The Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) is distinguished by the fact that amongst the founding Fellows there was one lady botanist, E.K. Janaki Ammal (1897-1984). She is well known for her outstanding contribution to cytogenetics and plant geography.

The Academy governing council had in the past two women Fellows over the years and in the present council there are two women office bearers.
At present, the number of women in the Academy committees like sectional committee, editorial boards, science panel, etc. is small but the numbers have been slowly on the rise.

It is interesting to note that there has been a steady increase in the representation of women in the Academy’s Fellowship. The gender composition in the Fellowship for the period 1995 to 2007 is illustrated here. The number of Women Fellows in 1995 was 22 and the current strength is 66, which shows an increase from 2.98 % to 7%.