Surekha Rao, Ph.D., Indiana University Northwest Associate Professor of Economics, is among the experts speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2015 Annual Meeting in San Jose, Calif. February 12-16.
Each year, the five-day conference brings together thousands of leading scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers and journalists to discuss recent developments in science and technology and its impact on society. Conference organizers invited Rao, along with colleagues Pär Omling of the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg, and Kathrin Zippel of Northeastern University in Boston, to present their insights on achieving gender equity from an international perspective.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, Rao and her colleagues will discuss the challenges that continue to impede women in reaching their full potential as well as the significant international variations on this topic. The discussion will focus on factors that influence gender inequity, especially economic prosperity alongside education. The session will explore, on a global basis, interventions that empower women, and exemplary practices, such as peer review and networking, that have achieved some equity in Europe and Canada.
Rao’s invitation to speak at the AAAS meeting came as a result of a decade’s worth of research that examines the wage gap between women and men in a wide range of disciplines and occupations in the U.S. and other developed countries.
Rao said her research on this topic began in 2005 with a controversial remark by Larry Summers, then-president of Harvard University, and an economist, who triggered an international debate with his assertion that there were fewer women in science fields because of their innate abilities.
The debate that ensued gave Rao, a fellow economist, some food for thought. She wanted to know whether this perception exists in other countries, and if it occurs in disciplines outside of academia.
In 2006, Rao began work on a joint paper, titled “International Perspective on Issues in Gender, Science and Economic Development,” which was published in the Journal AIMS in 2008.
Rao explained that a major dimension of gender issues in science and economic development is the number of economic opportunities for women. Using data from 50 countries, Rao and her colleagues found that achievement in education and high per capita incomes are important factors that lead to the growth of female professional and technical workers. Gender empowerment measures that capture the role of women in decision making in a society is necessary but not sufficient for participation of women in science and technology.
Rao’s talk at the conference addresses the question of wide gender inequity and wage gaps throughout the developed world and how more women in STEM jobs may be our best chance to begin reducing this gap. Nineteen of the top 20 occupations in the U.S. are technology-related, she says.
However, regardless of field, women still get paid less than their male counterparts, Rao said, even in disciplines that are dominated by women, such as nursing.
Rao said that on average, women get paid about 77 cents to every dollar that a man earns in the U.S., and when you look at the data state-by-state, Indiana ranks among the lowest. In Lake County, Ind., in particular, the news is bleaker still. Here, women get paid 68 cents on every dollar a man earns.
Rao said the biggest challenge lies in finding solutions to the inequitable gender wage gap both on the home front and across the globe, but that creating awareness and having conversations on the topic is a positive step.
“It is a generational imperative that we have gender equity in all areas,” she said. “This is both a societal and a public policy issue. For example, we need to advocate public policy and create social awareness on such issues as a segue for healthy work environments that respect gender equity. There are also cultural obstacles we need to overcome, such as the confidence gap among women, which serve as barriers to getting jobs and promotions. We must encourage more women to pursue higher education, and it’s even better if we can encourage them to study subjects that give them higher paying jobs. The onus is not just on economists and policy makers, but on all of us.”
Rao obtained her master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics in India and her doctorate from the University of New England in Australia. She has held visiting professorships across Europe, India and the U.S. and delivered invited lectures at several national and international conferences and universities in Italy, Belgium, India and the U.S. She is a past president of the Indiana Academy of Social Sciences (IASS).
Her expertise lies in a broad range of topics from Bayesian econometrics and forecasting to gender inequality and sustainability. She is a leading expert on India, and has been a spokesperson for promoting Indo-US economic, business and academic relations through her teaching, research and community activities.
About Indiana University Northwest
As one of seven Indiana University campuses, IU Northwest leads the region as the premier, urban campus dedicated to serving the needs of more than 6,000 students from the state’s most diverse and industrialized region. Committed to helping its local Northwest Indiana communities thrive, IU Northwest is best-known for providing a personal, quality and affordable education close to home. IU Northwest positions its students to be leaders with more than 70 undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional degree options available from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Health and Human Services, the School of Business and Economics, and the School of Education. The campus is also host to IU School of Medicine-Northwest, which actively involves students in research and local healthcare needs through its four-year medical doctorate program. For more information, please visit www.iun.edu.