84% Women Believe That Upskilling Is The Key To Unlock Leadership Opportunities In Technology: WileyNXT’s Women Learners’ Survey 2022

WileyNXT, an online executive education program partner from Wiley, a global leader in research and education recently surveyed its previous and existing women professionals and learners to gather insights on the representation of women and leadership in technology. With the growing penetration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing across industries and sectors, the online executive education program partner attempted to understand what women foresee or expect out of the growing tech wave. The survey also tried to explore women’s motivations, challenges, aspirations and sentiments regarding their representation in the domain of technology. 

Here are some key findings from the survey: 

Industry 4.0 & 4.1 technologies will crank up growth opportunities for women

·Of the women surveyed, 91% respondents believe that the proliferation of new-age technologies across sectors are enabling more opportunities for women in the tech and IT industry and this could increase exponentially in future 

·55% of women have shown excitement about the emergence of new-age technologies as they feel that the flourishing tech space will offer them lucrative career and growth opportunities 

·82% women feel that the increasing talent war amongst IT and tech companies are enabling skilled women workforce to take up significant roles in tech industries

·         A significant 90% of female respondents anticipate that the tech wave in India along with the rise in upskilling/skilling would further increase the share of the women workforce in the IT and tech domain

Women are interested in taking up relevant opportunities in technology domain

·When probed if they are exploring relevant opportunities in the booming tech space; 68% women respondents expressed that they are on the search for potential opportunities

·69% of respondents have already enrolled themselves in specialized online tech courses/programs whereas 31.25% of women respondents have undertaken free online courses to harp on the relevant opportunities

·14% females share that they are hopeful of securing leadership roles while grabbing the relevant opportunities amidst the growing tech domain

·         82% women learners are of the view that women leadership roles in tech organizations have increased over the past decade, and they have attributed the credit to this little success towards availability of niche tech-based courses as well as prospects of upskilling alongside working 

Challenges faced by females while taking over leadership roles

·50% of women learners feel that that women’s small or little representation in technology is due to social perceptions and gender biases

·27% view lack of availability of skilled women workforce as the primary reason for the unequal representation of women in the tech leadership roles

·Amongst varied new-age technologies

o   73% women have shown interest in Data Analytics

o   68% confirmed that they would prefer pursuing Artificial Intelligence in future

o   41% expressed their inclination towards Machine Learning

Role of organisations in ensuring women representation in leadership roles

·45% of women shared that proactive initiatives and programs focused on nurturing aspiring women leaders will help increase women participation in leadership roles 

·As per 41% women learners, organisations should offer proper training and mentoring for professional development

·32% of women believe that rendering support to women for enrollment in specialized upskilling programs can help solve the challenge 

·         According to 18% women, fostering a gender-inclusive work environment can lead to increasing presence of women leaders in the technology space 

Efforts by females at individual levels to take on managerial roles in the tech domain

·         55% of women express that enrolling in relevant upskilling courses, staying abreast with new-age technologies, building a diverse skillset as well as actively seeking new projects is important at an individual level to holistically develop and avail a leadership role in the tech industry

Commenting on the survey report, Mr. Ritesh Kumar, Country Lead, Wiley India said, “According to a survey by McKinsey, while gender representation in the past five years has improved at every level in the corporate pipeline, women still occupy less than a quarter of current C-suite positions. This highlights the need to continue the work towards encouraging and promoting women leadership and representation. 

“As the WileyNXT survey highlights, upskilling and specialized courses in niche technologies are already helping women transit to tech domains and take on leadership roles. Through WileyNXT, we have been partnering with reputed institutions and universities focused on imparting industry 4.0 & 4.1 skilling, to help learners achieve, get certified, and advance their careers. As we go forward, we will continue on our efforts so as to enable more and more women to upskill, take on leadership roles in technology and unlock their true potential.”