17th June 2020: The tech industry as a whole is benefiting from work-from-home policies during the lockdown. Before COVID-19 hit, work-from-home policies for the tech industry were already the norm as compared to other sectors. This outbreak is creating a greater demand for tech roles and could create new opportunities in an otherwise challenging job market. This has paved the way for women’s workforce to join the tech industry.
Today, there are only 26% of women in engineering roles in India and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter – all of which are shaping our current and future lives — employ less than 20% of women. What’s worse is that nearly 50% of women drop out of tech after 8 years and move into non-core engineering roles, and only 7% women manage to reach the C-suite — a dismal trend when compared to the rise in men’s careers in tech.
According to a poll conducted by JobsForHer of 3000+ women in technology who are searching for tech job opportunities, 33% of women in tech said they are looking for opportunities to upskill in the latest technologies, 29% said they require challenges to showcase their skills. 22% said they want to network with other techies and 15% said they want mentorship from tech leaders.
With a shared mission of fighting the effects of COVID-19 on our economy and the world using Tech skills, Jobs for her has launched an exclusive online platform HerTech. While workplaces may offer ample opportunities for women in tech, unless they explore more business opportunities and build stronger and wider connections, they will not be able to advance in their careers quickly. This is where HerTech comes into the picture. “HerTech is a platform for women in technology across the globe. This platform offers opportunities to upskill, take challenges, network, search for jobs, and explore resources for career growth and will help women to stay,” announced Neha Bagaria, Founder and CEO of JobsForHer, at the launch of HerTech.
There are many roadblocks and concerns faced by women in the technology space. Rajashree Rao, Head, Partnerships and Ecosystem (APAC), R2 Data Labs at Rolls-Royce and Bhanurekha Condur, Associate Vice President, Sutherland Global Services and President, EWIT joined Neha Bagaria for the launch of HerTech. These two industry stalwarts spoke on their career journey and the need for and importance of increasing the number of women in the Tech space.
“More than half the consumers in this world are female, yet almost all products in the market are made by men. This, by definition, creates a product that is not fully conducive to both genders. That is why it is important for women to have equal representation in the Tech space and initiatives like HerTech are the right kind of platform to showcase skills and learn new ones. Most importantly, it gives a platform for women in the industry to network,” Bhanurekha believes.
Rajashree said, “The pandemic is an opportunity for women to scale up. The physical restrictions that were earlier a part of the working world are non-existent now. The understanding and the belief in remote working is at its peak. More women should and will take up challenging roles and there will be a rise in the percentage of women in the tech space.”
Every great crisis presents an opportunity to rise. This is an opportunity for us to correct the imbalance that exists in tech by offering women access to all the tools and resources they need to propel their careers and the world forward.
