Women need to be bold and take more risks, says Rohini Srivathsa of Microsoft

Rohini Srivathsa’s lightning talk at TechSparks 2024, was more of a conversation with the audience and touched upon pertinent topics like women’s participation in the workforce, work from home for both genders and more.

The Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft India & South Asia, Srivathsa is a leader in the tech industry. She has a PhD in computer engineering from the University of Texas in Austin and an MBA in Finance and General Management from The Wharton School. At Microsoft, she is responsible for driving tech innovation and growth across industry and the government.

Srivathsa has often spoken about women in the workforce and her interaction with the audience at TechSparks 2024 echoed similar thoughts. She began her session by asking the audience how important it is to have a forum to discuss ‘Women in Tech: Driving innovation with empowerment’. She followed up her opener with, “How important is this topic in a session like this, 10 years from today?’

The trick question placed importance on diversity but it shouldn’t be a topic anymore, Srivathsa pointed out. “But you know, we are not there yet,” she admitted.

“I am here as CTO of Microsoft India and South Asia, not because I am a woman but in spite of being a woman. I want the next generation to know and feel that gender is a non-issue; they just need to be their best,” she declared.

Srivathsa also asked the audience how many of them had a daughter, sister or a girlfriend they deeply cared about and wanted them to be in the same position after a few years. It was heartening to hear the hall resound with a ‘yes’!

India’s female participation in the workforce stands at an abysmal 37%.

“This means out of 100 women who are eligible to be in the workforce, only 37 are. The number is among the lowest in the world, and you will be amazed at the countries that are above India on the list. It’s not something to be proud of,” she said.

Srivathsa believed change is imperative because studies (from the UN, World Economic Forum, McKinsey, Harvard and others) have shown that when women participate in the workforce, economies grow more equitably. 

“There is better education, better care and sustainability. If India wants to achieve its goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, we need to get our act together,” she said.

The number of women in the tech workforce is heartening, but there is still more to be done, she pointed out. 

Here again, she fielded an important question, “Why should women be in the tech workforce?”

The answers were diverse and interesting. One person said that women were process-oriented to achieve their goals while another believed women brought a different perspective than men. Srivathsa agreed that women approached problems differently and were often the decision-makers and and an important consumer segment.

During the talk, a member of the audience shared that his startup comprised 65% of women employees who were allowed to work from home and that has made a huge impact on their work-life balance.

Srivathsa advocates work from home for all genders.

“This means men can also help at home. Do not assume that women are at home and are somehow cloning themselves and doing it all. That also doesn’t work out. I have always asked men ‘If you want to attend your child’s parent-teacher meeting, please do that’,” she said.

According to Srivathsa, women are averse to taking risks.

“Very often, women are playing it too safe. In fact, there are studies that show that if there is a score of 10 for a job interview, women will not apply unless they have all 10 aspects completely satisfied. They would want to be over-qualified if they apply.” she said. 

“That risk-taking, the boldness to go out there and believe I’m going to land the job is something women need to do more of,” she added.

(The story has been updated to add more context to a quote.)