Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, has recently launched the “Science for Women-A Technology and Innovation (SWATI)” portal, aiming to create an online portal that represents Indian women and girls in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine). According to the official announcement, the portal seeks to inspire women to pursue careers in science, both in academia and industry.
The “Science for Women- A Technology & Innovation (SWATI)” Portal is a complete interactive database and the first in India. The National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR) developed, hosted, and maintained it. It has come up under the leadership of Dr. Subha Chakraborty, Director, NIPGR. Professor Sood, who launched the digital platform on International Day of Women and Girls in Science at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in New Delhi, stated that the Swati portal’s database will be valuable in policymaking to address gender gaps.
Dr Chakraborty highlighted this aspect during his address, claiming that this is probably the world’s first interactive portal. She additionally cited data from the 2021 UN report to illustrate women’s underrepresentation in every sector. Chakraborty further emphasized that this is a dynamically developing portal, with efforts underway to include data from all female scientists in the country.
The event was organized to highlight the relevance of “Science for Women & Women in Science,” as well as emerging opportunities and women’s participation in S&T endeavours.
Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, President of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), added that even in the 21st century, we still have a way to address gender parity in all sectors of life. Education is a great equalizer, and access must be made available to women and girls across all streams.
Some of the additional objectives of the Swati Portal include rapidly scaling up initiatives to engage every Indian woman in science, at all career stages and disciplines, in both academia and industry, resulting in reliable and statistically significant long-term research on equity concerns. To be able to., promote inclusion and diversity in India; Cover every Indian YS, career stage, and subjects covering both academia and industry; To enable legitimate and statistically meaningful long-term study on issues of equality, diversity, and inclusion in India; provide active search engines and searchable databases (name, affiliation, area of interest).
