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Gender Gap, Academic Conditioning, and AI Bias: Why India’s Tech Leadership Pipeline Is Cracking
Bengaluru, 18th November: India’s tech engine is running on a critical leadership gap, with only 8% of leadership roles occupied by women, in contrast to 36% at the entry-level. In the latest episode of the “What India Needs!” podcast, Shreya Krishnan, Managing Director –India at AnitaB.org, a global non-profit focused on advancing diverse individuals in technology, unpacked a very serious problem that is afflicting the tech sector in India. In her conversation with host Shutapa Paul, Krishnan pointed out that stubborn cultural hang-ups are the reason for a major drop in women’s leadership in the tech sector.
“Inclusive workspaces have a direct correlation with innovation,” Paul noted in her introduction, emphasizing how skewed representation is a problem for women in the tech space. “We’re very far from absolute balance in leadership,” Krishnan added, highlighting that India currently ranks a poor 139th on the global equity index. This is resulting in the loss of diverse senior expertise, which is vital for mentoring the next generation and making strategic decisions in what is one of the main growth drivers of the country.
Systemic Bias and Economic Penalties
The conversation explored the structural issues at play, which Krishnan said stem from deeply ingrained societal and economic biases. She highlighted the economic penalty that women face for their reproductive choices, which manifests as a significant salary disparity linked to motherhood.
Referencing global research, Krishnan revealed some stark numbers: “For every child that a man has, he gains four to six per cent of salary. For every child a woman has, she loses five to seven per cent of her salary.” It’s a contrast that shows how men are financially rewarded for parenthood, while women are penalised. Paul connected this to the internal battle women today face, noting, “I have seen very rebellious young ladies getting married and then suddenly toeing the line. When it comes to choosing between career and family, they’ll always choose the family.”
This deep-rooted prejudice is worsened by the psychological strain and emotional burden that women disproportionately carry. Krishnan and Paul examined how the post-COVID flexibility of remote work initially provided crucial support, but the subsequent mandatory return-to-office policies worsened this crisis.
Krishnan explained that the withdrawal of remote flexibility led to a sharp drop in female workforce participation, as rigid corporate structures failed to accommodate domestic and caregiving realities.
“We need all of the gumption and all of the grit to continue,” she said, acknowledging the “knockdown effect” across sectors triggered by these inflexible policies and the “compounding amount of pressure” placed on women trying to juggle both work and family expectations. She noted that the struggle for gender parity has set us back.
Academic Conditioning and Dangerous Blind Spots
From the corporate framework, the conversation moved to academic conditioning, which fuels this gap in gender balance right from childhood. Krishnan emphasised that the Indian academic system fails to equip students with critical skills such as resilience and the ability to cope with failure. She shared that gender roles are embedded in the minds of children from a very young age, reinforced by students and educators alike through ideas like “Science is not for girls”. This early conditioning narrows the pipeline of diverse talent entering the tech industry. Paul argued that if the number of women in STEM has changed over 30 years, it means “the educator needs education and educating, so to speak”.
Moreover, Krishnan warned that such bias causes devastating real-life outcomes, especially in domains linked to safety, health, and equality: “What is constructed over something that is already constructed will take on board the bias of the previous version unless we break it and examine it.” She added that AI systems built upon biased data are likely to replicate the biases of the past.
The Solution
To address these systemic barriers along the talent pipeline, the conversation concluded with a focus on actionable change. Paul reflected on the exhaustion felt by women who fight for equality, noting, “The ones who are fighting are very exhausted.” Krishnan then presented a solution, encouraging organisations to recognise employees in their wholeness and support rather than penalise them. True inclusion means going beyond basic diversity metrics and offering support tailored to individual needs, allowing women to choose how they engage with work without sacrificing their careers due to societal expectations.
The discussion ultimately serves as a stark blueprint for corporate leaders and policymakers. Krishnan noted that true equity requires a move from tokenism to systemic change: “granting women agency to choose the way they want to engage with work”. The future of India’s tech ecosystem is at stake— and not just the technology, but also the people building it. Leaders must take a holistic approach that recognises the whole person and their potential. Cultural taboos need to be dismantled, academic conditioning needs reform, and corporations must evolve—and all this must happen before rising pressures on women and biased systems reshape the next generation of AI.
Watch the episode:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/_
Spotify: https://open.spotify.
