'81% of women in STEM in India perceive gender bias'

Globally, women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs are highly ambitious and driven, but gender bias and hostile work cultures make them feel stalled and hasten their decisions to quit sooner than their male counterparts, a survey has found, adding that this feeling is equally prevalent in India, where 81% of women perceive a gender bias in performance evaluation.

The latest Kelly Global Workforce Insights (KGWI) survey on Women in STEM, found that women in India tend to drop out of workforce at key phases in their lives, most notably around childbearing years and later at mid-management levels.

“The most significant driver is the ‘double burden syndrome’ of women struggling to balance work and family in a culture where both men and women feel the family and household duties are primarily the woman’s responsibility,” the survey said.