The IT industry may be one of the most progressive industries in the country but it still lacks women at the top. This despite the fact that the $78-billion industry has 75 lakh employees, including 6,70,000 women, according to Nasscom.
However, not even 1% of them reach the top and become CEOs or boardroom members. Most women sidestep for marriage and child birth, and afterwards find it difficult to stage that roaring comeback and pose a challenge to male peers competing for board positions in the company.
B Ravishankar, senior VP, HR, HCL, says 32% of the company?s 70,000 employees are women, but just 1% of them graduate to the top. The average age in the IT industry is about 28 years and when a woman finds a suitable groom, she gets married and relocates to her husband?s place of work. ?Some husbands demand their wives to discharge household duties despite knowing their nature of work. Unable to shoulder the dual responsibility of family and career, many women call it quits,? he adds.
In the second scenario, when women get pregnant they are relieved from the project and go on maternity leave. On return they get reasonable accommodation as per the HR policy entitlement, which includes in-house daycare centres for children at offices and setting up enough support systems including affinity groups.
?Despite this, we come across two characteristics of women workers. Some women continue to work till the last day before hitting the delivery room and some prolong their date of joining after childbirth, citing maternal care reasons,? he says.
Babuji Abraham, global head, People Function, MindTree, adds that women in IT take the closing call when they have their second child. ?After their second child women voluntarily wish to pull the curtains down on their careers. Husbands would have risen up in their job positions when women plunge to take the role of steadying the family ship with kids onboard,? he says.
However, things are changing according to Sanjay Kalra, former CEO of Tech Mahindra. He says. ?I have come across women with better leave records than their male counterparts despite childbirth and marriage. It?s a myth that women are not flexible in balancing family and career.?
At the same time, employing women has its own positives for companies. Dipstick studies done by eWIT, a women empowerment lobby group, have shown that women job-hop less as compared to men. In another study conducted amongst middle-level managers in Chennai, eWIT found that a very high percentage of women believe they have the potential to take up leadership positions in their organisations and are willing to to do so when the opportunity arises.
Saying that gender equity could be achieved by women making use of the organisation-administered equitable practices, Nallathambi, senior V-P and head HR, SCOPE International, says gender bias will completely become a non-issue over a period of time as women will not have to face the proverbial glass ceiling. ?The gender gap in leadership roles is narrowing as the industry in its endeavour to offer value-added services to clients is moving away from time-based output regardless of place of delivery.?
Of course, a larger enabling ecosystem would help. Experts say it can be achieved only through the co-operation of important stakeholders such as the IT/ITeS industry, the central and state governments, educational institutions and most importantly, women themselves.
Vijayalakshmi Rao, president, eWIT says, ?The industry should walk the extra mile to accommodate the aspirations of women. The government policy should sustain the career uptrend of women. In a non-discriminatory environment, women could unleash their larger untapped potential. Industry leaders should also frame women-friendly HR policies, particularly with respect to accommodation, commuting and health.?
Telecommuting could be a boon to women who are handicapped by family obligations. The work-from-home option works particularly well for women who are trained, but due to domestic pressures fail to devote full and fixed hours at work. Flex-time option enables women to gain work-life balance when they need it most, while ensuring that they continue their career and return to regular work when feasible.
IT/ITeS industry is in a unique position to tap the potential of qualified women from tier-2/3 cities by setting up Internet kiosks that will enable these women to connect to the offices and perform their tasks by accessing the company?s network or alternately connecting from their computers at home. In fact, today it has become feasible for a city-based organisation to recruit employees in other locations and allow them to work through the Internet.
Women also need to make a conscious effort to rise through the ranks. Raju Venkatraman, MD and CEO of MEDall Healthcare says, ?Women aspiring for top roles need to get beyond project management skills. There is a widespread notion that women are emotionally sensitive and it is too hard to win customer networks in the business of IT.?
Besides, the governments need to play their roles. Tax concessions can be provided for IT/ITeS companies, which do not qualify as STPI units, but employ government-stipulated minimum percentage of women employees in the company. This will encourage more companies in the IT/ITeS industry to employ a higher number of well-qualified women, thereby creating a positive societal and financial impact for women.
It?s important considering IT/ITeS industry has the ability to employ women in large numbers. Women with basic education can be employed and provided with additional inputs and training. The pay-offs and consequent transformational effect on women could be substantive because of the global nature of this industry. With a relatively higher pay-off to a larger section of the society, the IT/ITeS industry is capable of acting as a key growth engine for economic upliftment and empowering traditionally neglected sections of society such as women.