Bhubaneswar: Even as Bhubaneswar-born nuclear scientist Elina Mishra has the spotlight on 2025 International Women’s Day, when for the second time PM Modi has given top women achievers to take over PM’s social media pages – X, FB and Insta, the Women and Men in India Report has a very disheartening numbers for Odisha.
As per the report, when it comes to number of teachers/professors imparting education in tertiary education institutions, Odisha fares poorer than Chhattsigarh.
The number count shows Odisha has 13,518 women teachers/professors in educational institute imparting higher education. The female proportion to the total has been estimated at 35.94%.
On the contrary, in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, which is predominantly known as a tribal state, when the count of women teacher/professors have been estimated at 8427 (the smaller count is due to its small size), the proportion of female teachers/professors in the total estimated at a healthy 46.24%.
ODISHA WOMEN PROFESSORS INTAKE ON RISE
As per the data available, the number of male teachers/professors in the State in the year 2018-19 stood at 21,920, the same in the year 2022 went up at 24,090. The increase has been around 9.6%.
On the other hand, the total count of women teachers/professors in the year 2018-19 stood at 11,178, and the numbers in 2022 has increased to 13,518. The growth in female teachers/professors have been higher at around 22%
The higher growth rate shows more women have joined at the teacher/professor level in higher educational institutions in the State, which indicates higher women participation at high level.
A glance, however, shows that the share of women professors/teachers in 2018-19 in the State has been 33.77%, and the proportion has grown faster to touch nearly 36% (35.94) in 2022.
CHHATTISGARH SHOW BETTER
Notwithstanding a tribal State, neighbouring Chhattisgarh women representation at the level of Sr teacher/professor has been higher at 43.21% in 2018-19, the proportion increased to 46.24% in 2022.
An absolute count shows that number of women professors/teachers in Chhattisgarh stands at 8,427 in 2022 vis-a-vis 7,121 in 2018-19.
The numbers shows neighbouring Chhattisgarh women representation in the teaching faculty at the level of higher education is growing at a faster rate than Odisha.
- In odisha, women representation proportion was up by 2.17%
- Whereas in Chhattisgarh, the representation was up by 3.03%
- This shows neighbouring Chhattisgarh will go for gender parity sooner than Odisha.
SPOT WHY THE POOR SHOW?
A look at the latest AISHE 2021-22 shows why the women representation at the level of professors in Odisha has been slower than Chhattisgarh.
- The Phd enrolment in Chhattisgarh shows that in year 2017-18: 425 female, male 740
- In the year 2022, the proportion stands at: Female – 917, male- 970.
- The numbers show male and female enrolment count has almost reaching the parity level.
- The reason, women Phd enrolment has been up by a massive 115.7%
- On the other hand, the rise in men enrolment very slower at 31%.
ODISHA:
- In Odisha, the men and women enrolment at the Phd level stood at 1671 and 1311, respectively.
- In 2022, the enrolment count stands at Men – 2668, women – 1550.
- The above numbers clearly show when enrolment of men has grown at a higher rate of 59.66%
- In case of women, the rise in enrolment has been mere 18.2%
The above comparative study shows women enrolment for Phd courses, which is considered essential for Professor/Sr teacher like Reader post, in Odisha has been very slow compared to Chhattisgarh, and the consequence is women representation at the higher level in Odisha is far below Chhattisgarh.
WHY LOW ENROLMENT: ELINA MISHRA MAKES BIG STATEMENT
“I am Elina Mishra, a nuclear scientist and I am thrilled to be helming the PM’s social media properties on #WomensDay.”
Introducing herself, the young N-scientist, working in the field of electromagnetism, accelerator physics and technology, from Odisha said big:
- I hail from Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
- I come from a family with a strong academic background and thus, they created a ripe environment to learn science.
- My interest and inquisitiveness for science developed due to my father, who is my inspiration and whom I have seen relentlessly working towards his research.
- N-scientist Elina’s statement that she pursued higher studies in science, and the big factor behind has been family with a strong academic background.
- This statement speaks all about why fewer women pick up Phd courses in the State.
Elina was awarded Young Engineer Award by the Indian Society for Particle Accelerators(ISPA). The award was in recognition for:
- Development of magnetic and RF (Radio Frequency) characterisation of Drift Tube Linac cavities for Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA).
- A 20 MeV (Mega Electron Volt) proton beam was successfully accelerated.
- Developed several quadrupole magnets and beam steering dipole corrector magnets for 800 MeV Proton Improvement Plan (PIP-II) project of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Chicago, under the Indian Institutes Fermilab Collaboration (IIFC),
- Developed a low-cost, compact, portable, cryo-free, lightweight Halbach based permanent magnet dipole with an in-built magnetic field gradient for medical applications
system, which can be easily transported to remote areas, where diagnosis and imaging facilities negligible.
