Private firms employ more women in R&D

According to data in the Science and Technology Indicators (STI), 2018, a periodic compendium of the state of scientific research in India, the private sector research companies of India appear to employ a larger proportion of women in core research and development activities than government-funded major scientific agencies do.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

Of the 20,351 women employed in private R&D companies, 15,011 — or about three in four — were involved in “R&D activities” and the rest in “auxiliary or administrative activities”.

However, of the 23,008 women in “major scientific agencies”, fewer than half — or 10,138 — were in the same ‘R&D activities’ category.

The 2018 indicators reiterate the historic trend of India’s scientists being overwhelmingly men. For every one of the 15,011 women counted earlier, there are six male scientists in private sector R&D establishments, or about 92,000.

The STI is prepared by a division of the Department of Science Technology, the National Science and Technology Management Information System, and is based on data provided by a range of scientific establishments across the country.