We are two women working in the science sector in Nepal. We have many things in common, both professionally and personally—we like creativity and innovation, we are overjoyed when our articles get published in scientific journals and newspapers, and we love momo, tea, and some good desserts. There aren’t many things that we dislike—but hey! The overpowering effects of patriarchy in our personal and professional lives is something we wish we could change.
From daily household lives to professional settings, gender norms have been influencing the functioning of our society. Although it can seem like patriarchy favors men in many ways, it has been disadvantageous to all genders. We see women in every sector balancing their personal and professional commitments. We also see men struggling with the mental stress of having to be the main breadwinner of the family and showing a stronger front to society, regardless of the level of stress. Every society develops better with gender equity, which benefits both men and women. In this article, we write about the common, but less discussed unjust disparities experienced by women who are developing their careers or working professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and present our viewpoints on how we can empower women and create opportunities to become responsive to the needs and aspire to achieve gender equity in Nepal.
In Nepal, STEM is relatively a younger discipline and approximately 20 percent of students at the university level belong to STEM. Among them, only one-third are female. One of the reasons for the underrepresentation in education is the perceived gender-based roles at home in our society. Our gendered society has also forced many men and women to take up educational streams that do not necessarily align with their interests and consequently resulted in the acceptance of conventions of gender in many professional sectors. Men are stimulated to take up engineering, mathematics, or other science subjects that are seen as ‘more suitable’ for men, whereas women are encouraged to take up training such as nursing, caretaking, or hospitality, which are traditionally seen as ‘feminine’ roles. The societal dynamics provide men opportunities to formalize their careers in STEM, women to take lower-paying jobs and limited skill development opportunities. Therefore, to break this status quo, we as women and society need to rethink gender norms, provide motivation, including finances, and create the opportunity for everyone to choose the subjects which align with their unique interests and skills.
The consequences of men overwhelming women in STEM can prevent women from contributing their skills to society. Until a few decades ago, only a few women could enter the STEM sector and many significant achievements by female scientists were ignored, or credit was attributed to male colleagues. One such example is that of Rosalind Franklin who provided the key to cracking the double helix structure of Nucleic Acid using X-ray crystallography images. But the discovery was attributed to her male colleagues James Watson and Francis Crick, who not only won the Nobel prize in 1953 but also the model became popularly known as the Watson and Crick model. She was not acknowledged in the fanfare around the discovery. To our surprise, there are many similar incidents and these continue to happen. The broader scientific society then often did not trust the scientific results provided by a woman, and women still face profound challenges to be recognized as competent in the field.
Today, along with our progressing society, the demand for STEM and the interest in the topic are on the rise, both among women and men. Therefore, it is imperative to create gender-friendly conducive working environments. Many working women in STEM share that despite having similar years of working experience and credibility as their male counterparts, they are often labeled as incapable or under-experienced and become victims of financial partisanship. When and if they achieve promotion, it is common for women to have inadequate decision-making positions within organizations. Women often experience intolerable family and workplace coercion and mental and sexual harassment. When these incidents become consistent without any punitive actions, women become demoralized, feel powerless, develop self-doubts, and are unable to claim their rights and advocate for their development. Therefore, if we want to live in a transformative society and promote social and professional positions for women, we need to have a more gender-inclusive team within STEM. To achieve this, we must ensure the correct implementation of gender-friendly working policies and actions. Inclusive, safe and decent working conditions in STEM will lead to sharing of perspectives from all gender angles, which foster true innovation and the emergence of newer ideas.
To develop leadership and address the inequality in power in STEM, women should challenge and change the perceived docile role of women in society. We have recognized that there are some implicit biases among people and internalized biases among women themselves regarding women’s capabilities and commitment to STEM. This often makes them ‘invisible’ and raises questions about the value of their accomplishments. Therefore, this implicit bias must be challenged by equal and respectful inclusion of women in STEM. This requires support from all concerned. Both women and especially men can be advocates for women. Women can play a crucial role in changing social dynamics, by supporting each other to break conventional gender norms. Women leaders and activists, for example, are now more vocal about challenging the perceived gender roles in society and the workplace and creating growth opportunities for themselves and others like them. Male colleagues are consequently more aware of the challenges faced by women forging a career in STEM and becoming allies. When women and men challenge and demand their rightful positions at the workplace, it can create a more gender-friendly environment for all. In addition, to develop and strengthen the capacity of women at all levels, mentoring and guidance from a range of male and female mentors can be a game changer. Women mentors can provide a personal lived experience to guide other women through the unique obstacles that women tend to face while male mentors can often provide an impartial view of the issues, and support women to challenge gender bias.
Different perspectives can help us to reframe our approach and identify the correct actions to achieve our own version of success in our careers. Young women should take pride in their work, develop their agency to communicate, negotiate, and advocate for themselves and demand their rights to progress successfully in their careers. All in all, amidst the impediments along the life course of women, strong family support can provide the willpower to persevere and achieve successful careers for women in STEM.
Bravo! Many women globally and in Nepal have fought sociocultural and physical hurdles and crossed the status quo to accomplish their career goals in STEM. Some of such women leaders in STEM in Nepal are Dr Madhu Dixit Devkota, Executive Director of Upendra Devkota Memorial National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences; Dr Abhilasha Karkey, Director of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU Nepal); Dr Prativa Pandey, Founder and CEO of Catalyst Technologies and Herveda Botanicals; Pratikshya Pandey, Engineer and CEO of Smart Cheli; and Ms Sonika Manandhar, Co-founder/Chief Technology Officer, Aloi Technologies. They have earned accolades in their fields and these achievements provide vital role models for younger women and stimulate recognition of women’s roles and contributions to STEM.
Along with the many existing challenges, the world also has a lot more opportunities and freedom of expression for women than it had before. Now is the time to build multi-sectoral support along the journey of women’s careers in STEM. The question for us now is about sustainability and the enhancement of the progress made so far. How can we develop our society to take up shared responsibilities and boost the passion of women interested in taking their career path to a higher level? Every year, on Feb 11, the world celebrates the International day of Women and Girls in Science. Let us commit to fully recognizing the achievements of women in science and society throughout the year, not just on a single day.
Dixit, a public health researcher, is passionate about developing evidence that informs people-centric healthcare models. She leads the Birat Nepal Medical Trust research unit and is a PhD student at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Shrestha is a public health professional. Her areas of interest are infectious and non-infectious diseases, sexual and reproductive health and social determinants of health
