{"id":74287,"date":"2026-05-19T17:47:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=74287"},"modified":"2026-05-19T18:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:27:40","slug":"gender-caregiving-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/19-05-2026\/gender-caregiving-research","title":{"rendered":"Gender, Caregiving &#038; Law in Indian Research Funding\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/Society; GS2\/Social Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As India seeks to emerge as a global scientific power through achievements in space missions, pharmaceuticals, and innovation, concerns remain regarding the structural barriers faced by women researchers, particularly during mid-career stages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Women in Academia and Their Role<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the <strong>All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22,<\/strong> India had <strong>nearly 16 lakh faculty members<\/strong>, and <strong>57% were male<\/strong> and <strong>43% female.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women remain significantly underrepresented in STEM institutions, senior faculty positions, and research leadership roles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Female enrolment in higher education has risen steadily, with the <strong>Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)<\/strong> for women marginally exceeding that of men in recent years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, <strong>representation declines sharply<\/strong> in senior academic and STEM leadership positions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reports by the <strong>Department of Science and Technology (DST)<\/strong> and <strong>Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)<\/strong> indicate lower application and success rates for women in research grants and fellowships.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Women researchers often face interruptions during the postdoctoral and early faculty stages due to childbirth and caregiving responsibilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Constitutional Basis for Gender-Sensitive Policies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 15(3): <\/strong>It empowers the State to make <strong>special provisions for women and children<\/strong>, thereby constitutionally validating affirmative action policies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 16: <\/strong>It guarantees <strong>equality of opportunity in public employment<\/strong> while allowing corrective measures for historically disadvantaged groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP): <\/strong>Articles such as <strong>Article 39(a)<\/strong> advocate equal right to livelihood and fair opportunities for all citizens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 51A(e): <\/strong>It imposes a <strong>fundamental duty<\/strong> on citizens to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Institutional systems that systematically disadvantage women researchers violate the spirit of this constitutional principle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Legislative Gaps Affecting Women Researchers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017: <\/strong>It extended paid maternity leave <strong>from 12 weeks to 26 weeks<\/strong> for eligible women employees and mandated cr\u00e8che facilities in establishments with 50 or more employees.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, many women researchers work through fellowships, contractual appointments, and project-based positions which often remain outside the effective coverage of the Act.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Absence of Statutory Paternity Leave: <\/strong>India lacks a comprehensive statutory framework on paternity leave.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Central government employees receive <strong>only 15 days leave<\/strong> under administrative rules, and many <strong>research scholars are excluded<\/strong> even from this provision, reinforcing the assumption that caregiving is primarily a woman\u2019s responsibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Reintegration Support: <\/strong>A major weakness in current policy is the absence of structured support after maternity leave. Women returning to research often face disrupted experiments, delayed publications, broken collaborations, and missed grant deadlines.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Most institutions expect immediate restoration of productivity despite these disruptions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other Gaps Affecting Women Researchers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Career Breaks and Age Constraints: <\/strong>Women commonly face research interruptions during childbirth and childcare years.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since academic progression depends heavily on publication timelines, grant eligibility, and international collaboration, such breaks disproportionately affect women.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Although agencies like SERB provide age relaxation for women applicants, this addresses only eligibility criteria and not the broader structural barriers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Re-entry Support: <\/strong>Women returning after maternity leave often face disrupted laboratory work, broken collaborations, reduced publication output and difficulty in securing grants.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is limited institutional support for reintegration into active research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unequal Domestic Responsibilities: <\/strong>Women in dual-career academic households continue to perform a larger share of domestic and caregiving work.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It reduces research productivity, conference participation, networking opportunities, and international academic visibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inadequate Institutional Infrastructure: <\/strong>Many universities and laboratories lack functional cr\u00e8che facilities, flexible work arrangements, caregiver-friendly policies, mental health and counselling support.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As a result, women researchers often struggle to balance academic and personal responsibilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited Recognition of Other Caregivers: <\/strong>Current policies focus largely on women-specific age relaxation but often ignore single fathers, caregivers of elderly parents, and researchers with dependent family responsibilities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A broader caregiving-sensitive framework is still missing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exclusion of Other Caregivers: <\/strong>Current policies overlook single fathers, researchers caring for elderly parents, and persons with dependent family responsibilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Efforts and Initiatives to Fill the Gaps<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Judicial: <\/strong>In <strong>Vijay Lakshmi vs Punjab University (2003)<\/strong>, the Supreme Court distinguished between <strong>formal equality<\/strong> (same treatment), and <strong>substantive equality<\/strong> (equitable outcomes).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court upheld preferential provisions for women where they address genuine structural disadvantages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Government Initiatives:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Women Scientist Scheme of DST: <\/strong>It provides opportunities for women scientists who had career breaks to return to research.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>SERB-POWER Scheme: <\/strong>It aims to reduce gender disparity in science and engineering research through dedicated funding and fellowships for women researchers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) Programme: <\/strong>It promotes gender equity in STEM institutions through institutional reforms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: <\/strong>It emphasises institutional flexibility, faculty welfare, inclusive education, and gender inclusion funds.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, many provisions remain non-binding and require effective implementation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward: Towards Layered Support Systems<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Measures Needed: <\/strong>Funding agencies such as SERB and UGC should consider:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Re-entry Fellowships: <\/strong>Dedicated fellowships for women returning after career breaks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No-Cost Grant Extensions: <\/strong>Automatic extensions for researchers with documented caregiving responsibilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Flexible Evaluation Systems: <\/strong>Assessment based on \u2018academic age\u2019 rather than chronological age.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Childcare Support: <\/strong>Funding for childcare during conferences, field visits, and research travel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender-Neutral Caregiving Provisions: <\/strong>Additional support for researchers with significant caregiving responsibilities irrespective of gender.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Daily Mains Practice Question<\/strong><br><strong>[Q] <\/strong>Critically examine the need for women-specific support measures in India\u2019s research ecosystem. Discuss the gaps in current policies and suggest reforms for a more inclusive and equitable academic environment.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/gender-caregiving-the-law-in-indian-research-funding\/article70994982.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Daily-Editorial-Analysis-19-05-2026.pdf\"><strong>Download PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Published on:<\/strong> 19 may, 2026<\/p>\n<p>As India seeks to emerge as a global scientific power through achievements in space missions, pharmaceuticals, and innovation, concerns remain regarding the structural barriers faced by women researchers, particularly during mid-career stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":74290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gender-caregiving-law-in-indian-research-funding-.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74327,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74287\/revisions\/74327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}