BEYOND THE PARADOX: AN INTERSECTIONAL INEQUALITY AMONG WOMEN IN STEM IN INDIA

India’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) environment creates an ongoing contradiction. Despite producing one of the world’s largest proportions of women graduates, women still experience significant under-representation in faculty roles, scientific leadership and research. Through a qualitative secondary analysis of pre-existing national data and policy documents, this study examines the ‘missing middle’ between educational achievement and employment as a way to define systematic exclusion. This research highlights the need for intersectional data frameworks and inclusive policy reform for greater understanding and reduction of inequalities experienced by women working in STEM. Specifically, the data show that women from marginalised castes, rural areas and economically disadvantaged backgrounds experience multiple layers of exclusion. The study calls for an intersectional approach to data collection, performance measures, and a priority for qualitative studies that centre the voices of marginalised women in STEM in India.