BENGALURU: Healthcare-focused Global Competence Centers (GCCs) continue to struggle with gender diversity. According to Teamlease data, women make up only 28 percent of the workforce by industry standards. Women’s representation in R&D roles has further fallen to 15%.
“This gap is expected to persist due to the wide gender gap in STEM with only 27% women in the STEM workforce in India by 2023. Women’s representation in the tech workforce is expected to increase from 28% in 2023 to 35% by 2027. , says Krishna Vij, Business Head of IT Staffing at Teamlease Digital.
Organizations such as Roche, Siemens Healthineers and Merck identify this imbalance primarily as an imbalance at the mid-career level. These firms mostly recruit experienced, middle-aged professionals because of their specific needs, with limited entry-level positions available.
“We are engaged in research and development of healthcare products. It is very important to have more experienced hands. If women did not come out at this stage, we would have more of them in our organization,” he said. says Raja Jamalamadaka, MD. Roche India, where women constitute about 30%. A major challenge is the limited availability of women mechanical engineers. Roche aims to double its workforce to 35% female representation over the next two years.
Siemens Healthcare’s development center in India currently maintains 30% female representation and expects to improve gender diversity by 2028.
“It’s a cultural issue that we’re trying to solve here. It’s going to be difficult up to 35 percent because we also need access to good talent,” Urmi Chatterjee, HR Head, APJ & India. Notes for Siemens Healthineers Development Center.
Merck’s IT center has increased its female representation from 20% to 36% in 2018, according to head Anupreeta Bhattacharya. She observes that despite the opportunities, women are often reluctant to apply after a career break.
“I’ve seen a lot of people have self-doubt about when they’re coming out of a break. It’s been social conditioning…,” she says.