“How many female chemists can you name?”

“If I tell you to name a few key people in Chemistry in our country or your state, what will be the percentage of women on that list?”

“How many Chemistry graduates actually stay in the field and contribute to society, whether it is in academia or the industrial sector?”

Asking the questions

These were some of the questions I was asking one of my friends studying Chemistry. The answers are predictable, as we know. But the reasons are not well understood and even with the available understanding, we are far behind in improving the conditions of our educational, research and job sectors. And this is not only the case with Chemistry, but a general trend in most of the scientific fields in the country ^[1]. During the lockdown, several telecons with my friend Jasil made us think about this issue and we planned to undertake a study to trace out the career pathway of women in Chemistry. Our proposal for the study got accepted by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Inclusion and Diversity Grant and we started gathering information from the state of Kerala to answer some of our questions. Our main aim was to assess the key factors influencing women at various stages of their career pathways in Chemistry. Some solid answers from our study will help us in proposing suitable inclusive strategies in the academic and social atmosphere of Kerala; we hope.

Tracing the pathway

From the beginning itself, we were sure that the study should have an integrated approach and multi-subject background so that our answers would not be narrow or biased. Our informal students’ group of people from various backgrounds (Chemistry, Sociology, Psychology, Statistics, Education etc.) made this possible. After detailed planning of the study through online meetings during lockdown days, we started to build our databases. The social framework, historical and cultural advantages of the state often result in good positions in assessments and indices, for example, Gender Parity Index (GPI) and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of women in higher education. But the ‘leaky pipeline’ in the career pathway is evident in the state, generally in the country as well ^[2,3]. Understanding the social, economic, familial, religious, and marital factors behind the issue was critical in demystifying this contradictory pattern. Factors disfavouring women in Chemical Sciences in various career stages needed to be identified and the ones who are getting excluded from the mainstream due to their gender and associated issues should be supported; our team started preparing for this huge task in front of us. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and logistical limitations we were unable to conduct in-person surveys or any other physical forms of data collection. We overcame this situation by developing a digital database of all entities related to Chemical Science education and career in Kerala and sampled their women employees using online questionnaires and telephonic interviews.

What answers did we find?

Our online survey included a total of 76 questions including Likert scale, multiple choice, and yes/no type questions. To analyze the responses, we used parameters like the age of the respondent, highest educational qualification, nativity, religion, caste, category, institution type, educational qualification of parents, marital status, job designation, and education background (inside/outside Kerala at high school, graduation and PhD. levels). We used basic descriptive statistical analyses, likert analysis, ANOVA, and regression models using statistical programme R (v4.0.3), LibreOffice (v6.4.6.2), Google Sheets (v2020.11) and Tableau public (v2020.3).

Our preliminary results presented in the Royal Society of Chemistry Inclusion and Diversity Forum held in December 2020 revealed that the academic circumstances for women in the state are satisfactory in general. Even though families support women in pursuing their career, the pressure to get married shows an increasing trend from school to research levels. Agreeing with our prediction, 28 per cent of the respondents (N=201) said that they had to limit their career dreams after their marriage. A comparatively large percentage of Muslim women agreed that they had family pressure to get married than those of other religions during their school life and this pressure continued throughout their education pathway in an increasing manner. Also, we found that women whose life partners having a PhD and above educational qualification faced the most pressure to limit their career dreams, contradicting our hypothesis. Menstruation, pregnancy and maternity affect women’s career and the extent of the effect differs across various categories (caste, religion, partner’s /parents’ educational qualifications).

Which factors influence women to choose a career in Chemistry?

We found that teaching methods and laboratory experiments have the most influence on women being interested in chemistry and choosing a career in the subject. This was followed by reading books, science club activities and getting high marks in the subject. Most of the participants in the study were found to be satisfied with the lab facilities of their institutes, the opportunities they get, and the syllabus used in the state. Our preliminary results also reveal that career-related groups (social media pages/ associations/ career cell/ Walk with a Scholar etc.) have important roles in choosing the career pathway.

What limits women to dream of a good career in Chemistry?

The majority of the respondents opinionated that both girls and boys get equal opportunities though 24% of the respondents think that society promotes men in a Chemistry career more than women. We also asked our respondents about harassment/ bullying, gender bias in funding allocation and manuscript publishing/ reviewing in the state. These were found to be very less in the state. Women with family responsibilities were found to be facing difficulties in finishing their research work on time. The financial capacity of the family has not significantly affected the studies. But when we look at category wise results, women from the OBC and SC categories are facing financial restrictions which affect their studies compared with the general category.

The way forward

Respondents in our survey suggested a lot of improvements in the system including the need for reservation, scholarships and opportunities. We are continuing the study to collate more such ideas and detailed results for developing a policy framework for the state. We are also in the process of developing a Women in Chemistry Forum to facilitate further actions along with a mobile application to enhance collaboration of institutions across the state in conducting programmes, improving facilities, and connecting scholars!

“I really enjoyed answering your questionnaire. I dropped my first PhD for the sake of my family but took a doctorate during my second attempt, after qualifying UGC JRF at the age of 33, with two little kids in my hand. Struggled a lot to build a career in chemistry. I wish smart intelligent girls and deserving mothers should come up in their life and be rewarded for their great services to family and society.”

- A respondent in our survey [sentence structure edited for concept clarity]

References

1. Ray, D., & Samanta, T. (2020). “Motherhood Penalty?”: Examining Gender, Work, and Family among Science Professionals in India. Navigating Careers in the Academy: Gender, Race, and Class, 3(1), 37-51.

2. Mitra, A., and Singh, P. (2006). Human Capital Attainment and Female Labor Force Participation—The Kerala Puzzle. Journal of Economic Issues, 40(3), 779–798.

3. Bamji, M. S. et al. (2004). Science career for Indian women: An examination of Indian women’s access to and retention in scientific careers. Indian National Science Academy.

Disclaimer

Informed consent was acquired from each respondent participating in the survey and BERA Ethical Guidelines (2018) was followed throughout our study. All results and conclusions discussed in this article are preliminary in nature. This is an ongoing study supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry Inclusion and Diversity Fund (May 2020). For updates, please contact the author or follow the research update page.

Acknowledgements

We thank the following experts for their critical inputs during the study designing and review: Anugraha Merin Rajan PhD. (Department of Psychology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India); Ilyas Manakkadavan(Doctoral Fellow, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India; Fulbright Doctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley, US); Vinod Arya PhD. (Department of Sociology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India); Krishna Rani S. D. PhD. (Department of Statistics, Farook College (Autonomous), Kozhikode, Kerala, India)

We also wish to thank the following people for their inputs in the study: Jaseem (Dept. of Political Science), Wasi (Dept. of Sociology, Aligarh Muslim University, India); Nadeeda Shada P. N., Femina Sherin O. V., Sahlath (Dept. of Chemistry), Fida K.C. (Dept. of English, Farook College); Anaswar K. (Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala); Geetha K. (PKMMHSS Edarikode, Malappuram, Kerala); Noushad (IUHSS Parappur, Malappuram, Kerala); Vaishnav C. (Govt. Engineering College, Thrissur, Kerala); Rinsiya C. (Govt. Engineering College, Kozhikode, Kerala).