Technology holds the key to the future, yet the underrepresentation of women in top positions hinders unlocking the industry’s full potential.
Tech was supposed to be the great equaliser. Instead, the gender gap worsens as women rise up the ladder. While 43% of India’s STEM graduates are women, they represent only 27% of the workforce. And despite their technical expertise, women held just 7.39% of top positions in the IT services sector in 2023, before it fell to 6.91% in 2024, as per a TeamLease report.
There are many reasons why women struggle to grow as tech leaders. One of them is the pay gap, which widens as women rise higher, according to TeamLease. Apart from that, limited career growth, work-life balance, a “bro-club” culture, and discrimination in promotions also play a role in restricting women.
To break the pattern, we have to look beyond superficial diversity initiatives or tokenism, and focus on removing the systemic barriers.
A study by cybersecurity firm Acronis states that 82% of women working in tech believe more females in leadership positions will lead to a better workplace culture. A significant proportion of women also felt there was unequal access to career development and considered bias as a barrier to entering cybersecurity careers.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who holds the Ernest L Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, has written extensively on work culture. She emphasised that employee performance and engagement, especially for women, reflects their personality, but also the organisation’s dynamics in terms of autonomy, access to resources, and opportunities.
In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell attributed the ascent of leaders like Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo; and Ursula Burns, the former CEO of Xerox, to their merit as well as a notable shift in corporate culture at the time towards inclusivity.
This brings us to the Critical Mass theory applied to the work environment, which suggests that three or more women (or a third representation) on a corporate board can create a shift towards collaboration, less competition and more empathetic communication.
Women leaders, thus, play a huge role as role models and mentors. Networking with senior tech leaders — including through our platform, Ladies Who Lead — can motivate and offer guidance to women to make the right choices and gain strategic insights.
Organisations also need to work on pay parity, offer flexible policies, and help women grow into leadership career paths. At the same time, women need to battle imposter syndrome to be more visible and vocal as leaders and not shy away from communicating their achievements.
At the end of the day, innovation knows no gender and an industry is only shaped by the best of minds. The tech industry needs to embrace this truth to grow.