Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: While Indian academia has demonstrated a significant commitment and made notable strides in enhancing women’s participation through various policies and funding schemes, women researchers continue to face structural barriers, deep-seated biases, and limited access to leadership opportunities. To foreground these issues and co-develop solutions, PowerBio, in partnership with IIT Bombay and IndiaBioscience, convened a two-day “Dialogue on Leadership Roles for Women in Shaping Indian Academia” (DLRWSA-2025). This gathering combined panel discussions with interactive brainstorming sessions involving around 60 women researchers from across the country. Even though many participants acknowledged signs of progress within the academic system, discussions revealed persistent inequities in recruitment, lab establishment, promotions, and leadership, alongside everyday challenges such as caregiving responsibilities and lackof visibility. Recognizing that statistics alone cannot capture these layered experiences, both the meeting and this article center on the lived realities of women researchers navigating historically patriarchal academic structures. As a meeting report, it also points to how insights from such dialogues can inform future policy and practice across Indian academic spaces. Key recommendations emerging from the dialogue include transparent hiring and promotion criteria, formal mentorship structures, gender-sensitization training, childcare support, and proactive nomination of women for leadership roles and awards. Participants emphasized that policies, while important, are insufficient on their own; systemic change also requires cultural shifts, accountability, and allyship across all levels of academia. We conclude that advancing gender equity in Indian academia is not merely about increasing women’s participation, but about reimagining academic structures in ways that allow women to thrive and lead.
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7160381908