India has witnessed a rise in women job seekers since 2021, according to a report by Spectrum Talent Management. The talent management organisation has identified some rising key trends in women’s employment in the country. As per the report, there has been a 5-15 per cent rise in women job seekers. 

“Women are increasingly applying for tech roles on a permanent and contractual basis though the difference is minimal. The increase in women applicants is backed by the higher percentage of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles at the tertiary level than developed nations like the US, UK, Germany and France,” the report said.

The number of Indian women opting for STEM studies has also increased significantly in the last three years. “With the increase in India’s GDP, the share of women employees is also increasing gradually,” it added. All the industries are witnessing a positive influx of women employees barring the automotive and manufacturing sectors.

Job seekers primarily come from tier-1 cities and tier-2 cities – NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kochi, Nagpur, among others. Of this, Mumbai and Bengaluru recorded the highest number of women professionals.

Work from home stats

In terms of trends related to ‘work from home’ in a post pandemic world, around 70-80 per cent of women job seekers are looking for permanent WFH instead of full-time work from the office. As per the Spectrum Talent Management report, women’s participation in top management roles has also increased. Placement ranges from 35-45 per cent for senior to mid-management positions. Further, women job-seekers in India now come from a varied age bracket from 22-45 years.

“Primarily due to widespread acceptance of work from home set up, it has encouraged many women professionals to reconsider/restart their careers post sabbatical, maternity leave or any other personal crisis,” the report said.

Sidharth Agarwal, Director & Co-founder of Spectrum Talent Management, said, “Even though women comprise only five per cent of top management in Indian companies and gender disparity plagued the pay packages, there is a constant improvement at the ground level.”

More growth expected

“Indian corporates will witness more and more women employees coming on board in the next five to ten years, including some high impact roles. More talented and experienced women professionals are available to hire at a PAN India level due to new work from home policies. The alternatives have certainly broadened as organisations now clearly define gender diversity in the hiring process,” he said.

“Yet, there is a considerable difference between the male and female employment ratio. The obvious reason for such a difference in numbers is that women’s workforce is lesser than men. With the technological transformation that has occurred over the last 15 years, the coming decade promises to be rewarding for women in the workforce,” added  Agarwal.

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