Are women who get into male-dominated professions successful enough to pose a challenge to their male counterparts?
Taking a cue from the information technology (IT) sector, women have carved out a niche for themselves, carrying formerly unheard of titles for a woman — software engineer, software analyst, etc. IT has been one vertical where women have proven their worth.
Speaking about why more women are choosing IT as a career, Ritika Hiranandani, strategic advisor to National Stock Exchange of India, says, “The fact that technology is ubiquitous in our everyday lives inspires more women to choose IT as a career path. Women just need to find their inner geek.”
And once the interest is sparked, there is a plethora of educational courses, as well as industries, open to employing as many women, as men IT professionals.
Maya Culas, senior marketing manager at Hitachi Data Systems India, avers, “With more women graduating from engineering and management courses, IT has emerged as a suitable career choice. The industry offers women a workplace culture that enables a good work-life balance. With flexi-time and ‘work-from-anywhere’ options, they needn’t opt out of the workforce due to family responsibilities.”
Some organisations have made arrangements to help women better manage the work-life balance. These include nursery arrangements in office premises, or policies such as encouraging women CIOs/CTOs in top posts. One such CIO of the Reliance Group, Alpna Doshi, says, “Women are increasingly attaining leadership positions in IT firms. Even more significantly, women don’t appear to be experiencing barriers to leadership positions in their firms.”
So can we conclude then that IT is a ‘natural fit’ for women? E Balaji, MD & CEO of Randstad India, remarks, “Competent skill sets, armed with process-oriented thinking and naturally endowed problem-solving capability, make women well suited to the IT sector. This allows them to fill diverse roles in the sector. The number of women joining IT industry has gone up by 25-30% from around five years ago.”
@berylmenezes
