The pursuit of knowledge in STEM fields has often been and still is the realm of men, reports The Daily Eye Newsdesk

Equal participation of women and girls in the leadership in scientific and technology communities is more crucial than ever. Now is the time to honor women's contributions to research and innovation, demolish misconceptions, and combat gender discrimination in science. Women should be supported in STEM careers for a better tomorrow because it allows women to pursue their aspirations in science, industry, society so nations benefit.

Women are still underrepresented in STEM fields but many trailblazing women have pursued education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to pave the way for others like them to innovate in the fields they’ve conquered.

We have chosen five of the brightest among them who have impacted the world of STEM with their knowledge and discoveries. Here are some of India's finest women scientists:

Dr. Ezhil Subbian

Dr. Ezhil Subbian is the CEO of String Bio, a company that provides a new way of using methane - a GHG, to chemically leverage value-added products such as single cell proteins for animal nutrition and polymers in a profitable and sustainable way. Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Her experience in biobased product development over the last 20 years helps her bring deep technical expertise to the work at String. Ezhil’s work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog.

​​Dr Bushra Ateeq

Dr Bushra Ateeq is a cancer biologist who has done ground-breaking research on genetic abnormalities that cause prostate cancer. She also works as an associate professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Her expertise lies in cancer biology, cancer genomics, and molecular oncology. Dr Ateeq has received numerous honors for her contributions to cancer biology, including the Ramachandran-National Bioscience Award for Career Development and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Medical Sciences from the Indian government. In the year 2021 Dr Bushra Ateeq was selected for the prestigious Sun Pharma Science Foundation Research Award. Due to her immense contribution in oncology, she was featured in Indian Women in Science 2020-2021 by Life Science.

Dr Renuka Diwan

Dr Renuka Diwan is one of the three founders of BioPrime AgriSolutions. She has completed her PhD in Plant Sciences from the University of Pune. She has also done her post doc in genetic engineering in collaboration with Cambia, an Australian company. She has worked extensively on bioactives for over 13 years and has a patent filed for large scale production of a certain class of metabolites. She is responsible for development and high throughput screening of bioactives. She also has over 15 years of experience in plant tissue culture and designs lab/field tests, and has published 12 research papers in peer reviewed journals.

Dr. Geetha Manjunath

Dr. Geetha Manjunath is the Founder, CEO of NIRAMAI Health Analytix. She has led the company to develop a breakthrough AI solution for detecting early-stage breast cancer in a non-invasive radiation-free manner. Geetha holds a PhD from IISc and management education from Kellogg’s Chicago. Geetha has received many international and national recognitions for her innovations and entrepreneurial work, including CSI Gold Medal, BIRAC WinER Award 2018 and is also on the Forbes List of Top 20 Self-Made Women 2020. She was recently awarded the Accenture Vahini Innovator of the Year Award from The Economic Times and Women Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 by BioSpectrum India.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a first-generation entrepreneur and global business leader with over 4 decades of experience in biotechnology. She is the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India and the former chairperson of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Fueled by her passion, she started her biotech journey in 1978 from her garage in India. Today, that journey is changing lives for the better across the globe. She is regarded as an unconventional thinker with many firsts to her credit. Under her aegis, Biocon delivers on the promise of making medicines accessible and affordable to millions of patients worldwide. Forbes ranked her as the 68th most influential woman in the world in 2019. She was named the 2020 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year.