Cognizant launches Program 'Shakti' promoting Women in Leadership

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 16 December 2023

Cognizant Technology Solutions is all set to launch the program 'Shakti', a women-centric framework, and collaborate with Nasscom to promote diversity and inclusion in India's tech sector, aiming to accelerate women's careers and leadership roles.

"Cognizant is dedicated to integrating diversity and inclusion into everything we do—how we recruit and hire, develop, promote, engage, and retain our talent—in keeping with our priority to become an employer of choice in our industry," stated Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant. Shakti will drive career advancement for women, promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, especially as artificial intelligence advances, shifting from problem-solving to problem-finding.

Compared to the average gender diversity of 36 per cent in the IT industry, Cognizant employs nearly 40 per cent of women in India. According to Cognizant, there are currently more than half of the 13 Cognizant centers in the nation have a workforce that is over 40 per cent female, with two of the largest centers being led by female executives.

By contrast, as of the fiscal year 2023, the percentage of female employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was 35.7 per cent, while the percentage at Wipro was 36.4 per cent. So far the closest was Infosys, with 39.4 per cent of its workforce being female.

Cognizant has also started an "allyship" program for the entire organization. Male allies significantly contribute to the creation of a more inclusive workplace by being aware of the obstacles women face at work and offering assistance in addressing the biases they encounter, according to Cognizant.

Cognizant is promoting inclusive leadership training and a year-long campaign to improve the work experience for women through its Women Empowered Affinity Group, with around 50,000 members in India.