The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a well-known issue that requires concerted efforts to address. CNBC-TV18's Future Female Forward campaign aims to shed light on this gender gap and explore ways to encourage more women to pursue STEM careers and take them forward.

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Anu Acharya, CEO of Maymygenome, emphasises the need to start nurturing an interest in STEM from a young age. She reflects on her own experience, growing up with a scientist father who instilled a passion for these fields in all of his children. Acharya believes that the key lies in captivating young minds and getting them excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

While the number of women entering STEM programmes has increased over the years, there is still a significant drop-off at senior leadership levels. Anu Acharya points out various factors contributing to this disparity. One crucial aspect is the need to recognise and overcome inherent biases during the recruitment process.

“I think it has to start from the time when you are a child. But at the same time, I think when you are looking at senior leadership positions, I think multiple things matter. One is, are we recognising them is there a bias inherent bias that comes in when people are recruiting.”

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Rajesh Nambiar, CMD of Cognizant India, acknowledges the leaky pipeline issue that affects the retention of women in STEM careers.

“Our initial intake from universities is roughly about 54-55 percent. That's actually above parity, in some sense. But over a period of time, you tend to have this dropout and then leaky pipeline, if you may, and then before we get to leadership level, it is not a good number for the industry.”

Rahul Singh, COO, Corporate Functions at HCLTech, emphasises the importance of retaining women in the workforce for an extended period. To achieve this, HCLTech has implemented several initiatives. They identify women leaders who serve as role models and encourage others to follow their career paths.

Singh acknowledges the importance of encouraging more women to embrace STEM and participate in the digitisation process.

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First Published:May 31, 2023 7:14 PM IST