering, management or scientific research. In terms of academic background, almost 55 per cent of the sample came from a sciences/ technology/management background, while the remaining were equally divided between social sciences, education and humanities. In relation to personal growth, a very large proportion (73 per cent of the sample) reported their respective families placing a strong emphasis on higher education for girls as being a major contributor towards their growth and ultimate development as leaders. Again, almost 60 per cent of the respondents credited their active participation in school and college activities, especially their participation in competitive activities, contributing towards the realisation of their own leadership qualities not only by themselves but also by their teachers and peers. This realisation then resulted in their being chosen for more and more responsibilities/activities. Some of the realisation of leadership capabilities was also found on account of having to take up economic employment because of family responsibilities while simultaneously completing their education. At least 10 per cent of the sample had been also active in teacher politics during their early teaching careers, which made them aware of their potential in influencing peers and driving desired change. Circumstances that led to the leadership opportunity In relation to circumstances leading to leadership opportunities, the study found substantial variation between public and private institutions in the circumstances leading to the leadership opportunity in institutions. For instance, in all public institutions, respondents had to apply for the position and follow the due selection process as per the institutional norms. However, in the case of the private institutions, majority of the respondents reported that they were identified for the job through a process of shortlisting by their management, or with the help of references or on the basis of their past performance either in the same or a different institution. 233

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In terms of source of motivation to apply for leadership positions, only about 30 per cent of the respondents from the public universities started applying by themselves for the leadership role in their own or other institutions, mostly within the same geographical location. The others had to be motivated to do so either by a mentor or by a supportive spouse. Only 5 per cent of the respondents in this category reported pursuing the leadership opportunity wherever it was, even if it meant relocating away from their families. In the context of obstacles to the selection process, there seemed to be many. Those in public universities reported influence mongering, unsubstantiated misinformation campaigns, to active lobbying by male competitors. About 90 per cent of the respondents reported that they found themselves to be lone female competitors, by the time the first round of the selection process was over. Almost everyone in this group reported pronounced biases among the members of the selection committee, which comprised exclusively of male experts. The bias ranged from condescending behaviour, doubts about performance and in their ability to cope with the prospective leadership role to pointed questions on the work–life balance, the ambition to lead versus the family responsibility, and establishing worthiness for the role. About 61 per cent reported having to almost defend and argue for their decision to pitch themselves for the top leadership role. One respondent, however, admitted to a feeling of acute discrimination vis-a-vis male counterparts. It was shared that it was only after making it to the final shortlist nine times that she was finally selected as the Vice Chancellor despite having better qualifications and experience credentials than her male competitors. Nature of the leadership role in higher education Majority of the respondents agreed with the contention that leadership in the field of higher education presents a very different challenge compared to leadership in professional or commercial organisations. This is on account of the fact that leaders here are required to lead peers who are their academic equals and may be better known for their research or other contributions. The challenge was to lead this highly specialised group of knowledge experts, some of whom may actually be senior to the leader themselves. It was elaborated that senior academics are at times very set in their own ways, and often feel no need for further improvement or changed ways of reporting and accountability. It was also felt that since each university/college has its own work culture, each presents a unique leadership challenge and there is little transferability of experience from one institution to another. Almost all women leaders (96 per cent) in the study reported having risen through the ranks and reported that the transition from a dean’s/HOD’s position to that of a Vice Chancellor was a difficult one. The initial period of the transition was specifically difficult as it left them with feelings of 234

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inability to cope or needing to prepare very hard before meetings or needing to seek advice from more experienced peers. This question also led to comments on a strongly felt need for leadership training, relating to aspects of managing risk and accountability in decision-making, developing reliable information foundations for decisions and managing peer support for critical decisions. The challenges were found to be even more difficult in the case of green field projects, or a completely new institution of a national or state level being set up in a remote or under-developed area. Both at the college and the university levels, the leaders reported facing multiple challenges of rising student expectations, increasing regulatory interference and the pressures to raise financial resources even in the case of public institutions. More than 50 per cent of the respondents felt that autonomy of institutional leadership is a conceptual ideal rather than an implementable reality. It was felt that in case of public institutions, the regulatory agencies were becoming increasingly intrusive in many spheres such as in the creation of new posts, sanctioning of emerging disciplines and related infrastructure, and support for pedagogic innovations. In the case of private universities, it was shared that autonomy is often regulated by the desire for control by the owner. The remaining respondents (15 per cent) were ambivalent about the nature of leadership in higher education being different as they felt that the basic principles of managing people and situations remained the same, and it was largely an issue of implementing them in the university or college context. Moreover, presence of multiple stakeholders and interest groups like senior management of the University, academics, non-academic and administrative staff, students, guardians and society at large often with conflicting expectations created different levels of accountability and made it a very complex leadership situation. The comments of respondents from public and private institutions in respect of the leadership challenge were significantly different in the sense that the former were required to handle the leadership task within the framework of an established system of rules, procedures and laid down processes. The latter group in addition to following rules and regulations also referred to the additional challenge of working in a resource constraint environment, having the constant financial challenge of raising resources and of dealing with promoter-centred decision-making. Personal experiences as a woman leader A majority (close to 98 per cent) of the respondents interviewed reported that they were treated differently as compared to their male counterparts across several indicators. The discussion was related to the following aspects of gender differences in treatment: •

Attitude of superiors: Close to 79 per cent of the respondents felt that superiors were generally supportive but also keenly evaluative and a bit sceptical about the women’s ability to cope and effectively lead, 235

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•

•

at least in the initial years of their tenure. This perception was also reflected in the relatively low expectations of performance from them as leaders. The women leaders also felt that their male counterparts were not subjected to either this lowered expectation of performance or to similar scrutiny. About 30 per cent of women leaders reported a changing perception of superiors after they had produced tracks of good performance on a year-on-year basis. Attitude of the bureaucracy: Bureaucracy, especially at the senior levels, was reported to be supportive and corporative (89 per cent). The local administration, especially in offices like land revenue and property, being not accustomed to dealing with women leaders was reported as not very welcoming or supportive. Dealing with ministers or political leaders both at the local and the state levels was reported to be as not conducive – in most cases, that is, 53 per cent of women leaders reported them to be dismissive and non-attentive. Attitudes of colleagues, both male and female: About 15 per cent of the respondents from the category of college principals had risen to the leadership position often working in the same institution for over 15 years or so. Interestingly, they reported a feeling of general team spirit after the initial settling down period as this was marked with some discomfort from other aspirants of the position as well as from other women colleagues who had not even applied for the position. More than 60 per cent of leaders in public institutions reported being given a hard time by their male competitors for the position once they had taken over as the leader. Almost 73 per cent of respondents reported being considered lightweight, especially by senior male colleagues, who believed that they can manage their woman leader and became hostile once they found this belief to be unfounded.

Women leaders also expressed dissatisfaction at the biased treatment they received at conventions of VCs and meetings of regulatory bodies, including those called by their respective ministries. A sort of gender segregation became evident during breaks for tea and lunch, and their contributions to the discussions were not given due weightage. The leaders who had risen from the ranks in the same institution while on the one hand reported the comfort of familiar ground, on the other hand, also reported being under pressure of expectations for special privileges by long-term associates. In case these expectations were not met, women leaders would face criticism for acting in an objective and rule-bound manner by the group of associates. Expectations from women leaders as being more lenient or more generous in terms of allowances related to work commitments or completion of assigned tasks were often expressed, and the pressure of disappointing these groups was very real in the initial years of leadership. In terms of the most vexing challenges faced by them, the leaders reported the following: 236

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• Attitude of the faculty and their change resistance (mostly public institutions, where security of tenure and lack of performance accountability made things difficult) • developing a research culture in the college • dealing with student leadership • establishing credibility and trust in personal ability • dealing with local administration in land matters • clearing pending cases and unresolved financial matters with the university/government • almost all the leaders from the private universities indicated managing the business viability in the wake of escalating competition as one of the biggest challenges facing them Only a very few respondents reported that they never felt any special challenge as a woman leader. Positives that they as women brought to the leadership role: Almost 79 per cent of the respondents felt that as women leaders, they brought intuitive understanding to the issues and were more inclusive in their decision-making. About 70 per cent reported that they were more accessible to both students and faculty. More than 70 per cent believed that they showed a greater ability for teamwork and consensual decision-making. Quite a few of them agreed that they were able to get more work out of sheer persuasiveness and bonding with their teams, especially in case of younger people. In both co-education situations and women’s institutions, the respondents reported that they were able to bring in new initiatives for girl students and opened up new and untried avenues for their growth and competition. Performance Pressures: Nearly all the respondents felt that performance pressures on them as women leaders were not any different from that of their male counterparts. About 60 per cent of them who were first-time leaders reported that they themselves created high expectations of their own performance and were very driven to prove themselves in the face of the scepticism that they had perceived from various quarters.

Managing the leadership role This section explores a variety of coping strategies, change management strategies and efforts at being effective leaders used by women leaders to respond to the challenges experienced by them. Coping strategies • About 82 per cent of the leaders used the strategy of making their own teams, across hierarchies on the basis of personal evaluation of the colleagues’ performance of tasks assigned as well as demonstrated dedication to the institution or the project assigned and then working with this team to inculcate the spirit of change or improvement. 237

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• It was reported by 71 per cent of the respondents that they consciously made efforts to develop an attitude of sustained persistence and never say die approach. • Trusting one’s own intuition, backed by collected information and feedback from a variety of angles. • 61 per cent reported a strong belief in leading by example, in terms of research, publications, innovative approaches and institution building. • 58 per cent reported the importance of goal-setting and working towards achieving these systematically. • Demonstrating institutional commitment, including commitment to people’s growth. • One interesting coping strategy reported was following a minimalistic lifestyle to save time and minimise unnecessary stress, and avoiding negative people. Change management strategies Nearly all the respondents in the study agreed that there was a strong change resistance among both faculty and staff in the universities/colleges led by them. The experience of private university/college leaders was markedly different as the institution line was usually accepted as being mandatory – the main reason being lack of job security in an environment with few careers option. In the case of a public institution, leaders reported strong tendencies of change resistance and adherence to set ways of doing things, as people did not really feel the need to change. The security of tenure and timebound promotions irrespective of proven performance was found to nurture a climate of resistance to change and non-acceptance of innovations in teaching–learning methodologies, application of technology and dynamic assessments. In all such cases, leaders had to apply using committed support groups to demonstrate the positive outcomes of change and gradually build a change-positive ecosystem. Views on existence of the glass ceiling All respondents barring two expressed the view that the existence of a glass ceiling for women academics is very real and continues to impede their journey towards the top position in academic careers. While the situation has improved since the past decade, leadership in higher education continues to largely be a boys’ club. Personal lessons learned and lessons women leaders would like to share with other aspiring women leaders The women leaders reported their journey to the leadership role as both fulfilling and rewarding in addition to being highly instructive in their lives. In terms of personal lessons drawn, they had the following inputs to share: 238

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• Dedicated hard work and institutional commitment lead to measurable successes and demonstrable outcomes. • It pays to do one’s own homework before taking difficult decisions but spending too much time to arrive at a decision could be counterproductive. • As a woman, you have unique strengths and capabilities. Have courage in your convictions and believe in yourself. • Support and nurture other deserving women and men and develop your own capabilities as a mentor. • Adversity is a valuable teacher – use each challenge as another opportunity to grow and to learn. For the younger women aspiring for the leadership role in higher education, the leaders participating in this study had the following lessons to share: • Aspiring leaders need to be fully abreast of the upcoming trends and emerging developments in their own subject area. • Learn to engage with people at all levels. • Develop strong team-building skills as well as strong listening skills. • Develop capabilities to take criticism in your stride and learn from it. • Have a strong belief in yourself and the capabilities of people in your team. • Avoid the pitfalls of taking shortcuts and engaging in negative campus politics. • Value hard work – your own as well as that of others. • Create your own support systems, both in the family and in the institution. • Decide upon your life’s choices clearly and then follow them with commitment.

Variations in leadership experience across public and private universities/colleges During the course of the data collection, it was observed that on some variables being studied, notable variations were reported by the women leaders of the public and private institutions. These variations mostly emanated from the nature of governance, ownership pattern, actual or perceived autonomy, security of tenure and the accountability for mobilising resources and enrolments in the private sector. These differences manifest themselves in a variety of ways and ranged from managing the challenge of faculty motivation and control over performance, to the ease of managing change and innovation, especially with respect to senior faculty. Table 11.1 presents the main variables and the differential response reported by women leaders from the public and private sectors, respectively. 239

Table 11.1  Major differences between public and private university leadership experience across leadership variables used in the study (only variables where differences were observed are reflected here) Public Universities/Colleges

Private Universities

I. Path to leadership –Mentors and support systems II. Circumstances leading to leadership opportunity –Competition or selection –Hurdles in the process –Selection itself

Parents, teachers, supervisor

Parents, teachers, promoters, founders, directors looking for succession planning

–Had to formally apply both within and outside the system –Hurdles came from internal male competitors, process was not easy –Composition of the selection committee and attitude of the selectors were not supportive, sometimes a pronounced gender bias

III. Personal experience as a woman leader –Major obstacles –Most vexing challenge –Attitudes of superiors and Peers –Performance pressures

Obstacles were in the form of acceptance of a woman as a boss, especially by senior male colleagues At times your long-standing relationships suffer on account of expectations of favourable treatment not being fulfilled –Vexing challenge – motivation of academics to take on additional responsibilities and managing a willing cooperation Availability of good faculty resources, slowness of the decision process

– Formal application mostly for position outside one’s own institution. For growth within the system, earmarking by the managing group was the norm – Once the identification was done by the decision makers, low-level hurdles raised by competing aspirants – Selection committee members were quite probing but largely supportive Major obstacles were identified as acceptance by external stakeholders like local authorities, government officials and political leaders Challenges were managing viability, raising resources, developing a research culture and retaining faculty. Performance pressures reported being much higher in managing costs, enrolments, placements and viability

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240

Sections

V. Lessons learnt/to share –Mentorship and networking –Pitfalls to avoid

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While demands on time were many, life as a researcher did not suffer much –Managing change was a difficult challenge as there wasn’t much incentive and little scope for deterrents in the face of security of tenure –Limited scope of ushering in major changes on your own initiative, getting buy-in from the government is cumbersome –Networking is an important skill that women leaders need to cultivate both within the fraternity and with government bodies and other leaders, both nationally and internationally Take time out to mentor younger women colleagues Foster development of leadership skills among younger colleagues with potential Pitfalls – avoid shortcuts and influence mongering

Source: Prepared by the author based on the responses of the respondents in the study.

Life as serious, committed researcher was on backburner, while research supervision continued –Managing change was not as much of a challenge as support from the promoters ensured that most people participated in the change, as their job prospects / growth depended on their readiness to join in –Creativity and innovative change possibility is higher as decision time span is much shorter Networking is a necessary part of leadership role so need to build your own networks with discretion and mutual respect. Networking also includes keeping constant communication and information sharing with the trustee group/managing group –Keep your eyes open for aspiring women leaders with potential, train them by assigning progressively greater responsibility Do not be overawed by the possibility of being replaced by a younger, more qualified aspirant Pitfalls – possibility of burnout if not enough work–life balance has been carefully cultivated

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IV. Managing the leadership role –Life as an academic –Managing change

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Conclusion While over the years, women have made large strides in access to and employment in higher education, their access to positions of leadership continues to be woefully inadequate. It is now understood that the under-representation of women in leadership roles is a complex phenomenon and is the outcome of a combination of multiple factors. While we see a number of women entering leadership positions and giving creditable evidence of that performance, they are much too few in number. The consequences of women’s low representation are manifold and range from a democratic deficit to low representation in decision-making in policymaking bodies and regulating bodies. It also culminates in the trickling down of the message across society and relevant stakeholders that women are unsuited for leadership roles. Enablers like training, educational and research credentials help the cause of women’s leadership, but the critical mass is needed to make a difference in the supply pipeline and attract more women to the leadership role. Experiences of women leaders demonstrate that given the chance to lead, they can make a visible difference and be powerful agents of change. However, there is the need to create a more level playing field and the benefit of unbiased opportunities for women to claim their rightful place at the top job in higher education institutions.

References Branch–Brioso, Karen. 2009. ‘Keeping pace, but not catching up’, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 26(2): 14–16. Eagly, Alice H. and Johnson, Blair T. 1990. ‘Gender and leadership style: A meta– analysis’, Psychological Bulletin, 108(2): 233–256. Ghara, Tushar Kanti. 2016. ‘Status of Indian women in higher education’, Journal of Education and Practice, 7(34): 58–64. https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/ articles/2018/12/leadership-barriers-for-women-in-higher-education (accessed on 12 September 2021). Insights on Global Business Education | AACSB. 2018. AACSB Website. https:// www.aacsb.edu/insights Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, GoI. Ministry of Human Resource and Development. 2019. All India Survey on Higher Education 2018–2019. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource and Development, GoI. Organisation for Economic Co–operation and Development (OECD). 2012. How Are Girls Doing in School–and Women Doing in Employment–Around the World?. Paris, France: OECD. The Global Gender Gap Report. 2016. The Global Gender Gap Report. 2016. Switzerland: World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/reports/theglobal-gender-gap-report-2016/ (accessed on 12 September 2021).

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Touchton, Judith G., Musil, Caryn McTighe and Campbell, Kathryn Peltier. 2008. A Measure of Equity: Women’s Progress in Higher Education. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges. Touchton, Judith G., Shavlik, Donna L. and Davis, Lynne. 1993. Women in Presidencies: A Descriptive Study of Women College and University Presidents. Washington, DC: Office of Women in Higher Education/American Council on Education. UNESCO. 2021. Women in Higher Education: Has the Female Advantage Put an End to Gender Inequalities?. Paris: UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Varghese, N.V. 2022. ‘Directions of change in higher education in India: From massification to universalization,’ in S. Chattopadhyay, S. Marginson and N.V. Varghese (eds), Changing Higher Education in India (pp. 23–46). London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Varghese, N.V., Sabharwal, Nidhi S. and Malish, C.M. 2022. ‘Equity in higher education for inclusive growth: Evidence from India’, in S. Chattopadhyay, S. Marginson and N.V. Varghese (eds), Changing Higher Education in India (pp. 67–94). London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

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12 WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION Narratives from the field Geetha Venkataraman

Introduction The higher education (HE) sector in India has been undergoing a transformation. More rapid changes will take place due to the adoption of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, one change that ought to have taken place but has only happened in trickles, rather than as a steady flow, is the increase in the number of women in academic leadership. No institution in the 21st century can survive without diversity, and this is particularly true of HE. As India is hoping to expand in the HE sector, not having enough women at different levels in HE will prove costly in many ways. There will be a lack of role models for the young women entering HE. Several statutory committees in HE also require the presence of senior women in academia, including the internal complaints committee or certain selection committees. There will not only be a loss of intellectual input but also of the wide and varied experience that a woman would bring to leadership. This will lead to the lack of women in academic leadership becoming an example of ‘dangerous demographics’. A report commissioned by the British Council (Morley and Crossouard 2015) looked at women in leadership in academia across six South Asian countries, including India. A key point they raised is the lack of substantive research on the topic of women in leadership in academia in the region. The primary aim of this chapter is to understand the different reasons that help or prevent senior women professors from applying for leadership positions such as a Vice Chancellor’s (VC’s) post. In the second section, we present case studies which bring to light the voices of five women. Two of them are serving VCs, one is a retired principal of a co-educational college, and two more are senior professors who aspire to leadership positions. Of these, one had applied for the post of VC in the same university where she teaches without success. In the third and final section, we analyse the factors that determine or hinder the path of senior women to take on the 244

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-16

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highest leadership positions. This will be based on the case studies of the second section. This will hopefully create a basis for a discussion on policies and other changes that could be brought in to amend the low representation of women in academic leadership. It is impossible for women to take on a robust role in leadership in higher education institutions (HEIs) unless there is a large proportion of women in faculty positions in academia. The first section of this chapter presents a very brief history of women in HE, with a focus on India. The aim is to contrast the current situation of women entering HE as both students and faculty. In order to undertake leadership roles in academia, one is generally required to be at a senior level (usually a full professor with requisite years of experience). It has also been observed (Gandhi and Sen 2021) that while the number of women taking up faculty positions is increasing, the representation of women in the senior echelons of academia is still woefully low. The first section also explores some of the public data available and considers the phenomenon of the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ for women in academia.

Women in academia: a brief history, leaky pipelines and other tales The history of women in higher education is essentially a recent one. It was mainly in the early 19th century that girls were formally admitted to schools in several countries. Before that, we have a few singular examples from across timelines in different countries. In India, prior to the 19th century, most women did not even have access to school education at indigenous schools (Timeline of Women’s Education 2022). Some upper-caste women were home-schooled though this was not publicly admitted (MOE 1959). By the mid-19th century, there were missionary schools in various parts of India, which had started educating girls (Kamat 1976). By 1883, we had the first two women in India acquiring BA degrees from the University of Calcutta (now Kolkata) (Basu 2005). By the end of the 19th century, there were only 90 women who had graduated in the whole of India (Basu 2005). It was also assumed that teaching, nursing and medicine were the only suitable careers for women. The belief that educating women would lead to widowhood, and an unhappy marriage had changed to a belief that schooling women would make them better wives and mothers (Department of Social Welfare 1974). The first three decades of the 20th century saw a further interest and surge in educating women as the demand for educated wives for educated men went up. Despite this interest, the focus was still on educating women to be better homemakers. Though the University Education Commission Report of 1949 (Radhakrishnan et al. 1949) dedicated an entire chapter to women’s education, it still advocated that degrees for women be tailored to teach them to look after their homes. 245

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Women’s enrolment in HEIs has not only increased since independence but we now have women choosing to study a multitude of disciplines (Chanana 2000). Even STEM disciplines, traditionally seen as the bastion of male dominance have also been breached. The AISHE 2019–20 (MOE 2020) report states that 52.3 per cent of the undergraduate science students in India are women (this includes mathematics). While women’s enrolment as students in HEIs in India is seeing positive gains across disciplines, this is not yet translating to a better representation of women as faculty members. The AISHE 2019–20 data (MOE 2020) shows that enrolment of women students has been improving steadily. But there is still a great deal of attrition for women as compared to men as one moves up the ladder in academia. The time-series data of AISHE 2019–20 (MOE 2020) shows that student enrolment overall has gone up from 2015–16 to 2019–20. Further, women student enrolment has gone up from 86 per 100 men students in 2015–16 to 96 in 2019–20 (MOE 2020). Thus, in 2019–20 about 49 per cent of the students enrolled are women. Indeed, the picture is rosy when we consider BA and MA degrees (MOE 2020). Further, in 2019, of all the PhD degrees awarded, 44.6 per cent were awarded to women. A recent article (Underwood 2021) talks about ‘the leaky pipeline’ with respect to women students of mathematics in the United Kingdom. Based on a report (Fox and McWhinnie 2013), it shows that in the academic pipeline, a fairly high share of (42 per cent) women at the undergraduate level declines to 19 per cent at the PhD level and to 6 per cent when it comes to faculty positions. This attrition, of women students leaving academia at each stage from undergraduate to faculty positions, is generally a universal problem (McCullough 2020) and is definitely present in the Indian context. The AISHE 2019–20 report states that overall 42.5 per cent of the teachers are women (MOE 2020). When we look at the percentages of women faculty at the Assistant, Associate and Professor levels overall, it is easy to see the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ at work – the percentages are 42.8 per cent, 37 per cent and 27.5 per cent, respectively (MOE 2020). The worst figures in terms of female student enrolment are in the Institutes of National Importance, and this is replicated in faculty positions as well. Women faculty occupy 21.5 per cent, 18.8 per cent and 15.8 per cent of faculty positions at the Assistant, Associate and Professor levels, respectively, in these Institutes (MOE 2020). Table 12.1 considers the numbers of women students at the master’s and PhD levels, and the number of women faculty members at different academic levels of seniority in the top five universities as per the NIRF 2021 ranking (NIRF 2021) – The Indian Institute of Science (IISc),1 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),2 Banaras Hindu University (BHU),3 Calcutta University (CU)4 and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AV).5 This table has been prepared through an analysis of their websites (accessed on 21 November 2021) for their mathematics or physics departments. 246

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Table 12.1  Representation of women as students and faculty members in mathematics and physics departments in top five NIRF-ranked universities S. No.

Institution

Student Data

Faculty Data

PG

PhD

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

Professor

5/21 (24%) 2016– 21

3/31 (9.68%) designation-wise data is not available on the website

1.

IISc (Mathematics)

5/29 (17%) (Integrated PhD) 2016–21

2.

JNU (Physics)

Not available on the website

3/10 (33%) Assistant and Associate Professors Overall 3/18 (16.7%)

0/8 (0%)

3.

BHU (Mathematics)

Not available on the website

0/12 0/3 (0%) (0%) Overall 0/23 (0%)

0/8 (0%)

4.

CU (Physics)

18/32 (Graduate students) (56.25%)

¼ 1/4 (25%) (25%) Overall 4/17 (23.5%)

2/9 (22%)

5.

AVV (Mathematics)

Not available on the website

11/20

3/4

No Professors

Overall 14/24 (58%) Source: Prepared by the Author.

STEM disciplines generally fare badly in maintaining gender parity, and the gender disparity in mathematics and physics amongst STEM disciplines tends to be the worst. Table 12.1 only seems to be promising for women PhD students of physics at Calcutta University and in terms of faculty positions in mathematics at AVV. It is possible that in a decade, the gains of the improved percentage in women completing PhDs will lead to the gender disparities in faculty positions going down. There are probably several socio-cultural reasons for the leakages in the academic pipeline for women. One reason may be that the road from being a student to getting a secure faculty position is a long one. While this is not seen as a deterrent when it comes to men, for women there is immense family and societal pressure to be married and start a family. The idea that the biological clock is ticking is a very real obstruction that women students face even while starting PhDs. There is also a belief in society that a woman with very high academic qualifications will not be able to find a suitable groom. The other major issue that married women face with respect to 247

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taking up faculty positions is that they are expected to find one in the same city or near the place where their spouse is located. There is also a tendency amongst women, probably due to the restrictions imposed on them while growing up, to choose job security over a job that can help them fulfil their academic potential. This can be seen in the feminising of certain jobs in many urban centres. For example, schools and colleges will have a large number of women teachers, usually the majority (Kelleher et al. 2011; Basu and Kundu 2022). However, in the university departments which focus on post-graduate and research programmes, women faculty usually form a minority. The system and the environment created in higher education of publish or perish also hinders women from moving up the academic ladder. Family and household responsibilities tend to be an integral part of the lives of many women faculty members. Childcare and caring for elders as well as household chores take up a large chunk of their time. This is certainly not the case for most men (Gupta and Sharma 2002; Baker 2010; Sewell and Barnett 2019). However, when it comes to promotions or open posts at any level, the context or the background in which research was carried out just does not play a role. Only the amount of research that two people having similar years of experience have produced is taken into account to determine who gets the job or promotion. The system does not consider the differing amount of time that men and women are able to dedicate to research. At a panel discussion organised by a college in Mumbai (Panel Discussion 2017), which the author attended as a resource person, one of the women faculty members recounted how she woke up every day at the crack of dawn to do her research work. This was because once the family woke up, she was expected to do all the household chores and then go to work in her college. So, the only time she could get for her own research was the couple of hours that she could manage before the rest of the family arose. The notion of merit independent of context, lack of representation in selection committees, and lack of role models are all systemic factors also contributing to the attrition of women from positions as one moves up the academic ladder. Moreover, gains made in institutions in terms of a good number of female faculty members at one point of time are often not sustained. In the next section, we hear the voices of five women with experience in academic leadership.

Case studies In this section, we present the case studies emerging out of interviews conducted with two serving VCs, one former college principal and two professors who are aspirants to positions of leadership. The methodology involved a semi-structured interview using google meet with video and audio, which was recorded.6 The case studies below are based on the interviews.7 248

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Case 1: The respondent Professor A is a very senior academic and is serving as a VC at a private university in North India. She has also held a previous position as a founding VC of a university in the Eastern part of India funded by a State Government. Professor A has an academic background in English Literature. Her father who was a medical doctor encouraged her choice to study English Literature for her BA degree. She says that she had inspirational teachers who she wanted to emulate. She did her PhD at the University of Cambridge, and her love for literature only grew. Her aim when she started her academic career was to motivate young people to be excited about literature, to do research and publish. Administration was not something she aspired to at all. She was nominated to the governing body of the University, where she was a lecturer in English (in the Eastern part of India), by the Governor of the State. She had just crossed 30 years of age and served on this body for five years. She says that this gave her a fundamental training which she has found useful for the administrative positions she held later on. She comments, I was just thirty plus, the only woman. Everyone else was a man and everyone was about fifty–five plus… I joined the meetings, people were kindly and thought that I added a decorative flair to the meeting. They were taken aback that I also spoke, that I had a mind of my own. Despite holding this position, she did not have any intention of being an administrator and was still only interested in being an academic. This goal led her to seek early retirement in 2009 from her university position so that she could focus on her research and writing. In 2010, her alma mater, the college where she did her undergraduate degree, became a university. A first interim VC was appointed in 2010. Professor A was asked to become the VC in 2011. This was despite the fact that she had not applied for the job. She had been nominated and selected for the job. Since it was her alma mater, she agreed to the position and served as the first VC for a period of three years from 2011–14. It was a 24 × 7 job. Indeed, due to financial embargoes, faculty selection happened in the last two years of her three-year period, and 154 faculty positions were filled. Only 30 per cent of the original college faculty made it and the rest were posted to other colleges of the State. So, her work–life balance was more ‘work as life’ than anything else. She had a very supportive husband who had also studied in the same college as her and was happy to see the college successfully change into a university. She was unable to devote much time to her home during this period – she had long hours at office and also brought large amounts of work home. She said, ‘It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it had to be done right’. 249

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In 2015, she was approached by a new private university in the North of India to join as a Principal Academic Advisor, and she agreed assuming that it would be a short-term project. However, the short-term continued, and she has been the VC of the same university since August 2019. Her workplace is in North India while her home is in Eastern India. She has managed by travelling every week between the two states. The experience of leading a new, private liberal arts university was both different and challenging. Here, a large part of her task was to set up policies, processes and documentation. She still feels that she had no ambition to be in administrative leadership but thinks that her contributions as a VC in building up these universities are akin to publishing books and book chapters. She commented, Other women when they hesitate to get into administration, if they think that this is also a creative opportunity, and that it is as much a contribution as research and publications, then I think more people would come forward for this. On being asked if Vice Chancellorships could be treated as a nine-to-five job so that women taking on these positions would be able to have a good work–life balance, Professor A responded that she did not think this job could be treated in a nine-to-five manner. She felt that the heart of a university and a residential one at that were its students who were young adults. There would always be some emergency or other of an academic or personal nature that could come up at any hour, and it is ultimately the responsibility of the VC to ensure that everything works out right. In this sense, it is very different from the typical life of teaching and research that an academic encounter. She said, ‘being in leadership is not like teaching but being in leadership is like research and writing. Your research and writing are with you all the time. There are no office hours for research and writing’. Her primary role model, mentor and inspiration was Dame Allison Fettes Richard, who was the second woman VC of the University of Cambridge. She particularly appreciated the balance that Allison managed in her job as VC. She also saw the great relationship Allison and her husband maintained. This made Professor A feel that it was possible to balance one’s personal life and work life. The other role model for her was Dame Gillian Patricia Kempster Beer, who was President of Claire Hall, University of Cambridge. Gillian was also Professor A’s teacher. Gillian too brought great energy and enjoyment to both her teaching and administration, which Professor A found inspiring. Case 2: The respondent Professor B recently retired as the principal of a co-educational college in north India. The college offers UG programmes primarily in science subjects and a few master’s programmes. She served in this role for 13 years and was instrumental in transforming the college into one focused on research. 250

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Professor B was very interested in plant physiology as a discipline and wanted to engage in both teaching and research. She started her career as a researcher in the botany department of a big central university in the north of India. However, she felt that her work on the mung bean might not get carried forward and make the impact that she wanted it to. So, she decided to teach at an undergraduate college in the same university. She taught there for 13 years before becoming a principal at another college within the same university. Within a few years of starting her teaching career, she felt that she needed to do something more to contribute to academia. She became part of the science centre at the university and worked on many projects including syllabus revision, popularisation of science and science education. This was also the period when she realised that she needed to contribute more to academia and needed to reach a broader audience. Interestingly this was also the time when she became politically active and became a part of the University’s Teachers’ Association. She learned about the problems that teachers, students and karmacharis faced in the system. She was also involved in finding solutions to these problems as an activist. She met administrators and many principals. She was told by them that she would not understand the problems that Principals face unless she occupied a similar position. This brought a sense of curiosity about what being a principal would entail. She had in the meantime moved to the Science Centre on deputation and did not really want to go back to being a ‘teacher’. During this time, she was told by several people that she was ‘principal material’. However, she was also scared about whether she could be a principal after having been a teacher activist. She was successful in her endeavour and became principal in the early 2000s. Her activist training prepared her in converting challenges to opportunities. On being asked if the responsibility daunted her, she said that her training as an activist and her role in securing pay rises for the teachers of the university prepared her for this job. During those few years, she said, ‘I learnt to be sympathetic, empathetic, I learnt to listen to opposing views and learnt not to burst out and keep your cool…’. Professor B also mentioned that she was able to take on the responsibilities of the Science Centre as well as that of the principalship only after her children had finished their schooling. She felt that she would not have been able to devote the kind of hours that such positions required while her children were young. A key to her successful tenure as Principal was the delegation of duties and empowerment of the teachers working in the college. Because she managed to delegate duties well, the responsibilities were shared. This also allowed her to work on another area of interest which was open education. The sharing of responsibilities also allowed her to make the college a research hub. She commented, 251

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‘We made our college a research hub… we have 19 teachers who are recognised PhD guides and they have research labs in the college and PhD students…. I used to ensure that they got labs and the support they needed’. When asked why academic leadership in higher education was largely male-dominated, she said that the gender bias in the system was responsible for this. She felt that because women are expected to run their homes, they often do not opt for positions which would take away time from family life. She also noted that women’s families rarely support them in going after such positions. She commented: I was one of the lucky ones … I had good support at home…If you have a large family, it becomes very difficult… All admin positions require to give very many more hours… Whatever we may say men haven’t accepted women in administrative positions… Even when I took over as principal it took the staff some time to get used to …. Professor B claims that during her first few months as principal, she faced much resistance – many believed that as a woman she would not know enough about the various aspects of administration. It was therefore necessary for her to set ground rules and show who had the upper hand in order to administer smoothly. According to Professor B, work–life balance can be achieved even in high administrative positions if one is willing to delegate, trust people one works with and empower them so that the work is not concentrated on one person. However, she also said that most people in positions of responsibility in higher education administration find it very difficult to do so, leading to the skewed number of hours working in such positions require. She says, ‘My basic assumption is that I trust everybody until someone proves to be non–trustworthy’. She thinks that as a woman it is difficult to reach a space where you trust people to do their work honestly, but claims that if one is able to achieve that then keeping a balance between working and non-­working hours is easier. Professor B was encouraged by one of her PhD guides as well as the Director of the Science Centre. Both these men helped mentored her and helped build her confidence. The Director of the Science Centre, in particular, served as a role model in how to delegate work and trust people. She also received a lot of support from the VCs and Pro-VCs of the University. Further, even before she applied for the principal’s post, the Dean of Colleges told her she was suitable to apply for the post. Most of all, she feels that the maximum encouragement came from her colleagues at the college. As a final word to young women academics, she feels that as an administrator you can make much more of a difference to the education system as 252

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a whole, reach many more people, and influence not only students but also teachers. So, if one is willing to work hard and has the inclination, administration is a good challenge to take up. Case 3: The respondent Professor C is the VC of a university in North India, established by a State Government. The university focuses on the social sciences and humanities. Previously, she had been a Pro-VC at another public technical university of the same state. She had also held important deanships in her parent university which is yet another State University (of the same State) dealing with professional degree programmes at all levels. Professor C had done very well in her academic life through school. She chose to do psychology at the undergraduate level as she was very interested in the subject but also because she wanted to take the civil service examinations and felt that choosing psychology would help her in this endeavour. Her aspiration then was to be a civil servant and an administrative officer in the Government. She did courses of both BA Honours Psychology and the BA (pass) programme, often attending classes in two shifts. The habit of going an extra mile started early. She continued for a master’s degree in Psychology and also took the civil service exams. She cleared the preliminary exam (first part) of the civil service exams and joined a PhD programme in Psychology at the University of Punjab, Chandigarh. She was so focused on her research that she did not devote much attention to preparing for the civil services. After submitting her PhD thesis and while awaiting her viva, Professor C took the Haryana Civil Services exam. When the results were declared, she was in the top ten in the written exam. However, she did not get into the main administrative cadre as there were only two seats available. Instead, she was offered an allied service despite not applying for it. At this point, she decided that she would rather continue with her teaching and research. She joined a teaching and research position at a State University in North India. She also got married and began feeling somewhat settled. She was enjoying her ‘second career option’ and had made peace with the choice of giving up a civil services career. When asked how she moved into an administrative role, she noted that opportunities for administration only come to academics who had reached a certain level of seniority and had gained experience in the system. In her case, she applied for a Reader’s position at a new university established by the same State Government and was offered the job. Though she was only in her early thirties she was appointed the Head of Department and was responsible for setting up the department. Though her children were very young, and she had a comfortable life with her husband, she made the bold decision to take up this new opportunity and rise to the challenge of setting up a new department. 253

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Her family was fully supportive of her decision even though this new job meant setting up another household, taking care of the children by herself and meeting her husband only over the weekends. She stated: It’s my family, and my family, and my family, the source of inspiration in my life, source of support for me and not only for my personal life but for my academic journey…all of them stood with me like a rock. I would not have reached where I am if these people were not there. Regarding work–life balance, Professor C felt that she had a lot of responsibility early in her life as she had young children to bring up. Though her children have grown up, she still has responsibilities towards the elders of her family. However, she sees these responsibilities as anchors that connect her to her home. The nature of responsibilities might have changed over time, but the quantity has remained the same. Professor C had a smooth journey in her academic career. This included holding administrative positions such as Dean. As soon as she became a professor, she had also started applying for VC positions and was shortlisted for some of these positions. At that time the eligibility requirement of ten-year experience as a professor to apply for a VC post had not been in force. The next step up in leadership however came in 2017, when she became Pro-VC at a State Technical University in the same state. She was also shortlisted (top three) for a VC position in 13 different Universities in the country. She felt this was an encouraging sign as she was very close to her goal. Finally, in early 2019 she became the VC of another University in the same state, which had a focus on social sciences and humanities. When asked why there were such few women in academic leadership, she said that she felt concerned about how women view their careers. According to her ‘working women’ often did not think of themselves as professionals. She felt that one of the reasons that she got the top job was because she was highly professional and had a strong work ethic. She didn’t just see herself as a working mother or a working woman but as a professional woman. By professional, she means someone who achieves both academic and administrative excellence by constant upgradation of their skills. A professional is also wellversed in the education system, management education (Professor C’s area) and other related fields. She feels that women have not been able to achieve leadership positions because of their attitude towards work, which tends to be casual and is often combined with a fear of failure. A deep-rooted anxiety related to failure sometimes prevents women from taking on jobs with additional responsibilities. Professor C felt that a lack of professionalism and work ethic are the main reason why few women reach the highest positions. Professor C received a lot of support from the system, her male colleagues and her family, and she feels that it is possible to have a fair balance between work–life and home–life even while positions of leadership, as long as one 254

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has a professional mindset. She agrees that men do not concern themselves with the home front. Even in her own case, when she gets home late, she is still concerned about dinner for the family whereas male colleagues may not have similar concerns. Professor C was primarily inspired by the elders in her family and in particular her parents. She also learnt a lot from people in the industry as she did a lot of consultancies with the industry. One of the individuals who inspired her and mentored her was the management guru Professor Pritam Singh, who is also a Padma Shri awardee. He encouraged her in many endeavours. As a final note, she plans to be active even after retirement to continue to contribute meaningfully. Case 4: The respondent Professor D is a professor of mathematics at a public university in the Western part of the country. She has been the Head of Department and has played a crucial role in the committee overseeing the NAAC visit at her university. She had applied for the VC’s position at her own university but was not successful. But she hopes to persevere in the future. Professor D started her undergraduate degree in physics at a small college in the suburbs of the same city where she now works. Her college was small and was re-starting their mathematics department and persuaded her to shift to mathematics. She did well in maths, and she topped her university and received a scholarship from the National Board of Higher Mathematics for PhD at the same University where she works now. Professor D’s parents had initially not been keen on her studying and wanted her to get married after finishing school. Her family came from a potter community, and her mother was one of the first girls in the community to go to high school. However, Professor D persevered. Her father passed away just when she started her PhD, and her scholarship was a source of support to her family. After some post-doc stints, she took up a permanent position to teach and do research in mathematics. By this time, she was married and had become a mother. She moved through several jobs, even spending a year abroad before finally heading back to her home city. Since her father passed away when she was just 21, it was very important for her to be independent and have a career. She changed jobs mainly due to a desire to find a position in her home city. This process was quite rough and she had to suffer various adversities. Once she was let go from a prestigious institution in the same city with only a day’s notice at the end of a year’s probationary period. She had in fact accepted a lower position at this institution to be able to be close to her family in her home city. A year later another woman academic in another department at this institution faced a similar termination. Professor D firmly feels that these terminations were caused because male-dominated departments at this institution wanted to maintain the status quo. She said, ‘It is not a fear that the women are better but a realisation that they are better. 255

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Only when they realise, she is better, do they take such drastic measures’. Eventually working abroad for five years, taking on some visiting positions in the same city, and the strength of her research turned the tide, and in 2013, Professor D joined as professor in the same department where she had studied and completed her PhD. As professor at her alma mater, Professor D worked with hundreds of colleagues in affiliated colleges to bring about the necessary changes when the University moved from an annual to a semester system. She was also instrumental in organising in-service training for teachers in the form of refresher courses and international conferences. This led to her having a connection with the larger system and being able to contribute to it academically. This experience made her think about taking on administrative roles which would enable her to influence changes in the system. On the other hand, she felt that as a woman, if she took up an administrative leadership position though she would be able to do a lot of good she might also have a target painted on her back. After two years of joining her current department, Professor D took up the position of Head of Department and that put her firmly in an academic administrative position. Due to internal changes at the university, she was asked to step down after just one year in this role by the newly appointed VC. The new VC had to leave before his tenure was complete due to negligence and non-performance. In the meantime, Professor D was asked to take up leadership once more. This was a difficult period as the University was without a VC. In the short period that he was there, the previous head had made decisions which were proving to be detrimental and there were no official means to change them in the absence of a VC. During this time, as Professor D was forced to continue implementing the previous VC’s decisions, support from her colleagues waned and even women colleagues could not be relied upon to help. She had to function as head and conduct various academic programmes including a Gyan programme, and an international conference to celebrate the 100th year of an eminent mathematician of the department. Despite the non-support and active hindrance from some colleagues, she managed these successfully. In a sense, she underwent a baptism by fire. When asked if a male professor in her place would have faced similar hostility, she said, ‘hundred per cent no’. She sensed that she faced more hurdles and hostility, including from younger women colleagues, because she was a woman in a position of authority. She also felt that in some cases, her colleagues’ own academic weaknesses led them to take stands against her when she was trying to improve academic standards. Professor D thinks that the system has put people lacking merit in positions of power due to their political and caste connections or due to castebased reservations. Even though she herself is from a backward caste, she sees herself as fair and neutral - without bias towards a person’s gender, caste or religion. She attributed this to her upbringing. She said, 256

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‘once they are in deciding position, they (men in positions of power who have reached there because of political or caste connections rather than merit) are not going to allow education to move the way education is supposed to move… A woman head of the department in another department was harassed…she was simply too good’. These experiences compelled Professor D to apply for the vacant VC position. She said: if I have to make a difference I have to be in a position where I can make a difference. If I have to do it I will do it because I am not scared of anything. The worst kind of people are in my own department and I know how to deal with them. She had support from her friends in colleges as well as the non-teaching staff. In particular the librarian (a woman) also encouraged her to apply for the post. On the last day, despite her nervousness, she sent in her application. Newspaper reports about candidates who had applied included her name and her application soon became common knowledge. She was however not shortlisted for the interview or post. She then applied for the position of Dean Sciences and did not make it to that position either. She plans to keep applying for positions within the university with the hope of bringing change to the system. While she is hesitant to apply to other universities, she is open to the idea, especially if she is sounded out informally. The faith her family has in her, and the large amount of support she has from college teachers and staff has helped her to stay focused and achieve her goals. Paradoxically she feels that women who do not confront the system directly have a better chance of being appointed to leadership positions. But then that very conditioning would prevent them from bringing in the requisite changes within the system. She does feel that the system has failed to recognise capable women who could have contributed much more had they made it to leadership positions. Professor D is a single parent with two daughters. Her mother (now deceased), her daughters and her younger brother have encouraged her tremendously. Her PhD supervisor was not only an academic mentor, but he and his wife have been like parents to her. Case 5: The respondent Professor E is a professor of physics at a public university in the Eastern part of the country. She aspires to leadership positions as she feels that is the only way to change the wrongs in the system. Professor E grew up in a very large joint family (almost 100 people) in her ancestral home town. Girls in her family were supposed to study only 257

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enough to be good wives, and that too only social sciences and literature – certainly not science or mathematics. Girls were not really supposed to aspire to having goals for themselves. Professor E was the quintessential rebel who threw herself with gusto into activities like ‘gulli–danda’, ‘kabbadi’ or swimming, which were not for girls. In school, she was very good at mathematics and often bested her elder male cousins. Her father was a constant support to her. A high school science teacher suggested that she study physics as there were almost no girls studying physics at a higher level. Girls from her family studied intermediate (equivalent to 11th–12th) at the local college (established by her grandfather), while boys went to the university in the state capital, which was about 100 km away. Her family allowed her to go to the university on the condition that she study biology and then do medicine. She agreed but once she was at the girl’s college of the university, she impressed the chemistry professor in-charge of admissions and got herself shifted to mathematics, which had a lower cut-off than biology. In this way she was able to study physics, chemistry and mathematics for her intermediate degree. She topped her college, and her father accepted the change she had made. Her undergraduate degree was in physics, and she also had mathematics and statistics as other subjects. During this time, her family was pressuring her father to get her married and not allow her to study further. Ironically, when he presented some suitable candidates to her who were studying at one of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), she found out about IITs and decided that she had to study there! Professor E then did a master’s and a PhD at an IIT. Her PhD was in an applied area related to solar energy. During this period, the Mandal agitation helped her discover her activist leanings. This was also the time when she was part of a group who visited slums to teach children. Thankfully, the financial independence afforded by her PhD fellowship meant that she could withstand the family pressure to get married. She had already cleared the NET and while completing her PhD, she passed different state and national level exams as well as interviews for various lecturer/scientist positions. She took up a scientist position, completed her PhD in 1993 and then married. Her husband was a fellow PhD student. She faced the ‘two-body problem’ that academics face for about three years. Then both she and her husband got positions in the Department of Physics at another State University in her state. By this time, she had already realised that those in junior-level positions could not change the system. Her background as someone from a large joint family also made her keen to create a system where girls would have the freedom to choose paths of study. Around this time, she adopted a village with a scheduled caste populace, to help teach and better their lives. In the meantime, both she and her husband got fellowships from the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences. They spent three years in Japan, on leave from their parent organisation. In Japan, they lived in two different cities and by then they also had two daughters. 258

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After Professor E returned, she went back to teaching and helping the village she had adopted. This included working to make the village energy independent. She and her husband gave land and building for a school and a hospital. They set up a lab in their own house, where PhD students worked on research to make villages energy independent. In 2005, their university got a new VC, who knew them from their student days as he had taught at the college where they studied. This VC was interested in bringing reforms to the University. While Professor E was still an assistant professor, she was made the system administrator for the University and given the task of computerising the exam branch and other departments of the university. This stint in administration further reinforced her belief that it was difficult to bring in reforms while serving in low-level positions. The University offices did not even have a ladies’ toilet! By this time the VC who had appointed her had left and since she was trying to root out corruption as well as streamline and computerise processes, she found herself being side-lined both from teaching at the PG level and from being assigned work as a system administrator. She used the time on her hands to train non-teaching staff across departments on how to use computers and software. The unexpected repercussion was that her husband was targeted as they were not able to trouble her directly. This included a suspension for seven to eight months, which was eventually overturned by the Governor of State. The traumatic experience made Professor E even more determined to reach higher levels so as to be able to make a difference. Professor E and her husband moved to a centre for appropriate technology at a Management Institute that was newly established by the State Government as professors. After a year there, came a two-year academic visit to Japan as visiting professors. By the time they returned, the previous VC under whose tenure the suspension had occurred had finished his term. They also came back due to a desire to continue with social work. By 2012 they were back in the department as associate professors. By this time some of the villagers were being forced to work as bonded labour, and the people responsible for that felt threatened by their interventions. Professor E and her husband were forced at gunpoint after a village visit and kidnapped back to the village to be insulted and harangued in front of the villagers. They were rescued after 4–5 hours by the police. However, the same police refused to register an FIR! Finally, Professor E managed to register an FIR and also sent the details to higher police personnel but to no avail. The kidnappers were still at large, living and working freely. This resulted in Professor E having to give up social work in the village. In 2013 Professor E became a professor at her university. The promotion happened from back-date after she cleared the interview in 2016. However, she had to make overtures to the Governor before the University was made to notify the promotion in 2017. She expressed that becoming professor did bring some freedom to pursue reforms and raise her voice, as non-promotion could no longer be used to threaten her. 259

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At every step, Professor E had to fight the system to even get what would be normally due. She said, ‘we had to put personal effort and energy which could have gone into other constructive work but was not used for that’. When asked whether she plans to apply for VC posts she said, ‘they are not even making me head of department here’. However, she does plan to apply for VC positions – even outside her state. As she puts it, ‘as long as I have energy and I can do something, I can fight, I will’. Her family: husband, two daughters and her parents have been very supportive especially during the various challenges and struggles that she had to go through. Professor E thinks that for women to reach higher levels in academia as well as leadership it is important to have mentors and role models. The lack of women mentors and role models in the system is a cause for concern. Male chauvinism at higher levels causes men to not tolerate women who are doing well and competing with them. These men often impugn the character of women who are doing well. There is no concept of their being gender-neutral. If a post requires a woman to be appointed, they try to find one who will be a puppet rather than one who is effective and capable. To counter this, Professor E feels that all faculty need to undergo mandatory gender sensitisation workshops. Also, all women faculty should have access to biennial workshops that can train, mentor and prepare them for administrative and leadership roles. This would create networking opportunities for women faculty and allow them to be vocal about their beliefs. For Professor E, her mother was a great source of inspiration. Her mother’s struggles and the discipline with which she lived and functioned in a large joint family to bring up her four children were quite remarkable. Her father is also a source of inspiration. Among her mentors and most of these are male, she lists a primary school teacher who taught her mathematics, her science teacher in high school, two of her professors in IIT (who also involved her in social work) and Professor Kojima from Japan.

Conclusion: a lesson in progress A key question that we are trying to understand here is whether the low representation of women in academic leadership is because the system is stacked against them or is because extenuating circumstances compel women not to apply for the highest positions (Morley and Crossouard 2015). The above case studies offer only a very small insight into the process and academic pursuits that take one towards positions of leadership. It is clear that women often struggle to obtain higher positions whether that of a professor or a position of leadership like Head of Department or Dean. This is especially the case if this position is filled through selection rather than rotation. ‘The study indicated that in the sampled universities 73.77 per cent women had become academic leaders through seniority or rotation compared to 52.63 per cent men’ (Chanana 2003). 260

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The other very clear fact which emerges from these case studies is that women need both covert and overt agreement from their families to pursue administrative leadership positions. This is apparent from the experiences of all the respondents in the case studies. Everyone acknowledged that without family support, it would not have been possible for them to do their jobs in their leadership positions. Indeed, from Professor C’s and Professor E’s recounting, we see that this support is required at every stage of the academic career. Usually, since such positions require some seniority, by the time women are eligible for them their responsibility towards their children has reduced. This was expressed by both Professors B and C. However, men do not even need to take such issues into consideration when they decide to take on administrative leadership roles. It is seen as an obvious corollary to their academic seniority. Having inspiring teachers, family members and academic mentors is another feature that enables women to aspire towards and reach positions of leadership. On the downside, there are several issues emanating from socio-cultural experiences and expectations. Girls are generally still expected to live their lives within strongly imposed social strictures, which do not allow them to imbibe at crucial stages of their upbringing, the freedom to have beliefs, to stand up for them, to have goals like leadership, to be allowed to take risks and so on. Both, Professors D and E had to break the barriers imposed on them while growing up. In Professor D’s case as a woman of a backward community continuing into higher education against the prevailing norm and in Professor E’s case as a girl child growing up in a joint family where women and children were the norm was one of strictures against a large number of activities, including studying certain subjects. This is further reinforced by the system when outspoken women are seen as troublemakers rather than as reformers. Professors D and E have both elaborated on this. A supportive family and encouraging teachers are essential in overcoming the socio-culturally imposed strictures. It appears that women who are capable, efficient and have experience of doing administrative roles will only choose to take on the top administrative position if they are very strongly motivated to change the system or have the ambition to reach such a position from very early on in their careers. The top job entails long working hours and myriad varieties of challenges, including proving that one is up to the job, especially if you are a woman. There also has to be a spirit of sacrifice in one’s make-up in order to be successful in such jobs and more so as a woman. As several of our respondents pointed out being accepted by male colleagues or male staff members that you are capable of the task at hand takes some time and effort to achieve. Given the leaky pipeline, stacking of the system against the circumstances in which women have to manage their academic careers, it is no surprise that even women who become professors and do have experience of administrative roles do not aspire to a 261

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VC position. For many of them, reaching the academic pinnacle is the goal, and this creates a self-imposed glass ceiling. Another aspect which was raised by one of the respondents is the spectre of failure that haunts women. They often do not want to take on a task unless they are able to perform it perfectly. The training for being riskaverse is another conditioning that women do need to overcome. It seems important that there are positive measures that are taken to level the playing field. The often onerous family responsibilities under which women’s careers take place do not find any place in the system. It is important that there is an awareness amongst all academics of the issues that women face at home and in the workplace. Training programmes, mentorship programmes and creating networks for women in academia will all contribute towards mitigating the problems faced (Gilmer et al. 2014). In 2020, an analysis of the top 200 Universities across the world showed that Sweden, South Africa, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France, the UK and the USA (Bothwell 2020) are doing better than the global average of women in leadership in academia. It would also help to seek best practices followed in countries that are making some headway in improving representation of women in academic leadership. Mentorship programmes, gender audits, global initiatives such as Athena Swan and other initiatives (Cheung 2021) could be adapted nationally. There are many schemes by state and national bodies in India to encourage women in higher education. While it should be noted that two central universities and two state universities in the capital are headed by women, there have not been any measures put forth by the Government of India to encourage women in academic leadership. It is time that there are concerted and sustained efforts supported by the Government for ‘Stree Shakti Karan’ in academic leadership.

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Mahesh Rangarajan and Sumangala Damodaran for their comments and observations on an earlier draft. Deep gratitude is also expressed to Uttara Rangarajan, not only for her suggestions but also for her effort in editing a previous draft.

Notes 1 Website link: Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science, http:// math.iisc.ac.in/ (accessed on 21 November 2021). 2 Website link: Department of Physics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, https://www. jnu.ac.in/sps (accessed on 21 November 2021). 3 Website link: Department of Mathematics, Banaras Hindu University, https:// www.bhu.ac.in/science/mathematic/ (accessed on 21 November 2021). 4 Website link: Department of Physics, Calcutta University, https://www.caluniv. ac.in/academic/Physics.html (accessed on 21 November 2021).

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5 Website link: Department of Mathematics, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham https://amrita.edu/faculty/?dept=17794 (accessed on 21 November 2021). 6 Permission was sought from each of the respondents for the recording and a copy of the recording was also shared with them for their records. They were also informed that the case studies would keep their identities confidential and would only refer to certain sociological data. The interview times ranged from between 22 minutes to 2 hours in length. 7 The case studies below are based on the interviews. Some of the comments or statements have been excerpted from the interview and are indicated. The writeups focus on giving an idea of the background (mainly academic with some inputs about the family background) of the concerned individual, the reasons and/or journey which has led them to their current role, the factors that have helped or hindered their quest and their views on changes that can help.

References Baker, Maureen. 2010. ‘Choices or constraints? Family responsibilities, gender and academic career’, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 41(1): 1–18. Basu, Aparna. 2005. ‘A century and a half’s journey: Women’s education in India, 1850’s to 2000’, in Bharati Ray (ed), Women of India: Colonial and Post–Colonial Periods; History of Science, Philosophy & Culture India: Volume IX Part 3 (pp. 183–207). New Delhi: Sage Publications. Basu, Anindya and Kundu, Anusri. 2022. ‘Feminisation of the teaching profession and patriarchy’, International Journal of Educational Sciences 36, (1–3): 8–18. Bothwell, Ellie. 2020. ‘Female leadership in top universities advances for first time since 2017’, Times Higher Education, March 6. https://www.timeshighereducation. com/news/female-leadership-top-universities-advances-first-time-2017 (accessed on 25 March 2022). Chanana, Karuna. 2000. ‘Treading the hallowed halls: Women in higher education in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 35(12): 1012–1022. Chanana, Karuna. 2003. ‘Visibility, gender, and the careers of women faculty in and Indian University’, McGill Journal of Education, 38(3): 381–389. Cheung, Fanny M. 2021. ‘The “State” of women’s leadership in Higher Education’, in International Briefs for Higher Education Leaders, 9th Edition (pp. 5–7). Washington, DC: ACE & Boston College. Department of Social Welfare. 1974. Towards Equality. Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (pp. 234–282). New Delhi: Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, GoI, http://14.139.60.153/handle/123456789/1583 (accessed on 25 March 2022). Fox, Caroline and McWhinnie, Sean. 2013. Advancing Women in Mathematics: Good Practice in UK University Departments. London: London Mathema­ tical Society, https://www.lms.ac.uk/sites/default/files/LMS–BTL–17Report_0.pdf (accessed on 25 March 2022). Gandhi, Meenakshi and Sen, Kakoli. 2021. ‘Missing women in Indian university leadership: Barriers and facilitators’, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(2): 352–369. Gilmer, Penny J., Stokes, Garnett S. and Holbrook, Karen A. 2014. ‘Developing academic women leaders in STEM’, in Penny J. Gilmer, Berrin Tansel and Hughes– Miller Michelle (eds), Alliances for Advancing Academic Women Guidelines for Collaborating in STEM Fields (pp. 165–190). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

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Gupta, Namrata and Sharma, Arun K. 2002. ‘Women academic scientists in India’, Social Studies of Science, 32(5/6): 901–915. Kamat, A.R. 1976. ‘Women’s Education and Social Change in India’, Social Scientist, 5(1): 3–27. Kelleher, Fatimah, Severin, Francis O., Khaahloe, Matselane B., Samson, Meera, De, Anuradha, Afamasaga–Wright, Tepora and Sedere, Upali M. 2011. Women and the Teaching Profession: Exploring the Feminisation Debate. Paris: Commonwealth Secretariat, UNESCO. McCullough, Laura. 2020. ‘Proportions of women in STEM leadership in the academy in the USA’, Education Sciences, 10(1): 1–13. Ministry of Education. 1959. Report of the National Committee on Women’s Education (May 1958 to January 1959) (pp. 13–29). New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India, http://14.139.60.153/handle/123456789/132 (accessed on 25 March 2022). Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey of Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India, https://www.education. gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics–new/aishe_eng.pdf (accessed on 25 March 2022). Morley, Louise and Crossouard, Barbara. 2015. Women in higher education leadership in South Asia: Rejection, refusal, reluctance, revisioning. UK: University of Sussex, Centre for higher Education & Equity Research, Project Report, British Council. NIRF 2021. India Rankings 2021, National Institutional Ranking Framework. New Delhi: Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/Ranking.html (accessed on 25 March 2022). Panel Discussion. 2017. ‘Challenges faced by women in the field of research’, held during a Symposium in Mathematics titled Mathematics and Women in Mathematics at NES Ratnam College of Arts. Bhandup, Mumbai: Science and Commerce. Radhakrishan, S., Mudaliar, A.L., Morgan, Arthur E, Duff, J.F., Tigert, J.J., Bahl, K.N., Saha, M.N., Chand, Tara, Hussain, Zakir and Sidhanta, N.K. 1949. The Report of the University Education Commission, (December 1948–August 1949) (pp. 270–277). Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of India. Chapter XII, Women’s Education: Importance of Women’s Education for National Life, https://indianculture.gov.in/report-university-education-commission-december1948-august-1949 (accessed on 25 March 2022). Sewell, Lauren and Barnett, Adrian G. 2019. ‘The impact of caring for children on women’s research output: A retrospective cohort study’, PloS One, 14(3): e0214047. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214047 (accessed on 25 March 2022). Timeline of Women’s Education. 2022. ‘Timeline of Women’s Education’, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_education (accessed on 24 March 2022). Underwood, Maddie. 2021. Hidden Figures in Oxford Mathematics– The Experience of Three Women PhDs in Oxford in the 1980s. UK: Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/about–us/history/ hidden–figures–oxford–mathematics (accessed on 25 March 2022).

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13 WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP Exploring the barriers and facilitators in the Indian higher education sector Meenakshi Gandhi

Introduction The glass ceiling is well known across the world among corporate houses and institutions in higher education. Sensitisation towards gender equality is gaining importance with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations incorporating it as goal 5 for nations to work upon. Top corporations and universities in the world and in India are taking initiatives to bring more women into senior positions. Development requires transformational positive directions, and gender parity is essential to bring diversity to such experiences. The overall gross enrolment ratio (GER) and that of women have been increasing in India. The gender parity index has surpassed one at all levels of higher education, including in research programmes (MOE 2020). However, the PhD awarded result shows that the total number of students awarded PhD-level degrees during 2019 was 38,986, among which males were 21,577 and females were 17,409 (MOE 2020). It shows that more men completed the doctoral degree than women in 2019–20. Furthermore, women account for only 42 per cent of the teachers. At the all-India level, there are 74 female teachers per 100 male teachers. Moreover, there are only 38 female professors per 100 male professors at the all-India level (Table 13.2), and only 3 per cent of the total leadership positions in Higher Education in India are held by Women (TOI 2015). For example, only 6.67 per cent of Vice Chancellors, Deans or Directors, Proctor, Provost and other senior positions in India are held by women (Banker and Banker 2017). If we add principals, professors and equivalent, the share of women in leadership positions rises to be 15.6 per cent (Ghara 2016). Under-representation of women in leadership positions remains an unpleasant scenario in India (Banker and Banker 2017). Hence, despite the fact that the enrolment of women is increasing substantially in India, the representation of women in leadership roles shows inequality. The UNDP–Human Development Report (2019) DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-17

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shows India having a gender inequality index of 0.448, which represents a human potential loss of 44.8 per cent in the growth of the country. The world over, it is well understood that women equality at all levels is essential for attainment of economic development and sustainable growth. For conditions of equity to be served, it is necessary that women lead equally in all spheres and so be the case in higher education administration also. The gender gap in the representation of women in such roles is favourably tilted towards males despite many women principals of colleges and some women Vice Chancellors being appointed. Economic sustainable development requires gender equality to be attained. Similarly, the higher education administration requires a change for the better towards tackling challenges of higher education in the light of new policies. Universities must become centres of excellence both in teaching and research. Gender inequality in top administration posts in higher education has repercussions in governance as well as management of the institution. Women bring certain qualities to the table wherein they take charge of being problem solvers while being knowledge developers (Moore 1991). Universities in India require restructuring the research and teaching ethos. Women differ in their ways to involve higher levels of interpersonal interaction, practising democratic routes to decision-making and consideration of subordinates in decision-making (Eagly and Johannesen–Schmidt 2001). A significant issue to be pondered over and researched is to examine various committees formed by women Vice Chancellors after their appointment. When those committees do not have equal women representation and responsibility assigned, the purpose of such leadership to be a role model is not served.

Scenario of Indian higher education sector Gender diversity in Indian higher education leadership remains an issue to be addressed even today. Barriers to women leadership in Indian higher education are however similar to what is seen in corporates. As per the Ministry of Education, All India Survey on Higher Education in 2019–20, the number of women students per 100 men students is 96, and this figure has risen from 86 women students per 100 men students in 2015–16 (Table 13.1). Indian Higher education estimated total enrolment is 38.5 million with 19.6 million males and 18.9 million females. Females represent 49 per cent of total enrolment (MOE 2020). When we look at employment data in higher education, there are 38 women professors per 100 male professors (Table 13.2). The AISHE survey 2019–20 (MOE 2020) has reported 1,53,156 teachers at the higher education level in India. Out of these 57.5 per cent are male, and 42.5 per cent are female. At the university level, 59 female teachers per 100 males are present, whereas at the college level, 77 female teachers per 100 male teachers are present (Table 13.3). The state of Bihar has the lowest 266

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Table 13.1  Women enrolment in higher education per 100 men Year

Women Enrolment in Higher Education Overall per 100 Men

2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

86 88 83 94 96

Source: MOE 2020, page 43.

Table 13.2  Post-wise female teachers per 100 male teachers Year

Professor & Equivalent

Associate Professor & Reader

Assistant Professor/ Lecturer

2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

35 35 37 37 38

53 56 58 58 59

65 69 74 74 75

Source: MOE 2020, page 49.

Table 13.3  Gender distribution of teachers at various institutions Gender Representation Male teachers Female teachers No. of female teachers per 100 male teachers

University Level

College Level

Standalone Institutions

2.14 lakh 62.9% 37.1% 59

11.3 lakh 56.4% 43.6% 77

1.57 lakh 58% 42% 72

Source: MOE 2020, page 27.

gender proportion in India, with 78.4 per cent male and 21.6 per cent female teachers. Jharkhand and UP also have low percentage of female teachers than men. The states of Kerala, Haryana, Meghalaya, Punjab, Nagaland, Goa, Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh have a higher number of female teachers than men. Across various groups of non-teaching staff too, Table 13.4 shows dominance of men over women. Group A posts comprise registrar, Finance 267

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Table 13.4  Level-wise gender distribution of non-teaching staff Post

Male

Female

Group A Group B Group C

61.4% 60.9% 67.3%

38.6% 39.1% 32.7%

Source: MOE 2020, page 28–29.

Officer, Controller of Examination, Director; Group B posts comprise Section Officers, Assistants; Group C constitute language assistants, stenographers, senior garden supervisor etc. The under-representation of women in higher education administration at all levels indicates gender inequality in the participation of women in Indian academia management. Few women gain these positions in higher education administrative roles in India as is the case around the world (Morley and Crossouard 2015). Many factors come into play in this. This chapter is an attempt to bring out some crucial factors with discussion. Some steps to correct this imbalance have been taken, but the results towards achieving gender neutrality in higher education leadership in India are yet to be seen. The reasons for such a disparity are discussed in this chapter, and mechanisms that could mitigate this problem are suggested.

Culture and society as barriers in women leadership Culture and society have been a proponent of women taking care of families in India. The societal structure in India has practised ‘partifocality’ for centuries, that is, precedence of men over women (Mukhopadhyay 1994). This aspect of Indian culture has contributed to a mindset of men being dominant in all settings and holding positions of power in families. The gendered mind responds similarly in organisational settings similarly. Women have often been discouraged to take up challenging or leadership roles in work settings for family responsibility. Women have always found it hard to juggle between work and life in professions. ‘The gendered division of labour’, ‘management and masculinity’, and ‘gender bias and misrecognition’ have been listed among others by Morley (2013) as factors responsible for the low representation of women in leadership positions. Women get lesser opportunities than men and are often underrepresented in organisations in work settings. Women often have to work twice as hard as men in organisational settings to achieve leadership roles and face hostile environments (Cubillo and Brown 2003). Most of these journeys are driven solely by their passion to rise, and they strive in many battles to do so. Women have always mentioned family support to be a necessary factor that could enable them to work at leadership settings in organisations (Cheung and Halpern 2010). A comfort with 268

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status quo prevails in the minds of decision-makers as when everything is going well, why is the need to change? Women themselves also shy away from taking up leadership roles due to family pressures. Women sometimes find leadership roles as ‘Not Doable jobs’ (Chesterman et al. 2005).

Self-imposed barriers to leadership by women Women face barriers on the family, society and organisational front has been a matter of discussion in past literature. However, an important aspect is also the self-imposed barriers that women bring to the forefront themselves in avoiding leadership roles (Gandhi and Sen 2021). Women often avoid the risk as compared to men and also at times are averse to the 24/7 role of leadership that comes with administrative positions (Croson and Gneezy 2009). Growing children, focus on family and perceived difficulty in managing the balance of work and life often make women to themselves opt-out of applying for such roles and being content with other academic tasks (Morley and Crossouard 2015). The ‘opt-out’ phenomenon (Harman and Sealy 2017) is seen prominently among women while being at early stages in career. The ‘pushed-out’ (Kossek and Perrigino 2016) barrier has existed for many decades to be responsible for the lack of gender inclusivity in leadership roles. At all levels of hierarchy in an academic institution when women are represented equally and assigned leadership roles, gender equality in progression is likely. Women can bring a divergent perspective to managing academic institutions, which are evolving in a dynamic way as per global needs. This leadership perspective would be beneficial and has been missing due to the lack of inclusion in prior times. The dimensions of vision, followed by context and action of the women’s perspective, shall act as an agent of change, much needed today (Yoder and Kahn 2003).

Personality traits of leaders in academia Confidence, independence in actions while being cooperative, and desire for high achievement are some personality traits often not ascribed to women while being important to leadership positions. Patwardhan (2004) has noted in a study of 90 women leaders spread across different roles in academia that the women profile showed a moderate amount of personality traits on flexibility and social presence while being high on dominance and making a good impression. Emotional intelligence is a highly desirable trait among academic leaders. Gender bias for women exists where women are perceived to be women first and leaders later. This associates them with the roles of being a nurturer while being kind and sympathetic (Hoyt 2010) while men are believed to be task oriented, control self, master and work in environments requiring control. Such perceptions bring a bias to views often displayed vehemently in selection and work settings. 269

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This phenomenon gives two choices, either to back out or remain resilient despite the barbed wire being lashed to maintain the stride to lead. Hockaday and Puyear (2000) have given nine traits of an effective leader at college level which in my view could apply at all levels in academia, ‘vision; integrity; confidence; courage; technical knowledge; collaborators, persistence; good judgment; and the desire to lead’. The trait theory proposes that leaders would be born with traits, while the behavioural theory posits that development of traits takes place as a phenomenon on the path to such leadership roles. Schein’s et al. (1996) ‘think leader think male’ approach often stands true with leadership roles tilted towards males, the leader attributes of assertiveness and management as being associated with the male gender. Societal roles also point to the same structure as explained by the role congruity theory (Eagly and Karau 2002). The descriptive personality traits are stereotyped for women, expecting them to display more as having compassion and as being collaborative. Potential leaders are expected to be compassionate but equally assertive and goal-directed for action (Heilman and Okimoto 2007).

Gender and leadership in higher education Universities are complex systems (De Lourdes Machado–Taylor 2011), and leadership in such institutions is different than the corporate domain as power is associated with the leader Vice Chancellor’s post. (Yielder and Codling 2004). Experimental studies on leadership by Lewin and Lippitt (1938) developed the concept of leader to be participative or directive, democratic or autocratic. Bales (1950) proposed a differentiation of leadership style in being task oriented (focusing on following rules and procedures) versus interpersonal oriented (concerned with interpersonal relationships with care for morale and welfare of people). Leadership styles were discussed as being transactional or transformational (Bass 1998). Transactional leaders aim at monitoring work of subordinates and rewarding them for meeting the set objectives. Transformational leaders on the other hand are focused on establishing trust and confidence with colleagues while focusing on goals to be achieved. The laissez-faire style of leadership lacks the management of responsibility and is associated with failure. Other leadership styles deliberated upon in past literature are administrative leadership (Bensimon et al. 1989), distributed leadership (Bolden et al. 2009), servant leadership (Barnes 2015), student leadership (Hu 2011) and grassroots leadership (Kezar and Lester 2009). Leadership research in higher education has focused on discourses on transactional and transformational styles to be of dominant use for higher education leaders besides traits of leaders assuming importance. Gender though should not be detrimental while we ponder on leadership in university leadership at the level of a Vice Chancellor in Indian context or internationally. This position being at the top of the organisational level is more to 270

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be associated with competence, with the ability to envision future growth of the institution, develop faculty and student strength in respective areas, enable creation of a learning environment that could be matched with the best institutions, etc. A mix of leadership styles is often necessary to be effective at such an administrative post. Gender stereotyping for leadership is however not suggested (Kanter 1977), although an influence of gender on leadership has been discussed in literature. Women show preference towards transformational leadership styles, adopting a consensual and collaborative approach (Salami and Rosener 1990; Bagilhole and White 2011). Male leaders in university are often associated with transactional style and are noted to focus upon executive attributes, task orientation and knowing the art of committee game (Currie, Thiele and Harris 2002). When men show caring attributes and empathy, they are appreciated for doing so while women doing the same are thought to be acting in accordance to their gender even while holding leadership positions (Skeggs 2004). ‘Leadership and management remain very high gendered in universities’ (Husu et al. 2010). The comparison of men and women leadership styles by Eagly and Johnson (1990) on task, interpersonal, democratic and autocratic criteria found women to be interpersonal oriented, while men were reported to have task orientation as the dominant style. Wagner and Berger (1997) have found similar results in their experiments. A pertinent issue that arises is higher education leadership is not aimed at a celebrity star status but a force of positive change required in tune with time, irrespective of the gender of the position holder. Successful leadership tenures in higher education are characterised by goal orientation involvement of subordinates in achievement of the goals. Envisioning a future pathway for the institution in light of changing landscape of education is paramount to success. Passion and commitment of the leader play an important role. The task orientation aspect of transactional style, coupled with the collaboration approach from the transformational style, is likely to make a winning formula in an institution. Diversity issues become a focus of critical analysis when leaders of higher education institutions set up committees and appoint university task roles from the available pool of people. It is desirable to have equal representation of men and women in such committees and give opportunity to women to head such committees too. This expectation is higher from a women Vice Chancellor. Male Vice Chancellors and administrative heads who initiate such a move pave a path to such engendering processes (Gandhi 2018).

Capacity building in higher education It has been acknowledged that women need support programmes to have enhanced presence in the higher education segment even in the National Education Policy, 1986. The University Grants Commission (UGC) started a novel programme of capacity building for women in higher education in 271

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1997 in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Two levels of training were designed, namely the SAM (Sensitivity, Awareness and Motivation) and TOT (Training of Trainers). This initiative was started with the objective that women trained through this programme shall be better equipped to understand leadership, governance and power in higher education. They would also be able to operate in the system. Across India, training programmes were successfully held between 2004 and 2013. Training was imparted to about 4,000 women across India with a positive outcome as described by participants, (Chanana 2013). Later the scheme of LEAP (Leadership for Academicians programme) was launched in 2019 as a three-week training programme (2 weeks in Indian institution and 1 week in a foreign institution) with foreign collaborations. Certain institutions were identified in India and entrusted with the responsibility to conduct these programmes with collaborations of the foreign partner that included Harvard University, the University of Oxford, Penn State University, Monash University and others. This initiative has seen a large number of senior faculty members from higher education participate and gain useful training in assuming academic leadership roles in future. The creation of such a programme itself by the government of India is a step towards the direction of understanding the need for suitably equipped members in the governance of higher education in the country. The government has stated an aim to prepare a second tier of futureready academicians who could assume leadership roles in future. Participation of women professors has been in good numbers in the LEAP programmes conducted. The outcomes of these programmes shall emerge in the near future. However, the need for such leadership development programmes is clearly established (Bilimoria, Joy and Liang 2008). As a professor, I have myself been a participant of this LEAP programme organised jointly by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) and the University of Oxford in 2019. I would like to mention here that the conduct of this programme, sessions and speakers chosen to impart training and exposure were of immense benefit. The 15 national coordinators for this programme chosen by the government of India also speak of the choice made to ensure the quality and purpose of the programme.

Women-only educational institutions and role in development of leadership aspirations among women In India, many colleges and universities exist as women-only institutions of study. Some of them are in rural areas also. Such institutions have representations of women at all leadership positions, by ordinance norms, while other positions are also occupied by women largely. These become not only temples of education but also as instruments where women see 272

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themselves as future leaders in various positions. Banasthali Vidyapeeth in Rajasthan, India, has existed for over seven decades now and is the largest women’s institution of study across the world. Alumni of Banasthali have reached various positions of pride and honour, and such familiarity brings hope to women striving to achieve. About 18 women universities exist in India, and over 1,000 women colleges are present. Such institutions play a pivotal role in identity development for women to be capable of achieving anything they desire. The leadership roles in such institutions are also held by women, and these administrators become role models for young women students.

Networking and mentorship for women leadership development Hidden social exclusion exists in academia through a complex interplay which restrains women faculty to participate in conferences (Sabharwal, Henderson and Joseph 2019). Academic events like conferences and faculty development programmes are venues for visibility and academic development. These not only enhance the exposure of participants to the world outside their institution but also contribute to the growth of intellectual capital and networking. When women participate in gender-diverse academic social networks, the endemic male-dominated homosexual club gets engendered to the idea of women’s participation in such gatherings. This is necessary for higher career outcomes for women. The opportunity to exchange knowledge, learn new things and explore new avenues that emerge from such academic events is phenomenal. Social exclusion limits such access if encountered by women. Quite often women are granted access to weekend conferences and other events only in their organisations. Other times women are likely to opt for juggling career and family needs. Women often network with more women than men (Rothstein and Davey 1995). Developing a gender-neutral network is essential for professional relationships and career advancement. Intellectual social networks in academia are highly supportive of growth. Women in leadership roles is a more recent phenomenon and sometimes face resistance from the ‘old boys club’ when penetrating such networks in universities (McCall et al. 2000). Mentoring women for leadership roles is a good approach for attaining positive outcomes for women leadership in higher education in India. In Australia, SAGE initiative (Science in Australia Gender Equity 2020) was started in 2015 as a pilot program to adopt the Athena SWAN charter to the Australian context. The aim has been set to attract, retain and advance women and diverse groups in higher education. Forty-five Australian education and research institutions have completed the SAGE pathway and attained the SAGE 2020 award recognising the commitment of such institutions to career growth of women and diverse groups in their institutions. 273

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Conclusion: career pathways for women to leadership roles in higher education ‘Women find it hard to navigate ‘the greasy pole’, ‘the slippery floor’, the ‘glass ceiling’ and ‘the man-centred’ masculinist universities’ (Chanana 2016). Women do not lack the quality or capacity to take charge of leadership positions but face ‘critical systemic barriers’ to such growth (Chanana 2020). The challenge women still face is to balance their role perceptions of being women and showcase their strong leadership (Bartel 2018). Enhancing diversity would be like asking for a policy initiative; the author would here like to propose the concept of inclusion, which represents the state of mind for inclusion of women in leadership roles in university positions. Selection and recruitment panels for promotion and leadership positions in higher education are male dominated, and interview questions tend to become gender-biased (Chanana 2003). When women pursue leadership positions in male-dominated institutions, they need to adjust to the male setting to rise up the ladder. In such pursuits, they usually distance themselves from other women referred to as the Queen Bee syndrome (Derks et al. 2016; Baykal et al. 2020). An impetus to create diversity in leadership positions is the way ahead. Few nations like Norway have about 32 per cent of women as Vice Chancellors (She Figures 2018). Women need to be enabled with support, encouragement, mentorship and training to take up leadership roles. The global phenomenon of gender gap in leadership is not easy to bridge, but continued emphasis and action on establishing women to lead shall create this change in times to come.

Implications and limitations This work has added to the existing body of knowledge on women leadership in Indian higher education. The growing interest among researchers and policymakers is evident from the growing studies in this area. The elaborations in this study are useful to understand the challenges faced by women in rising up to leadership. There are implications for universities and institutions in higher education to actively promote mentoring of women and make them part of work committees while also heading them. Heads of institutions could do their part in making it possible for women to attend seminars, conferences, academic networking events and professional development workshops, which would give them the needed exposure and confidence. Work culture in universities and academia should be directed to providing an equal floor for women to express views and participate in decision-making. This chapter desires to draw the attention of policymakers to institute norms of representation of women in all selection panels and committees for university decision-making. Engendering of minds of men is essential to cast away the structural and societal barriers faced by women. The absence

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of a policy does not imply that facilitating mechanisms could not prevail to include women in all spheres of higher education administration. There is no research to provide evidence of how male leaders or women leaders have provided support to the growth of women in such roles. However, policy initiatives shall imply that efforts to include women in all decision roles provide pathways to take women to leading positions. A culture of diversity and inclusion, which provides sufficient networking opportunities for growth, shall sow the seeds of leadership roles for women. Women shall feel confident and find nurturing environments for themselves. The synergy of culture with their aspirations shall bring new paradigms to women educational leadership in Indian higher education.

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Part V GENDER-RESPONSIVE POLICIES AND HEI STRATEGIES FOR INCLUSION ON CAMPUSES

14 IMPLEMENTING THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAW WITHIN HIGHER EDUCATION A qualitative enquiry Jyothsna Belliappa and S. Arokia Mary

Introduction and background The issue of sexual violence on Indian university campuses has been frequently reported in the media in the recent past. Students have protested sexual assault and harassment in several universities and colleges, including Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Gargi College in Delhi University (Grewal 2020; Singh 2018; Express New Service 2021), expressing dissatisfaction with the authorities’ response to the incidents. In the context of the ‘#me too’ movement, the publication of the controversial List of Sexual Harassment Offenders (LOSHA) within Indian academia led to a heated debate on the ethicality of anonymous allegations, the use of social media to ‘out’ harassers and the efficacy of institutional processes in addressing harassment, suggesting that the issue needs in-depth investigation (Jha 2017). The UGC (University Grants Commission) reports that in 2018–19, 171 cases of sexual harassment were reported by universities and colleges across the country, almost twice the number reported two years before (UGC 2019). In comparison, a survey by Dasgupta and Mukherjee in 2020, found that only 10 per cent of cases are reported officially, suggesting that the UGC data under-represents the problem. These statistics need to be placed alongside women’s increasing numbers in the sector. The recent All India Survey of Higher Education (2019–20) found that a little over 50 per cent of university students are women, representing an increase of 18.2 per cent in the last five years (MOE 2020). The report also states that women make up 42.2 per cent of university teachers. Beyond statistical data, however, lie women’s complex experiences, which may be better understood through qualitative research.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-19

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This chapter discusses the findings of an ongoing qualitative study which seeks to understand how the Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (Preven­ tion, Prohibition and Redressal) Law, 2013 (henceforth referred to as the POSH law) has been implemented within higher education, exploring specifically, the functioning of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs). The law requires every employer to set up an ICC to promote a safe work environment for women and investigate complaints of sexual harassment. These committees include a majority of ‘internal members’, that is, employees of the organisation and one ‘external members’ (lawyers, counsellors, women’s rights advocates not directly employed in the institution). The aim of the project was to understand the implementation of the POSH law within higher education institutions. To this end, accounts were collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews among a large number of internal members of ICCs, supplemented by shorter interviews with external members. However, since the feminist methodological principles of the research enable interviewees’ concerns to influence the research agenda (Letherby 2003), the findings also provide insight into the complex gendered culture of higher education and its influence on harassment investigations. In this chapter, we concentrate on the primary aim, discussing the constitution and functioning of ICCs and challenges that arise in implementing the POSH law in higher education. Subsequent publications will take a wider perspective on the issue. The POSH law was drawn from the 1997 Vishaka Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court to spell out employers’ responsibilities for protecting women from workplace sexual harassment1 Prior to 2013, some institutions such as Delhi University, IIT-Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University had established gender sensitisation and harassment redressal committees in the spirit of the Vishaka Guidelines, but the enactment of the law made it imperative that all higher education institutions do so. The law defines sexual harassment and details guidelines for constituting ICCs: The presiding officer needs to be a senior woman employee. The number of women on the committee should exceed that of men. At least two members must have legal knowledge or previous experience regarding women’s issues. There needs to be one external member from an organisation concerned with women and no member should hold office for more than three years. There are also guidelines on how complaints need to be addressed in terms of confidentiality and time frame for completion of investigations and support for victims. The year 2013 also saw the publication of the ‘Saksham Report’ on Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women in University Campuses by a task force set up by the UGC (UGC 2013). The report concludes on the basis of extensive research that gender sensitivity is a serious concern in universities and argued for recognising the intersection between gender and other identities such as caste, class and dis/ability. It suggested several measures for women’s safety, including the creation of women’s cells and women’s studies 282

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centres, gender sensitisation programmes, providing appropriate infrastructure (lighting, toilets, female security personnel) and prioritising research on women’s issues.

Literature review Rather than undertaking an exhaustive survey of the considerable academic literature on sexual harassment, we discuss here definitions of harassment, research on sexual harassment in educational institutions and studies of workplace sexual harassment in the Indian context (with focus on ICCs). Although there has been considerable media conversation on sexual harassment in the past few years, we do not have the space to do it justice in this chapter. Defining harassment Comparing legal, feminist and organisational perspectives of workplace sexual harassment, Vibhuti Patel (2005) argues that while organisations tend to treat harassment as interpersonal conflict, legal perspectives recognise their embeddedness in employment relations and feminist approaches bring out the abuse of patriarchal power. India’s POSH law defines sexual harassment as physical contact and advances, requests for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks or ‘any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature’ in addition to the promise of preferential treatment, threats of detrimental treatment, interference with work or creating an intimidating or hostile work environment and humiliating treatment likely to affect a woman’s health and safety (The Constitution of India 1950/2013). The law positions women as victims and men, by implication, as aggressors. Like the POSH law, the British Equality Act (2010) recognises unwanted sexualised conduct and creation of a hostile environment as forms of harassment. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) uses similar language but recognises that both women and men can be harassed, also stating that the victim need not belong to the opposite sex. In addition, by including ‘offensive remarks about a person’s sex’ under the ambit of harassment, American law goes further than British and Indian law, recognising that an atmosphere of sexism creates conditions where individuals can engage in more egregious forms of sexualised conduct (EEOC n.d., n.p.). Thus, American law comes closer to the feminist perspective, which brings out the relationship between a generalised patriarchal culture and individual acts of harassment. Feminist legal scholar Catharine Mackinnon (1979), who is often credited with bringing sexual harassment into mainstream discourse, defines it as a form of sex discrimination that affects women’s livelihoods. Since then, several feminist scholars have contributed to an understanding of harassment as a ‘normalised’ aspect of women’s working lives. Harassment may 283

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be physical, verbal or psychological, ranging from violent rape to pressure for sex. Stanley and Wise (1987) provide a way to nuance the definition of harassment, arguing that while some acts are like a sledge-hammer (so abhorrent as to make media headlines), others are mundane, like a dripping tap (which becomes part of background noise in one’s home), annoying when noticed but often overlooked. Sandy Welsh (2000) draws attention to the multi-dimensional nature of sexual harassment, arguing that individual actions should be viewed in the light of the gendered culture of organisations. Feminist scholars thus place harassment within the purview of sexism and gender discrimination. However, feminist perspectives also recognise the importance of individuals’ own understanding of their experiences, even if they are not informed by scholarly frameworks. In this regard, we cite two studies which examined how university students define sexual harassment. These studies are by no means representative but given that this volume addresses Gender in Higher Education, they offer some insights. Surveying students in the University of Lagos, Nigeria, Abe (2012) finds that their definitions of sexual harassment can include physical behaviours (touching, grabbing, leering looks), sexually suggestive humour, derogatory remarks, catcalls, whistling and more violent aggression such as rape. Similarly, a study among Japanese university students by Sachi Sri Kantha and Yuri Matsui (2021) also finds that physical touch and sexualised comments are most strongly defined as sexual harassment by men and women. It seems from both the Japanese and Nigerian studies that students tend to see harassment in specific actions that are clearly directed to one or more recipients. They do not mention abuse of power or generalised sexism. These studies suggest that individual and cultural values play a role in defining an act as sexual harassment, making its investigation complicated and open to individual subjectivities. Sexual harassment in education In the past few years, several studies have been conducted on sexual harassment in higher education. As Fiona Leach (2013) argues, the ‘authoritarian, hierarchical and gendered culture’ of educational institutions facilitates its occurrence, especially in institutions where accountability and transparency are weak. She suggests that although researching the problem is challenging, current evidence indicates that it is significant across the world. Recent surveys reveal high prevalence and low reporting of sexual crimes in universities. A 2019 survey by the National Students’ Union in Britain shows that about 75 per cent of the 544 respondents had suffered unwanted sexual behaviour; of these, only 4 per cent reported the behaviour (National Union of Students 2019). About 48 per cent of the sample reported sexual harassment, including behaviours like stalking, catcalling and sexually coloured remarks; the remaining experienced assault, rape and physical violation. Women were found to be 93 per cent more likely to experience it 284

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than men. Based on a survey of 253 students, faculty and staff in US universities, Kirkner, Lorenz and Mazar (2020) challenge the common-sense perception that the reporting of harassment has increased after the #Metoo movement. Finding that 40 per cent of victims didn’t report harassment, they suggest that silence can be self-imposed or imposed by colleagues and friends who might question the victim’s experience and feelings. They argue that in neo-liberal universities where institutional reputation is jealously guarded, inequalities and injustices often go unacknowledged. A similar trend was found in a survey of 30,000 students in Australia, where 26 per cent of students were harassed on university campuses with women more than three times more likely to be harassed than men (Australian Human Rights Commission 2017). Like the UK survey, it characterises physical behaviours as assault and separates them from harassment. Non-binary individuals reported experiencing significantly more harassment. Only 6 per cent of victims in Australia reported the incident, citing embarrassment, fear of being disbelieved and lack of clarity and conviction regarding the university’s processes for redress. In South Asia, we have not had such extensive surveys of harassment in higher education, but media reports suggest that it is widespread. Although Pakistan implemented a law against workplace sexual harassment of women in 2010, universities in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta have witnessed incidents of harassment by male faculty and students (Sultan 2020; Khilji 2021), causing parents to withdraw their daughters from education. A survey of over 100 university students in Bangladesh suggests that over 72 per cent experienced verbal and non-verbal harassment, but only 11 per cent of the victims reported the incident (Rezvi, Prithvi and Hossain 2021). Similarly, a survey of 567 students in India found that while 10 per cent (57 in number) had experienced sexual assault, of these 57 students, only 15.7 per cent of the victims complained to the ICC or a similar committee (Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2020). Researchers cite students’ fear of backlash from the institution or lack of awareness of committees as reasons for low reporting, which bears out the LOSHA supporters’ lack of faith in institutional processes. Notably, Aina and Kulshrestha’s (2018) research among private and public university students in Delhi found that while most students were aware of the term ‘sexual harassment’, a significant number were poorly informed about what it included and the institutional mechanisms for redressal. Fear of losing personal and family honour and, as V. Geetha (2017) argues, the demand for unquestioning loyalty to the teacher/guru who guides a young person’s intellectual journey makes it difficult to speak out. In her study of a state university in India, Vandana (2020) found that professors and non-teaching staff often draw on seniority, upper-caste status and gender identity to harass younger women faculty and research scholars. They attempt to sexualise workplace conversation and body language and demand favours in exchange for support in grant proposals, viva 285

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voce exams and successful thesis submissions. Her research indicates that young women from Dalit and OBC backgrounds are particularly vulnerable in the face of such harassment, but as their harassers wield considerable power within the university, they are reluctant to seek institutional redressal. Based on her comparative study of tertiary education across the world, Janice Joseph (2015) concludes that harassment is an underreported but recurring phenomenon due to weak mechanisms of redress, resulting in an erosion of the integrity of academia as a whole. Her argument underlines the urgent need to study institutional safeguards for women. Research on ICCs in Indian workplaces After the POSH law was enacted, some research into the functioning of ICCs in private and public sector organisations has emerged (Bhavila and Beegom 2017; Sakhrani 2017; Sahgal and Dang 2017; Sarpotdar 2016). Earlier studies of investigation processes based on the Vishaka Guidelines that preceded the law also exist (Belliappa 2013; Chaudhuri 2008; Tejani 2004). Before 2013, not all organisations instituted ICCs and those that did were unclear about their role (Tejani 2004; Chaudhuri 2008). Research within the IT industry found that HR personnel investigating harassment tended to moral-police women, advising them to dress appropriately and discouraging over-familiarity from male colleagues (Belliappa 2013). Research found that the constitution and functionality of ICCs have been patchy even after 2013. In their research on government offices in Kerala, Bhavila and Beegom (2017) found that all the departments within their sample had constituted an ICC, but in the private sector pressure from women’s organisations or complainants themselves was needed before most organisations set up ICCs (Sarpotdar 2016). One major concern in constituting ICCs is that the law requires a senior woman to be the chairperson but in the absence of women in senior positions, companies either appoint men or choose women from junior- and middle-level positions to head the committee. This allows perpetrators (especially if they are senior male members of the organisation) or the organisation’s management to exert influence over the committee. Sarpotdar (2016) and Bhavila and Beegom (2017) found that committees do not meet regularly, that they rarely produce the legally mandated annual report and that employers tend to ignore their responsibility to ‘organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for employees and orientation programmes for the member of the Internal Committee’ (Chapter VI, 19 (c) of the 2013 POSH law). Consequently, committee members are often poorly informed about the law (Bhavila and Beegom 2017; Chaudhuri 2008; Sakhrani 2017), while employees may not be aware of the ICC’s existence. 286

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Another common problem is ambiguity in defining harassment and in distinguishing sexual harassment from other forms of discrimination. Research by Sahgal and Dang (2017) and by Chaudhuri (2008) though ten years apart had similar findings in this regard: verbal harassment (lewd jokes and comments, attempts to sexualise the conversation or share intimate personal information) is often normalised though it is the most common form of harassment (Sahgal and Dang 2017; Sarpotdar 2016; Chaudhuri 2008). New employees are expected to accept some hazing with a ‘sportive spirit’, that is without complaint. ICC members observe gender discrimination such as denying women opportunities or exploiting their labour but see this as workplace politics (Sahgal and Dang 2017; Sarpotdar 2016). Even with egregious offences (in one case, when a woman was slapped) defining them as ‘sexual’ harassment, that is, within the ICC’s purview, is challenging (Chaudhuri 2008). While awareness of sexual harassment has grown in the past five years, official complaints are usually made to the ICC only if the perpetrator engages in multiple instances of harassment. Before complaining, victims tend to informally approach colleagues, line managers, human resource departments and ICC members. If they receive enough social and organisational support, they may feel empowered to make an official complaint (Sarpotdar 2016; Sahgal and Dang 2017). But it is not uncommon for HR managers to dissuade them or discredit their feelings of anger, shock or humiliation by minimising the incident or blaming victims (Chaudhuri 2008; Sarpotdar 2016). Victims often internalise this blame and remain silent because of fear of stigma or reprisals from colleagues or management. Some may even feel morally responsible for not containing the situation (Belliappa 2013; Sahgal and Dang 2017). If they do complain officially, the ICC’s investigation can be quite harrowing with the complainant’s narrative and motives being doubted (Sarpotdar 2016; Chaudhuri 2008). In many cases, perpetrators have the power to influence the investigation (Tejani 2004; Sahgal and Dang 2017). Employers might label the complainant a troublemaker and retaliate by withholding increments, scrutinising her work or questioning her credibility (Tejani 2004; Sahgal and Dang 2017; Sarpotdar 2016). Although studies highlight a few cases where complaints are taken seriously and perpetrators punished, they argue that organisations comply with the law as a face-saving exercise or to avoid further legal consequences. However, Sakhrani’s (2017) account of her involvement in ICCs suggests that individual ICC members do undertake their roles sincerely. Problems arise, she suggests, in their lack of training and in the implementation of their recommendations being left to employers. This brief review of academic literature on ICCs indicates their complex and contradictory nature and lack of clarity about their roles. It also shows the vulnerability of victims in spite of institutional safeguards. All the studies find that because ICCs are intra-institutional bodies, they cannot 287

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function independently of organisational power and politics. They also suggest that perpetrators often draw on both gender and organisational power to shield themselves from serious consequences, while victims are often undermined or disbelieved. Though not exhaustive in their scope, these studies give us a broad framework within which to discuss ICC in higher education. Before doing so, however, a brief digression into methods is necessary.

Methods The research was exploratory in nature and intended to understand the functioning of ICCs through semi-structured interviews with ICC members. The interview guide addressed the question of how ICCs are set up, how they carry out their mandate and the challenges they face and their effectiveness in creating safe campuses. However, in keeping with feminist interviewing principles, we allowed interviewees’ responses to direct the interview (Letherby 2003). Thus, interviews threw up information and insights beyond the topics in the interview guide and ICCs became a window into understanding a) gender-based harassment in higher education b) gender relations on campus and their connection with seniority and professional status c) the experience of complainants who approach ICCs. Through a snowballing method of sampling, we conducted 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with current and previous internal members of ICCs (faculty, non-teaching staff and students) across ten prestigious higher education institutions in India. These include institutes of national importance and central universities, which were selected because of the prestige they enjoy. Commitments to confidentiality do not allow us to elaborate further on the institutions themselves. In addition, shorter interviews with four external members of ICCs in educational institutions including a counsellor, a lawyer and directors of two small firms who provide sexual harassment training to educational institutions have informed the research. The sample is not necessarily representative of the entire education sector, which is heterogenous in terms of public and private ownership, size, scope, work culture and social diversity. However, the interviews offer a window into how the POSH law is being implemented in universities. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, through the telephone or on Zoom. They lasted anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes. Given the sensitive nature of the topic, interviewees were first contacted through email with assurances of confidentiality. In many cases, interviewees were introduced through collegial networks. Some interviewees requested notes from interviews which we handed over. Many asked to see our findings after analysis which we were glad to promise. Accounts were thematically analysed. We discuss below those themes that are relevant to ICCs in particular although the impact of campus culture is discussed where relevant. 288

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Findings and discussion The creation of ICCs and selection of members ICCs are constituted when the head of the institution invites individual faculty and staff to form the committee. There could be a variety of reasons why a particular faculty member is chosen: seniority within the institution or profession, research or teaching expertise in women’s issues, previous administrative or pastoral experience or a perception of maturity and professionalism. For instance, one interviewee was seen as suitable for the role because he was also heading the student welfare committee. His disciplinary specialisation, chemistry, was unrelated to women’s concerns. In another institution, the institute’s doctor was included because he was often the first to know of any psychological and physiological outcomes of harassment or assault. One ICC chairperson was selected as soon as she joined the institution as a serious case involving two faculty members was pending, and she was likely to be perceived by both parties as impartial. Generally speaking, ICC membership is seen to undermine collegial relationships and is avoided unless the individual is deeply committed to gender equity. Some interviewees frankly shared their reluctance to serve on the committee. ‘It was the director’s choice. Willingly no one wants to get involved in this committee’. Interestingly, one woman interviewee described her male colleagues as feeling ‘apologetic to their brethren’ (other men) for being in the ICC. The legal requirement of a senior woman chairperson poses a problem when the senior faculty is not sufficiently trained to serve in the ICC. One chairperson argued that as a scholar of information science, she lacked the feminist knowledge and frameworks to make sense of cases and felt frustrated that she was not given any training during her tenure, echoing the concerns voiced by Chaudhuri (2008), Bhavila and Beegom (2017) and Sakhrani (2017). External ICC members include lawyers and retired judges, social workers, counsellors, senior faculty from other institutions or ‘specialists’ in gender and diversity training. While the law requires external members to be ‘committed to the cause of women’, the accounts of internal and external members suggest that the institution is careful to include only those who have a long-term relationship with the institution and/or are seen as sympathetic to its concerns. In the words of one external member, NGO workers are avoided because ‘they blindly support the woman (complainant)’. Her comment suggests that concern for institutional reputation strongly influences selection of members (Kirkner, Lorenz and Mazar 2020). Student members could be included through election by the student body or selected by faculty members of the ICC. By and large, postgraduate students or research scholars are chosen as they are perceived as more mature and sensitive to gender equity. Dr. X (dean of student welfare) nominated my name….. many students, many scholars were there. He asked certain 289

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questions regarding gender studies and he gave us new problems and told us how we can solve them. And then he selected me as a member The ICC’s role Generally speaking, ICCs tend to have three related responsibilities: promoting a gender-equitable culture on campus, taking a pastoral role towards students and investigating complaints. The law primarily addresses investigation, but the other two responsibilities are discussed in the Saksham report and many ICCs try to engage with them. Also, the employer’s legal duty of disseminating information regarding the ICC’s existence and mandate is often passed to the committee itself. Some ICCs try to take a proactive role in promoting gender equity via poster campaigns or orientation programmes for students and faculty. However, the success of such efforts could be limited due to poor support from management or lack of attendance. The time involved in organising such events is also a deterrent to organising them. A higher education campus includes residential, teaching and office spaces, social spaces such as cafeterias, auditoriums and public lawns, and can extend into the local community. Students and faculty also attend many academic activities off-site, including field trips, internships and conferences. Third parties are always on campus: visiting faculty, students from other institutions, recruiters, construction labourers building or repairing campus facilities and family members of employees. Since harassment can occur in any of these spaces and to any of these people, some ICC members find the scope of their role overwhelming. One interviewee mentioned that a victim of domestic violence in the staff residential quarters contacted the ICC, which was outside their mandate. She was advised to make a police complaint. ICC members argue that since social, cultural and economic diversity of university campuses creates varied attitudes to gender and sexuality, relations between students are fraught with potential for misunderstanding, conflict and harassment. For instance, a young man who is unused to socialising with women might mistake a classmate’s friendliness as an invitation to be over-familiar. Many complaints come from young women who are sexually propositioned in ways that are disrespectful or threatening. The boundaries of friendship and romance are often blurred or misunderstood by different parties. Also, since the campus is a closed community, when friends or romantic partners fall out, they continue to interact in residences, classrooms and public spaces, leading to awkwardness, conflict and possible harassment. Some interviewees highlight the vulnerability of Dalit and Adivasi women, and those from rural communities who endure harassment rather than complain for fear of being further stigmatised, thus corroborating previous research (Geetha 2017; Vandana 2020). 290

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Campus culture can either support or undermine the work of ICCs. On the one hand, students’ unions, women’s forums or queer, Dalit and Adivasi collectives hold talks, film screenings or other events which promote dialogue around gender equity. On the other, social events such as Holi celebrations, parties, alcohol consumption (contrary to campus rules) and cultural fests can create opportunities for harassment. Though they are aware of students’ hazing or courtship rituals that could lead to inappropriate behaviour (one interviewee mentioned zines publishing ‘love poetry’ by male students with veiled references to female classmates), ICC members are hesitant to forbid or supervise such rituals for fear of eroding to student autonomy. As one interviewee put it, ‘The ICC is not empowered to take suo–moto action’. Investigation processes and outcomes Interviewees acknowledge that the number of cases formally reported to the ICCs is lower than the actual incidence of harassment. They mention being approached informally by victims who are trying to make sense of their experience. During these conversations both victims and ICC members try to understand whether the incident is within the committee’s purview. At this stage definitions of harassment and existence of corroborative evidence become key to deciding whether to encourage an official complaint. The support and encouragement of other colleagues may also influence the complainant’s decision. Investigations begin after a complainant reports a case in writing, naming the alleged perpetrator (the respondent) and describing the incident(s). The respondent is then contacted for their version of events. Either party can call on witnesses or offer evidence to corroborate their account. Interviewees find that while ICC might keep the investigation process and findings confidential, as per the law, complainants or respondents sometimes confide in friends and colleagues leading to gossip in the institution. After examining the accounts of both parties, the committee recommends a course of action to the management. If harassment has occurred, the action recommended is based on the role of the harasser. If he is an employee (e.g. faculty member or staff), punitive action can range from loss of wages, seniority or promotion opportunities to suspension from duties and dismissal. A student might face punitive consequences such as expulsion, suspension, exclusion from job placements or monetary fines. Counselling or restorative action (writing letters of apology, engaging in community service) might be also recommended, that is, the ICC tries to adopt a pedagogical role. Given their role as teachers, ICC members tend to find it easier to deal with student respondents, but cases against fellow faculty members are found to be much more stressful and complicated to resolve. Counselling senior colleagues is not viewed as an option. ICC members argue that management acceptance of their recommendations is also greater in cases involving students. 291

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Cases involving students Though the POSH law is written with regard to workplaces, the largest and arguably the most vulnerable group on the campus are students. Interviewees express concern about the safety of all students irrespective of gender, claiming that most cases are filed by this group. This pastoral concern raises some challenges: entering higher education enables young people to experience autonomy, socialise more freely and experiment with intimate relationships. University life provides space to discover one’s sexuality and sexual identity away from parental supervision and become part of a diverse community. The three most common types of cases involving students are digital harassment, cases where consent is misunderstood or violated and harassment in public spaces. Of the last, many incidents occur where the perpetrator is not identifiable. Hence, cases are not filed though the victim undergoes some trauma. As one interviewee remarks in the case of ‘teasing’ (lewd remarks, catcalls or inappropriate touch/groping in crowded public spaces): Even if they file a complaint, they don’t know who the culprit is, they won’t even come up. Even if they come up because the body (ICC) says ‘If you’re writing a complaint, there has to be someone who are writing against.’ And because of that, a lot of people they just don’t come up, because they have lived in a kind of distrust with the whole community. The remark above suggests that the normalisation of ‘teasing’ enables perpetrators to continue unchecked and possibly sets grounds for more serious transgressions. Students lose trust in the institution’s ability to protect them after such experiences as in the case of Gargi College. Complaints arising from misunderstandings regarding sexual consent within romantic relationships or harassment following the decision of one party to break off the relationship are fairly common. While the boundaries between coercive and consensual sex can become blurred among faculty and staff members too, the complaints that come to the ICC usually involve students. Interviewees acknowledge that their own values sometimes diverge from those of the younger generation and that they struggle to understand the motivations behind students’ intimate behaviours. For faculty with more progressive attitudes, these cases involve a careful negotiation between fairness, student autonomy and concern for their wellbeing. For those with more conservative values, students’ morality is also of concern. Since the values and attitudes of ICC members differ, frank conversations within the committee can be difficult, leading some ICC members to remain silent about their discomfort with the investigation process or recommendations. A common form of harassment not addressed by the POSH law is digital harassment, which includes using social media to shame, troll and intimidate 292

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others; send inappropriate emails and WhatsApp messages and, in some cases, hack into a fellow student’s account. Such harassment provided clear evidence and is therefore easy to investigate. While it was reported even before the pandemic, interviewees suggest that online classes and exams create new forums for harassment. Cases involving faculty and staff While the POSH law is clearly applicable to employees of the institution, as mentioned earlier, investigations involving colleagues are highly stressful for the ICC. If the behaviour clearly matches one of the actions listed in the law, it is clearly defined as sexual harassment. However, most behaviour falls under the broader definition of ‘unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature’, which is less easily identifiable. For instance, one of the male interviewees presented two hypothetical scenarios: Let us assume that there are five employees in the department. And I ask a women employee to do more work. I’m not giving that much of work to the other four, that I think that’s not sexual harassment, that becomes a workplace harassment, but again, proving that will become very, very difficult for the woman. If the person is not doing anything, just calling (telephoning), it’s more of a psychological nature. If that person is mentally harassing that person, but not physically doing anything like it is not touching at all, not doing any gesture, not making her feel uncomfortable, like even patting on her shoulders… But doing some sort of psychological warfare, whether like calling or even for normal (conversations), more of a mental harassment, some harassment is defined in a lot of sense. This is not what is sexual harassment for me. These remarks highlight three related challenges: a) how to tease out the ‘sexual’ nature of the harassment from generalised ‘sexism’ (which might be influenced by the wider culture of higher education); b) If the sexual motivations behind the behaviour are ambiguous, does the behaviour come under the purview of the ICC. And, if so, c) the need for iron-clad proof before complaining (Kirkner, Lorenz and Mazar 2020: 12). Suggestive physical gestures and verbal comments made in the absence of witnesses cannot be documented. Similarly, instances of being denied responsibility or receiving unnecessary phone calls are open to interpretation. In addition to the hypothetical scenarios above consider two actual cases: a young complainant who was part of the organising committee for a conference hosted by the institution was asked to meet senior conference attendees at the airport and escort them to the event. The interviewee who shared this incident was puzzled by the complaint’s claim that this responsibility was assigned based on gender. Being herself a young faculty member, 293

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she (the ICC member/interviewee) argued that an opportunity to meet and converse with seniors is coveted by emerging scholars. Her comment raises the question as to whether a woman’s experience of being sexualised by the institutional responsibilities that she is assigned can be entertained by the ICC. Both the complaint and the ICC member’s responses speak of the power structures of higher education, which are marked by seniority, deference and patriarchal power (Geetha 2017). In another case, a young professor was sexually propositioned by a senior colleague while both were attending a conference. The ICC member recounting the incident expressed surprise that after experiencing such traumatising behaviour, the victim did not confide in friends or family members before making an official complaint. His response affirms notions of ‘ideal’ victim behaviour and the tendency identified by Sarpotdar (2016) of ‘examining the victim’. When allegations are made against research supervisors and line managers the (purported) intentions of the complainant are also scrutinised: is she complaining to cover up her own inadequacies or misreading the behaviour of the accused? The investigation process may involve repeated cross-examination and require victims to re-live painful experiences. Interviewees agree that however sensitively the complaint is treated, it increases the psychological burden on all parties, especially victims, who sometimes express regret at having started the process. All the scenarios listed above, real and hypothetical, suggest that feminist frameworks are often missing in investigations. Feminist frameworks would enable ICC members to understand ‘workplace harassment’ not as idiosyncratic behaviour by one manager (who ‘happens’ to be male) against a junior colleague (who ‘happens’ to be female) but as abuse of gender power and institutional authority. Monica Sakhrani (2017) argues via Maya John (2014) that an act of harassment is located in wider workplace dynamics and labour relations but that the law unfortunately fails to recognise this crucial relationship between individual experience and social structures. It is therefore unsurprising that an ICC member may be sceptical of a traumatised woman’s decision to complain officially though she is unable to speak with friends and family about her experience. Similarly, when young faculty members protest being re-embedded in the gendered role of a hostess (welcoming guests at a conference), the complaint appears trivial to a colleague who views it as a networking opportunity. The information science faculty/ ICC chairperson’s concern discussed earlier regarding her lack of training needs to be understood in light of these scenarios.

Conclusion and recommendations The POSH law has made it imperative for institutions to create ICCs, which is a significant step towards greater gender equity. However, implementing a law written for workplaces within the education sector has several 294

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challenges. Educational institutions are not only places of work and study but are often spatially and culturally distinctive communities where students, staff and faculty reside in close quarters. This makes the decision to complain against another community member very difficult for complainants and the process of investigation highly sensitive for ICCs. While previous research indicates that the work of ICCs can often be influenced by wider workplace politics and organisational power structures, given the kind of collegiality, collaboration and respect for seniority required in within higher education, taking a decision against a colleague is particularly difficult. Although patriarchal power structures based on seniority and gender are not unique to higher education, it is worth noting that women are relatively recent entrants to the sector, making it difficult to exert a strong influence over its culture. Although almost all students in higher education are over 18 years of age, being young adults, they are often psychologically and physically vulnerable. Entering university means moving away from the strict supervision of home and school, creating and encountering new social identities, understanding one’s sexuality, making friends and living in close quarters with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Universities have the delicate task of balancing their concern for student autonomy with welfare and safety. ICC members are conscious of their pedagogical and pastoral role in complaints involving students for necessitates going beyond the framework of the POSH law. Given that young generations are deeply embedded in social media, the law’s silence on digital harassment is of concern. Interviewees experience anxieties about damaging collegial relationships, doing justice by complainant and respondent, and fulfilling their duties as educators and their own understanding of the law. Although the work of the ICC is sporadic, once a complaint arrives, investigation can be time-­ consuming and emotionally draining, affecting teaching and research responsibilities. ICC members who take a more proactive role, organising orientation and sensitisation programmes are likely to be considerably overworked. Finally, creating greater caste, economic, religious, regional and gender diversity within higher education is an important goal of the state, upheld by our constitutional values of justice and equality. However, the inclusion of diverse groups with varied attitudes and values regarding gender and sexuality within higher education is complex and sensitive. In addition, intergenerational differences in attitudes to sex and sexuality may also affect how ICCs function. The intersection of different identities caste, age, seniority and single/married/partnered status, with gender, makes some women more vulnerable to harassment and plays a role in their decision to seek support. Institutions need to take these factors into account while creating redressal mechanisms. The research strongly indicates the importance of a multi-dimensional approach to gender equity within universities, as recommended by the Saksham report. We recommend including gender in the curriculum of 295

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various courses and programmes, even those which might be conventionally understood as ‘neutral’ to gender such as STEM subjects. In addition, it is important that gender equity workshops be conducted periodically for all faculty, staff and students and that these be included in faculty refresher courses. However, such efforts need to be undertaken by multiple actors or at least by a larger committee than the ICC so that the responsibility is widely shared. Supporting student efforts in dialogue around all aspects of equity is also important. ICC members need adequate training and support to understand their legal and professional responsibilities. Moreover, the time and effort that they invest in the committee need to be recognised in professional appraisals. Lastly, it is important that the management proactively endorse gender equity and promote the independence of the ICC. While this may result in a short-term increase in the number of cases of harassment reported, the sector needs to view such a trend as indicative of greater trust in institutional mechanisms. Strong and independent ICCs are vital to ensuring gender equity in higher education.

Note 1 The Vishaka Guidelines were the result of a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed in the Supreme Court by the NGO Vishaka and others in the context of the rape of Bhanwari Devi in 1992. Bhanwari Devi had been raped in retaliation for opposing child marriage as part of her work for the state government of Rajasthan. At the time, there was no law that held employers responsible for the safety of women at work. As a result of the PIL, the Court issued guidelines to all employers to create a safe and conducive environment for women at work.

References Abe, Iyabo. 2012. ‘Defining and awareness of sexual harassment among selected university students in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria’, Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies, 3(3): 212–218. Aina, Adetutu Deborah and Kulshrestha, Pradeep. 2018. ‘Sexual harassment in educational institutions in Delhi’ NCR (India): Level of awareness, perception and experience’, Sexuality & Culture, 22(1): 106–126. Australian Human Rights Commission. 2017. Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in Australian Universities 2017, https:// humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/projects/university-sexualassault-and-sexual-harassment-project (accessed 16 January 2022). Belliappa, Jyothsna Latha. 2013. ‘She was very outgoing’: Sexual harassment and appropriate female behaviour’, Travail, genre et societies, 29(1): 129–148. Bhavila, L. and Beegom, Bushra R.K. 2017. ‘Functioning of internal complaint committees in Government Offices of Kerala’, Economic and Political Weekly, 52(35): 2349–8846. Chaudhuri, Paramita. 2008. ‘Sexual harassment at the workplace: Experiences with complaints committees’, Economic and Political Weekly, 43(17): 99–106.

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Dasgupta, Satyaki and Mukherjee, Annesha. 2020. ‘Survey of 500 women finds 1 in 10 had been sexually assaulted in higher education institutions’, The Wire, October 4, https://thewire.in/women/sexual-assault-higher-education-institution (accessed 16 January 2022). Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) n.d. Sexual Harassment. Washington, DC: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, https:// www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment (accessed 16 January 2022). Express News Service. 2021. ‘BHU student says harassed, assaulted on campus; Protest breaks out’, The Indian Express, August 22, https://indianexpress.com/ article/india/bhu-student-says-harassed-assaulted-on-campus-protest-breaksout-7464962/ (accessed on 17 January 2022). Geetha, V. 2017. ‘Sexual harassment and elusive justice’, EPW Engage, 52(44): 2349–8846, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/sexual-harassment-and-elusivejustice (accessed 16 January 2022). Grewal, Kairvy. 2020. ‘India Gargi College students allege harassment by ‘drunk’ outsiders at fest, call strike’, The Print, February 9, https://theprint.in/india/gargicollege-students-allege-harassment-by-drunk-outsiders-at-fest-call-strike/ 362189/ (accessed on 17 January 2022. Jha, Nishita. 2017. ‘Name and shame list: Indian women students explain why they don’t trust official sexual abuse panels’, Scroll.in October 26, https://scroll.in/ article/855438/name-and-shame-list-indian-women-students-explain-why-theydont-trust-official-sexual-abuse-panels (accessed 16 January 2022). John, Maya. 2014. ‘Fears and furies of sexual harassment: Time to go beyond vishaka’, Economic and Political Weekly, 49(15): 29–32. Joseph, Janice. 2015. ‘Sexual harassment in tertiary institutions: A comparative perspective’, Temida 18(2): 125–144. Kantha, Sachi Sri and Matsui, Yuri. 2021. What is sexual harassment?: Perceptions of Japanese university students’, International Medical Journal, 28(1): 86–89. Khilji, Usama. 2021. ‘Harassment crisis’, Dawn, October 26, https://www.dawn. com/news/1654085/harassment-crisis Kirkner, Anne Catherine, Lorenz, Katherine and Mazar, Laurel. 2020. ‘Faculty and staff reporting & disclosure of sexual harassment in higher education’, Gender and Education, 34(2): 199–215. Leach, Fiona. 2013. ‘Corruption as abuse of power: Sexual violence in educational institutions’, in Global Corruption Report: Education (pp. 88–98). New York: Routledge. Letherby, Gayle. 2003. Feminist Research in Theory and Practice. United Kingdom: McGraw–Hill Education. MacKinnon, Catharine A., and Catharine A. MacKinnon. 1979. Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. United Kingdom: Yale University Press. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. National Union of Students. 2019. Sexual Violence in Further Education. UK: NUS Connect, https://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/sexual-violence-in-furthereducation-report (accessed 16 January 2022).

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Patel, Vibhuti. 2005. ‘A brief history of the battle against sexual harassment at the workplace’, InfoChange News & Features, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/ Vibhuti-Patel/publication/265488467_A_brief_history_of_the_battle_against_ sexual_harassment_at_the_workplace/links/56a3710808aef91c8c12b7a3/Abrief-history-of-the-battle-against-sexual-harassment-at-the-workplace.pdf (accessed 16 January 2022). Rezvi, Minhazur Rahman, Prithvi, Purbasha and Hossain, Md. Mohsin. 2021. Sexual Harassment of University Students in Bangladesh: A Case on Dhaka University. New York: SSRN, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3823232 (accessed 16 January 2022). Sahgal, Punam and Dang, Aastha. 2017. ‘Sexual harassment at workplace: Experience of women managers and organisations’, Economic and Political Weekly, 52(22): 49–57. Sakhrani, Monica. 2017 ‘Sexual harassment: The conundrum of law, due process, and justice’, EPW Engage, 52(50): 2349–8846. Sandy, Welsh. 2000. ‘The multidimensional nature of sexual harassment: An empirical analysis of women’s sexual harassment complaints’, Violence Against Women, 6(2): 118–141. Sarpotdar, Anagha. 2016. ‘Implementing or ignoring the law on sexual harassment?’ Economic and Political Weekly, 51(44–45): 27–29. Singh, Pritam Pal. 2018. ‘Why no action against JNU Professor Atul Johri in sexual harassment case: HC’, The Indian Express, April 26, https://indianexpress. com/article/cities/delhi/why-no-action-against-jnu-professor-atul-johri-in-sexualharassment-case-hc-5151950/ (accessed 16 January 2022). Sultan, Iman. 2020. ‘How blackmail, harassment forced Pakistani women from university’, Aljazeera, January 09, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/1/9/ how-blackmail-harassment-forced-pakistani-women-from-university (accessed on 17 January 2022). Tejani, Sheba. 2004. ‘Sexual harassment at the workplace: Emerging problems and debates’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39(41): 4491–4494. The Constitution of India. 2013. ‘The sexual harassment of women at workplace (prevention, prohibition and redressal) act, 2013’, https://legislative.gov.in/sites/ default/files/A2013-14.pdf The UCG Task Force to Review the Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women on Campuses. 2013. SAKSHAM Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses. New Delhi: University Grants Commission. https://saksham.ugc.ac.in/content/downloads/SAKSHAM-BOOK. pdf (accessed 16 January 2022). University Grants Commission. 2019. A List of Cases of Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Institutions during One Year i.e. 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2019 (State–Wise and College/Institute-Wise). New Delhi: UGC, https://www.ugc.ac. in/pdfnews/1189041_Data-of-Sexual-Harassment-Universities-2018-19.pdf (accessed 16 January 2022). Vandana. 2020. ‘Dalit girls and sexual harassment in the university’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 27(1): 33–54. Wise, Sue and Stanley, Liz. 1987. Georgie Porgie: Sexual Harassment in Everyday Life. London: Pandora Press.

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15 GENDERING PEDAGOGY, ENGENDERING PRACTICES Contemporary STEM education landscape Rukmini Sen

Introduction: Inculcating scientific temper and engendering within education Fundamental duties of the constitution of India under clause (h) of Article 51A, inserted in 1976 through the 42nd amendment, cast upon every citizen a duty ‘to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform’. Nehru’s The Discovery of India (1946) notes that ‘[t]he impact of science and the modern world have brought a greater appreciation of facts, a more critical faculty, a weighing of evidence, a refusal to accept tradition merely because it is tradition’.1 While inculcating scientific temper, spirit and education has been an ongoing process in the Indian education landscape despite the fact that all education policies since independence emphasised the need towards it. On the other hand, the practice of engendering as propagated by feminist scholarship has not been a stated government higher education mandate, although the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) mandated in 1976 the generation and analysis of data to uncover significant trends in patterns of social and economic organisation which affect women’s position in the long run and the development of new perspectives in social sciences, particularly through clarifying concepts like the family, household, women’s work and reassessing women’s contribution in society (Mazumdar and Sharma 1979). This was followed by the UGC mandate in 1985 proposing women’s studies as an academic field with one stated objective of incorporating new research and feminist scholarship in curricula (Sen and Menon 2020).

Women in science education and profession: tracing imprints across time Historically, one of the first names that come to mind when thinking about women in science is Dr Anandibai Joshi – the first woman doctor in India, DOI: 10.4324/9781003415916-20

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who completed her medical education in the United States of America, who unfortunately passed away at a very early age of 22, after contracting tuberculosis. In a public statement that Anandibai made 1888, she stated, I go to America because I wish to study medicine. I now address the–ladies present here, who will be the better judges of the importance of medical assistance in India. I never consider this subject without being surprised that none of those societies so laudably established in India for the promotion of sciences and female education have ever thought of sending one of their female members into the most civilized parts of the world to procure thorough medical knowledge, in order to open here a college for the instruction of women in medicine. The want of female physicians in India is keenly felt in every quarter. In my humble opinion there is a growing need for Hindu lady doctors in India, and I volunteer to qualify myself for one. (As quoted in Kosambi 1996) Anandibai’s medical dissertation submitted for her MD, ‘Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindoos’ – a topic which she justified in these words: as the importance of obstetrics can be measured only by the value of life and health and both being of paramount consequence, it is deserving of most careful study. The dissertation outlined in detail the ‘good rules laid down by Manu the great Aryan legislator, Susruta, and other physiologists’, regarding the hygiene of pregnancy, causes of abortion, preparation for lying in, accidents of labour and, briefly, the diseases of infancy (Kosambi 1996). It is not within the purview of this chapter to understand the complex social and cultural contexts through which Anandibai could reach America for education, with a supportive as well as a physically abusive husband. Kamal Ranadive (1917–01) was among the first to recognise the connection between cancer susceptibility and the interaction between hormones and tumour virus. The so-called Indian Cancer Research Institute (ICRC) mouse studied by her group turned out to be an excellent model for work on leukaemia, breast cancer and cancer of the oesophagus. In addition to this, she continued her work on leprosy bacteria, which eventually led to the preparation of a leprosy vaccine. Dr Ranadive, fondly addressed as ‘Bai’ by her colleagues and students, had an imposing personality. A strict disciplinarian, she instilled the spirit of hard work in her students; her lab was busy till late in the night!.2 While it is difficult to find women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) writing complete autobiographies, there are some autobiographical essays that can be useful in this context to understand questions around gendered practices and importance of support to access these spaces.

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Bindu A Bambah3 in her essay ‘Why I Became a Scientist’ reflects on the ways in which both science and gender are gendered and therefore the need to focus on plurality of voices within science. How far is the nature of science bound up with the masculine ways of thinking which engendered it, and can science be truly universal and objective if it is so conceived? Now, it is my opinion that both gender and science are socially constructed categories. Historically, the stronger conjunction has been that of science and the socially defined masculine attribute of reason, as opposed to the socially constructed feminine attribute of emotion. We have to shift our focus and acknowledge the need for diversity among scientists, the key to which is gender.4 An interview taken with V Shanta, who headed the Cancer Institute in Adyar, Chennai, talked about women in medical college education. She was in a class of 80 students. Both then and now, except for a handful, women don’t think of it as a long term career. We used to say she will get married half way and give up, depriving someone else a seat… There is no doubt that now women want to be independent, they want to work…She will give up her job because she asks her to resign. Shatters your very idea of womanhood. (Krishna and Chadha 2017) Another scientist Bimla Buti5 echoes similar but more specific experiences from her professional life, which brings out not just the gender-based everyday dynamics within the professional field but also conscious decisions that women in the science profession need to take in order to devote themselves completely towards it. While it may connote how gendered the professional world is, it also indicated the apprehension towards marriage as an institution, which mostly can prove resistant towards women with professionally ambitious goals. The participation of women in STEM fields is far less than that of men. Although the number of women in India who have opted STEM as a field of study has increased by 53,388 in the past three years – from 10,02,707 in 2017–18 to 10,56,095 in 2019–20 (MOE 2020), it still remains very low. More importantly, the proportion of those who employ in STEM jobs is far from satisfactory levels, according to Nandita Jayaraj, science communicator and co-founder of the feminist science media project, The Life of Science.6 According to statistics published by the Department of Science and Technology, in 2017–18, women comprised only 14 per cent of the workforce in research and development. 37 per cent of PhD awardees in

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science in India are women, indicating that not many women are lost to science till the PhD level. The gender gap widens in the practice of science, with women occupying 15 per cent of science faculty positions. Only about 14 per cent of government scientists are women. Recognition of the contributions of women scientists remains poor. Women comprise only 7 per cent of the fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASC) and 5 per cent of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). The number of women recipients of prestigious science awards like the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar has been increasing over the decades (Bimla Buti being one of the awardees), but the absolute number remains low at 15 women awardees out of 461 as of 2014 (Malhotra 2018). In a detailed research study done through a review of essays on gender bias in access to science education and profession published in Current Science, Malhotra (2018) lists certain suggestions from scientists to address these biases – encouraging strong women networks to address the third ‘triple bias’, mandating/encouraging institutions to accommodate both spouses based on their respective qualifications and merit, and greater recognition to women through awards and transparent procedures to deal with sexual harassment. Another important recommendation is to create platforms where women can express themselves freely. One of the ways of achieving this could be to replace hierarchical structures with collegium with an open and collaborative culture (Malhotra 2018). Besides research done by individual scholars, even the INSA released a report in 2004 based on a survey that they had conducted and while agreeing on multiple sociological and behavioural reasons for school dropout rates among girls, yet interestingly the proportion of women in science increases when there is a move from graduation to postgraduation. Support systems like daycare/crèche, campus housing, grievance redressal cells for gender-related or sexual offences, ensuring gender neutrality in illustrations in textbooks or inclusion of women in policy and decision-making bodies had been proposed in the INSA report. In a survey carried out in two premier IITs in the country among doctoral students, it was found that women who take up doctoral programmes in science are usually encouraged by the family with gender role expectations in society. Men who reach doctoral programmes in science are found to be more conservative than women. The survey also revealed that the lack of informal interaction with the advisor and other faculty members and colleagues leads to the isolation of women research scholars. As a result, the latter have to depend excessively on their own capability and merit, leading to considerable hard work among women. In response to the social and academic environment, women seem to lose their self-esteem. This along with the lack of mentorship of women students at the doctoral level may affect prospects of these students to pursue scientific research as a career (Gupta 2007). 302

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One of the ways to reduce gender gap in STEM is by raising awareness and encouraging girls in school to enter these disciplines. This has been tried out by the Spanish Association of Science and Technology Parks in 2017 through the exhibition ‘Women Who Changed the World’. It centred on women in science and technology fields, and was designed to inspire girls, based on the personal and professional stories of women in STEM, much like what has been narrated above, in the Indian context. The initiative was aimed at overcoming gender stereotypes and encouraging reflection on women’s identity, by giving women greater visibility in professional fields, which, so far, are regarded as dominated by men. The ‘male-profession’ stereotype is a well-known obstacle for women, who, for many years have been underrepresented in our collective imagination of the ‘successful scientist’, not helped by the fact that the most prestigious awards generally go to men (Davila Dos Santos et al. 2021). NITI Aayog carried out a study to identify the issues and challenges faced by women in science to pursue higher studies or research. This study was based on all-India survey of women science professionals from premier institutes of science in six different zones: North, North East, Central, West, South and East, funded by NITI Aayog, Government of India. The finding indicated that: a) 85 per cent of sampled 991 women science professionals and 93 per cent of sampled 518 students of science have mentioned that the overall regulatory and management practices have been helpful for continuity of career and higher studies; b) work environment and regulatory features are considered crucial for continuity of women in science; c) academic infrastructure is considered to be critical for academic productivity and professional attainment; d) institutional provision of non-academic infrastructure particularly with respect to housing, transportation, family and health care-related support services are important enabling conditions for women to perform well in their personal and professional lives. It was also suggested that work-from-home and flexible hours options may be more gender-friendly steps (SSESS 2017).

Engendering policies and pedagogies: contemporary initiatives in STEM This section will engage with some of the contemporary initiatives taken towards engendering in STEM education, by doing policy analysis, content analysis of information available on websites of STEM-based institutions in Delhi and newspaper reports on engendering practices in STEM education throughout the country. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, announced three key initiatives for gender advancement and equality in academic and research institutions on the occasion of National Science Day, February 28, 2021, where in the theme was ‘Women in Science’. Vigyan Jyoti, the first initiative will create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in high school to pursue STEM subject areas in higher 303

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education. The second initiative, Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI), will develop a comprehensive charter and a framework for assessing Gender Equality in STEM. Finally, an online portal for science and technology resources for women will provide e-resources related to all women-specific government schemes, scholarships, fellowships and career counselling, with details of subject area experts from various disciplines in science and technology. All these initiatives respond to the gaps that have been identified through research papers and reports, as highlighted in the previous section. In 2020, the GATI was launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology (DST), for promoting gender equity in these fields. A reading through the initiative suggests that GATI aims to nudge institutions of higher education and research towards supporting diversity, inclusion and the full spectrum of talent for their own success and progression.7 DST, Government of India has played a critical role in identifying and promoting priority areas for research in science and engineering. The defining feature of GATI is that it will not just assess, accredit and recognise institutions through certification and awards (Ministry of Science and Technology 2019). It would also engage, mentor, partner and support institutions as they work towards reaching the global best practice of gender equality. In many ways, GATI seems to be doing a gender auditing of STEM-based institutions. It seeks to fill in the following kinds of information from partner organisations: • • • •

Demographic data of students’ gender-wise Demographic data of faculty gender-wise (permanent and ad-hoc) Whether the institution has Internal Complaints Committee Whether the institution has women’s studies centre or gender sensitisation programmes • Number of women scientist researchers in different projects of the institution • Number of women in leadership positions In 2021, a total of 30 institutions were selected for the GATI initiative, and each of them had to sign the GATI Charter drawn up by the DST.8 The main aspects of this ten-point charter are to a) emphasise the need for diversity and inclusion since people of all genders are equally capable of making valuable contributions; b) bias can act as a hindrance towards full participation of girls and women in STEM; c) loss of women at different stages in the progression within the STEM system; d) acknowledge that advancing gender equality requires strong leadership, participative action and sustained effort to bring in systemic and cultural changes through well-deliberated policy initiatives; and e) commit to creating a safe and nurturing environment for women and developing action plans for removing the barriers to their progression in particular. 304

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Defined engendering practices in a Delhi-based STEM institution One of the leading STEM institutions located in Delhi is selected to implement the GATI among the 30 higher education STEM institutions in India. GATI seeks to bring about institutional reforms to facilitate intake, advancement and retention of women in STEM at all levels.9 On its website, this institution announces ‘share lived experience to make IIT Delhi diverse and gender equal’ (with anonymity assured10). As per the website, an 18–month project, beginning August 2021, GSAT (GATI Self– Assessment Team) will undertake an extensive review and evaluation of the Institute’s policies, plans, programmes, and procedures through the gender lens. They will also conduct interviews, surveys and focused group discussions for understanding the barriers to advancement and organisational culture. A closer look at the institute’s website reveals the following. First, there are two courses specifically on gender that are offered through the humanities and social sciences department of the institute. One is titled Gender and Society, which discusses themes like Sex and gender; masculinities, gender as performance and identity; sexuality and gender identities, masculinity and femininity. Hegemonic masculinity; Inter–sections of gender and race, ethnicity, caste and class. Institutionalization of gender via the state, family, marriage, religion etc.; the political economy of gender relating to reproduction, care, work and property. Issues of gender inequality, patriarchal oppression, violence, voice and agency.11 A second course is titled Gender, Technology and Society. Building on the concepts discussed in the previous course, this one talks about technologies associated with population and biological sciences have transformed and are continuing to transform society and human relationships in particular directions. These transformations at the global and local levels are examined and their impact considered on individual lives. Challenges posed to intimate human relationships and identities by new reproductive technologies such as invitro–fertilization, surrogacy, sex selection will be explored. What does the emergence/institutionalization of new social forms–such as same sex marriages and parenthood by surrogacy–tell us about the possibilities and limits of human relationships?.12 305

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If one looks at the Events page of this department in IIT, between 2019 and 2022 (March) there were only a few events which had a specific women/ gender mention in the title or in the abstract of the talk. The Skill Space of informal Workers: Evidence from Slums in Bangalore, India,13 EthnicNationalist Agency, Women’s Non-violent Resistance and Migrating from a ‘Disturbed’ Manipur14 and Yashpal: Gender, Nation and Revolution – A Symposium on the Work of Hindi Writer Yashpal (1903–76).15 Some of the other initiatives around engendering practices that is reported about this institution are also important to take note of. With an aim to encourage girls towards choosing science as their career, the premier STEM institute in Delhi has launched STEM Mentorship Program for schoolgirls. The primary objectives of the program, designed for Class 11 girl students, are to train young students to think creatively about science and innovation, to provide them with novel hands-on experience in solving research problems, and to help them form a stronger knowledge foundation. There will be ten 11th-class girl students of the science stream Kendriya Vidyalayas in the Delhi region, in one batch, and this is going to be a three-level program: i) A two-week winter project, starting from the end of December 2021 and ending in early Jan 2022); ii) An online lecture series, consisting of modules in chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and some engineering branches. These lectures will be delivered by IIT Delhi professors during the period between February and April 2022. During this period, the students will also be interacting constantly with their mentors on their specific projects; iii) Summer project (3–4 Weeks in May–June 2022), where the students will get hands-on experience in labs, and finalise their project reports with their mentors. The project areas of the students will cover different disciplines of science and engineering such as computer science, chemistry, mechanical engineering, physics and biological sciences.16 With the 2013 anti-sexual harassment law being enacted by the Govern­ ment of India, this institution under study notified a Gender Initiative Cell in March 2018. The scope of this committee notified is 1) gender sensitisation, 2) support the implementation of the institution’s anti-sexual harassment policy and 3) outreach to promote the growth of women in STEM. The activities that can be part of this are 1) gender sensitisation workshops; 2) workshops on the law on sexual harassment in the workplace; 3) training sessions for ICC members; 4) guest lectures by women role models – as part of the lecture series; 5) panel discussion by women in STEM and organise school girl’s visit – as part of Open House; 6) organising special help desk for females during JEE counselling; 7) organising workshop on challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in STEM; 8) conducting small studies to analyse and track gender inclusion and performance; 9) undertaking revisions of the institution’s communications material to be gender neutral/remove masculine gender bias; and 10) identifying special needs of girl students, if any, and convey them to the administration.17 306

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Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitisation (IGES) website of the institution aims to create a safe and violence-free educational atmosphere for all, irrespective of diversities in identities of gender, sex, caste, class, ethnicity, language, race, disability and sexual orientation. IGES also advocates a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment. Their website has a section on reference material, within which the sections are a) cyberbullying, b) documentaries, c) gender and science, d) LGBTQIA+, e) Masculinities and f) Sexual Harassment. The images on the website depict the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 with discussions and message board writing for students, where students have expressed their displeasure with respect to hostel timings for girls and a need for co-educational dormitories. While through these stated initiatives, one can understand that the processes towards engendering practices are ongoing, the impact of those practices on everyday life in the institution is not always understood. The latter is beyond the scope of this chapter. As a way of concluding this section, it is important to note that in 2018, the government of India decided to add supernumerary seats for women in IITs; it began with 14 per cent and in April 2020 the government announced its increase to 20 per cent to create a gender balance in technical education.18 What is evidenced in the particular institution studied for this paper can be seen in other notable STEM institutions of the country as well. For instance, IIT Bombay has made a gender awareness zero-credit course mandatory for all students. The course focuses on sensitising students to inequality and gender discrimination. IIT Madras has been selected as another GATI institute, which plans to conduct storytelling sessions by women leaders, conduct upskilling activities, support for women researchers to enhance mobility, and community outreach initiatives to spread the importance of STEM among young women.19 Together with announcing this, the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of the Government of India, Ministry of Science and Technology, in December 2020 states that the policy will provide renewed impetus to the mainstreaming of equity and inclusion within the STI ecosystem (Ministry of Science and Technology 2020). An inclusive culture will be facilitated through equal opportunities for women along with candidates from rural remote areas, marginalised communities, differently abled individuals, including Divyangjans, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds; proportionate representation of women in selection/evaluation committees; addressing of ageism-related issues and consideration of experienced women scientists for leadership roles; and regular gender and social audits in academic and professional organisations. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community will be included in gender equity conversations with special provisions to safeguard their rights and promote their representation and retention in STI (Ministry of Science and Technology 2020). Keeping in sync with the NEP 2020 (MHRD 2020), the STIP has a widespread focus on gender equity, gender parity, collaboration with gender 307

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studies, gender balance and gender audits. It proposes gender inclusion in entrepreneurship, to create avenues for accessing resources and opportunities for training and mentoring. Equitable provisions need to be created for the participation of women in entrepreneurial networks/clusters. In sync with the scholarly research on the restrictions of women in STEM, the policy proposes flexibility in work timings, and adequate parental leave will be provided to cater to maternity, childbirth, child care and other emergent needs. Childcare benefits to be gender neutral (Ministry of Science and Technology 2020). It is evident that there have been a number of initiatives started by the Government and the institutes themselves to address gender-based gaps in STEM education as well as in the profession. The broad-scale impact of these will take another five to seven years to be felt. The past two decades have seen concerted efforts towards gendering of the curriculum, especially in social sciences and humanities within higher educational institutions in India (Govinda et al. 2020) started by the ICSSR mandate, that seems to be happening in the STEM fields in the contemporary moment and the efforts need to be appreciated and steps taken towards consistently maintaining them.

Feminist science studies and implications for engendering STEM spaces Science education in India still believes what Merton (1973) said: science and its institutions are governed by the norm of ‘universalism’, or the principle that scientific careers are open to all those who have talent; that ethnic, gender or other social factors shall not impede participation in science. According to a UNICEF 2020 report, girls’ and women’s equal access and participation in STEM is key to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its pledge to leave no one behind in terms of equality, peace and human progress. STEM knowledge and skills can empower girls to make informed decisions about their maternal health and well-being; it improves girls’ awareness and capacity to participate in actions that protect the environment. Girls who develop STEM skills are better prepared to contribute to scientific research and to technological development initiatives, leading to innovative solutions in industrial sectors. STEM for girls can enhance their access and decision-making in relation to their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. What therefore is important in the Indian context, is to encourage STEM from the school level; one of the extension activities of the STEM institute discussed in this chapter seeks to do exactly that. The Indian Academy of Sciences report in the 1990s states that among the total university outputs of undergraduates each year, approximately one-third are in science. But a more pertinent question to ask is, how many 308

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are really gifted, how many potentially creative science students are produced each year and who go ahead and do research for a PhD in Indian institutions? However, what is important to note is whether there have been experiments towards democratising science education – transformations in pedagogy and curriculum have an external impact in making it feasible to access. Early efforts towards an integrative approach in science education happened through the setting up of Humanities and Social Sciences departments in IITs with one attempt to question ‘inherited divisions of fact/value, sensory-experience/lived experience, objective/subjective, universalism/contextualism, explanation/interpretation, has been a hindrance to knowledge production’(Higher Education Cell, CSCS 2011, p. 40), and pointed to the need to move beyond binarisms (Dhar et al. 2017). Women’s Studies scholarships have argued that the scientific method, based on experimentation and use of deductive as well as inductive reason, has excluded the possibility of even acknowledging the validity of other ways of knowing. The results of such unrecognised biases and trends are necessarily counterproductive as they foreclose the possibility of developing alternative and divergent ways of knowing and restrict the growth of scientific enquiry and knowledge (Poonacha 2005). The underlying assumptions of four science policies that India had between 1983 and 2003 were i) the development of science and technology as the necessary solution to all problems in the country, ranging from unemployment to poverty, population to environmental degradation; ii) this quest for knowledge as an intensely individualistic process and; iii) the findings or the research processes not coloured by the social location of the scientist (Poonacha 2005). National Science Policy in India needs to take note of the diversity among women scientists, namely women engaged in science research and those who are currently not employed (Kurup 2017), and not propose initiatives that would treat the requirements of all women in science in a homogenous manner. It is important to highlight that feminist science studies moving beyond the pro- and anti-science schisms propose to (i) place science within society and at the centre of critical scrutiny and (ii) examine science from the standpoint of women’s lives and other marginal locations in order to present a ‘different picture’ of what is ‘taken for granted’ as science (Chadha and Achuthan 2017). Feminist Science Studies have been critical of the ‘organization of science as an institution that is deeply situated in Western modernity, with the ideas of rationalism, development, progress, utilitarianism, and nationalism that are associated with it’ (Ibid 2017). As in other areas, Indian feminists began their critique by drawing attention towards the low representation of women in science. As this chapter has also demonstrated that like any other profession, science assigns a dual role for women – mobility in the professional space to co-exist with performing familial responsibility. But what in science and the scientific community leads to lesser participation of women is a more contemporary question which feminists have started asking. 309

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Some of the initiatives, as discussed above through STIP, seem to be responding to the organisational transformation needed for more women to be part of these structures. While they are mostly institutional mechanisms, the need for pedagogic transformation is as much important. It is necessary to underline that in the past five to seven years, policy documents, research and announcement of initiatives with respect to facilitating greater representation of women in science have undoubtedly happened. This chapter has attempted to make engagements with those. Interestingly, a body of feminist scholarship has also emerged during the same period or for the past decade around documenting women’s voices within sciences, engaging with science education curricula and also proposing methods of engendered curricula. It is this combination of transformation in curriculum, gendering of institutional practices and gender-inclusive organisational policy transformations altogether that will ensure a comprehensive gendering of the STEM landscape in Indian higher education, as well as ensure the scientific temper within the education process affecting all citizens.

Notes 1 https://theleaflet.in/constitution-day-india-needs-to-develop-scientifictemper-spirit-of-inquiry-and-humanism/ 2 Bhishey, https://www.ias.ac.in/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/The_Women_Scientists_ of_India 3 Ph.D. (1983, Chicago), of the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, is a recipient of the UNESCO Young Scientists Award and the P M S Blackett Scholarship. 4 https://www.ias.ac.in/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/The_Women_Scientists_ of_India 5 Ph.D. (1962, Chicago), FNA, FNASc, FTWAS. Fellow American Physical Society. She is a past Director, Plasma Physics, ICTP, Trieste and was President, Commission C49 of IAU. She worked in Physical Research Laboratory. She received the Sarabhai Award for Planetary Sciences. 6 https://theprint.in/ india/education/women-in-stem-the-growing-numberschallenges-and-whether-it-translates-into-jobs/700564/ 7 https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gati%20detailed%20advertisement_0.pdf 8 https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/GATI%20Charter%20%28Provisional%29. pdf 9 https://home.iitd.ac.in/show.php?id=146&in_sections=News 10 https://home.iitd.ac.in/show.php?id=146&in_sections=News 11 https://hss.iitd.ac.in/course/gender-and-society 12 https://hss.iitd.ac.in/course/gender-technology-and-society 13 https://hss.iitd.ac.in/course/gender-technology-and-society 14 h t t p s : / / h s s . i i t d . a c . i n / e v e n t / e t h n i c - n a t i o n a l i s t - a g e n c y - w o m e n % E 2 %80%99s-non-violent-resistance-and-migrating-%E2%80%98disturbed %E2%80%99-manipur 15 https://hss.iitd.ac.in/event/yashpal-gender-nation-revolution-symposiumwork-hindi-writer-yashpal-1903-1976 16 https://home.iitd.ac.in/show.php?id=135&in_sections=News 17 https://home.iitd.ac.in/uploads/Gender%20Initiative%20Cell%20(GIC)%20 (Committee_2020).pdf

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18 https://theprint.in/india/education/iits-take-womens-quota-to-20-as-govt-pushesgender-balance-in-tech-education/379395/ 19 https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/22/20840/dst-selects-iit-madrasfor-gati-initiative-.html

References Chadha, Gita and Achuthan, Asha. 2017. ‘Feminist science studies: Intersectional narratives of persons in gender–marginal locations in science’, Economic and Political Weekly, 52(17): 7–8. Davila, Dos Santos, Eliane, Albahari, Alberto, Díaz Soledad and Cesar, De Freitas Ernani. 2021. ‘Science and technology as feminine: Raising awareness about and reducing the gender gap in STEM careers’, Journal of Gender Studies, 31(4): 505–518. Dhar, Anup, Niranjana, Tejaswini and Sridhar, K. 2017. Breaking the Silo: Integrated Science Education in India. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan. Govinda, Radhika, MacKay, Fiona, Menon, Krishna and Sen, Rukmini. (ed). 2020. Doing Feminisms in the Academy: Identity, Institutional Pedagogy and Critical Classrooms in India and the UK. New Delhi: Zubaan. Gupta, Namrata. 2007. ‘Women research scholars in IITs: Impact of social milieu and organisational environment’, Sociological Bulletin, 56(1): 23–45. Higher Education Cell. 2011. ‘On Integration of Natural and Human Sciences in Science Education’ Strategy Paper (p. 40). Karnataka: Centre for the Study of Culture and Society. Kosambi, Meera. 1996. ‘Anandibai Joshee: Retrieving a fragmented feminist image’, Economic and Political Weekly, 31(49): 3189–3197. Krishna, Sumi and Chadha, Gita. 2017. Feminists and Science: Critiques and Changing Perspectives in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Kurup, Anitha. 2017. ‘Gender, science and technology education in India’, in Sumi Krishna and Gita Chadha (eds), Feminists and Science: Critiques and Changing Perspectives in India (pp. 278–298). New Delhi: Sage Publications. Malhotra, Charu. 2018. ‘The malaise of under–representation of women in science’, Current Science, 115(9): 1714–1723. Mazumdar, Vina and Sharma, Kumud. 1979. ‘Women’s studies: New perceptions and the challenges’, Economic and Political Weekly, 14(3): 113–120. Merton, Robert K. 1973. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ministry of Education. 2020. All India Survey on Higher Education 2019–20. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India. Ministry of Human Resource Development. 2020. National Education Policy 2020. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India. Ministry of Science and Technology. 2019. Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI). New Delhi: WISE–KIRAN Division, Ministry of Science and Technology. Ministry of Science and Technology. 2020. Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (Draft STIP Doc 1.4). New Delhi: Ministry of Science and Technology, DST, GOI. Poonacha, Veena. 2005. ‘Uncovering the gender politics of science policies and education’, Economic and Political Weekly, 40(3): 241–248.

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Sen, Rukmini and Menon, Krishna. 2020. ‘From perspective to discipline: Mapping forty years of women’s/gender studies in India’, in Radhika Govinda, Fiona MacKay, Krishna Menon and Rukmini Sen (eds), Doing Feminisms in the Academy: Identity, Institutional Pedagogy and Critical Classrooms in India and the UK (pp. 40–62). New Delhi: Zubaan. Society for Socio–Economic Studies and Services (SSESS). 2017. Final Report Status of Women in Science among Select Institutions in India: Policy Implications. New Delhi: NITI Aayog, Government of India. UNICEF. 2020. Towards an Equal Future: Reimagining Girls’ Education Through STEM. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund, ITU.

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Pages in italics refer to figures, pages in bold refer to tables, and pages followed by ‘n’ refer to notes. Aarhus University in Denmark 218 Aboli, Zinat 13–14, 67–97 academic leadership 11; case studies, based on interviews 248–260; educating women 245; experience of administrative roles 261; as faculty members 246–248; Government for ‘Stree Shakti Karan’ 262; male chauvinism 260; personality traits of leaders 269–270; positions of leadership 260–261; ‘the leaky pipeline’ 246 academic mobility and participation 185 Academic Performance Indicator (API) 215 access to higher education: affirmative actions 83–86; belonging and connection with institutions 86–87; early marriages and purdah 91; geographic access 86 accountability 234–235 Admission committee 220 Aina, Adetutu Deborah 285 All India Census of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises 148 All India Institute for Medical Science 197 All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2019–20 48, 72, 148, 170, 205, 246, 266, 281 Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AVV) 246, 247, 263n5 Aryan Hindoos 300 ascriptive identities 67

associate professors 214–215, 217–220, 225n13 Association of Indian Universities 232 Athena SWAN 262, 273 Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANM) 62 Bales, Robert F. 270 Bambah, Bindu A. 301, 310n3 Banaras Hindu University (BHU) 246, 247, 262n3, 281 Banasthali Vidyapeeth in Rajasthan, India 273 Bansal, Deepika 189–205 Beegom, Bushra R.K. 286, 289 Belliappa, Jyothsna Latha 16, 281–296 Berger, Joseph 271 Bhanwari Devi had 296n1 Bhavila, L. 286, 289 Bora, Manika 119–141 British Council 244 British Equality Act (2010) 283 Buddhists 67, 69, 70, 70, 71, 71, 73–74, 83, 85, 92 bureaucracy 236 Buti, Bimla 301, 310n5 Calcutta University (CU) 245–246, 247, 262n4 Cancer Institute in Adyar, Chennai 301 Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education (CBWM) 212–214, 216, 220–221 Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) 211–212; interview, case study

313

I ndex

direct recruitment (DR) 212, 215–216, 218 Dogra, Aashima 223 Dubey, Amaresh 54, 62

218–220; merit promotion and 215–216; to professorship 212; selection and promotion procedure 218 career choice 15, 190, 201, 233 career trajectories and higher education: clustering of women 157; concentration of female main workers 159, 160–161, 162; higher-educated women as marginal workers 158, 158–159; SC and ST communities 159; women’s career opportunity 163 casual employment 8 CBSE examinations 5 The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 175 Chanana, Karuna 15, 62, 182, 203–204, 211–225 Chaudhuri, Paramita 287, 289 Christian/Christianity 67, 69, 70, 70, 71, 72, 73–74, 78, 80–81 conditions of access 14, 100–101, 106–107, 112–114 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) 181 counselling/restorative action 291 COVID-19 pandemic 68, 87, 91, 119 Crossouard, Barbara 185, 268 Cultural Committee 220 Cycle to Empowerment Project (CTEP) 14, 120, 140, 141n1–141n3 Dalit-Adivasi women 147, 156–157, 166 Dalit communities 123 Dalit entrepreneurs 166 Dalit women 122–123, 123 Danell, Rickard 212, 224n1 Dang, Aastha 287 Danish Council for Independent Research 214 Dasgupta, Satyaki 281 date of eligibility (DoE) 216, 219–220 date of interview (DoI) 219 Datta, Sayantan 222–223 Debodeep 63 Delhi University 184 Denmark 214, 218 Department of Science and Technology, in 2017– 18, 301 digital harassment 292–293 Dipsita 63

early marriage 91; and gender roles 133–137, 136 education 184, 223; and caste 37–39, 40–41; and economic development 24–27; women in education sector 36–37, 37; and women’s employment see women’s employment educational attainment in Bihar: absolute and relative gaps in 123–126, 124–126; proportion of girls and boys 126–127, 127; proportion of women over men 127–128, 128; years of schooling 122, 122 educational mobility 13, 72, 83, 85–86, 92–93, 119 educational programmes and policies 121, 121 education and participation in paid work 138–139, 138–139; occupation of men and women 137, 138 ‘Education for All’ 122 Edushine Advisory Group 216 emotional intelligence 269 employment 6, 10, 31, 35, 53, 83, 85–86, 120, 138, 221, 283; in higher education 157, 230, 266; outcomes 100–101; of spouse 185; women and 4, 9, 13, 23, 27, 29, 39, 159, 173 Examination Committee 220 Fair Chance Foundation 104–105 family background: parents’ educational attainment 109, 109–110; place in family 108–109 first-generation entrepreneurs 165 first-generation learners (FGLs) 13, 55–57, 56–58 Fisher, Virginia 221 Fourth All India Census of MSME 2006– 07, 164 Gandhi, Meenakshi 265–275 Gargi College in Delhi University 281, 292 Geetha, V. 244–262, 285

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gender: bias 269; differences in social networks 182; disparity 247; diversity 266; gap 4, 266; identity 285; norms 113; regimes 110–111, 113; segmentation 47; transgression 104 Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) 304–305 gender and development (GAD) approach 2 gendered access to HE 106, 113–114; core principles of analysis 107; family background 107–110; schooling trajectory 110–113 gendered individuals 103–104, 107, 113–114 gendered inequalities 101–102, 104, 172, 185 gendered social acceptability 169 gendered ST faculties 222 gendered structure of faculty positions 180–184 gender equality 1–2, 215, 224, 265; in STEM 304; strategy 214 gender inequality 266; Indian universities 221 Gender Initiative Cell in March 2018 306 gender parity 184; of enrolment 100; to gender prism 102–104 gender parity index (GPI) 3, 5, 5, 61, 229, 265 gender prism 14; analytic 101; gendered access to HE through see gendered access to HE General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) 62 Ghosh, Rupamanjari 223 Godbole, Rohini 200, 225n10 Government of Bihar 120 GPI see Gender Parity Index gross domestic product (GDP) 42n1 gross enrolment ratio (GER) 3, 5, 48, 211, 265; India: higher education in 49; inter-state patterns by socioreligious groups 49–54, 50–52; by poor and non-poor 55; social groups 7, 49 Gupta, Namrata 181 Harvard University 3 Heaton, Tim 4 hegemonic patriarchy 166 Henderson, Emily F. 14, 100–115, 115n2

Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) 217, 225n7 higher education (HE) 3, 67, 147; capacity building in 271–272; enrolment in 211; first-generation learners in 55–57, 56–58; gender and leadership in 270–271; institutions 72, 78; intuitions 68; in STEM see women in STEM higher education; women teachers in 216–218 higher education institutions (HEIs) 2, 11, 101, 119, 213–215, 245; enrolments of women 72–79, 73–74, 75, 76, 77, 77, 79–81 Hitesh 63 Hjerm, Mikael 212, 224n1 Hockaday, Jeff 270 homogamy 180 ‘Homosocial gentlemen’s club’ 222 Howe–Walsh, Liza 222 human capital 23, 25, 122 hypogamy 180 India higher education report 2022: gender-responsive policies 16–17; women, education and development 12–13; women’s academic profession and leadership positions 15–16; women’s access to HE 13–14; women’s field of study 14–15 Indian Academy of Sciences (IASC) 302 Indian Academy of Sciences report in the 1990s 308 Indian Cancer Research Institute (ICRC) 300 Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) 299, 308 Indian higher education sector 266–268, 267–268 Indian Institute of Management 214 The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) 246, 247, 262n1 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) 195, 302, 305, 307 Indian Institutes of Technology and Teacher training colleges 217 Indian National Science Academy (INSA) 302 Initiative Gender Equity and Sensitisation (IGES) 307 institutional leadership 235 institutional sexism 223

315

I ndex

Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) 181 intergenerational mobility 13, 120; average years of schooling 128–129, 129; five-year cohorts for 128, 129; intergenerational poverty and privilege 132–133, 133; regression coefficient 130–132, 131 intergenerational poverty 132, 133 Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) 16–17, 281; existence and mandate 286, 290; guidelines for constituting 282; investigation processes and outcomes 287, 291; members of 288, 291–292, 294–296, 306; POSH law 293–294; work of 291, 295 The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) report for 2018–19 179, 179–180 International Growth Centre (IGC), Patna 141n1 International Women’s Year 2 Jains 67, 69, 70, 70, 71, 72, 73–74, 85, 93 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) 225n4, 246, 247, 262n2, 281 Jayaraj, Nandita 301 John, Maya 294 Joseph, Janice 286 Joshi, Anandibai 299–300 Kalyan Shankar, V. 62 Kantharaju, B. 200 Kantha, Sachi Sri 284 Kar, Biswajit 13, 47–65 Kaushik, Madhulika 16, 228–242 Kinsey, Sue 221 Kirkner, Anne Catherine 285 Kothari Commission Report in the 1960s 189 Kulshrestha, Pradeep 285 Kurup, Anitha 200 labour force participation rates (LFPR) 7–8, 8 labour market 9–10, 12–13, 24, 27–42 Ladakh 223 Lady Shri Ram College 184 Lawson, Tony 4 Leach, Fiona 284 leadership: aspirations among women 272–273; aspiring women leaders 238–239; change management

strategies 238; coping strategies 237–238; definitions of successful 228; existence of glass ceiling view 238; laissez-faire style of 270; opportunity 233–234; personal lessons 238–239; positions 265, 268; promotion and 274; successful 271; tracking journey towards 233 Leadership for Academicians programme (LEAP) 272 The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community 307 Lewin, Kurt 270 Lippitt, Ronald 270 List of Sexual Harassment Offenders (LOSHA) 281 Lituchy, Terri 270 Liu, Jiang 270 Lorenz, Katherine 285 MacKinnon, Catharine A. 283 Mahendergarh District College (MDC) 105–106, 108, 111 Maithreyi, R. 200 male competitors 234 male-dominated sub-disciplines 197 Malhotra, Charu 302 Mansuy, Julie 115n2 Mary, S. Arokia 16, 281–296 masculinity 195, 268, 305 Matsui, Yuri 284 Mazar, Laurel 285 Md Musharuddin, S.K. 13–14, 67–97 medium of instruction 112 Merit Promotion Scheme (MPS) 215 Merton, Robert K. 308 #Metoo movement 285 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 1 Ministry of Education (MOE) 48, 198, 266 Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology (DST) 304 Morley, Louise 185, 268 MPhil and PhD programmes 199, 200, 211; course completion disciplinewise 176, 177; course completion year-wise 170–173, 171; disciplinewise enrolment 176, 176; enrolment by social groups 175; enrolments in 170, 170, 172–173, 173–174; gender-wise faculty positions 178,

316

I ndex

178; Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu 176; State-wise enrolments 173–174, 174; State-wise pass out 173–174, 175 MTech 197–198 Mueller, Ruediger 270 Mukherjee, Annesha 281 Mukhopadhyay, Carol 104 Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana in Bihar 140, 141n1 Muslim community 14, 68 Muslim males 69, 69–70 Muslims, SCs, STs and OBCs: choices of education 82, 82–83, 83; educational attainments of 69–71, 69–72; enrolments in HEIs 72–79, 73–74, 75, 76, 77, 77, 79–81; factors see access to higher education National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) 63 National Capital Region 101 National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 68, 91, 189, 199, 244, 271, 307 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 135–136, 140, 141n6 National Eligibility Test (NET) 169, 222 National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) 272 National Institute of Technology (NIT) 195, 216, 221 National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 48–49, 58, 63, 68 National Science Policy in India 309 National Students’ Union in Britain 284 National Testing Agency 222 Neetha, N. 13, 23–42 Nehru’s The Discovery of India (1946) 299 Nielson, Mathias 218 NITI Aayog 303 non-OBCs (Others) 48–49 Other Backward Classes (OBC) 53–54, 76, 77, 80–81, 122–123, 134, 135, 139, 153, 231; see also Muslims, SCs, STs and OBCs out-of-school children: across occupations 135, 135–136; in age groups 134, 134–135

Paswan, Jyoti 178–179 Patel, Vibhuti 283 Patwardhan, Vanita 269 performance pressures 237 personal growth 233 personal lessons 238–239 PhD 197–200, 199, 247 policies and pedagogies: Delhi-based STEM institution 305–308; feminist science studies and STEM spaces 308–310; GATI 304–305; Vigyan Jyoti 303 Political Rights of Women in 1952 1 POSH law 288; 1997 Vishaka Guidelines 282, 286, 296n1; cases involving faculty and staff 293–294; cases involving students 292–293; digital harassment 292–293; framework of 295 poverty 132; and enrolment 54–56, 55 Proctorial Board 220 professorships 211–214, 218–219, 224 public and private institutions 233, 239, 240–241 Public Interest Litigation (PIL) 296n1 Puyear, Donald E. 270 Ramaswamy, Ram 225n10 Ramsay, Eleanor 221 Ranadive, Kamal 300 Rathee, Sharmila 115n2 Right to Education (RTE) 135 rural Bihar 120, 137; caste groups in 122; early marriage and girls’ schooling 136, 136; economy 139; educational attainment see educational attainment in Bihar; enrol in HEIs 139; female labour force participation 137; higher education in 127 Sabharwal, Nidhi S. 14, 100–115, 115n2 Sachar Committee Report of 2006 6 SAGE initiative 273 Sahabdeen 63 Sahgal, Punam 287 Sahni, Rohini 62 Sakhrani, Monica 287, 289, 294 Samanta, Nikita 115n2 Sandy, Welsh 284 Sarpotdar, Anagha 286 Savigny, Heather 212

317

I ndex

scheduled castes (SCs) 53, 67, 76, 77, 80–81; see also Muslims, SCs, STs and OBCs scheduled tribes (STs) 53, 67, 76, 77, 80–81, 154; see also Muslims, SCs, STs and OBCs Schein, Virginia E. 270 schooling trajectory 110–111; schooling pathways 112, 112–113; types of schools in India 111–112 Science and Technology Indicators 189 Science in India 191–192 Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) 307, 310 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) 6, 189, 300; contemporary initiatives in see policies and pedagogies; disciplines 177, 183, 246–247; for girls 308; landscape 17, 310; professionals 189; system 304 scientific knowledge 204 scientific professions 190 self-employment 8, 29–30 Sengupta, Anirban 15, 147–167 Sen, Rukmini 17, 299–310 Sensitivity, Awareness and Motivation (SAM) 272 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Law, 2013 see POSH law sexual harassment in workplace 16–17, 291, 293; defining harassment 283–284; in education 284–286; research on ICCs in Indian workplaces 286–288 sexual violence 281 Seymour, Susan 104 Shaban, Abdul 13–14, 67–97 Shanta, V. 301 Sharpe, Sue 3 Shepherd, Sue 212 Sikhs 67, 69, 70, 70, 71, 73–74, 78, 85, 93 Singh, Vivek Kumar 178–179 Sinha, Sachidanand 13, 47 Sirsa District College (SiDC) 105–106 social exclusion 273 socio-religious categories (SRCs) 6, 69 Soham 63 Sonipat District College (SDC) 105, 111 Spanish Association of Science and Technology Parks 303

Standing Committee on Women’s Study 213 Stanley, Liz 284 State Government 253, 259 state of Bihar 122, 266 Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 106 STEM Mentorship Program 306 Stewart, Ann 115n2 S&T workforce 203 Sudarshan, Ratna M. 169–186 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 Third All India Census of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) 164 Thomas, Anjali 14, 100–115, 115n2, 169–186 Training of Trainers (TOT) 272 transactional leaders 270 Turnbull, Sarah 222 2000 Dakar Education for All Framework for Action 3 2013 anti-sexual harassment law 306 2017 National Sample Survey 111 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 1 UG and PG 193, 194–200 Uhly, Katrina M. 185 UNDP–Human Development Report (2019) 265–266 unequal conditions of access 114 UNICEF 2020 report 308 United Nations 2, 265 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 42n1 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 190 The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 283 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) 3 Universities 230, 266, 270, 285 University Education Commission Report of 1949 245 University Grants Commission (UGC) 186n1, 213–214, 225n4, 271, 281–282, 299 University of Oxford 272

318

I ndex

University of Warwick ethics committee 105 Urdu medium schools 91 Vandana 285 Varghese, N.V. 172 VCs see Vice Chancellors Vice Chancellors (VCs) 12, 214, 219–220, 225n11, 229–230, 232, 234, 244, 248–250, 254, 257, 266, 274 Visser, Laura M. 185 Wagner, David G. 271 Warwick project team 106 Web of Science for 50 Indian institutions for the period 2008–17 179 Wise, Sue 284 women: ability 162; academics 232, 238; see also academic leadership; choice of fields 197; development 23–24; from disadvantages groups see Muslims, SCs, STs and OBCs; economic empowerment 1; economic integration 23; and education 25–27; empowerment 121; entrepreneurs 148, 164–165; entry and growth 163; in faculty positions 169; live 1; inability 163; in master’s and MPhil courses 199, 200; out of labour market 157; participation in STEM 190; PhD students in sciences 198, 199; presence and performance 170–178; professionals 162–163; as professors 212–213, 217–218; promote in academia 213–214; in science education and profession 299–303; in science problem 204; in scientific professions 201–203; in STEM faculties 183; students in UG (4 years) programs 196 The Women and Development (WAD) 2 women enrolment 5, 47, 169; access by social groups 48–54, 49–52; by disciplines 6; discipline-wise pattern of 58, 59; expansion and availability of hostels 63–65, 64; in higher education 267; and poverty 54–56, 55; programmes/disciplines 58–62, 60–61

women entrepreneurship 148; access to opportunities 164–166; business 165–166; social class location 165 women in development (WID) 2 women in STEM higher education 192; enrolment in UG courses 194–197, 195–196; families 193; low participation 190–191, 301; master’s and PhD programmes 197–201, 199–200; research 191; undergraduate-level enrolment 193, 193 women leader(s) 229; attitude of bureaucracy 236; attitude of colleagues 236; attitude of superiors 235–236; performance pressures 237; positives 237; vexing challenges 236–237 women’s choice in education: Dalit-Adivasi women 156–157; in different subject areas 153, 153; diversity of programmes 149–150; employment 151, 157; female students from SC and ST 152; gender-wise 149, 149–150; identities 148; OBC students 154, 156; patriarchal families 151; patriarchy 149; social construction of marginality 157; students from general category 154, 155 women’s employment 4, 9, 9, 23, 230; nature and sectors of 29–35, 30, 32–34, 36; unemployment rates 29; work participation rates 27–28, 28, 29 women’s leadership in Indian HE 10–12, 16, 183, 213–214, 229–230; barriers to 230–232; culture and society as barriers 268–269; glass ceiling fall 220–221; glass ceiling up 221–223; implications and limitations 274–275; leadership role 234–235; management strategies see leadership; networking and mentorship for 273; opportunity 233–234; personal experiences 235–237; personal journey 232–233; positions 242; public and private institutions 233, 239, 240–241; self-imposed barriers 269 women’s participation 228; across OECD countries 229–230; in professional courses 230

319

I ndex

women’s study centres (WSC) 213–214 Women Who Changed the World 303 work participation rates (WPR) 7, 27–28, 28, 29, 183

Yadav, Renu 115n2 Zippel, Kathrin S. 185

320