Women's Day Special: Challenges & Opportunists for Women in IT industry

Women’s Day is celebrated every year around the world on March 8. According to UN Women, the theme for International Women’s Day, 2022 (IWD 2022) is ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.  On this occasion, here's we have Women leaders in the IT Channel ecosystems space who talked about the different challenges and opportunities for women in the IT industry to rise.

Davinder Kaur Juneja, National Manager- Govt Vertical, Softline Services India Private Limited

While women are already rising in all industries you would find a minuscule percentage on the top. Especially when one is carrying capability to rise, the trend is noticed that they get into entrepreneurship founding their organisation instead of struggling to get to see CXO position. The challenges majorly depend on specific male dominating organisations with the belief system that woman is a weaker section physically which gets framed for mentally weaker too. It is misunderstood that women may not be able to handle challenges, especially in the IT industry, they cannot be technically sound which is a myth.

Yes, opportunities are growing as well with changes in trends and mindset. In boardrooms with the inclusion of diversities, women are being given opportunities to grow. It is believed that women are able to make bold and wise decisions they help make the team environment less authoritative and more cooperative similar to a family-like feel to the team.

Manasi Saha, Owner and Founder, Macaws Infotech

“Life is a challenge, we must take it.”- Mother Teresa

Challenges will be with us from our birth to death. Being in sports or battlefield or being a women entrepreneur, always Challenges will persist. According to me some of the challenges that women Entrepreneur faces are:

Defying social expectations: Most female business owners who have attended networking events can relate to this scenario. You walk into a crowded seminar and can count the number of women there on one hand. When women entrepreneurs talk business with primarily male executives, it can be unnerving.

In this sort of situation, women may feel as though they need to adopt a stereotypically "male" attitude toward business: competitive, aggressive and sometimes harsh.

But successful female CEOs believe that remaining true to yourself and finding your own voice are the keys to rising above preconceived expectations.

Access to funding: Not all start-up founders look for investors to help get their businesses off the ground, but those who do know how difficult the pitching process can be. Raising capital is even more difficult for women-owned businesses.

Struggling to be taken seriously: As a female entrepreneur in a male-dominated industry, earning respect has been a struggle.

Owning your accomplishments, Building a support network: A robust support network is essential for entrepreneurial success, so it's no surprise that 48% of female founders report that a lack of available advisors and mentors limits their professional growth.

Balancing business and family life: Parent entrepreneurs have dual responsibilities to their businesses and families. Finding ways to devote time to both is key to achieving that elusive work-life balance.

Coping with fear of failure:  The road to success is paved with losses, mishaps and mistakes, but it can still take you where you want to go as long as you don't lose sight of your ultimate destination.

One needs to be confident enough focused and consistent to be successful. Take the world in your stride.

Shraddha Gupta, Telecom Business Head, Cache Technologies

We’re in 2022, but when you work in a male-dominated industry it still feels like the 70s, where a feeling of not being taken as seriously as the other gender still prevails.  In reality, I think I barely come across females I strike a comment conversation with during my workday, which clearly reflects on women's representation and the stark gender gap in the industry.

People assume that we lack knowledge and motivation and the required skill set, hence we need to constantly keep proving ourselves to gain trust which often leads to extrinsic motivation and also a kind of negative reinforcement. It’s a challenging industry where one needs to be available 24x7 hence the work-life balance becomes cumbersome to manage. I feel that I need to work twice as hard as my male counterparts to make a name in this industry.

There are a few hurdles for women to build a good rapport with the customers as well. For example, male to male bonding becomes easier when compared to a female to male bonding. As of now, there is a huge gender gap therefore I can see a humungous scope of opportunity. Of the 25% of women working in tech worldwide, Asian women make up just 5% of that number. I and our team at Cache Technologies strive to lead by example, to be market leaders in this industry while challenging stereotypes and empowering more women with our vision.