NASSCOM announces gender empowerment practices excellence award

Bangalore, Dec 14 (UNI) NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the voice of the Indian IT industry, today announced the institution of awards for companies recognising outstanding practices promoting gender empowerment.

Announcing the awards on the sidelines of the NASSCOM IT Women's Leadership Summit 2006 here, NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik said ''today, the IT industry is one of the leading employment generating sectors with 1.3 million employed directly and over three million indirectly. While a majority of the IT industry players follow world class HR practices, we also see certain examples of extraordinary practices that enable gender empowerment.'' To recognise and propagate such practices, the NASSCOM would institute an annual award for companies. ''We are hopeful that this award will serve to showcase the Indian IT sector's focus on this area, in addition to encouraging companies to do more to attract women employees,'' he added.

A June 2005 study by NASSCOM on women professionals in the IT industry revealed that most women in this sector were self confident, determined and immensely talented professionals and have managed to make their mark within their organisations, owing to their hard and soft skills. As the IT-ITeS sector moved forward, more and more women were joining the industry. Today's successful women leaders would act as catalysts, drawing even more talent into the workforce.

NASSCOM, in a release here, said that in the IT industry, the men to women ratio was 76:24 in 2005 and was likely to be 65:35 by 2007.

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