Women should be supported to take up leadership roles in space institutions: IIA director

Ahmedabad, Jan 7 (PTI) India is seeing increasing participation of women in space institutions but they should be encouraged to take up leadership roles, said Prof Annapurni Subramaniam, director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), on Wednesday.

Women also need more institutional and familial support, said Subramaniam, the first woman director of the IIA, speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the 5th Astronomical Society of India (ASI) Symposium being held at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) here.

"India is making steady progress in space exploration with increasing participation of women, but their presence is more below the top leadership level," she told PTI.

Supportive organizational policies, such as flexible working hours, would encourage more women to continue their careers, Prof Subramaniam added.

Speaking about the participation of women in the workforce in general, she said the country cannot afford to lose nearly 50 per cent of its trained and skilled human resources.

They should be included in leadership roles for the betterment of the country, she added.

There has been a positive change with increased participation of women as speakers at conferences and symposiums, Prof Subramaniam noted.

"It is not an overnight fix. It has to be a conscious effort from families, organizations and society. If it is possible to improve representation, then we must do it consciously," she said.

Notably, Subramaniam has worked on Astrosat Mission & UV Studies and Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. She was conferred with Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar 2024 (Vigyan Shri) for her distinguished contributions in the field of Space Science & Technology. PTI KVM PD KRK