We interviewed seven female engineers from India and five from the UK. There were six male engineers from India and nine from the UK. The data was collected between a eight to ten month period, this was also followed by a visit to India for field work for 4 weeks in between. The majority of the Indian women, we interviewed were in the age group 18-25 years, and 31-45 years. The majority of the men in India were in the age group 18-25 years and 26-30 years in the UK.
In terms of work experience, the majority of the Indian women respondents had about 5-10 years of experience in the industry. And the women in the UK had more or less the same. We received a good response from the men in the UK who had a work experience of 10-20 years. It is interesting to note that most of the respondents from India were either working full-time or in contract work, whereas in the UK, we found there were 2 respondents who were working part-time. Majority of the men in the both countries were in full-time employment. This shows a very interesting pattern of work which is prevalent in the two countries. Only three male respondents from the UK were temporary workers and two female respondents from Indian and UK were temporary workers and not in permanent employment. One common ground for both the women in the two countries was their constant juggling between balancing office work and family life. Indian women relied upon their parents and in-laws to look after the children, while women in British women were mostly reliant on private childcare facilities. Even though opportunities for women in the IT sector were much better compared to other sectors in India, women IT professionals were mainly responsible for managing the work at home, even if their partners were working in the same organisation. This could be primarily due to the patrifocal nature of the Indian society. (Gupta and Sharma, 2003) There is a lack of affordable childcare provision in the UK, as a result of which women have an impact on their ability to progress in this sector. It is estimated that a women spend an average of 11.5 years for caring responsibilities while men spend an average of 1.3 years. One woman working in the IT sector in India mentioned,
“Oh yes, I have two kids, one two years and the other five years. They are both looked after by my parents and in-laws. They (parents and in-laws) come over and stay with us from time to time and they have taken the responsibility to look after them till they reach the school going age.” Indian, woman, ICT professional.
In India, the ‘nuclear’ family unit, one that comprises of parents and kids is now on the rise in urban areas. Most of the respondents of this study were from urban areas and mostly came from metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad and therefore majority of them were in their nuclear family units with partners and kids. Very few ofthe re spondents in India were living with their parents and none in the UK were living with their parents. When asked if creche facilities were provided by the organisation, she mentioned,
“Not yet..but I know there has been talks about it. But I would prefer to leave my children with grandparents — you know the love they receive from them will not be equivalent to anywhere else.” Woman ICT professional, India.
This trend is an accepted norm, in India, especially when both parents are working fulltime. However, the main responsibility mainly lies with the grandmother. In the UK, each week almost a quarter of the families with children less than fifteen years use a grandparent to provide childcare (around 1,740,000 families). The average care provided by grandparents is about 15.9 hours per week. In early Feb, 2010, Baroness Deech, emphasised that children should be forced to care for their elderly parents and grandparents as a payback for the ‘free’ childcare support they provide.
Image of ICT
Ever since the Government of India introduced the five year plans after independence in 1947, there has been an emphasis on developing the science and technological base in India. As a result of this, the best science and engineering institutions were set up all over India, e. g the Indian Institute of Technology and other regional engineering colleges. An attempt was made to draw the best brain drain towards science, engineering and technology. The best jobs were associated with SECT so was the pay. The ICT sector is also the sector where more women are concentrated compared to other engineering sectors, as the ICT sector is considered more gender neutral. Our participants confirmed the same.
“The IT sector is definitely a preferred sector to work for women, compared to other engineering sectors — you know good work environment, good pay, flexible working patterns…” Woman ICT professional, India.
“I think about 30% of all the technical employees in our organisation are women — …yes they are in technical roles and if you include the admin staff, of course it will be more.” Woman ICT professional, India.
In the UK, the ICT industry is a dynamic industry. However, women remain severely under-represented in this sector. Women make up 46% of the overall UK workforce but only 18% of people in IT are female (Technology Counts IT & Telecoms Insights 2008, e-skills UK, January 2008). Despite the obstacles faced by the IT industry in attracting, progressing and retaining female graduates, the opportunities for women to enter employment in the IT sector have never been greater in recent times. And more so with the forthcoming Equality Bill, which is predicted to be passed in October 2010. Women are in demand and add to diversity to teams. (Inside Careers,
Information Technology 2007/8, published in partnership with the British Computer Society (BCS), 2007). However, although it is illegal in both the countries to positively discriminate anyone in recruitment, many employers sometimes refrain from recruiting women. This is primarily due to their duty towards household and child rearing responsibilities. According to Collinson et al (1990), many employers preferred to employ men instead of women irrespective of educational credentials for technical positions primarily because of the reason that high level jobs originally belonged to men, and women’s primary commitment towards caring responsibilities makes them less committed.
In the west, success in the ICT field is strongly associated with the histories and behavior of the “boywonder icon.” The male model of computing assumes that students must have a fascination with the machine quite early on in life. We did not find technology as closely tied to masculinity in India as it is in Britain. Indian women IT professionals are regarded as technologically competent in their work as men. Both men and women ICT professionals were of the opinion that a strong base or background in mathematics and science was needed for a successful career in the IT sector.
The participants were asked to specify who influenced them to study ICT and from the responses we received there was a clear distinction between the responses of women and men in the UK. Most of the men in the UK stated ‘no one’ influenced them to study ICT, whereas the women mentioned about parental influence and other influence from elder sisters and brothers. In India, mostly all the women stated parental and other family members ’ influence was the major decision. The responses from men were more geared towards influence from school teachers as well as parents. However, through an analysis of the qualitative data through interviews with the participants, we were able to gain a better understanding. One male engineer from the UK revealed his science teacher was particularly an inspiration for him.
“…at school I was good at science, …my science teacher was very good.” Male ICT professional, UK.
A women engineer from India explained,
“My parents always wanted me to become a doctor, my dad is a doctor, by the way. My elder sister went to IIT, and I wanted to be an engineer as well.” Woman ICT professional, India.
This shows that ICT jobs in India are considered gender neutral and girls are equally encouraged to pursue it. In the UK, ICT is seen more of a gendered occupation mainly dominated by men. Earlier research in the UK shows that often career advisors discourage young girls to take up science and engineering careers (Takruri-Rizk et al, 2006) We were interested to find out what motivated the participants to study ICT and majority of the respondents both from India and UK were of the opinion that an interest in SECT (science, engineering, construction and technology) was the main factor to pursue a career. Interestingly, women engineers from India mentioned about) ob opportunities, prestige and good pay.