The technology and business services industry is far from reaching gender equality

Only about a third of the technology and business services workforce is female today. The ratio of women gets even worse at senior leadership positions where women account for less than 20%. The somewhat good news that potentially bodes well for the future is that women account for nearly 45% of technology and business services workforce at the entry level.

Amongst the service providers that shared diversity data with us, Accenture is leading the pack with 45% women in its workforce with a stated goal of reaching gender equality by 2024. Most other service providers are making genuine efforts to develop a more diverse and balanced workforce. Notable initiatives include:

• Capgemini participates in international indexes (e.g., DJSI) and certification approach (EDGE at Group level on Gender balance, and Berufundfamilie GmbH in Germany for flexible work and parenthood).
• Cognizant is accelerating a diverse leadership pipeline through programs like Propel, an initiative focused on priming the next level of women leaders within Cognizant. In 2021, the company reached a critical milestone of 1,093 participants, exceeding its pledge to put 1,000 women leaders globally through the program.
• Genpact launched a program called Career 2.0 to attract high-potential women candidates who want to return to the industry after a maternity break.
• IBM has over 300+ chapters and 50,000 participants of Business Resource Groups (BRGs) who work to co-create the future of diversity and inclusion at IBM.
• Infosys is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and channels diversity and inclusion across the organization through Empowered Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).
• EXL also recently joined UN Global Compact to implement universal sustainability principles and accelerate its progress on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
  TCS’ Inclusion Maturity Quotient tracks metrics across diversity segments, enabling TCS to implement evidence-based initiatives based on any gaps that are seen.
• The Women of Wipro (WoW) programs are a framework for the inclusion of women in every stage of their life/career. The framework structures Wipro’s internal policies, processes, and initiatives that promote gender inclusion and empowerment.

The Bottom Line: Let’s get serious about people diversity, maximize the potential of every person, and drive real innovation.

There are no good reasons or excuses left. It’s time to call out diversity as company-wide priority and make it non-negotiable.