Women in Tech

The name and the corresponding hashtag provides a very good view of what is in focus this current month the world over! With the just concluded women’s day, the global focus has mainly been on a few key themes like better balance, more empowerment, equal pay, more presence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and most importantly, more women in Tech.

In the recent years, especially in India, we have seen the appointment of Women CEOs (and leaders) across many major banks (both private and public sector). But at IT companies which serve these banks, the ratio of women leaders is quite low. It is high time we take aggressive action and try to improve this gender imbalance.

My personal observation has been that at the entry level, there are a good number of women with a computer science background who get into Tech Jobs and manage to maintain this good ratio for the next few years or so. But as they progress and get to the junior management level, this number starts dwindling. There are many reasons for this decline and the most common ones which come to mind are:

In this day of instant judgment, I am not here to discuss what’s right or what’s wrong but WHAT CAN WE DO to make this situation better? How can we encourage more women to continue their journey or inspire more women to stay in Tech?

We have to think radically and try to see how we can help make women’s lives better so that they are able to balance work and family and at the same time contribute their best at work. Few thoughts from observing trends around the world are:

We can try to list down many options but until the change is reflected in the actual numbers, it will still end up on the to-do List rather than an achiever’s list. Everyone needs to work together to create a better work environment for women. Now. The time is up. If every individual can think towards the same and try to inspire and motivate any women in their life, pretty soon, the boundaries ought to disappear and the balance ought to get better! Go girl!