Ravinder Kaur

Professor Emerita

Sociology

Contact Information

Ravinder Kaur
Professor, Sociology and Social Anthropology
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016
Office: Room No. MS 615B
Phone 91-11-26591369
email id: rkaur@hss.iitd.ac.in

Research Areas

Sociology of Kinship, Marriage and Family, Urban Social Anthropology, Migration Studies, Gender Studies, Demographic Anthropology, Sociology of India, Middle class, STEM Higher Education; Gender and STEM

Academic Background

BA Sociology, Miranda House College, University of Delhi (Ranked first; Gold medallist)
MA Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi (Ranked first; Gold medallist)
PhD Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
Fellowships with SSRC, New York and ISS, The Hague
Visting Scholarships at the Univ of Maryland, Univ of Pennsylvania, Univ of Bielefeld, Germany

Employment History

Taught at the Delhi School of Economics and New York University prior to joining IIT Delhi in 1996
Worked as a consultant for various international organisations such as the World Bank, UNDP and UNFPA
Worked on projects funded by ActionAid, IDRC, SIDA and UNFPA

Publications

See google scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dKIkQQsAAAAJ&hl=en

Conferences

Select conferences and invited talks. See CV for exhaustive list

1. “Gender Inequalities in Elite STEM Higher Education”, Kautilya Economic Conclave, 5 October 2025, New Delhi
2. “Gendering STEMM in India: Son an engineer; daughter a doctor” presented at Centre for Social Medicine and Humanities, UCLA, Los Angeles, 15th August 2025
3. “Fixing institutions” vs “Fixing women”: GATI: The Athena Swan model in India, Gender and STEM Conference, Heidelberg, 18-20, July 2024
4. “Pipeline Dreams: The STEMM Aspirations of High School Girls in Delhi”, Gender and STEM Conference, Heidelberg, 18-20, July 2024
5. “Gender and Caste Inequalities and Biases in Elite Engineering Education in India: The Necessity and Difficulties of Inclusion” in Biannual Scientific Symposium on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - "The Power of Inclusion in Science", Paris Brain Institute, 26 April 2024

Projects

Current project:
Fixing the Leak: Advancing STEM Innovation and Inclusion in India, One Woman Scientist at a Time

A participatory action research project addressing gender inequities in STEM academia, particularly within elite institutions like the IITs. The project integrates multidisciplinary approaches—sociology, economics, and spatial studies with the goal of designing a research-backed gender inclusion framework for STEM higher education institutions.
https://stemthegapindia.com/

Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (A DST Project; 2021-2023)
https://owncloud.iitd.ac.in/nextcloud/index.php/s/LYDytYMtLLZjndc

Honours

1. Felicitation as alumna and invited talk at Miranda House College, 17 Sept 2025
Title of Talk: “A lifelong investment in Sociology: reflections on what keeps one 'hooked'”.
2. DSE Distinguished Alumni Award from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, 13 February 2018
3. Delivered Seventeenth M.N. Srinivas Memorial Lecture on 23 January 2018 at NIAS, Bangalore
4. Teaching Excellence Award, IIT Delhi for the 1st semester, 2011-2012.
5. Kunda Datar Gold Medal, 1st Position, M.A., 1979, Delhi University
6. R.D. Sanyal Memorial Prize, 1st Position, M.A., 1979, Delhi University
7. University Gold Medal, 1st Position, B.A. (Hons.) 1977, Delhi University

Teaching Areas

Sociological Theory (Classical and Contemporary), Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Development, Urban Social Systems, The City, Gender, Technology and Society, Sociology of India, Kinship, Family, Marriage and Migration Studies; Middle class.