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Six years after quota for women, what has changed at IITs?

In 2018, IITs implemented a 20% supernumerary quota. With that came new infrastructure and a shift in attitudes

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. (PTI)

From more hostels and washrooms for female students to their own sports teams — a silent revolution has been taking shape at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the last six years, ever since a supernumerary quota of 20% was set aside for women.

The quota, under which extra seats were created instead of reserving them in the existing pool, was implemented in 2018 based on the recommendations of a committee led by then IIT-Mandi Director Timothy Gonsalves, which called it “the required slight push”. While most IITs implemented a 14% quota for women in 2018-19, by 2019-20 it stood at 19% and by 2021-22, most of them had 20% seats for women.

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.

Six years after quota for women, what has changed at IITs?

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

Meanwhile, IIT Kanpur was the last among the seven first-generation IITs to cross the 20% female enrolment 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.

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Amisha Kumari is a fifth year student at IIT Roorkee

A changing classroom

The increasing presence of women at IITs is in line with the broader pattern of a steady increase in their enrolment 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 enrolment, almost on a par with men.

Yet, given the technical nature of IITs, the gender ratio at these premier engineering institutes continue to be skewed in favour 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.

Explained

Catching up in higher education

The rising presence of women at IITs is in line with the broader pattern of an increase in their enrolment in higher education — according to the All India Survey on Higher Education for 2021-2022, women make up around 48% of the total enrolment.

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 enrolment of 746.

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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 sensitisation has become a part of daily institutional life.

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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, the number of women went up from 1,489 in 2019-20 to 2,626 in 2024 — a 76.36% jump.

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.

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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 practise or play sports. In the past, men’s hostels were closer to all the activity centres and the ground. Now, at IIT Delhi, women’s hostels have also moved closer to the activity spaces.”

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

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

Problems remain

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

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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 sensitisation workshops, the progress has been uneven. Even after all these workshops, some male professors admit they are unaware how certain behaviours — 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 leftover area, but those are of no use,” says an IIT Kanpur student.

Also Read | Life in an IIT | ‘Success is about how you adapt and persevere’, says IIT Madras BTech 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.

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Students say housing shortages and infrastructure gaps underscore how institutions haven’t kept pace with the growing numbers of women.

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”

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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?”

Vidheesha Kuntamalla

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: * Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs * Policy responses to campus mental health * Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University * Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t (February 2025) ‘Ma’am… may I share something?’ Growing up online and alone, why Delhi’s teens are reaching out (December 2025) ... Read More

Pallavi Smart

Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra. Expertise Senior Role: As a Principal Correspondent at The Indian Express, her designation reflects her seniority, specialized knowledge, and the editorial rigor applied to her reporting. Core Authority & Specialization: Pallavi Smart is the definitive voice for Education news in the region. Her coverage scope is comprehensive: Policy and Regulatory Changes: Reports on major shifts in educational policy, including the restructuring of entrance exams (e.g., MHT-CET adopting the JEE Main model), the draft regulatory framework for coaching classes, and revised teacher recruitment processes. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Provides in-depth reporting on prestigious institutes like IIT Bombay and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), covering institutional initiatives, administrative debates (e.g., renaming IIT Bombay), and student welfare programs (e.g., mandatory mental health courses). Teachers and Eligibility: Covers crucial issues affecting the teaching fraternity, such as the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers and related controversies and application numbers. Student Welfare & Rights: Focuses on issues concerning students, including the rollout of government scholarships, the financial strain on schools due to midday meal reimbursement delays, and instances of child rights violations (e.g., the Powai studio hostage crisis). Admissions and Vacancy: Tracks the outcome of centralized admission processes (e.g., MBBS, BPharm) and analyzes vacancy concerns, providing essential data-driven insights for parents and students. Credentials & Trustworthiness Dedicated Beat: Her consistent focus on the "KG to PG" education beat allows her to develop unparalleled subject matter knowledge, ensuring her reports are accurate, detailed, and contextualized. Proactive Reporting: Her articles frequently break news on policy and institutional planning, providing the public with timely, essential information about a sector that directly impacts millions of families. She tweets @Pallavi_Smart ... Read More

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