The S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, India, organized a 3-day international conference on Women in Quantum Science and Technologies from July 17 to 19, 2024. This conference was organized as a part of a celebration of the centenary of the seminal paper regarding Bose–Einstein statistics that was published in 1924. Despite the prevalence of male-dominated scientific societies at that time, Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose was sensitive to gender diversity issues. He supervised Dr. Purnima Sinha, the first woman who graduated with a PhD in physics from Calcutta University. Hence, it was particularly fulfilling to organize this conference, dedicated to women in quantum science and technologies, as part of the commemoration of 100 years of Bose-Einstein statistics. The 3-day conference consisted of six role-model talks from accomplished women scientists, two panel discussions, three special lectures, 10 invited talks from young women scientists with research spanning the spectrum of quantum science and technologies, and a poster session presented by PhD students.

At the inaugural session, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, said, “Despite the significant progress, the journey for women in science has been fraught with several challenges. We should recognize and honor the contributions of women in the field of science and technology.” Prof. Karandikar highlighted that in the past few years, DST has taken several initiatives that have increased the participation of women in science and technology. Ms. A. Dhanalakshmi, joint secretary (DST), highlighted the need for companies and research institutions to adopt policies that provide a work-life balance, actively combat implicit biases, and create an inclusive culture, as they are changes that will not only benefit women but also enhance the overall quality of research and innovation in India. Prof. Umesh Waghmare, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and president of the Indian Academy of Sciences emphasized that the first step toward overcoming the problem of gender imbalance in the sciences is to acknowledge and accept that there is an implicit bias as far as gender is concerned, irrespective of the place and country. He also brought to attention that only 2% of the job applications in quantum science and technologies, particularly in industries, were from women and that more than 80% of the companies involved in quantum science and technology had no women in senior positions. Prof. Madhu Dixit, vice-president of the Indian National Science Academy stated, “The underrepresentation of women in many scientific fields, including quantum science is not due to a lack of talent, drive, or potential, but rather the result of systemic barriers and biases that have historically limited women's access to education, resources, and opportunities. Today, we are here to acknowledge these challenges and, more importantly, to take collective action to overcome them.” Prof. Indranil Manna, vice-chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, and president of the Indian National Academy of Engineers, said that the growth of the nation is linked to utilizing the full potential of all of society. Prof. Rohini Godbole, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and vice-president of the Indian Academy of Sciences recollected the words of Prof. Amartya Sen that long gone are the days when women were seen to be the passive recipients of the fruits of development to improve their lot; rather, women should now be seen as equal agents of change and development. She emphasized that there is no genetic difference between men and women when it comes to doing science. However, in scientific disciplines, the crucial postdoctoral period where one develops as an independent scientist also occurs when the biological clock regarding fertility is also ticking away, which is something that is beyond our control. She concluded by saying that she looks forward to the day when we do not have to talk about women scientists and engineers but rather, we just talk about scientists and engineers, who happen to be women Fig. 1.

The scientific program consisted of six talks by role-model speakers delivered by accomplished women scientists in the domain of quantum science. The objective of these talks was to inspire the younger generation. Following this objective, all the role-model speakers reserved the first half of their talks to convey their scientific journey, their respective struggles, and the ways they overcame those struggles. Prof. Rupamanjari Ghosh, the former vice-chancellor of Shiv Nadar University, talked about the issue of gender imbalance in physics education, careers, and leadership. She recounted that she was the first and last female PhD student of her supervisor Prof. Leonard Mandel and hence was like a “rare sample”. She talked about major obstacles that women face such as weighing a possible career break due to maternity leave, the absence of proper childcare facilities, and the lack of mobility because of family responsibilities that in turn lead to missed promotions and stalled career goals. She stressed that a gender-rich rather than just a gender-neutral society is both desirable and beneficial. She also presented her scientific achievements including the well-known Ghosh-Mandel experiment about the non-local effects in the interference of two photons.

Prof. Shohini Ghose, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, said she along with most women has a superpower called “invisibility” in various places like classrooms, workplaces, etc. She demonstrated this superpower by a simple Google search with the phrase “famous physicists”. As she kept scrolling through the results, Google kept showing the picture of male physicists with the mere exception of Marie Curie. However, if the phrase is changed to “famous women physicists”, Google does show various women physicists but somehow does not include them in the general pool of famous physicists. This exercise highlights that the invisibility of women in physics is such that even search algorithms fail to find them.

Prof. Anjana Devi from the Institute for Materials Chemistry (IMC) at Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) Dresden recollected her journey from her BSc days to becoming the director of IMC, IFW Dresden. She focused on her struggles at different stages in her career—as a PhD student at IISc Bangalore, India, to a postdoctoral researcher in Europe, to a faculty position at Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany.

Prof. Aditi Sen-De, Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) Prayagraj, observed that many students (both male as well as female) prefer male faculty members as supervisors since they assume that women supervisors will give them less time due to competing family commitments. She emphasized to the young participants that postdoctoral research is a crucial period and a supportive supervisor and family at this stage goes a long way toward supporting the career of women in science Fig. 2.

Apart from the role-model talks, there were three special lectures. The first one was by Prof. Sukanya Sinha, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)Bengaluru, who spoke about her mother Purnima Sinha, PhD student of Prof. S. N. Bose. She motivated the young participants by describing how her mother broke gender stereotypes in the 1950s by doing carpentry as well as masonry work. Her scientific struggles included developing her experimental setup from World War II scrap materials. Prof. Sumathi Rao, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) Bengaluru, gave the second special lecture, entitled “History of working group of women in Physics in India”. She commented that while the situation of gender imbalance has improved as compared to what it was a couple of decades ago, post-graduation it is still a challenge to retain women candidates in scientific fields. The third special lecture was given by Dr. Vandana Singh, DST. She highlighted the results from a survey conducted by DST in 2021 that revealed that the percentage of women in the workforce in science and technology in India is 18.6% as compared to the global average of 28%, even though higher education has about 50% women. She then presented the initiatives and special schemes such as Women in Science and Engineering-KIRAN (WISE-KIRAN), which includes support for PhD and postdoctoral applicants, internship programs, as well as overseas opportunities. The Vigyan Jyoti scheme by DST supports girls attending primary school, especially in under-represented areas of math, physics, and engineering. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) power grant provides research grants and fellowships to women scientists.

There were about ten talks by young women faculty members from various research institutes and universities across the country such as IISc Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, Calcutta University, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Raman Research Institute (RRI), IIT Kanpur, and IIT Palakkad. The talks were mostly scientific covering broad areas in quantum science and technology, including topological insulators, spintronics, ultra-cold atoms, and magnetic sensing. The PhD students presented their work in a poster session during the conference.

In addition to various individual presentations, there were two panel discussions. The first panel discussion was entitled, “Challenges faced by women in higher education and ways to overcome them”. The panelists included Prof. Rohini Godbole (Indian Institute of Science), Prof. Chandrima Shaha (Indian Institute of Chemical Biology), Prof. Subhra Chakraborty (National Institute of Plant Genome and Research), Prof. Vandana Nanal (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and Prof. Suchetana Chatterjee (Presidency University). All of the panelists discussed their respective motivations for becoming scientists and their role models. The panelists also recollected instances where they faced difficulties in their scientific journey, such as objections from families, studying in co-ed colleges, and going abroad to broaden their studies. One of the panelists pointed out that she could sense skepticism from her colleagues, particularly when she would work longer than usual working hours. The discussions among the panelists and the interaction with the audience resulted in several suggestions/changes that could be implemented to reduce gender imbalances in the sciences in India. Those suggestions included mandatory gender auditing by the institutes, proper creches/child-care facilities in all institutions, ensuring a safe working environment, and creating awareness about women who are high achievers via social media. One highly valued suggestion from the discussion was the introduction of shared parental leave, a practice already implemented in several foreign countries. Such an approach allows both parents to share child-care responsibilities equally, as opposed to the current system where mothers receive 6 months of maternity leave while fathers are granted only 15 days of paternity leave.

The second panel discussion was on the topic, “Opportunities for women with a focus on quantum science and technologies”. Dr. Ekta Kapoor from DST gave a short overview of the National Quantum Mission. The panelists discussed how the opportunities for women in the domain of quantum science and technology have evolved in the past few years and the changes that can be expected after the launch of the National Quantum Mission.

The 3-day conference ended with a presentation by the Ms. Tushna Commissariat from IOP Publishing on “Leading Lights-Unique perspective of women in quantum science”.

At the concluding session of the conference, it was decided that the participants would jointly create an action plan/suggestion to improve the gender balance in science, which will be sent to the Department of Science and Technology. Every participant agreed that the enthusiasm created needs to be carried forward.

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