BackWomen employees yet to make their mark in technology roles
Women make up 25-40% of the total workforce at IT firms, but only half of the women perform core tech functions
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Mumbai: One may float names like that of Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer (CEO) of Yahoo Inc.; Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc.; Padmasree Warrior, chief technology and strategy officer of Cisco Systems Inc.; or Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox Corp.; when referring to women who have made it to leadership positions in technology firms.
But gender diversity numbers made public by technology firms in the last couple of months show that while a few women may continue to shine on the boards of these companies, most women employees are yet to make their presence felt, especially in tech roles.
Women make up 25-40% of the total workforce at all these companies, including Indian information technology (IT) services providers, but the fact remains that only half of them perform core tech functions.
So there were no surprises when the world’s largest social networking site, Facebook, made public its gender diversity numbers for the first time on 25 June.
According to Maxine Williams, global head of diversity at Facebook, women make up 31% of the workforce at the social media site. The company had 6,818 employees as on 31 March. In contrast, 37% of Yahoo’s total workforce comprises women. The firm had 12,300 employees as on 30 September 2013.
Google Inc. has 30% women in a workforce of 49,829 as on 31 March.
While the percentages are similar, the numbers in India are bigger as Indian IT firms hire in larger numbers due to the nature of the outsourcing work.
India’s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), for instance, has almost 100,000 women on its rolls. As on 31 March, the company had 98,122 women, making up 32.7% of its workforce—300,464 as on 31 March, including all its subsidiaries. But TCS has no woman board member.
Infosys Ltd had 160,405 employees as on 31 March, of which about 34% are women, and Wipro Ltd had 146,000 employees on its rolls as on 31 March, of which 30% were women.
A common pattern seen in tech companies is that most women are in non-technology roles.
For instance, a mere 15% of women employees at Facebook and Yahoo work in the tech space. And it’s not very different for Google with 17%.
Indian IT firms do not break-up the numbers of women in tech roles.
Technology firms say they are aware of the problem and are doing their bit to address the issue.
“As these numbers show, we have more work to do—a lot more," Facebook’s Williams acknowledged in a press statement. Steps being taken to address the issue, she said, included “finding qualified but under-represented candidates" and “partnering with other organizations working to achieve the same goal".
Sandberg’s Lean In, a non-profit organization that was launched in March 2013, aims to encourage women to continue to be active and ambitious in their careers even as they start families.
Sandberg, who is visiting India, also released a book, titled Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Profits from the book sales go to LeanIn.org; she has also contributed her own funds to the organization.
Laszlo Bock, senior vice-president (people operations) at Google, admitted on 28 May: “We’ve always been reluctant to publish numbers about the diversity of our workforce at Google. We now realize we were wrong, and that it’s time to be candid about the issues."
Pointing out that there are “many reasons why technology companies like Google struggle to recruit and retain women and minorities", he cited the example that women earn roughly 18% of all computer science degrees in the US. Among other things, noted Bock, “since 2010 we’ve given more than $40 million to organizations working to bring computer science education to women and girls".
Closer home, TCS, according to its 2013-14 annual report, has launched “the world’s first all-women business process services unit" in Saudi Arabia. It also has iExcel, a specialized executive education programme for women in mid-management, developed in-house, which “has assisted in grooming women managers for leadership roles".
Moreover, TCS has interactive forums, mentors and women discussion circles that “address the aspirations and needs of the women employees".
Wipro, on its part, had launched the “Women of Wipro" programme in 2008.
Wipro CEO T.K. Kurien was recognized as a recipient of the 2014 Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award for the company’s “proactive commitment to gender equality throughout its business operations developing innovative programmes that respond to women’s multiple responsibilities and societal expectations", the firm said in a 7 March release.
Anant Gupta, president and CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd, too, received the same award in March. Women comprise about 25% of the company’s 90,190-strong workforce as on 31 March.
Infosys, meanwhile, has its “Infosys Women’s Inclusivity Network" programme that “works towards creating a gender-sensitive and inclusive work environment for women employees and trains them for managerial and leadership roles", according to its website.
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