38% Indian women working in tech industry prefer working from home: Survey

Almost 38 per cent Indian women working in a tech or IT industry prefer working at home to working in the office, says a new survey.

About 36 per cent women said they had more autonomy when not working in an office, according to the "Women in Tech" report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

When female respondents were asked about the day-to-day functions that are detracting from productivity or work progression, 54 per cent said they had done the majority of cleaning in the home compared to 33 per cent of men.

Similarly, about 54 per cent women had been in charge of home schooling compared to 40 per cent of men, and 50 per cent of women have had to adapt their working hours more than their male partner in order to look after the family.

As a result, 76 per cent of women in India believe that the effects of Covid-19 have actually delayed, rather than enhanced, their overall career progression.

"Companies need to signal, both through culture and policy, that they will give working parents of both genders the flexibility they need during COVID (and beyond)," Merici Vinton, Co-Founder and CEO at Ada's List, a professional women's network, said in a statement.

"Companies need to understand that representation does matter and having women in leadership, majority-women teams and women in interviews demonstrates that there's space for women in their company."

While these examples of social disparity aren't tech specific, they do point towards a barrier that is preventing women from capitalising on the past year's shift to remote working.

"If the tech realm takes the lead and ensures a more flexible and balanced environment for women, then it will become the norm more quickly, which is more likely to trigger a change in social dynamics too," said Evgeniya Naumova, Vice President of the Global Sales Network at Kaspersky.

The research was conducted among men and women working in technology or IT roles in November to December 2020 across 19 global markets.

The online survey involved 13,000 respondents across 19 countries including 500 from India.

--IANS

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