Jiddi the Zealous Ones (Genius Women Scientists Who Broke the Barriers)

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One of the core components of sustainable development goals is gender equality Gender equality in science is all the more important because it brings in diversity, essential for modern-day science to succeed. Mobilizing women for scientific endeavors is essential to attain technology-led economic growth. During the last 20 years or so, there has been an increase in the participation of women in science in the country. Having said that I would reiterate that there is still a gender disparity due to a complex set of reasons. Persistent challenges remain.

Many of the reasons for not enough women coming forward are linked to society, facilities in scientific organizations, lack of encouragement to go into science by family and teachers, and many others. One of the issues that women face, particularly younger women entering college is the absence of exposure to role models. It is required that stories be told about scientists who happened to be women and how their journeys were. This is an important step to motivate the young mind. Exposure to scientists' lives in one's own country and the rest of the world is important.

This book sketches the lives of several brave women who navigated many obstacles to achieve their goals. The younger generation will enjoy the achievements of women who have contributed much to the shaping of present- day science. Each life sketch in this book details inspiring stories of women who are role models in their own right. All these women shared one trait, they were fighters and scaled all odds to succeed.

There is a long way to go to achieve gender parity. The idea is to enthuse women who are at the beginning of their careers to enter into science and contribute whale enjoying it. It is not easy to tell stories spanning a large period of time but it can be challenging and instructive. This book will be appreciated by Who are looking for a career in science.

When one asks 'who are the great scientists!" To anyone's mind come Einstein, Newton and Raman. At the most Edison, Louis Pasteur or Abdul Kalam, all the male scientists! When asked if there are women scientists? Marie Curie is remembered! Very few would go beyond these names! This is not surprising Indeed until the middle of twentieth century very few women in any part of the world had access to education, forget about doing research. It was considered to be men's world (privilege!). Moreover, most of the population was deprived of education and hardly small percentage of men received education and had access to laboratories. In such circumstances it was very difficult for women to get an opportunity to get education. Moreover, in the conservative societies, women's opinion was not taken into account in any major decision. The social expectation was that women should remain content in the walls of the house and care for the family. Where was the need for women's education! Even some men and women were easily convinced by the arguments like higher education would affect women's minds and fertility! Such arguments were baseless as proved by some illustrious women scientists whose contributions to science were not given enough publicity. They were in a way kept in the dark. Some historians are trying to unveil the contributions of women scientists.

If we accept that Science is driven by curiosity, we also have to accept that it is not bound by place, time, country, caste, creed, religion or gender. There are couple of famous women scientists like Marie Curie or Lise Meitner but there are many others whose struggle, ingenuity, dedication, originality would not only be inspirational to women but also men. Recently few books revealed struggle of some women scientists. However, female scientists from India are hardly covered. Their struggles and achievements are at par with many famous scientists. Today in many parts of the world women are working in many fields shoulder to shoulder with men, it must be remembered how this has been possible. When young student Kamala Sohonie took the challenge of hard work and excellent research in one year, girls started getting a chance to get admitted (1934) to Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India. Even before that Sofya Kovalevsky (1850-1891) a Russian woman had pretended to have married and escaped to Germany to learn university level mathematics. Sofya was driven by her love for mathematics and became the first female professor in Europe. Rakhmabai Raut (1864-1955), an Indian doctor, had difficulty becoming a doctor due to her marriage in childhood. She had to give an unprecedented legal as well as public fight.

All know that Marie Curie left her country due to her innate urge for science. Her name has become immortal because of her unique contributions to science and the hardships she has gone through. She was rightly rewarded by the highest award in Science viz. Nobel Prize and recognition. But many women before and after Marie Curie, also struggled to get high education in science, and significantly contributed in their own way but did not get enough recognition.