I wanted to make a case for the Indian IT Male today on Woman’s Day. I am an unabashed MCC – Male Chauvinist Cow* and being an Indian IT Male does help add another feather to my cap.

Indian IT Male : A profile

Is a Certified Donkey

Workhorse is what the recruiters look for. Dirty work is what the clients want us to do. Knowledge is valued but not sought. Skills are important, but not imparted. Aspirations are considered, but not encouraged.

Is Highly Over Populated

The service industry in India employes the largest number of people after Agriculture. And most of these work for BPOs. The criteria to join the IT industry is an open one. All engineering graduates, all science graduates (Wipro is a case in point), all MCA, MSc IT grads and all and sundry join the chorus cursing the Indian IT industry.

Is Largely Under Represented

Even the HR departments of IT companies are largely used by Indian companies as spokespersons for the management. The mills used to have unions – but the SEZs don’t allow even that. With no leadership to speak of, living away from home – in lands that don’t understand your language, with a few friends to share the pains and joys with and virtually no one to care, the high salaried IT engineer is a largely unrepresented at all levels of the society.

Is Underpaid

A lot of those not paid the salaries that we IT guys earn, might disagree, but the theorem is “For every person in IT there exists one another who earns higher and is lesser qualified.”

Is sexually repressed

As most of them will undoubtedly identify with Chatur Ramalingam – even his last name for that matter as Tam Brahms abound in the upper echelons of the Indian IT industry. By the time they realized that the girls in class were not just objects of scorn they were shunted into Physics, Maths and Chemistry – the Hell with Biology.

Is made to compete for every morsel

He has to compete for everything – right from his +2 exams to his placement in college, working as a software engineer, to escape bench at the job, to belling the CAT for the Utopian IIM dream, to getting an on site opportunity to trying to get a girl friend through all these turbulent times, he is made to feel the pain of not allowing Sanjay Gandhi run amok during the emergency.

Is an Over Stressed species

Self Explanatory now…aint it?

* A MCC – Male Chauvinist Cows is a sub species of an Indian Male Species  – largely considered to be JKGs – Joru Ka Ghulams. The slight spin off here is that while the JKGs according to the definition are those who “Stand up in support of the wife”, the MCCs are those who cannot “Stand up for their rights”.