Kerala IT sector witnesses 25-30% increase in women holding top positions

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7 (KNN) The strength of women in top management positions in Kerala’s IT sector has increased by 25-30 per cent in the last three years, according to data sourced by TNIE from the IT department.

Currently, the women workforce at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram is 45 per cent while it is 40 per cent at both Kochi’s Infopark and Cyberpark in Kozhikode.

This includes the total average female workforce in the state’s IT parks, which is estimated to be around 42 per cent.

The data also indicates that the national average of women in IT sector is 34 per cent.

The number of women professionals serving as decision makers in IT companies in Kerala have seen a significant rise over the last three years,according to GTech, a group representing IT and BPM firms in Kerala.

“This is a positive trend. In some companies, women employees have surpassed the 60 per cent mark. This trend is proportional to the number of female engineering graduates or diploma holders,” said V Sreekumar, secretary of GTech and centre head at Tata Elxsi.

“Moreover, the support mechanisms in the state and the entire IT ecosystem encourage more women to enter the field,” he added.

Sindhu Ramachandran, director (technology), leader of Center of Excellence (CoE) for artificial intelligence at Quest Global, said initiatives taken by the government and corporations have played a considerable role in driving the participation of women in the workforce.

According to the IT department’s estimates, at least 50,000 women professionals are among the 1.2 lakh employees in 900 companies operating from various IT parks in the state.  

Penetration of women in large numbers from the entry level to superior positions happened in the last two years, especially after the pandemic struck.

About 20 per cent at the supervisory level and 10 per cent at the senior management level in Technopark companies are women, while women employees make up for nearly 50 per cent at the entry level, industry sources said. 
(KNN Bureau)