Breaking Barriers

When the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) introduced a supernumerary quota for women in 2018, it was hailed as a long-overdue step to correct a glaring imbalance in gender representation. By adding extra seats rather than slicing into existing numbers, the policy aimed at boosting inclusivity without triggering resentment. In raw terms, it worked: women’s enrolment rose to about 20 per cent, up from the dismal figures of the past. Yet, nearly seven years on, the needle has barely moved beyond this plateau.

This stagnation is telling. Expanding access was necessary, but it is not the same as creating belonging. A campus that was designed by and for men cannot be transformed merely by numerical adjustments. To their credit, IITs have taken strides towards change: safer and better hostel facilities, equitable recreational spaces, mental health support through AI tools, peer networks, and institutional innovations like IIT Kharagpur’s dean of well-being. These measures matter, especially in easing the social and psychological burden on women entering historically male-dominated spaces.

But the deeper challenge lies outside the campus walls. The mindset that pushes girls away from engineering begins much earlier — in classrooms where aptitude is gendered, in households where ambition is channeled towards “acceptable” careers, and in textbooks where women scientists are nearly invisible. To truly tilt the scales, school education must disrupt these biases. Pedagogy should foreground women innovators, workshops must train teachers to check unconscious prejudices, and curricula should actively encourage girls to question and build.

Government schemes like Vigyan Jyoti and UDAAN are valuable steps in this direction, offering mentorship, exposure and financial support to young girls. But their reach remains patchy, and their impact too uneven to counter the deep cultural funneling that keeps women away from technical fields. The irony is stark: women outnumber men in medicine, yet they remain scarce in engineering — not due to lack of talent but because of persisting stereotypes.

Encouragingly, India’s most ambitious scientific milestones — from ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission to Chandrayaan-2 — have women leaders at their helm. These achievements underscore a crucial point: the glass ceiling is not fixed; it cracks when women see themselves as part of the scientific continuum, not as rare exceptions.

The IITs’ quota has been a necessary foundation, but the real project is cultural — ensuring that when women walk into these institutions, they do so not as outsiders granted entry, but as rightful heirs to a legacy that has always included them.