Women in tech earn less, get fewer opportunities

India’s ‘High Potential’ women in technology sector aim high but earn less, and get fewer opportunities for career advancement, says a report by Catalyst India WRC – a corporate membership community.

Women in India’s technology sector begin their careers as equals with men, with similar aspirations to the highest levels including that of CEO. Despite the promising start, a gender gap soon results in women earning less and receiving fewer career opportunities. The issue has lead to fewer women in critical senior-level positions and a pay gap between women and men that expands over time.

While the overall global study shows that women MBAs start at lower positions and lower pay, $4600 less on average than their male counterparts, India Inc’s high-potential women and men in technology start out on an equal footing when it comes to job level and pay. However, 12 years into their careers, women lag behind men by approximately Rs 3.8 lakh or $6000 in terms of pay.

Women receive fewer on-the-job experiences that matter for pay/advancement such as mission-critical ‘line’ jobs and long-duration international relocations. As much as 57 per cent of men relocated to work abroad for three or more years compared to just 18 per cent of women.

Also, women in general are more dissatisfied with pay and salary growth. Compared to 42 per cent of men, 52 per cent of women were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ dissatisfied with their compensation.

Economic factors in India make ‘job-hopping’ common, but women and men differ in their mobility patterns.

Men change jobs more often: At the time of the survey, just 21 per cent of the men were still at the same company where they had started their careers, compared to 36 per cent of the women.

Most high-potential women and men had left their first job to get ahead in their career (64 per cent) or for higher compensation (50 per cent).

The study is part of the research programme ‘The promise of future leadership’ which has followed MBA graduates from 26 business schools in Asia, Canada, Europe and the US. The current report has used data from high-potential employees from organisations in India.

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