Female Employees In IT Sector Paid 33% Less Than Their Male Counterparts

The IT sector in India is considered among the most undiscriminating sectors when it comes to gender. But the reality is that the salary difference between men and women is almost one-third.

According to industry body Nasscom, this is because fewer women get promoted to supervisory roles. Typically, a male employee earns a gross salary of Rs 359.25 an hour, whereas a female employee earns only Rs 254.04. With more number of career breaks in their job profile, the negotiating capacity of women in the labour market declines, as per the ‘Monster Salary Index India IT Sector Report 2014,’ The report was released at the Nasscom HR Summit, 2014, in Chennai.

"The information is factual but that does not mean that there is a disparity," said Nasscom president R Chandrasekhar. He said the IT sector had 65% of women at the entry level, while the mid-management and senior management had 27% and 9%, respectively.

Chandrasekhar also pointed women find it harder to accumulate tenure due to family obligations. "Women are paid equally when they come back, but due to the break, their bargaining power is less at times."

Tata Consultancy Services, one of the largest recruiters in the country, said it does not discriminate on the basis of gender. "TCS is an equal opportunity employer. As per the Tata code of conduct, we do not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity and culture," said a TCS spokesperson. Around 32.7% of the employees at TCS are women.

Sucharita Palepu, the global head of people policies and practices at Tech Mahindra, said, "Tech Mahindra's compensation philosophy is to pay for 3 Ps - Position, Person (based on qualifications, experience and skills) and Performance and this philosophy is applied uniformly to associates from both genders." she said.