Achievements and Struggles of Women Scientists in India

Abstract

Recently the Google Arts and Culture portal added an online collection titled “Women Scientists of India”[1] to pay tribute to seventeen women Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc) who have passed away. While this collection was obtained from the IASc publication “Lilavati’s Daughters”,[2] another publication comes to our mind depicting the lives and achievements of Indian women scientists, namely, “Scientifically Yours: Selected Indian Women Scientists”.[3] In “Lilavati’s Daughters” the women scientists presented their memoirs and narrated how did they overcome socio-cultural barriers to pursue their scientific or academic career. The western education they received during their schooling and graduate studies led to a definite career pathway, which was a rarity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.