Why women scientists don't make it to the top? The social and cultural dynamics of exclusion and bias

<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences</strong> <strong>CSSS Colloquium</strong> <strong>Prof. V. Sujatha</strong> (Jawaharlal Nehru University) a talk on <strong>Why women scientists don't make it to the top? The social and cultural dynamics of exclusion and bias</strong> Date : <strong>September 15th 2016</strong> <strong>Abstract:</strong> It is common knowledge that fewer women scientists than men make it to the Nobel Prize, other coveted awards and privileged positions, anywhere in the world. Concepts like 'glass ceiling effect' are often used to explain this phenomenon. This paper argues that the explanatory power of terms like 'glass ceiling' is limited, as it does not distinguish the nuances of social asymmetry in different societies. Besides the cultural basis of bias is not the same in all social settings because similar patterns of inequality may often be attributed to different cultural stereotypes. Drawing on a sociology of knowledge perspective and triangulating empirical data with narratives men and women scientists from India and abroad, the paper tries to demonstrate that liberties and rights of women are not cumulative. The countries with maximum civil liberties for women may have lower enrolment of women in science and technology fields and the lowest presence of women scientists in tenured positions and, those with relatively poor record of women's liberties may have a higher enrolment rates for women and greater proportion of women making it to higher positions. In the Indian context, the entry of women from socially disadvantaged sections into engineering education requires more attention from Science and Technology Studies (STS) than given. It is therefore necessary to view exclusion and discrimination beyond the rights perspective and comparatively analyze the differential dynamic of structure and culture across societies. Bio: V.Sujatha teaches at the CSSS, JNU. Her field of specialization is sociology of knowledge and sociology of health and medicine. She has written two monographs, Health by the people and Sociology of health and medicine: New Perspectives and has edited one collection titled, Medical pluralism in contemporary India (Co-editor Leena Abraham), apart from other articles. Her attempt has been to bring medical pluralism into the heart of social theory and to show how comparative perspective could yield more insights over insular studies while dealing with questions of marginality.