Women leaders see tech disruptions as an opportunity: Study

Women are well-equipped with the necessary skills for successfully driving transformation processes, benefiting from their strong networking and communication skills, openness to innovation and a straightforward, customer-centric attitude, KPMG’s first global female leaders (GFLs) study said.

“In our digital, technological and VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) driven world, new capabilities are required to survive. Companies cannot afford to ignore the power of the women workforce,” it added. 

The survey, which covered 699 GFLs from 42 countries, including India, and from 14 industry sectors, revealed half of GFLs (51 per cent) believing their company to be the disruptor of their sector, rather than being disrupted by competitors. 

Thirty-seven per cent of the respondents come from companies that have more than USD 500 million in annual revenue, the others (62 per cent) come from companies with under USD 500 million. 

The findings of the study present a contrast to the recently launched KPMG 2018 Global CEO Outlook, where only 15 per cent of the respondents were women. But there are also differences with a majority of GFLs (77 per cent) who are very confident about growth potential for their company, down from 90 per cent of their largely male counterparts. 

“Digital transformation begins with a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ current and future needs. The global female leaders interviewed appear strongly positioned to drive growth and profitability for their companies,” said Susan Ferrier, global head of people, KPMG International. 

Meanwhile, the study revealed that GFLs are agile and know their strengths, however, they still see the need for cultural changes to support gender equality. Only 28 per cent see their next career step within their existing company, it added. About 83 per cent see ‘enablement’ programmes for women as a good way of bringing more women into leadership positions, despite this when women leadership quotas were cited as being the least relevant (4 per cent), according to the study. 

In a survey of young girls between the age group of 7 and 14 years, PayPal, the global leader in digital payments, found that 96% of them expressed their desire to learn more about technology in school. These girls were participants at PayPal’s 4th edition of Girls in Tech, a two-week annual initiative conducted across PayPal’s tech centres in India, aimed at nurturing a sense of passion and interest in technology at a young age to create a pool of future talent.

61% of the girls surveyed said they pursue their interest in technology through active reading and workshops outside school as the existing curriculum doesn’t cover enough. 51% of the participants also said that their mothers inspired them the most to pursue technology careers, followed by 34% crediting their fathers while the rest (15%) said their teachers inspired them the most.

“The average gap in the availability of skilled talent in India has risen from 6 per cent in January 2014 to 12 per cent in January 2018 in the STEM sector. The need of the hour is quality technology craftsmen with a desire to strengthen the tech community in India rather than mere coders and engineers. Women representation in STEM courses has traditionally been low and the Girls in Tech program is our effort is to bridge the gap through application-based learning,” said Guru Bhat, GM Technology & Head of Engineering– PayPal.