36% of IT workforce are women, data reveals

In what can be perceived as a step towards gender inclusivity, recent data shows the Indian tech sector has added around a million women in the workspace in the past decade, TOI reported.

The data of the Indian IT sector employing women stood at 9 lakh women in 2012-2013. The number has doubled to more than 2 million, making it 36 per cent of the total workforce of 5.3 million in the sector.

There are several factors that accelerated this growth, including companies developing policies that focus on diversity while offering jobs. Colleges and universities include more computer science courses and more women choosing it as subject. There are several government policies that are also helping women to do night shifts.

“We are seeing outstanding efforts from leaders in re-imagining benchmarks and accountability,” the president of the IT industry’s apex body Nasscom, Debjani Ghosh told TOI.

Certain states are faring better than other states, for instance, in Tamil Nadu the numbers have more than doubled.

Around seven states, including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, in the last 16 months have issued notifications ensuring that commercial organisations are able to employ women in night shifts.

One of the pioneers in this area was Karnataka. In January 2021, Karnataka allowed shops and commercial establishments to employ 10 or more people to function round-the-clock, to revive the state's economy.

In an article written for DH, author Ejaz Ghani, opines that more women in workforce is a step towards achieving the goal of India becoming $5 trillion economy.

However, the article points out that India is lagging in regard to female labour workforce participation compared to several Sub-Saharan African countries.