Women in Tech: Challenges, Opportunites & Need for DEI Strategies

By: Mitali Biswas, CIO, CK Birla Hospitals

A passionate technology professional, Mitali has over 25 years of experience across niche tech verticals such as Enterprise IT Operations, Digital Transformation, and Data Analytics. Prior to joining CK Birla Hospitals in 2020, she held the role of Associate Director of IoT & Cloud Business Solutions for IBM.

In a recent interaction with Women Entrepreneur India Magazine, Mitali shares her insights on various aspects surrounding women pursuing their careers in the technology vertical.

Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interview:

How can we ensure a diverse and inclusive workplace for women in a technology organization?

There are certain key factors that organizations should consider for promoting a Diverse and inclusive workplace.

• There has to be a strong leadership commitment and diversity and inclusion should be among the key agendas that the management drives across the organization.
• The policies of the organization must be inclusive and formulated in a way that promotes work-life balance. There are stages in a woman’s career when achieving this balance becomes very important, especially when they have kids and elderly people to take care of at their homes. Hence, an organization needs to have a flexible work culture and policies around parental leaves for women employees to help them achieve work-life balance.
• Organizations must have policies for equal pay and benefits for all employees irrespective of their gender.
• Every organization must have mentorship programs for women and create a secure and conducive environment to work freely on the office premises. 

Tell us about some of the key challenges women in the technology sector are currently facing.

There is an unconscious gender bias and stereotypes that exist in all of us in some way or another. For example, if a newly married woman wants to join an organization, it is often thought that she might not be able to give long hours for work or might even go on maternity leave. Similarly, women with small kids are assumed not to be ready to take up a challenging role. In many such cases, we seldom form our own opinions & perceptions and end up giving that role to our male counterparts despite the woman being more capable.

Additionally, there is a lack of representation of women in leadership and executive roles. This is a major challenge that, if addressed effectively, will serve as a role model for many other women to freely pursue their career ambitions.

Striking a proper balance between personal and professional lives is a challenge that most women professionals grapple with. This can be overcome by having flexible work hours at the workplace, developing proper time management skills, and having supportive work policies in the organization.

Throw some light on the opportunities for women in the tech sector to advance their careers.

Technology is evolving at a very fast pace lately, wherein new technologies are coming to the fore very often. As a result, the demand for technically skilled talent is increasing at an unprecedented rate in recent times. However, there exists a huge gap between the supply and demand of this tech talent.

Also, women bring a complete perspective to the table. By nature they are, have a high emotional quotient and good multi-taskers. These qualities make women better equipped to handle large teams and make them better managers.

The corporate culture is also undergoing a serious transformation lately, which also brings in a host of opportunities for women in the MNC sector where there are stringent D&I policies, expect women to be present across all senior positions, and even provide mentorship programs for women wanting to enter into leadership roles.

Suggest a few ways for women in technology roles to stay teams stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies.

In today’s constantly changing tech landscape, staying updated with the latest technologies and trends critical is for every technology professional irrespective of their gender. This holds for employees across all levels of the organization. As a result, many organizations today have very strong policies around their employee training budgets, and a few of them have made it mandatory for their employees to take up 50-60 hours of training every year. Going a step further in this regard, many organizations are even sponsoring certification programs for their employees to upskill themselves and stay ahead of the technology curve. Also, mentorship and networking both within & outside the organization by attending various conferences, seminars, and workshops go a long way in staying abreast with the latest developments in the technology realm.