Assessing Gender Equity in Capacity Building Schemes in Indian Research

Abstract

The present study analyzed the gender dimension in capacity building schemes of Government of India, using a case study for Junior Research Fellowship Scheme of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-JRF) which is India’s top fellowship scheme for capacity building at early career development stage in science. The analysis was done for the scholars who qualified and joined the scheme during the decade 2010–2019. The results indicate that the number of female scholars qualified and enrolled (availed fellowship) under this scheme during the decade is overall considerably lower than male. Female scholars’ inclination was more towards life sciences, whereas male counterparts were more inclined towards physical and chemical sciences. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) varies among different states of India, with maximum numbers of qualified scholars (both male and female) were from West Bengal though male pass percentage dominated the qualifying exam, whereas Kerala showed the highest GPI of 3.02 during the last 10 years with more number of enrolled female scholars. However, few states and union territories showed least GPI due to zero enrollment for female scholars despite qualifying exam. This study provides a new dimension for future policy studies based on the knowledge/evidence of gender parity in capacity building schemes.