March 8 is International Women’s day. We have two episodes this month on how gendered understanding of science affects the way research is conducted. 

The first episode describes the protests led by feminist organisations on the unethical trials on contraceptive injections starting from the 80s till more recently. Conversely, we also discuss how there are very few women and almost no transgender persons enrolled in clinical trials which gives a very limited understanding of the impact of new drugs.

In this episode, Suno India’s Menaka Rao speaks to Dr Vineeta Bal, Dr Sunita Bandewar and Sayantan Datta. Dr Bal is an immunologist who worked at the National Institute of Immunology and is now a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune. Dr Bandewar is one of the working editors of Indian Journal of Medical Ethics and independent researcher in the area of bioethics and global health. Sayantan Datta, a queer-trans science journalist and communicator who writes for feminist multimedia science collective, Life of Science. They also teach writing and communication at Krea University, in Andhra Pradesh. 

The show is hosted by Menaka Rao and Padmapriya DVL.