IT to get a feminine touch

NEW DELHI: Women are poised to make a big mark in the IT sector with forecasts projecting this labour segment to grow from current 30% of the overall workforce to 45% by 2010.

The Institute of Social Studies Trust has found in a survey that companies have adapted themselves to cater to the needs of women workers. As many as 90% of companies surveyed offered flexible hours, 59% offering ‘work from home’ options.

It, however, brings out the stark reality that women are concentrated on the low-skilled end of the spectrum. Many of them are in jobs requiring communication skills, such as call centres, public relations jobs and promotional activities. The division of work between men and women in various segments of the IT sector is thus: call service 40% (male), 60% (female); programmer-software engineers 55% (male) and 45% (female), consultants 75% (male), 25% (female), project manager 94.4% (male) 5.56% (female).

Of the persisting barriers for a woman to take to the IT sector, first and foremost is access to internet technologies—out of 1.4 million internet connections, 1.3 million are concentrated in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi. Even in these states, the IT connections are restricted to urban areas and exclude rural and semi-
urban ones.