Trained Scientific Women Power: How Much are we Losing and Why?

living in nuclear families. 78.4 per cent of the total
group has also reported living in nuclear families.
(For details regarding marriage and children
and family, refer Appendix II, tables 11 -17).
The highest majority of the group (45.9 per cent)
reported that their husbands were doctorates and
43.2 per cent reported that their husbands were
engaged in Science research, teaching or
consultancy. The highest proportion of this group
reported having spouses with doctorate degrees as
well as working in Science, compared to the other
two groups. (Refer Appendix II, tables 18 and
19 for details). Interestingly the highest proportion
of this group (32.4 per cent) has also reported
that their husbands were engaged in the same
field / organization as themselves. With many
institutes having informal policies disallowing couples
to work in the same institution, the higher proportion
of women in this group having spouses in the same
field or organization perhaps affected their
continuation in Science, since it is the women who
usually sacrifice their careers for the sake of their
husbands or families.
Employment and Organizational Profile
Questions regarding employment and organization
asked refer to the previous jobs held or applied to.
Of 74 women, 31 (41.9 per cent) have reported
applying to jobs previously. Interestingly, the
highest proportion of this group has applied to jobs
previously. The largest proportion of the responses
from those who applied for jobs (66.7 per cent)
showed not having got the jobs as reason for their
not taking up the job*, while 15 per cent of the
responses showed disenabling organizational
factors (which include long/inflexible hours, no room
for professional growth and lack of daycare facilities
at the workplace) as the reason. Scientists in general
perceive reporting disenabling organizational factors
as making a case for special treatment and
overlooking merit. This results in women scientists
carrying the burden of protecting merit and thus
underplaying organizational factors that may impede
their entry/ upward mobility in formal S&T work
spaces. The percentage of women who have reported
not having got the jobs is significantly higher
compared to the other two groups. (Refer
Appendix II, table 21 for details).
Note: The question was a multiple response question and the total
number of responses received exceed the actual number of
respondents.
With respect to breaks * in career, the highest majority
of responses (42.2 per cent) indicated care of
children / elders as reason for the breaks. The
proportion of responses received from this group with
respect to the above mentioned reason is lower than
the proportion of responses received from the other
two groups for the same reason. A significantly
higher proportion of responses from this group (21.9
per cent) also show breaks due to difficulty in
finding appropriate jobs, advisors or
institutions, compared to the other two groups.
Research Productivity and Networking Profile
Seventy women from the group (94.6 per cent)
reported having authored papers or filing
patents. The highest proportion of the group
reported publishing joint/multi-author research
papers in refereed journals (59, 79.7 per cent;
mean = 14.0, SD = 32.9). The second highest
proportion of the group reported publishing
individual research papers in refereed journals
(35.1 per cent, mean = 5.85, SD = 15.9).
Majority of the women from the group reported being
members of professional organizations, and only 41
per cent reported not being members of
professional organizations.
Fifty per cent of the group also reported attending
conferences and workshops twice or more per
year. The highest proportion of the responses (33.1
per cent) indicate that the reason for attending
conferences or workshops * was to keep
themselves updated or increase their
knowledge base. The second highest proportion
of responses (24.8 per cent) indicate attending
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