Bangalore:
That India is viewed as a potential powerhouse of innovations is not fallacious. True, the country's institutes of scientific learning are open to all its citizens, but potential female researchers and technologists still hesitate at the threshold of laboratories.
To deal with the issue, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology organised a conference -- Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing -- on Wednesday.
"The conference was for women from technical background. At the entry level we see a lot of girls joining and doing pretty good. However, higher up the ladder, most of them drop out," says Kalpana Margabandhu, director, WebSphere Development, IBM India Software Lab.
But is that not true for all sectors? "Well, yes, but the trend is more visible in technical sector," she says. One reason could be the constant need to innovate and invent in this sector, which requires a lot of commitment.
"After getting married, a woman's priority changes completely. Usually, it has been seen that they prefer to shift to a managerial role. Maybe because it is less stressful," says Margabandhu.
So what is the solution? "We at IBM have taken several initiatives within the organisation to reduce the gender gap. We have a programme called Focus 100, where women from the organisation meet and sessions are conducted to help them reduce gaps. We also hold periodic sessions with managers. So, if a manager does not have a single woman in his team, we try to find the reasons behind it. After all, India will never be able to meet its IT potential if we have women dropping out at mid-level."
Margabandhu feels women need to speak out loudly about their work and believe that even if they have to take a break for a few years, it is never too late to join back and continue their endeavour in the technical field. The thought that it is wrong to take a career break should never cross their mind.
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