IITs and Women: Stuck at 20% Despite Supernumerary Push

When IITs introduced supernumerary seats for women in 2018, the objective was ambitious but simple — increase female presence in India's top technical schools to 20% by 2020. Seven years on, the target has been achieved but not shifted. The figures have stayed obstinately stuck at 19% and 21% across IITs, even after a boost in overall seats and new-age steady expansion of intake.

As per the recent Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report for IIT admissions 2025, women constitute 20.15% of the 18,188 admitted students — a mere increase from 19.9% of 16,061 seats in 2020. Put differently, although more women are joining the IIT system overall, their percentage in the overall pie is almost the same.

Even India's premier campuses demonstrate this stagnation. IIT Bombay witnessed female admissions fluctuate from 20.04% in 2020 to a paltry 19.57% in 2025. IIT Delhi has also plateaued at 20.5%. IIT Kharagpur remains lagging behind, at below 19% in 2025. Only IIT Madras displays marginally better numbers, cracking 21% this year. Newer IITs — Goa, Tirupati, Jammu — display healthier ratios, but the old guard refuses to accept change.

The policy created to avoid decline has done just that — avoided backsliding but not fostered actual growth. The supernumerary initiative cannot alone reverse the gender imbalance if deeper structural problems — gender stereotypes, insufficient STEM exposure in schools, lack of mentoring ecosystems — are left untouched.

That women are still capped at one-fifth of the IIT population is symptomatic of a sickness that runs deeper. It means that the pipeline from the classroom to the campus is closing off for girls far too early, long before the JEE is attempted. Unless schools, families, and society commit to creating a pipeline of confident STEM-ready young women, the IITs will remain stuck at the same unimpressive figure.

Supernumerary seats flung wide the door. It is now a matter of asking why so few are crossing it.