page_title: Women in science
section_title: South Asia
hierarchical_section_title: Women in science / Statistics / Regional trends as of 2013 / South Asia
context_page_description: The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments of women, the barriers they have faced, and the strategies implemented to have their work peer-reviewed and accepted in major scientific journals and other publications. The historical, critical, and sociological study of these issues has become an academic discipline in its own right.
  The involvement of women in the field of medicine occurred in several early civilizations, and the study of natural philosophy in ancient Greece was open to women. Women contributed to the proto-science of alchemy in the first or second centuries AD. During the Middle Ages, religious convents were an important place of education for women, and some of these communities provided opportunities for women to contribute to scholarly research. The 11th century saw the emergence of the first universities; women were, for the most part, excluded from university education.
context_section_description: South Asia is the region where women make up the smallest proportion of researchers: 17%. This is 13 percentage points below sub-Saharan Africa. Of those countries in South Asia reporting data for 2009–2013, Nepal has the lowest representation of all (in head counts), at 8% (2010), a substantial drop from 15% in 2002. In 2013, only 14% of researchers (in full-time equivalents) were women in the region's most populous country, India, down slightly from 15% in 2009. The percentage of female researchers is highest in Sri Lanka (39%), followed by Pakistan: 24% in 2009, 31% in 2013. There are no recent data available for Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
  Women are most present in the private non-profit sector – they make up 60% of employees in Sri Lanka – followed by the academic sector: 30% of Pakistani and 42% of Sri Lankan female researchers. Women tend to be less present in the government sector and least likely to be employed in the business sector, accounting for 23% of employees in Sri Lanka, 11% in India and just 5% in Nepal. Women have achieved parity in science in both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but are less likely to undertake research in engineering. They represent 17% of the research pool in Bangladesh and 29% in Sri Lanka. Many Sri Lankan women have followed the global trend of opting for a career in agricultural sciences (54%) and they have also achieved parity in health and welfare. In Bangladesh, just over 30% choose agricultural sciences and health, which goes against the global trend. Although Bangladesh still has progress to make, the share of women in each scientific field has increased steadily over the past decade.
caption: Share of women among researchers employed in the business enterprise sector, 2013 or closest year. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 3.4, data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics.