Female CXOs willing to spend more on further education than their male counterparts: Study

In the rapidly evolving tech-driven industries, a majority of female professionals are actively seeking upskilling opportunities in technology-based programmes. Not only this, women are not shying away from spending more than men to upskill themselves, according to the Emeritus Global Workplace Skills Study 2023.  The study, across 20 Indian tier-I and II cities, also shows a distinctive trend where women are priming themselves to be frontrunners. 

"The study found that women at the C-Suite level were willing to spend more out of pocket than men on their further education. Female CXOs were found willing to spend on average USD 10,000 (roughly INR 8.45 lakh) on further education within the next year, nearly USD 1,500 (roughly INR 1.25 lakh) more than male CXOs, the study finds. 

According to the study, 87 per cent of female professionals are actively seeking upskilling opportunities in technology-based programmes.  

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), women make up only about 26 per cent of AI job roles worldwide. As per Skillsoft’s 2022 Women in Tech report, 60% of the women surveyed say that men outnumber them in their organisation for leadership roles at ratios of 2-to-1 or greater. This disparity and the gap can be diminished only through the upskilling of women in the tech sector.

Female participants across various seniority levels, including junior management (34 per cent), middle management (27 per cent), senior management (21 per cent) and owners (38 per cent), expressed the highest willingness to invest in the US$100-US$399 (roughly Rs 8,000 to 34,000) price range for upskilling in a year. Conversely, those at the C-Suite level (32 per cent) demonstrated a slightly greater inclination to spend on higher-cost upskilling programmes, between US$ 10,000 - US$50,000.

The Emeritus Global Workplace Skills Study 2023 also revealed that while the male workforce increasingly prefers shorter programmes (the majority willing to spend up to 2-3 months on a programme), female professionals across seniority levels, stand out for their readiness to dedicate 4-6 months for upskilling.

The study surveyed a total of 1,720 Indians aged between 21 and 65 years, hailing from across 20 tier-I and II cities in India. The average age of the respondents was 39, and the average work experience was 12 years.