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Opinion

Does Science See Everyone Equally?

Ankita Choudhary

2 min readOct 8, 2025

Press enter or click to view image in full size “Balancing gender in science.”

Why research around the world — including in India — still struggles to include women and gender diversity in its data.

Science is often seen as the pursuit of truth — objective, precise, and universal. But behind the data and discoveries lies an uncomfortable reality: not all research sees everyone equally.

Across the world, for decades, most experiments — from basic lab studies to clinical trials — have been conducted primarily on male animals or male participants . The reason? Female subjects were considered “too complex” because of hormonal cycles that might “interfere” with results. This convenience came at a cost: generations of findings that tell only half the story.

Take the case of diazepam , a widely used anti-anxiety drug.…