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The women’s liberation movement shook the whole world in the days of the yore. Suddenly everyone sat up and took notice of the so-called weaker sex making a move towards taking over the man’s world. So far women have succeeded and they still continue to strive hard.

Such a move was important to be treated equally. Most importantly women could study the subjects which weren’t allowed to them before. But a recent study showed that suddenly women are backing out of subjects that were always dominated by men. The study showed that the drop was greater in recent times than it was five years ago.

Subjects like computer science as a major in high school or at university level had 24 percent women opting for them earlier. However, the numbers have now dropped to 19 percent only. Plus it is said that if the numbers keep falling this way, then in ten years time, classes like computer science and mathematics will see only 15 percent women, combined. This number holds true for subjects like technology and other IT related fields as well.

The study further indicates that women are going back to selecting more feminine subjects like nursing, fashion designing, arts etc. in such fields, the number of women students have risen by three percent and current women make up for 76 percent of the class for subjects related to education. Earlier this number was 60 percent. Therefore, there has been a significant rise of 16 percent in such subjects.

Even in the field of medicine, where one can choose to become a nutritionist, nurse or a doctor, women are going in for the first two choices than they chose before. In fields like engineering, the numbers of women students were always less and today, it is dropping.

The professors and the teachers are alarmed. However, they are not sure as to why this is happening. One professor stated that even women made talented engineers and they need more talent in such fields. If women were to drop out completely, the entire balance would be skewed. Another professor stated that the difference of choices today was rooted deeply. He stated that choices are not made by students alone, be it male or female.

Parents and counsellors, peers etc, play a vital role in this. And it could be that parents are ignorant about the benefits of selecting more technical subjects and encouraging female students who have the potential. Therefore, parents should be counselled in this matter. Also schools should explore the female role models in various spheres of life so that the children are aware of women making different choices and being successful at them.

We have known the repercussions of ignorance and gender stereotypes. In the past, we have also known to overcome them. Then how can we let them play on the young minds again? We surely do not need another women’s liberation movement as an eye opener. The education system in sync with the parents and teachers should take the initiative to set this right. Now is the time!