Women in the Indian workforce are moving more and more towards jobs in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) work field. As per data by NTT DATA and NLB Services, nearly 56 percent women surveyed for the report are gearing up for ambitious career opportunities in STEM.
The report, titled ‘Bridging the Skills Gap – Towards an Equal Workplace,’ highlighted that nearly 57 percent of women enrolled in STEM courses are confident of securing a relevant job after completing a course as they are enrolling primarily for acquiring additional skills demanded by today’s jobs.
Further, 62 percent employers surveyed intend to hire more women enrolled in STEM courses in 2023-24 compared to the previous year.
Rise of women in STEM
The report, which surveyed a total sample size of 250 employers from different organisations of 12 sectors spread across 15 tier 1 and tier 2 cities, further highlighted that globally, India ranks second in terms of the number of female online learners.
The proportion of women enrolling in online STEM courses in India rose to 32 percent in 2021 from 22 percent in 2019.
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Additionally, 54 percent of the employers surveyed believe that STEM education will significantly reduce the skill gap, while 61 percent of employers think fresh STEM graduates are ready for industry work.
“The domain of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has long been suffering from a massive gender disparity. With women representing just about a quarter of the STEM workforce globally, it’s time we set out to answer the burning questions pertaining to this divide. It is encouraging to see that most employers surveyed (58 percent) think gender diversity can lead to higher revenue growth and over half of the employers (51 percent) also believe that gender diversity can lead to improved innovation,” said Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services.
The long road ahead
Although the representation of women in STEM has been growing in India, it’s still a long way to go before the gender divide in the field narrows. Around 30 percent of employers said the attrition rate for women was greater than typical. Most small/medium businesses (42 percent) and micro firms (43 percent) have a lower-than-average attrition rate for women.
The survey also mentioned that the higher-than-average attrition rates for women at large multinational firms (40 percent) and startups (41 percent) indicate the need for improved retention tactics and support for women's career advancement in these organisations.
Further, a majority (66 percent) of women in STEM surveyed acknowledge the importance of upskilling/reskilling in the current job market. Women in STEM identified the lack of pay parity (57 percent), inflexible work schedules (44 percent), and inadequate childcare benefits (36 percent) as the top gender gaps in their employment.
Hope floats
Retail/e-commerce, healthcare and pharma, and information technology/information technology enabled services are the sectors where growth in the hiring of STEM-qualified women is likely during FY 2023-24.
Also, according to the survey 58 percent of employers surveyed, gender diversity can result in increased revenue growth and recruitment of top personnel. Notably, approximately 31 percent of businesses want to launch initiatives to attract women back to the workforce, increasing gender diversity.
