Pure Storage-Zinnov Report on Gender Diversity in the DeepTech Sector Highlights Need for Greater focus on University Enrolment and Workplace Retention

Bangalore, India – April 30, 2024 — Pure Storage® (NYSE: PSTG), the IT pioneer that delivers the world’s most advanced data storage technologies and services, in association with Zinnov, a global management consulting firm, today released a report that examines women’s representation in Global Capability Centers (GCCs), particularly in the DeepTech sector, and their correlation with the top engineering universities in India. The report titled, ‘Towards a Gender Equitable World: Unveiling Diversity in DeepTech,’ highlights the need for greater focus on university enrolment in STEM courses and workplace retention to address the low representation of women in the DeepTech sector. 

Report Highlights

The report is an analysis of women engineering graduates between 2004 and 2023 from 42 top engineering universities leveraged by GCCs for recruitment, with particular emphasis on 23 top institutions deemed to be preferred by DeepTech companies. The report, which also includes both quantitative and qualitative findings based on insights from women in the DeepTech sector, highlights that the ongoing gender disparity is largely due to two main factors: a shortage of women’s enrolment in these institutions; and a significant rate of mid to senior level dropouts within the industry. 

Some of the other key takeaways from the report include:

• GCCs are leading the charge for a diverse workforce with 28% women in their workforce, yet they face unique challenges in achieving gender parity in DeepTech organizations, where the gender diversity stands at 23%​.
• The median representation of women graduates from top engineering universities stands at 25% between 2020 and 2023, which directly affects the inflow of women candidates in GCCs, especially in the DeepTech sector. Despite this disparity in women’s representation, women graduates consistently outperformed in securing placements compared to the overall average in top-tier universities.
• With a mere 6.7% of women in the Executive level¹ in GCCs and 5.1% in DeepTech organizations, there is a considerable decrease in the available talent pool of women as they move up their careers. Family and caregiving responsibilities, limited access to career advancement and leadership opportunities, poor work-life balance are some of the key factors influencing women’s attrition. 
• Bengaluru leads in diversity representation among tier-1 cities in India, with 31.4% in GCCs and 14% in DeepTech.

Industry Significance

Recognizing the unique hurdles women face in their technology careers, organizations are implementing strategic initiatives such as targeted leadership development, returnship programs, pay equity measures, caregiving support, and flexible work arrangements to address women’s attrition and enhance gender diversity across levels. While reducing women's attrition from the workforce is crucial, equal attention is being placed on strategies to encourage more women to pursue STEM courses. 

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About Zinnov

Founded in 2002, Zinnov is a global management and strategy consulting firm in New York, Santa Clara, Houston, Seattle, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Pune, and Paris. Over the past 22 years, Zinnov has successfully consulted with over 250+ Fortune 500 enterprises to develop actionable insights to help them accelerate their technology journeys to create value – across dimensions of revenue, transformation, and optimization. With core expertise in Digital Engineering Talent, Digital Transformation, Innovation, and Outsourcing Advisory, Zinnov assists clients by: 

• Structuring and implementing Digital Transformation levers enabled by technologies like AI/ML, Intelligent Automation, Cloud, IOT, etc.;
• Helping global companies outline and drive their open innovation programs, design and operate accelerator programs, and enable collaboration with start-ups across specific use cases and predefined outcomes;
• Growing revenue for companies’ products and services in newer markets through account intelligence, market entry, and market expansion advisory;
• Enabling global companies to develop and optimize a global engineering talent footprint through center setups and accelerators - in an as-a-service model, as well as optimizing their global portfolios, to achieve higher R&D efficiencies, innovation, and productivity;
• Advising global PE firms in asset shortlisting and target evaluation, commercial due diligence, and value creation.

With their team of experienced consultants, subject matter experts, and research professionals, Zinnov serves clients from across multiple industry verticals including Enterprise Software, BFSI, Healthcare, Automotive, Retail, and Telecom in the US, Europe, Japan, and India. 

For more information, visit https://zinnov.com.