IT's us, not US!

Surprise, surprise! Even as the population of female computer science graduates in IT 'heavyweight' US hits rock bottom, there is an ever-rising number of women in the IT industry in 'lightweight' India. The dynamics of the gender bender...

• According to a recent survey by NASSCOM, the current ration of male to female professionals (79:21) in Indian software companies is likely to be 65:35 by the end of 2005.
• In the ITES-BPO sector, the employee ratio is loaded in favour of women -- 31:69 (male:female).
• The ratio of women workers in Wipro rose from 18.75% in April 2004 to 27% in August 2005. ''Our organisation believes in diversity and equal opportunity,'' says a spokesperson.
• The percentage of female employees in Infosys rose from 17% in 2002 to 19% in 2003 to 22% in 2004 and 24% in 2005. ''Of 39,806 Infosys employees, 8,262 are women,'' informs an official of the organisation.
• More and more Indian female students are opting for computer science rather than traditional subjects like humanities and pure sciences.
  

It's not without reason that the Indian woman is going the geek way. Elaborates Preeti Desai, president of the Internet and Online Association of India: ''One, since hiring is preceded by stringent aptitude tests, the Indian woman clearly has a natural aptitude for IT jobs. Two, IT jobs require little or no travelling at all, suiting women all the more. Three, companies realise that recruiting more women means that they have fewer cases of employees leaving. Four, women seemingly learn faster than men. Five, the big pay packets in the IT sector are proving to be a big lure.''

Besides, IT jobs are proving to be suitable for women because they offer flexible working hours, glamour, and a safer/cleaner working environment compared to manufacturing industry. ''Then, women have intrinsic advantages like being better knowledge workers than men. Of course, since IT offers more job opportunities than most sectors, it's natural for women to take the plunge and, thereby, tilt the male:female ratio in their favour,'' says Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid.