In a recent speech at the IIT Delhi convocation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed a wish that there were more daughters among the medal winners. This statement, while seemingly straightforward, touches upon a deeper issue: the persistent underrepresentation of women in India's premier engineering institutions. The question it raises is not just about the numbers on the convocation stage, but about the systemic barriers that prevent women from even entering the race. This article delves into the complex interplay of factors that contribute to this gender gap and explores why a simple increase in seats may not be enough to bridge the divide.
The Numbers Game
On the surface, the data from the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) shows an improvement: women accounted for 20.15% of total BTech admissions in IITs in 2025, up from 19.90% in 2020. However, a closer look reveals a more nuanced picture. The absolute number of female students admitted did rise, but the total number of seats filled also expanded substantially. This means that while more women entered IITs, their share of the overall student population remained almost frozen. This statistic deserves scrutiny, as it raises the question: is the system becoming more gender-diverse, or are we merely increasing the absolute number of women without changing the underlying equation?
The Policy Interventions
The education system has not been idle in addressing the issue. The Supernumerary Seats Scheme (SSS), introduced in 2018, was specifically designed to increase female participation in IIT BTech programs. The early results were significant: female representation rose from 8% in 2016 to nearly 20% by 2020. However, the subsequent numbers tell a different story. By 2025, 3,633 female-only seats, including supernumerary seats, were allotted. Another 31 women secured admission through the gender-neutral pool, suggesting that more female candidates are competing successfully on the common merit route. Yet, the overall female share remained around 20%. This is where the conversation needs to move beyond quotas and reserved capacity. A policy can open a door, but it cannot necessarily persuade a young woman to walk through it.
The Real IIT Gender Gap
An IIT seat is not won on the day of admission. For many students, the journey begins years earlier, with mathematics in school, exposure to science, parental expectations, access to coaching, confidence in solving difficult problems, and, eventually, the decision to prepare for the JEE. For girls, each of these stages can carry an additional layer of social calculation. IIT preparation often involves two years of intense coaching, which may mean moving away from home and living in coaching hubs. For a boy, such relocation may be treated as an investment in his future. For a girl, families can still worry about safety, accommodation, distance from home, and the social environment. This difference in calculation can become an ordeal for female aspirants long before the examination hall. The question, therefore, is not merely how many girls qualify for IITs, but also how many girls are encouraged to attempt the journey in the first place.
Money as an Invisible Filter
Competitive engineering preparation is expensive. Coaching fees, accommodation, travel, study material, and the opportunity cost of spending two years preparing for an extremely competitive examination can create a formidable barrier. Students from financially secure families may have access to specialized coaching, personalized guidance, and extensive preparatory material. Others may not. And when resources are limited, family priorities can influence who gets the larger educational investment. This is where gender stereotypes creep in and become consequential. If a family subconsciously views engineering as a more natural career for a son while expecting a daughter to choose a career closer to home, the inequality may never appear in an admission statistic. By the time the IIT admission list is released, the decision has already been made.
The Choices of High-Ranking Female Candidates
There is another question that deserves attention: what are the choices of high-ranking female candidates after they qualify? The source data points to a troubling possibility: some top-ranking female candidates may choose institutions closer to home or universities offering academic environments they perceive as more flexible. This raises a fundamental issue. If a young woman has the academic ability to enter an IIT but chooses another institution, should the conversation still be limited to increasing IIT seats for women? Perhaps not. The question then becomes whether India's social structure is knitted in a way that it is sufficiently accommodating to women in the first place. Concerns around campus climate, branch allocation, and the perceived culture of engineering disciplines can influence those choices. An admission system can make a seat available, but the institution still has to make the student want to stay.
The Confidence Gap
The gender divide in engineering cannot be explained entirely by what happens after Class 10 or during JEE preparation. It often begins much earlier. Mathematics and physics can become psychologically coded as 'boys' subjects' through seemingly ordinary experiences: who is encouraged to participate in problem-solving, who is told they are naturally good at numbers, who gets additional academic support, and whose mistakes are treated as evidence that a subject is 'not meant for them.' Experts cited in the source material point to insufficient early exposure to STEM, uneven parental encouragement, and a lack of sustained institutional support as contributing factors. This is perhaps the most difficult part of the problem because confidence cannot be created through a notification. A girl who spends years being subtly told that engineering is difficult, unsafe, male-dominated, or unsuitable for her may never seriously consider IIT as her destination. And that means the gender gap begins before the entrance examination even begins.
A Medal is Not Just a Medal
This brings us back to the Prime Minister's remark at IIT Delhi. 'Wish there were more daughters among the medallists.' The statement can be read as a call for greater participation. But it should also prompt a harder conversation about what happens before a student reaches the convocation stage. A medal is the final visible outcome of a very long chain of decisions. Who was encouraged to study mathematics? Who was allowed to move to another city for coaching? Who could afford the preparation? Who had access to quality teachers? Who was told that an IIT degree was worth the risk? Who was made to believe that a demanding engineering career was compatible with being a woman? And, finally, who felt that an IIT campus was a place where she belonged? If the answers to those questions continue to differ by gender, the problem cannot be solved simply by adding seats.
IITs Need to Ask a More Uncomfortable Question
The 20% mark was a meaningful milestone when India was trying to correct an extraordinarily skewed gender balance. But a ceiling can eventually become a warning sign. If female representation rose sharply from 8% in 2016 to nearly 20% by 2020, and then remained around 20% through 2025, policymakers should ask why the momentum disappeared. Was the intervention successful but incomplete? Are the remaining barriers largely social rather than institutional? Are enough girls even entering the JEE pipeline? Are IITs losing qualified women to other institutions? And are engineering departments doing enough to make women feel that they are not merely admitted students but equal stakeholders in the institution? These are not questions that a reservation formula can answer.
From Quotas to Culture: The Next Reform Must Start Much Earlier
The next phase of gender reform in engineering needs to move beyond admission statistics. Schools need stronger exposure to STEM careers. Parents need to be encouraged to view engineering as equally viable for daughters. Students from smaller towns need access to high-quality preparation without necessarily having to relocate. Mentorship needs to begin before the JEE years rather than after admission. IITs, meanwhile, need to examine campus culture, academic flexibility, mentorship, accommodation, and the everyday experiences of women students. The objective should not be to produce a statistic that looks better. It should be to create a system in which a talented girl from any part of India can look at an IIT and think: 'That place is for me.'
The Bigger Test for India
India cannot aspire to become a technology powerhouse while allowing half its population to remain underrepresented in the institutions producing its engineers, researchers, and technology leaders. The IITs are not merely colleges; they are pipelines into some of the country's most influential scientific, technological, and corporate careers. That makes the gender gap more than an education issue. It is an economic issue, a social issue, a talent issue, and, ultimately, an issue of national capacity. The Prime Minister's wish for more daughters among IIT medallists should therefore not end with applause at a convocation. It should begin a much larger reckoning. Because the real question is not why aren't there enough women holding medals? The real question is much more uncomfortable: how many girls with the ability to win those medals never got the chance to reach the starting line?
