Six years on, data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from 21 of the 23 IITs reveals a steady increase in the number of women entering these prestigious institutes.

At IIT-Kanpur, the number of women rose from 908 women in 2017 to 2,124 in 2024 – a 133% jump. At IIT-Roorkee, the number went up from 1,489 in 2019-20 to 2,626 in 2024 — a 76.36% jump. IITs in Chennai, Mumbai, Guwahati and Kharagpur, too, saw similar increases.

According to the data, IITs Delhi and Bombay crossed the 20% threshold as early as 2017 — even before the quota was implemented. Of IIT Delhi’s 2,878 students that year, 607 or 21.09% were women. In the first semester of 2024 at IIT Delhi, that number stood at 840 — a rise of 38.39%. In the case of IIT Bombay, of 2,790 students in 2017, 570 or 20.43% were women.

Meanwhile, IIT Kanpur was the last among the seven first-generation IITs to cross the 20% female enrollment mark, reaching the milestone only in 2021. Of its 7,716 students that year, 1,691 or 21.92% were women.

Like IIT Kanpur, other first-generation IITs too achieved this benchmark at varying speeds. IITs Guwahati, Kharagpur and Madras joined the ranks in 2019, with female representation of 22.42%, 21.39% and 20.75%, respectively. IIT-Roorkee followed suit in 2020, where 1,749 or 20.08% were women out of 8,708 students.

A changing classroom

The increasing presence of women at IITs is in line with the broader pattern of a steady increase in their enrollment in higher education — according to the All India Survey on Higher Education for 2021-2022, the last year for which the data is available, women make up around 48% of the total enrollment, almost on a par with men.

Yet, given the technical nature of IITs, the gender ratio at these premier engineering institutes continues to be skewed in favor of men. It’s this that the scheme attempts to change, with individual institutes implementing a string of measures to make campuses friendlier for women.

In 2020, IIT Bombay introduced special orientation sessions for girls who had cleared JEE-Advanced and their parents on why they should choose the Mumbai campus. The administration claims that these sessions contributed to more girls choosing IIT Bombay — from 570 in 2017 to 694 in 2024. The year 2021 marked its highest ever female enrollment of 746.

IIT Delhi, too, has an open house for women students and their parents, where they are encouraged to meet faculty and explore the campus.

Preeti Aghalayam, Director of IIT Madras’s Zanzibar campus — the first woman to serve as director at an IIT — says that when she did her chemical engineering from IIT Madras between 1991 and 1995, the percentage of women in her undergraduate class was “extremely small”. .

“Back then, the women’s hostel was located far from all the other hostels since the number of women at IIT Madras was miniscule. The campus looks and feels very different now. Class sizes have doubled, classrooms have different perspectives and there is a new energy on campus,” she says.

With that, gender sensitization has become a part of daily institutional life.

Pradeep Srivastava, Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences at IIT Roorkee, and a member of the institute’s Internal Complaints Committee, says more women on campus has meant a check on the “male-centric approach”. “Every time there is a case of sexual harassment or ragging, we have observed a progressive change — it no longer starts with blaming the female student,” he says.

Srivastava’s colleague Naveen Kumar, Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, and Dean, Academic Affairs, says he ensures he calls his female students to his office “in pairs to ensure a comfortable environment of learning”.

At IIT Roorkee, where four of 13 hostels are allocated to women, the administration has spent nearly Rs 6 crore on security cameras and hired more women guards. “We have installed over 300 cameras on campus,” says Major Reeti Upadhyay, Deputy Registrar, IIT Roorkee.

A professor from IIT Delhi’s Department of Civil Engineering says he keeps his office door open if a female student wishes to speak with him. “I have adopted a more sensitive approach to teaching now. I don’t scold girls as much when they make mistakes because I feel uncomfortable if they start crying,” he says.

The growing female presence has also meant a new sports culture — both IIT Delhi and Bombay have their own women’s football teams.

Ravinder Kaur, Professor Emeritus, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi, and a researcher on women in STEM, says, “Earlier, the sports grounds were dominated by men, something that deterred girls who wanted to practice or play sports. In the past, men’s hostels were closer to all the activity centers and the ground. Now, at IIT Delhi, women’s hostels have also moved closer to the activity spaces.”

At IIT Bombay, gender sensitization workshops are mandatory for all students and staff, including security personnel, says a student council member.

Problems remain

Despite these changes, challenges remain — stereotypes, mentorship gaps and lack of inclusive spaces, among others.

Sarani Saha, Chairperson, Gender Cell, IIT Kanpur, says much remains to be done even now. “Women still don’t come forward to complain about harassment. Despite gender sensitization workshops, the progress has been uneven. Even after all these workshops, some male professors admit they are unaware how certain behaviors — like comments on attire, etc. — can make women uncomfortable.”

Students say housing shortages and infrastructure gaps underscore how institutions haven’t kept pace with the growing numbers of women. Last year, IIT Kanpur students raised concerns when the administration repurposed as women’s hostels the open spaces earlier used for sports. “They constructed small courts for badminton, etc., in the remaining area, but those are of no use,” says an IIT Kanpur student.

At IIT Delhi, the men say two of the 13 hostels for undergraduate students were allocated to women, leaving them to “adjust” in the remaining space.

Calling the supernumerary scheme “an important first step”, Angelie Multani, Dean, Office of Diversity and Inclusivity, IIT Delhi, says physical infrastructure must evolve alongside. “Residences and washrooms for women have increased over the years. In 2018, sanitary napkin vending machines were installed in female washrooms across campus. There are proposals for more spaces for women, and maternity feeding and lactation rooms on campus now,” she says.

However, some students and faculty say women still feel isolated.

IIT Delhi’s Professor Kaur, who has taught at the institute for 28 years, is conducting a five-year study on the experience of women in STEM and their retention rates.

“I have seen classrooms with zero female students in BTech, but that has improved significantly. It makes a huge difference since women can feel very isolated in departments like civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering,” she says.

Professor Milind Atrey, Deputy Director (Academic Research and Translation) of IIT Bombay observes, “Girls enter IITs with a push, but become nine-pointers within a year or two”

Tejas Jain, 21, a fourth-year chemical engineering student at IIT Kanpur, says stereotypes are hard to shake off. “For four years now, my peers have been telling me that I will get placement because companies value inclusivity now. What about my merit?”