Amritsar, NFAPost: Almost 54% of women surveyed by ed-tech company Great Learning believe they have greater opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics now than five years ago.
The company conducted the survey with 2,000 women on their participation and involvement in the data science domain, particularly AI and analytics.
The survey concentrated on the opportunities that exist for women in these sectors, factors that impact these opportunities and areas to focus on to increase participation of women in the data science sector.
According to the survey, the top five factors for this increase in opportunity include positive workplace policies, greater participation of women in the hiring process, favourable recruitment policies, lesser bias and presence of more role-models for women than before.
About 27% of surveyed women believe that equal growth and pay for the same level of experience and education will encourage more women. The lack of these aspects continues to be a roadblock discouraging many qualified and experienced women from entering this domain, the survey report said.
Another 24% of respondents believe that women will be encouraged to enter this domain if they have greater awareness of the roles and the support that organisations now provide in terms of work-life policies, training, and support.
“Increased participation of women is imperative if India has to become the hub of data science in the world…What is heartening to see is the improved workplace and recruitment policies by corporates that are paving the way for the entry of more women in the sector,” Great Learning Co-Founder Hari Krishnan Nair said in an official statement.
According to 17% of the participants, having a mentoring and support ecosystem from school to universities to firms will encourage more women to enter AI and analytics roles, while 16% believe that greater access to analytics education and seeing more women in leadership roles will encourage more women to join the industry.
Cities that offer the most opportunities
As per the survey, Bengaluru tops the chart by providing women immense opportunities in the data science space with 31% of surveyed women selecting it as the city with most opportunities. Bengaluru is followed by Delhi (NCR) and Mumbai, which are favoured by 10% of the participants.
The Great Learning survey highlighted that most women in the data science space belong to the broad IT/ITES sector, represented by 36% of the participants, followed by the technology sector at 16%.
Pharma and healthcare, an emerging industry in the data science domain, is represented by 12%of the participants, the survey showed and added that the automobile/industrial/infrastructure sector is represented by 9% of the respondents.
Another highlight is that the survey pointed out that about 31% of the participants revealed that they have been cross-trained from a non-technology function or domain while 26% have been upskilled from a related function within IT or technology.
Almost 23% of the respondents were hired or interned in a data science role after their graduation or post-graduation while 11% were mentored by leaders in analytics.
