Nearly 81 per cent women in India working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) jobs perceive a gender bias in performance evaluation, says a study conducted by Kelly Global Workforce Insights (KGWI). The study on Women in STEM found that women in India tend to drop out of workforce at key phases in their lives, most notably around childbearing years and later at mid-management levels- consequently, there are few women left to fill roles in top management.
The STEM study takes a high-level look at the talent gap that exists between men and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields with feedback from 164,000 workers across 28 countries and a multitude of industries and occupations. “While women in STEM are highly ambitious and driven, but gender bias and hostile work cultures make them feel stalled and hasten their decisions to quit sooner than their male counterparts. This feeling is equally prevalent in India, where 81 per cent of women perceive a gender bias in performance evaluation,” said KGWI release.
According to researchers, the most significant driver is the ‘double burden syndrome’ of women struggling to balance work and family in a culture where both men and women feel the family and household duties are primarily the woman’s responsibility. While women represent 46 per cent of all enrolled undergraduate students in STEM, not many continue to pursue careers. “41 per cent of women in technology companies leave after 10 years of experience, compared to 17 per cent of men,” said Kamal Karanth, Managing Director, Kelly Services & Kelly OCG India “This is a very worrying scenario.”
The survey points out that, disparity is clearly visible in publicly traded companies - with, 12 per cent of the companies failing to fulfil the mandate of having at least one woman representative on their board in 2015. Of the 50 companies in the NIFTY index, only five had two female directors and 53 per cent met this directive by appointing directors that were either wives or sisters of executives and not really independent members.
The study also captured some of the key experiences felt by women at the workplace in India. While a resounding 77 per cent of female workers complained of double standards in training opportunities for women, 76 per cent believed that men have a genetic advantage in math and science and 66 per cent felt that women would never get top positions irrespective of their performance.
