Women in tech earn 7% more than men on average but men snag highest salaries

The data is based on 4,000 profiles of IT sector employees who have enrolled with the ed-tech startup Coding Ninjas, but it reflects a persistent global wage gap at the higher levels in the IT sector

Women in the technology industry in India earn around 7% more than men, according to data released by the coding ed-tech platform Coding Ninjas. “However, men still receive the higher compensation packages, with the highest reported salary being ₹1 crore, while the highest reported salary for women is ₹48 lakh,” the company said in a statement.

The data spans the last two years, and is based on information on nearly 4,000 technology employees, a spokesperson said, which included “recent graduates and experienced professionals” who opted for courses on the platform.

“The average compensation has remained flat from 2021 to 2022, primarily due to the volatile market conditions,” the company said, underlining that while the IT sector escaped the worst impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, stalled mergers and acquisitions and general economic uncertainty occasionally led to a pay freeze for employees, even as the sector’s contribution to other businesses skyrocketed.

Women constituted 35% of the IT sector’s employees in India as of the financial year 2019-20, according to data released by the industry group Nasscom. While the recruitment rate for women has increased — 44% of new hires in that period were women, Nasscom said — the wage gap remains persistent, especially at higher levels. This is true globally, according to an IBM/Chief report released on March 1, which also found that the “leadership pipeline for women has hollowed out in the middle”.

“Structural changes, including reimagining leadership tracks and role descriptions, improving pay transparency, and setting representation goals, can open new pathways for women to progress to more senior roles,” Salima Lin, Senior Partner and Vice President of Strategy, Transformation and Thought Leadership at IBM Consulting said.