.webp){kind=small}
As a means of enhancing gender diversity at India's top technical institutes, the Indian government approved supernumerary women's quotas for the IITs in 2018. It is six years later when this has produced waves and a transformation that spread through India's technological education systems.
In short, the women's quota was implemented in IIT's admissions policy for the first time. It begins with a moderate 14 percent seats for females in 2018 and planned to increase to 20% by 2026. Thus, this is a monumental step was for achieving a historically small percentage of females in India's premier engineering schools.
The change in the gender balance in IITs has been miraculous. Starting with a meagre 8% female enrollments in 2016, the figures have only risen gradually:
• Female enrollment increased to 16% in 2020
• Women constituted 15% of faculty
• Several IIT campuses today have more than 20% women
• Some technical branches like computer science and electrical engineering have touched 25%
The growing female population has triggered major cultural shifts on IIT campuses. The erstwhile male bastions have become more gender-inclusive, and the following changes are quite visible:
•Campus infrastructure and facilities
•Mentorship programs for women students
•Improved security and safe spaces
•Increase in women-centric technical clubs and organizations
The quota system has proven its worth by the results it has yielded. Women students have performed remarkably well:
•Higher average CGPA across multiple branches
•Increased participation in research projects
•Growing number of women-led innovation initiatives
•Improved placement statistics for female graduates
The rise in women graduates from IITs has created positive reverberations in the tech industry:
•More diverse hiring pools for technology companies
•Enhanced gender balance in leadership pipelines
•Growing number of women-led startups from IIT alumni
•Improved workplace diversity in technical roles
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
Despite that, some issues still have to be tackled:
•More Female Faculty
•Infrastructure development which is necessary
•Minuscule gender discrimination still needs to be dealt with
•Higher enrolments of women in certain streams
Even now, IITs are changing their strategy towards gender diversity:
•Innovative mentorship initiatives
•Women-centric research funding
•Increased industry interaction for women students
•Leadership Development Programs
•The more visibility of women at IITs has resulted in a positive feedback loop:
•More female role models for aspiring engineers
•Growing confidence among female students to pursue technical education
•Improved perception of women in STEM fields
•Enhanced parental support for girls choosing an engineering career
Pracbee being a online ed-tech institute helped many female students to secure seats in IITs. Due to students being at home and mentors providing them with customised plan. By previous year trend it has come to our notice that the gender ratio of Pracbee in securing seat in IIT is more on the female side compared to the male side.
Below is the overview of how female aspirants can achieve their goal to secure a seat in IIT and what Pracbee provides to achieve IIT seat
For female students Pracbee also provides a discount of 10% in batch oriented classes.
As we look towards the future, the women's quota at IITs stands as a testament to the power of affirmative action in creating meaningful change. The initiative has not just changed numbers but has fundamentally transformed the landscape of technical education in India.
Six years since the implementation of the women's quota, IITs have proven that targeted policy interventions can successfully address gender imbalances in technical education. The journey is on, but the foundation for a more inclusive and diverse technical education system has been firmly laid.
Maths Faculty
IIT-Delhi, IIM-Lucknow
IIT Delhi. 14+ Years of experience as Academics Head & Mentor
