Women in marine sciences in India: progress or disparity?

Marine science is essential to understanding Earth’s climate, biodiversity and blue-economy resources, yet the discipline remains structurally inequitable for women. This study critically interrogates whether the trajectory of women in Indian marine sciences reflects genuine progress or persistent disparity, using ten years of national enrolment data, faculty composition across 20 academic institutions offering marine science and closely related programmes, and first-authorship records from 14 mission-mode national research institutes derived from the Indian Science Report (NSTMIS–DST). Gender was inferred from faculty profiles, cross-checked against published literature, and methodological limitations are acknowledged. Female postgraduate and doctoral enrolment in oceanography rose substantially over the decade, crossing 50% parity threshold around 2017–18 and reaching 63.3% (PG) and 60.5% (PhD) by 2021–22, signalling measurable progress at the pipeline’s entry. However, this gain doesn’t translate upward: women constitute 21.4% of marine science faculty in the surveyed institutions, and contribute on average just 25.6% of first-authored publications from national institutes, with only one of 9 institutes (CMFRI) reaching parity. This faculty share remains well below the female share at PhD entry, indicating a pronounced drop between doctoral entry and the academic workforce. Across the national marine research institutes surveyed, women also constitute only 23.8% of the regular scientific workforce, with no institute reaching parity. The pattern is consistent with a steep “leaky pipeline” driven by structural, cultural and workplace barriers documented globally. We argue that India’s situation reflects a paradox of high entry parity coexisting with a pronounced decline in women's representation during the transition from doctoral entry to regular faculty and marine-science workforce, and we advocate gender-equitable, life-stage-sensitive policies rather than purely equality-based interventions.