How women have upped their game at UPSC table

In the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examination 2022, women bagged the top four ranks. This is the second year in a row when women candidates got the top three ranks in the prestigious exam.

While Delhi University graduate Ishita Kishore secured the first spot, Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N, and Smriti Mishra secured the second, third and fourth ranks, respectively in the examination. In 2021, Shruti Sharma, Ankita Agarwal and Gamini Singla had secured the first, second, and third positions, respectively in the civil services examination.

Among the top 25 candidates this year, there are 14 women and 11 men. Over one-third of the 933 candidates (320) recommended for appointment are women, the highest number of women ever selected for the Indian civil services. This has been the best performance put forth by women as they accounted for 34.3 per cent, the highest ever, of the candiates selected for the civil services.

Let us take a look at how the women have fared over the last seven years:

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While males continue to dominate in the UPSC examinations, women have been upping their share of the total pie over the years. Last year, 685 candidates were recommended for appointment, of which 508 were men and 177 were women. This year, the women’s representation witnessed a jump of almost 9 percentage points compared to last year (25.8 per cent).

In 2020, a total of 761 candidates were recommended for appointment. Even then, women comprised 28 per cent of the total pool, as opposed to 34 per cent this year.

In the year before, women's representation in the UPSC examination stood at 23.8 per cent as only 197 women candidates were recommended for appointment among the total pool of 829 candidates.

In 2018, 2017 and 2016, a total of 182 (24 per cent), 240 (24.2 per cent) and 253 (23 per cent) women cleared the exam.