Around 38 per cent of Indian women employees in tech or IT industry prefer to work at home than in the office, according to a report titled Women in Tech by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky. The study reveals about 36 per cent of women felt more independent while at home.
As per the report, when asked about the day-to-day functions distracting them from productivity or work progression, more than half (54 per cent) of female respondents said they did a majority of cleaning in the home compared to 33 per cent of men. About 54 per cent women had been responsible for homeschooling compared to 40 per cent of men, and 50 per cent of women have had to adjust their work hours more than their male partner to run the family. As a result, 76 per cent of women in India believe that their overall career progression fell during the pandemic.
"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 demonstrate that there's space for women in their company."
Though lockdown was generally expected to increase gender equality through a positive industry shift, the report shows that more than half of the women working in technology have struggled to manage work and social life since March 2020.
"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 from November to December 2020 across 19 global markets. The online survey involved 13,000 respondents across 19 countries including 500 from India.