Women and literacy: A quest for justice

She has been involved in adult literacy and non-formal education projects since 1978 and is a member of various national committees on education and of the International Task Force on Literacy. Author of several reports and articles in her field of competence.     

Patrifocality and the entry of women into science

In this article, Lalita Subrahmanya explores some of the factors that have contributed to the choice of science as a specialization by a group of academic women scientists at the University of Madras in South India. She looks at two aspect of women's entry into science: the encouragement they received to pursue education to the highest level, and the circumstances that led to their pursuit of science as a specialization. Research in India has shown that within the context of a patrifocal family structure characteristic of many parts of the society, educational decisions are not made by individuals but by families. Moreover, they are different for sons and daughters, most often in favor of the former. This study illustrates how such a patrifocal family structure and ideology affect decisions regarding women's entry into education in both ways: negatively, by creating obstacles to their progress, but also under special circumstances very positively.Despite the participants' perceptions that their educational decisions were mainly taken by themselves individually, parental and family involvement in the process has been significant. In two of the cases in which parents have been extraordinarily encouraging and have supported the women through their school and college very actively, as well as in others in which there has been strong opposition, patrifocal factors have played a key role in affecting women's decisions to pursue higher education. According to the author, the study shows evidence of a possibility that, under the present social structure, and given the financial burden that education entails, women from poorer families will not make it to the top if they have brothers who are brilliant. But in spite of patrifocality and within certain boundaries set by society, the reasons for the participants' choice of science have been personal or school-related.The article also points to an interesting challenge to patrifocality in the form of mentors and rolemodels in schools and in work-place who are able to help women focus their interest in science, and in some cases, even influence family decisions in favor of girls and women. Further study of how decisions are made may show that instead of national policies or legal mandates, organized personal intervention may be more effective in India in improving the acces of women and other disadvantaged groups to education or to science and technology.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Asian Studies Association, Boston, March, 1994.