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Number of women employees rise in top Indian IT firms

By SiliconIndia | Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 22:43 Hrs | 6 Comments

Number of women employees rise in top Indian IT firms

Bangalore: The ratio of women employees has seen an increase in India's top IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro Technologies during FY09.

While the ratio of women employees in TCS went up by two percent, Infosys and Wipro saw its women workforce go up by one percent. "A higher enrolment of women in engineering colleges is reflecting in campus hiring and ultimately the IT workforce. Other factors driving the trend include work atmosphere and the economic and financial security," said T.V. Mohandas Pai, Board Member and Director HR, Infosys.

Nearly 40 percent of the entry-level workforce in Infosys is constituted by women. While around 13 percent women constitute the middle management workforce, about eight percent constitute the top management levels.

TCS employed over 38,000 women workers in FY09 as compared to 30,000 in the previous financial year. The company attributes the increase to its equal opportunity employment policies. Ajoy Mukherjee, Vice President and Head of Global HR, TCS says, "We do not believe in the glass ceiling and 10 percent of our senior management includes women. In FY09 we launched a new initiative called DAWN (Diversity and Women's Network) to encourage diversity and inclusion in the workforce, particularly for women."

Wipro's women employees numbered 16,810 in March 2009 compared to 16,300 in the previous year.

Although Infosys, TCS and Cognizant have women as board members, Wipro is yet to see a woman on its board. However, according to Mohandas Pai, the representation of women at the board level remains poor. He says, "This is my personal view but boards are largely male dominated. I do not see companies making special efforts for gender balance at this level."

It is also being said that women in the IT sector are facing greater pressure than men in terms of layoffs. However Hema Subramaniam, CEO of Live Connections, a recruitment agency, says that large firms do give employees the option to move to centres in other cities, but women, especially those married and with children generally refuse such offers. She does not see a pattern of women discrimination here.

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Reader's comments(6)

1: yes...this is not a good thing to differentiate...its not company who do this,its the people in the company who create it...every body can easily can understand why women ratio is increasing...every body need entrainment...he he

Posted by:GSK - 16 Jul, 2009

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2: Here is what's reality . Of all employess sacked over last 6-9 months , almost 97% of them are male employees. Which is in turn change the ratio of male : female making female 1 % up . Is is not that number female employee increaed, rather number of male employee decreased .

Posted by:Jay - 15 Jul, 2009

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3: Maybe one or two percent increase is a rise- but is it significant enough? perhaps because it is women, it is significant. In my opinion it does not say much but it is better than a drop.Anyone has a counter view?

Posted by:radhika - 14 Jul, 2009

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The male-female ratio in the IT sector is no longer significant. Reservationns and other priorities accorded to women's education were precisely aimed at achieving such balance. However, what we are failing to take note of is the fact that the IT glory gives little happiness when we look at the millions of missing daughters. "Among women with a Grade 10 education or higher, the sex ratio for second and third births was 683 females per 1 000 males, compared to a ratio of 869 female per 1 000 male births among mothers who were illiterate."
"The (female to male) sex ratio has been steadily declining. From 1901 to 1991, the sex ratio has declined from 972 to 927."
The above figures are almost 20 year old and the situation has only deteriorated further.

Sanjay Replied to: radhika - 15 Jul, 2009

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Hi Radhika, I dont know why u talk these silly things,,,merit is merit. Also, talent is talent. No sex ratio should be considered there. I dont know what the hell with those IT companies. What do they gain by increasing the female:male ratio?

Kunts the Great Replied to: Sanjay - 16 Jul, 2009

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In IT profession patiency,co-ordination,will be taken into consideration in that particular issue female can adopt a lot of patiency as comparatively male, so they can be a role model to the male colleagues, in this crisis atmosphere female are considered along with their performance.

pratap Replied to: Kunts the Great - 28 Jul, 2009

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