Women in IT

In mid-2005, Nasscom carried out a study on women professionals

in the Indian IT industry. The research found that womens representation in

the workforce that time was close to 24%. It also made a forecast that the

number was likely to reach 35% by 2007.

Well, at the end of 2007, we are nowhere near that number.

According to the research by Dataquest among selected large employers, women

account for 26.4% of the total India-based work force in IT industry (excluding

BPO). The DQ-IDC Best Employers Survey, which captured similar data from a

larger base of IT employers in India, also throws up a similar number.

Consider this. About 49% of Indias population in the working

age group (18-55) is women. That means a large chunk of potential workforce is

completely untapped, even by an industry considered to be one of the most

preferred employers of women. Add to that the fact that this industry is

perpetually in the war for talent, and you do not have to be a genius to

understand that it is a reason enough to get worried; or as one HR head puts it

"to get very, very worried".

Business Imperative



In the last few years, almost all large- and medium-sized IT companiesespecially
the export services firmshave put in place some policy or the other to better

leverage this huge talent pool.

"In India, unlike in the US, diversity programs are by and

large focused on gender diversity," says Nirmala Menon, founder of

Interweave, a consulting firm that advises employersmany of them IT companies

like Sun Microsystemson diversity programs. In the US, diversity programs

often target racially diverse groups such as Blacks and Hispanic and other

minority groups such as gays and lesbians. The guiding principle behind those

diversity programs is largely socialistic, somewhat equivalent in principle to

the reservation system in Indian government organizations.

"In India, however, it is a business imperative," says

Menon. "Not being able to utilize literally half the potential workforce

when you are struggling to attract and retain people is a serious business

challenge than anything else. And it is an immediate challenge," she adds.

Most companies do agree that the best way to look at this issue

is to take it as a business imperative. Though not everyone is at the same level

when it comes to the maturity of these programs, even smaller companies have

taken some steps. IBM, which globally is a pioneer in diversity programs,

especially when it comes to women empowerment, is expectedly way ahead with

virtually a specific initiative for almost every challenge faced by working

women. Not surprisingly, in the DQ-IDC Best Employers Survey 2007, though it

featured only as the 6th Best Employer overall, it ranked right on top when it

comes to being a good workplace for women employees.

Though India-based global IT firms such as Infosys and Wipro are

sensitized to the need of having gender diversity, their diversity efforts are

today focused more on cultural diversityattracting and retaining employees

from different cultures and nationalities.

Its Different in India



According to a study by the IT Association of America (ITAA), conducted in
2005, the percentage of women in the IT workforce declined from a high of 41% in

1996 to 32.4% in 2004. The study also found that during the same period, the

percentage of women in the overall workforce in the US, remained largely

unchanged; in fact increased a bit from 46% to 46.5%.

That, in a nutshell, tells the difference between the type of

challenges before the American IT industry and the Indian IT industry. In the

US, the problem is relative for the IT industry, as it attracts fewer women

compared to other sectors. In India, though we do not have the exact data, the

IT industry is not especially a poor employer of women; if anything, it is one

of the most preferred industries among commercial sectors. Womens

representation in the IT industry is not less (may be more) than any other

industry.

"It will probably be a good idea, if you can do a study on

the percentage of women in engineering colleges and find out what that number

is," says Hemant Sharma, head, HR at Sun Microsystems India.

He has a point!

The industry, by itself, can do little about taking that

percentage up drastically in the short run. In a largely linear manpower-revenue

model, the industry grows by adding numbers at the lowest levels, by campus

recruitment. With few lateral hires from other industries, the industrys sex

ratio is but a factor of the same in engineering campuses. Though exact data is

not available, the percentage of women is estimated to be between 25% and 30% in

disciplines such as Computer Science and Electronics and far lower in

traditional streams such as Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical. It is safe to

assume that overall it is no more than 25%.

In that situation, it is tough at the industry level to expect a

figure that is much higher. Because of other support functions such as HR,

marketing, accounting, and other such non-technology jobs in the industry, where

traditionally more women have been employed, the industrys overall sex ratio

may be a little higher, but cannot be drastically different.

So, in effect, there are two challengesone is a battle that

each company will have to fight on its own, to project itself as an employer of

choice for women employees; the other is the war that the industry has to fight

to convince more women to join the engineering stream, so that they can be

tomorrows potential talent pool. The war is tougher but that is no reason to

give up. In fact, a few companies already have taken steps in this direction.

"There is no denying

the fact that there are certain differences between men and women. And

there is nothing wrong in acknowledging that formally."

Kalpana Margabandhu,

director, Websphere Development at IBM India Software Lab and chairperson,

Indian Womens Leadership Council (IWLC) at IBM India

The Need



"A diverse workforce gels better with a diverse marketplace," says
Kalpana Margabandhu, director, Websphere Development at IBM India Software Lab

and chairperson, Indian Womens Leadership Council (IWLC) at IBM India,

articulating the guiding principle of IBMs diversity policy, while quickly

pointing out that in India, much of IBMs diversity programs are focused on

gender diversity.

Apart from the fact that you cannot ignore half the labor pool,

the reason behind focusing on women is another hard, business reason. "They

are stable and stay on for a longer period, if the work environment is

conducive," she says. In the attrition-prone Indian IT industry, that is by

no means a small reason.

But is there a need for specific policies for women?

"As far as needs like flexible working hours or extended

maternity leaves etc are considered, they are usually granted, but we have never

felt the need for creating too many policies targeted especially at women,"

says Sunita Rebecca Cherian, GM, HR at Wipro Technologies.

Similar arguments often question the need for gender diversity

programs. In fact, a major resistance (and often mild hostility) towards

gender-specific initiatives comes from younger women, usually fresh out of

college.

"Why is there a need for such programs? It suggests that

women need some extra help to come to the same level as men," says a

24-year-old woman employee in one of the midsize IT services firms in Bangalore

that provides embedded system and product development solutions.

"In fact, this is one of the most common myths about gender

diversity," says Menon. "It is not meant for uplifting women. It is

just a recognition of the fact that women have some special needs and is all

about creating a formal system to address those special needs," she adds,

while agreeing that many women appreciate that only when they enter a certain

phase in life, like say motherhood.

"You can call it positive discrimination," says Binoo

Wadhwa, director, People Success (India), Sapient. She argues that an employment

relationship is more than hiring some people and paying them for what they do.

"It is an engagement, a relationship. So like all relationships, you need

to take steps to make it healthier," she adds.

Kalpana of IBM puts it more matter-of-factly and somewhat more

bluntly, "There is no denying the fact that there are certain differences

between men and women. And there is nothing wrong in acknowledging that

formally."

There is more to her articulation than just putting it more

bluntly. While the diversity programs of most other organizations are focused on

"addressing special needs" which by and large translates to

flexibility in timings, transfers, and extended maternity benefits, an essential

component of IBMs gender diversity program is to sensitize the women about

their small inhibitions (like being assertive, for example) and help them to

overcome them, so that they can smoothly move into leadership positions. In that

sense, it is far more proactive.

While others by and large acknowledge IBMs leadership in

developing a mature gender diversity program, some believe that it is a

reflection of its business needs. "You must appreciate that they are a much

larger and diverse organization in terms of their business," says Sharma.

According to the Equal Opportunities magazines 2007 ranking

of the Top 50 equal opportunity employer companies in the US, eight of the top

ten positions are held by technology companies, with IBM featuring at the top,

followed by Intel and Microsoft. Lockheed Martin (at #4) and Walt Disney (at #9)

are the only non-technology companies in the list.

Action Points!



From the traditional gender equality programs to new-age diversity programs,
organizations have focused their activities on meeting specific challenges for

women in the workplace, focused on recruitment, retention, and providing them a

positive atmosphere where they can be productive. Heres a brief overview of

some of them.

Sexual Harassment: One

of the earliest recognized problems for women in the workplace, sexual

harassment in the traditional sense of the word, is far less in flat and

transparent IT organizations. However, there are newer issues that involve lack

of awareness than anything else, thanks to a younger workforce. There are many

cases, where a young guy proposes to a female colleague and pursues her even

though she is not interested. In the traditional Indian society, it is rarely

considered as harassment and Bollywood often glorifies it. "I have come

across cases," says Menon, "where when we ask the boys, they admit it

but often are ignorant that it amounts to harassment." Most large IT

employers admit to cases like these. "The responsibility of an organization

is not just sorting out these cases when they occur but actively build awareness

about it," says Menon.

Needs of Working Mothers:

The most common element of all women-specific policies, even in organizations

where they are not called diversity programs; most IT firms have relaxed working

rules for mothers/expectant mothers. They include extended maternity leave,

flexible work hours, and providing crches for children at the workplace/a

nearby place to office and so on.

While most organizations have some policies or other, "the

challenge is that many women fear they would be considered less serious if they

avail of these facilities," says Menon. "So many avail only the basic

minimum and when absolutely needed," she adds. Again, IBM scores on the

effectiveness of these facilities.

"We have a mature

gender diversity program in Microsoft. Based on the need and suitability,

we introduce the initiatives in India"

Joji Gill, HR

director, Microsoft India

"You cannot make policies and sit back," says

Margabandhu. "Very often, the fear is that you will be excluded from

important plans when you are on maternity leave or about to go on leave,"

she says. At IBM, they showcase examples of senior managers who themselves talk

about their experience. In fact, as if to make a point, the company once

appointed a woman executive as the country manager when she was on maternity

leave.

I-SpecialSpecial Needs of

Indian Women: While special needs of working mothers are an

established practice in good organizations around the world, employersboth

Indian and non-Indianare recognizing and increasingly respecting the fact

that in the Indian family, a woman typically plays a far more important role

than her spouse, and that is not just with respect to the children.

While there are no specific policies regarding this, there are

many benefits like flexi-timings and transfers that are offered to women

employees so that they can balance their family and work responsibilities.

For example, in India, typically women are younger than their

spouses. This very fact means that their husbands are often in senior positions

than them, and in case of a transfer, it is women who go with them by quitting

their jobs. Many IT employers have realized it and are offering transfers to

women who need to move with their husbands. This becomes easier in the IT

industry because most firms have multiple offices now.

Many Indian women often take a break in their career to

concentrate on family. Proactive employers are offering them reduced hours so

that they do not have to take the extreme step of quitting. And it is working.

In Sapient India, women employees are allowed to work for half a day and many,

even in managerial positions, are availing of that option, without affecting

their careers.

Special Recruitment Targets:

While most Indian firms are still debating whether they need specific

targets for women, companies like IBM and Microsoft do have those targets. IBM

has specific targets at all levelsright from campus to the lateral hires. In

fact, IBM India pays extra incentives to recruitment consultants to meet those

targets. In Microsoft India, even in the internal referral programs, there are

special targets for hiring women employees.

The reason for the difference in approach by large Indian

services firms and non-Indian companies who have both sales and offshore

services units in India is not too difficult to understand. The focus of the

former is in campuses, where as Cherian of Wipro says, "Without targeting

specific numbers, we do achieve those numbers done by others". That is by

and large true for campus recruitment, because the recruitment may reflect the

distribution in campuses themselves. But that does not always apply in lateral

hiring. Unless you specifically target, there is no thumb rule that suggests

that you will have a specific number of women hires.

RecruitmentGetting Back:

It is a recognized fact that many Indian women take a break in their career when

they become a mother. Many of them do not get a chance to come back; many others

try hard before getting a job of their choice, especially if the break is long.

And these are professionals who have worked in their respective jobs for years

and have all the knowledge and skills, though the latter may need a little

updating in some cases. To let go this vast pool unutilized is letting go an

opportunity. This is something that many IT firms are realizing and trying to

find a way to address.

Again, the Big Blue has a lead. IBM has an initiative that it

has launched this yearBring Women Back to Workthat is specifically

targeted at not just finding and recruiting such employees, but also helping

them to smoothly slip back, by providing mentoring, if it is a short break and

formal training, if it is a long break.

Developing Leadership:

In the US, most good gender diversity programs include leadership development.

In India, it is still debated whether women need any special training. IBM and

Microsoft, expectedly, have lot of efforts focused on this. IBMs Indian Womens

Leadership Council (IWLC), which used to be an advisory council till two years

back, is now a working group with an executive board. This group initiates and

implements specific leadership programs for women.

Apart from workshops and training programs, IBM organizes an

annual Women Leadership Conference, called Winsparation, for selected women

leaders in IBM. It also has programs such as the India-specific Iconnect

that helps women employees realize their full potential within the work

environment, and Taking the Stage that shows women how to achieve a strong

leadership presence when they speak in all situationsboard rooms, meeting

rooms, conference halls, and phone calls. In addition, it regularly showcases

successful women managers who often act as role models.

Gender Sensitivity: The

small but most crucial element of all gender diversity programs is making both

men and women appreciate the diversity and also the need for these programs. In

Microsoft, the sponsors of these diversity programs are at the individual

business units levels. Microsofts diversity program has also started an

initiative in which all people managers will go through a diversity sensitivity

training by the end of this year. Sun Microsystems has a similar program wherein

all people managers are trained on gender sensitivity.

IBM has a program, Mindset, which is a half-day workshop for men

and women. The program establishes the advancement of women as a business

imperative and engages men and women to come up with action plans that build a

more inclusive culture for women in their respective business units.

Together, they employ

399,159 employees out of which112,679 are women. That is 28.2%.

This is the combined figure for IT and BPO. In IT, the number is 26.4%

and in BPO, it is 34.9%.

The total number of women

managers that these companies employ is 15.4%.

Again the difference between IT and BPO is glaring. In the IT industry,

women represent 13.4% of total

managerial workforce. The corresponding figure in the BPO industry is 27.2%.

Though we have top managers data as well, we

decided not to compare because the definition is very different in each

company and often seniority is not known from designations. On a very

small base, that would have created more confusion than serving any useful

purpose. But it did throw a very good finding. That, behind the media

glare, even the large Indian IT services firms recruit so many women

managers at the top level. Being in delivery, they never get the limelight

that their marketing/HR peers get. The profiles section cover many of

them.

Making it Work



"Policies are fine," says Menon, "but they must work."
And it is a real issue in many organizations, where many of the initiatives fail

because they are not practiced down the line in spirit.

Take the case of a junior level manager. While he may not have a

gender bias and may not be opposed to any diversity programs, he is more often

than not focused on getting his immediate task achieved. So there is every

possibility that he will take the route that will help him getting his work done

most efficiently in the immediate run. Thereby, he can exclude a female

subordinate from an important plan when he knows that she is likely to go on a

maternity leave.

Wadhwa of Sapient India dismisses such possibility in her

organization. She does not believe that such a situation can be avoided by

making more policies. "While you can have a lot of policies, it is the

informal culture of the organization that matters for them to be

effective," she says suggesting that the organization culture will not make

people act in that manner in a company like Sapient.

IBMs Kalpana has a different opinion. "That is a very,

very real possibility. So in addition to the diversity programs, we have

measurement at all levels. It is evaluated like any other business

measures," she says. IBM tracks percentage of women employees at all levels

and the managers often have to explain if they do not have the requisite number

either in the current projects or in the pipelines. In addition, there is a

two-day workshop the company organizes for its managers to understand that it is

not enough to merely tolerate diversity (including gender diversity), but they

must embrace diversity by demonstrating commitment and leveraging it for

business results.

In Microsoft too, it is measured, as the sponsors of these

programs are individual business units.

Culture, measurement or any other way, it works in organizations

where the women employees have enough colleagues and seniors whose words they

can take. Nothing works like another colleague telling that it has worked for

her.

Miles to Go



Diversity management is new to India. In the IT industry, it is progressing
fast because the business case is simple and straightforward. But with most

Indian firms focused more in cultural diversity, gender diversity has taken a

backseat beyond what is needed to address some of the special needs of womenthe

more traditional, reactive working mother kind of policies.

However, the biggest war that needs to be fought is not within

the industry but by the industry. Women are still a much smaller percentage in

engineering colleges and to some extent, even in schools. For a long-term

solution to the problem of tapping the women workforce, the efforts, hence, must

start at schools and colleges and not inside the offices. That is a collective

battle that needs intra-industry cooperation.

Shyamanuja Das



shyamanujad@cybermedia.co.in