UPSC SOCIOLOGY MAINS SYLLABUS
Paper 2 : Indian Society and Structure : (vii) Challenges of Social Transformation:
(a) Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems and sustainability.
(b) Poverty, deprivation and inequalities.
(c) Violence against women.
(d) Caste conflicts.
(e) Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.
(f) Illiteracy and disparities in education.
INTRODUCTION
The general bias against women which arose out of suspected capability of their intelligence and their mettle in undertaking the arduous task of research was quite common in the 20th century.
Gender issues, particularly gender inequality and discrimination in academia relating to higher education, perhaps came under the spotlight for the first time in India in 1933 when Kamala Sohonie approached Sir C.V. Raman to pursue research in physics under his guidance. The Nobel Laureate and illustrious director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, turned the request down on the ground that ‘she was a woman’.
MEANING OF GLASS CEILING
The term glass ceiling refers to a metaphorical invisible barrier that prevents certain individuals from being promoted to managerial- and executive-level positions within an organization or industry. The phrase is commonly used to describe the difficulties faced by women and minorities when trying to move to higher roles in a male-dominated corporate hierarchy.
GENESIS OF THE CONCEPT
Marilyn Loden first coined the phrase “glass ceiling” while speaking as a panelist at the 1978 Women’s Exposition in New York. As a fill-in for her employer’s only female executive, Loden was invited to discuss how women were to blame for the barriers preventing them from advancing in their careers. Instead, she spoke about deeper, ignored issues that historically kept women from occupying positions of authority: the glass ceiling.
REASONS FOR GLASS CEILING
- The demands for child care, housework and other life chores outside of work fall more heavily on women than on men. Higher paying occupations are more inflexible and require more time commitment.
- Prevailing culture of many businesses is a white male culture and such corporate climates alienate and isolate minorities and women.
- Lack of opportunities for career development, tailored training, and rotational job assignments that are on the revenue-producing side of the business.
- Little or no access to informal networks of communication.
- Counterproductive behavior and harassment by colleagues.
- Lack of opportunities for career development, tailored training, and rotational job assignments that are on the revenue-producing side of the business.
- Sexual, ethnic, racial, religious discrimination or harassment in the workplace.
- Lack of family-friendly workplace policies (or, on the flipside, policies that discriminate against gay people, non-parents, or single parents).
GLASS CEILING WORLDWIDE
According to available UNESCO data on some selected countries, India is at the lowest position, having only 14% female researchers working in STEM areas. But India is not very far behind many advanced countries in this aspect. For example, Japan has only 16% female researchers, the Netherlands 26%, the United States 27% and the United Kingdom 39%. Countries with a fairly good ratio in terms of an equal number of female and male researchers are South Africa and Egypt, with 45% female researchers each, and Cuba, at 49%. The highest number of female researchers are in Tunisia, Africa (55%) followed by Argentina (53%) and New Zealand (52%).
GLASS CEILING
In India, about 43% of women constitute the graduate population in STEM, which is one of the highest in the world, but there is a downside to this; only 14% of women join academic institutions and universities.
Although male and female participation in graduate studies is comparable, the participation of women in research has dropped significantly (27% female as compared to 73% male).
Even recognition of merit when it comes to women is sluggish when it comes to the total number of women fellows in the three science academies of India — 7% for the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), which was founded in 1934; 5% for the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), which was established in 1935, and 8% for the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), which was founded in 1930.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI): A pilot project under the Department of Science and Technology to promote gender equity in science and technology.
Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN): A plan under the Department of Science and Technology again to encourage women scientists in science and technology.
Creches: Some institutions are setting up creches so that the scientist mothers can carry on with their research work uninterrupted.
CONCLUSION
The glass ceiling, that invisible barrier to advancement that women face at the top levels of the workplace, remains as intractable as ever and is a drag on the economy. “In a world where talent is distributed equally among women and men, an economy that does not fully tap into the leadership skills offered by women is necessarily inefficient,”
