Helping women scale new heights

According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2021 report, only 52 women are promoted as managers for every 100 men in tech roles — a significant disparity. Another study suggests that structural barriers and cultural restrictions, especially in unpaid caregiving responsibilities and housekeeping tasks, contribute to this gender gap.

In India, the state of affairs seems even more abysmal, with trends suggesting that female labour participation is declining.

To reverse this trend, tech companies and governmental organisations have focused on devising policies, practices and processes that facilitate female employment and thereby fix the broken rung on the career ladder for females in tech-related roles. Here are a few ways this can be achieved.

Flexible/hybrid models

Living in the era of technological advancement, today’s module is becoming a norm. Female employees should be given the option to choose when, how and where to work from. This allows working women to accommodate their responsibilities and professional duties. This is an effective way to counter the aforementioned cultural restrictions that would otherwise require women to take a break or, in the worst case, call it quits on their careers.

Helping working mothers

Maintaining employment in a corporation depends in large part on job satisfaction. Working mothers will remain at the company for longer if provided with special facilities because it is expensive, inconvenient, and tough to take care of children while working. A few additional perks working mothers might benefit greatly from facilities such as flexible scheduling options and additional vacations, childcare, and an on-site medical clinic, among others.

Transforming skills

New technologies are rolled out daily in this ever-changing digital era, and upskilling oneself is paramount. Through skill transformation academies, women can make real progress in the fight for gender diversity. Companies can hire more women, keep them in the workforce, and rehire those who have left by placing them appropriately.

Equal opportunities

Empowering women significantly impacts economic growth, corporate success, and human development. Women today are more self-assured and ambitious. Therefore, a nation’s ability to train its workforce and give women equal opportunities to advance in their occupations is correlated with better health and education outcomes, higher per capita income, faster and more inclusive economic growth, and higher levels of international competitiveness.

The time has come to rewrite gender playbooks and change the fabric of work. There is ample opportunity for female employment, especially in the tech domain. Still, it has to be backed by effective policies to attract, retain and promote female employment in the tech industry.

(The author is a chief business officer of a skilling consultancy)