Lab Hopping

Why are there still so few women in Indian science? Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj set out to find the real story by visiting laboratories across the country, from Bhopal to Bhubaneswar and from Bangalore to Jammu.

Along the way they talk with well-known scientists such as Gagandeep Kang, Rohini Godbole, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Prajval Shastri, and with researchers who are earlier in their careers. These conversations cover both the triumphs and the difficulties of women in science, and they offer fresh views on a gender gap that remains a problem in Indian science.

The labs hold many stories of women who keep going despite apathy, stereotypes, sexism and wider systemic and institutional obstacles. Those stories show a system that is failing many people and also the efforts of remarkable women to repair it. The authors ask whether India is doing enough to support women in science and whether western models of science and feminism can really be applied here. The result is a broad look at where women in Indian science stand today and a roadmap for what should change.