PCS-2023: Women candidates register biggest success in 11 years
33.46% of women candidates were selected in the PCS-2023 exam, the highest in 11 years. However, women's performance in the top 10 list declined compared to last year.
Despite their failure to appear in majority in the top-10 list of the Combined State/ Upper Subordinate Services Examination-2023, commonly known as PCS, it could be termed as the biggest success for the women candidates in the last 11 years in terms of selection.
The results of PSC-2023 were declared by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) on Tuesday.
In 2013, the percentage of successful women candidates was only 18.65, and this time it is 33.46%, approximately double. However, this progress has been very gradual, down the years. The graph only faltered in 2021 and it again shot up in the next couple of years.
In PCS-2023, out of 251 candidates selected, 84 are women candidates. Among them, 78 are from Uttar Pradesh and the remaining six are from other states.
Last year, 30% of the posts were bagged by women candidates in PCS-2022, UPPSC records show.
Undoubtedly, the result of PCS -2023 announced on Tuesday proved to be a milestone in terms of girl education and women empowerment. In the state’s most prestigious recruitment examination for administrative services, the women candidates proved their mettle by clinching more than one-third of the total posts on offer, said secretary of UPPSC Ashok Kumar.
However, the performance of women candidates in the Top-10 list was not as good as last year. In PCS-2022, eight women had made a place in the Top-10 whereas in PCS-2023, the tables have turned completely and this time eight men made it to the Top-10 list and just two women candidates could make a place for themselves in it.
Of the total 364 candidates selected in PCS-2022, 110 (30.21%) were women whereas out of 627 candidates selected in PCS-2021, 141 (22.48%) of the posts were bagged by women candidates, records show.
Only nine women could make it against the 41 posts of deputy collector or SDM on offer in PCS-2023. Shubhi Gupta, Nidhi Shukla, Shweta Singh, Anjani Yadav, Mudra Raheja, Sunishtha Singh, Harshita Deora, Pooja Gupta and Nidhi got selected for the post of SDM.
Men candidates bagged the remaining 33 posts. In PCS-2022, almost half, ie 19 out of 39 posts of Deputy Collector were bagged by women candidates. In PCS-2021, women candidates secured 16 out of 52 posts of deputy collector.
This time, Smriti Rana topped the second most prestigious post on offer in PCS-2023, ie of deputy SP. Out of 42 posts of deputy SPs on offer, women candidates bagged 12 posts. In PCS-2022, women candidates were selected on 25 out of the total 93 posts of deputy SP on offer, while in PCS-2021, women candidates had secured 12 out of 25 posts.