Datanomics: Women secure 7% of Nobel Prizes, mostly in Literature & Peace

Since 2021, three women have won Nobel awards in Peace, two each in Literature and Medicine, one each in Physics, Chemistry and Economics

The share of women among Nobel Prize winners is highest in the fields of Literature and Peace, but lowest in Physics, followed by other sciences. This year, two women — María Corina Machado and Mary E Brunkow — have been added to the list of laureates in the fields of Peace and Medicine, respectively. Since the Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901, only 68 women have received the prize out of a total of 1,026 laureates, which amounts to 6.6 per cent of all winners.

 

Women laureates mainly from Literature, Peace

 

The share of women awardees in Literature stood at 14.75 per cent, followed by Peace at 13.99 per cent. 

*in total (%) Sources: Nobel Foundation, Business Standard calculations

 

Only a few winners in focus

 

Since 2021, only 10 women have received the Nobel Prize awards — three in Peace, two each in Literature and Medicine, one each in Physics, Chemistry, and Economics.

 

US tops list, India’s count at one

 

Mother Teresa remains the only Indian woman on the list, while the United States leads with 18 women laureates.