Gender Disparities in STEM Education and Patterns of Female Participation in India

Abstract

This study explores the gender disparities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in India over ten years, spanning from 2012 to 2022, using data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the academic year 2021-22. The focus is on engineering and science disciplines across different levels of education—undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG), MPhil, and PhD. Using Becker’s D coefficient to measure the degree of gender imbalance, the analysis reveals that male students consistently dominate engineering programs, especially at the UG and PhD levels, where the D coefficient regularly exceeds 1, indicating a significant overrepresentation of males. While there are some positive trends at the MPhil level, where female participation occasionally surpasses male enrollment, the data suggests that women continue to face challenges advancing into doctoral research in engineering. In science fields, the gender dynamics are more balanced. Female students outnumber males at the PG and MPhil levels, as reflected by negative D coefficients. The UG level shows a relatively equal distribution between genders, with a slight female majority in recent years, which mirrors broader national trends of increasing female participation in science. However, male dominance returns at the PhD level, highlighting the structural obstacles that women encounter in pursuing advanced research careers in science. These findings underscore the importance of targeted policy interventions to address these disparities and promote gender equity in STEM education, particularly in engineering and at the doctoral level.