It is a widely acknowledged fact that many industries suffer from endemic lack of diversity, and that efforts to tip the scales the other way often run into resistance. Such was the case, for example, when Google Employee James Damore claimed that the reasons behind the high level of gender inequality in the technology industry were biological rather than cultural.

The industry as a whole needs to realize that achieving meaningful equality is never going to be an easy process, and there isn’t one quick fix to a problem that is so deeply ingrained into industry practices
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To gain some perspective into the real roots of the problem, however, it is helpful to hear from people who have not only managed to overcome such barriers, but thrive in industries such as tech.

Only 12% of engineering staff at the 84 top tech firms are female,
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One such person is Haibei ‘Happy’ Wang, a former Front-end Engineer at PayPal and current Vice-President of Engineering at Silicon Valley tech company Globality, which has just received a $100 million investment  from SoftBank to scale up its cutting edge work in artificial intelligence and business sourcing. She has been working in Silicon Valley for the past two decades, and she tells me that during that time she’s also seen some positive change.

“In my twenty years of working in Silicon Valley, I’ve definitely seen more women getting into the technology field. I’ve also noticed that more and more women in technology are willing to open up and connect by founding many types of groups to support each other. I’ve seen a strong women’s voice represented in the product, engineering, design, and data-analytics fields. Women are no longer shy; we’re becoming more vocal instead of just being receptive.”

Only 12% of engineering staff at the 84 top tech firms are female, yet Happy reflects that there are many more opportunities available to women now, compared to her early career days as an engineer, when she invariably reported to male managers. The last decade, however, has seen a big shift towards promoting women into leadership roles, which means we’re seeing women in C-level roles, which was very rare in the past.

“I feel fortunate to have made it to the vice-president level. My leadership team values my contributions and provides me with great career growth opportunities. I’ve also noticed over the last decade that there are a lot more women founders doing quite well in the startup world, plus we now have more women engineers than ever, especially in the product, front-end engineering, user experience, mobile, and data fields.”

One trend she believes has been pivotal in this change has been the popularity of coding ‘boot-camps’ specifically targeted at women. These camps help address the fundamental issue that inequality in the industry is a question not only of demand, but also of supply, as some start-up founders report difficulties in recruiting female members for their teams in spite of their best efforts.

“I’ve seen lots of women going through these programs and successfully transforming themselves into great engineers,” she says, adding that in recent years she’s seen many more junior-level engineers coming to her who have never studied coding at university. They bypass the costly and often theory-based 4+ year courses, instead learning practical skills and best practices in realistic environments. Some of these boot-camps, such as Hackbright, are exclusively for women and have trained over 700 graduates who have gone on to secure jobs at companies such as Google, Dropbox, and Airbnb.

Happy Wang, Vice-President of Engineering at Globality

“There is no difference between men and women when it comes to the ability to learn. Science isn’t a sport where men can run faster than women can. In science, as long as you give them the same training and opportunity, women absolutely can reach the same level of achievement as men do. We need to open the door for women and find a way to educate and influence them at an early age to help open their eyes and free their minds.”

It is also important for companies to provide opportunities for female employees to transition to different roles during their careers, she says, recounting how she’s helped non-engineers become engineers by giving them on-the-job learning opportunities and constantly challenging them to go beyond their comfort zone. The other part of that, she acknowledges, is for women to also move past culturally-enforced norms that mean they are often more hesitant to put their views forward in fear of seeming overly aggressive or ambitious.

“If you have opinions, it’s better to speak up than hold back; you want to earn an opportunity for yourself and set a great example for your women colleagues to follow. Help others see that there’s a path forward as long as they are competent and doing an awesome job. Fighting for yourself is a way to send a strong message that also helps others.”

The industry as a whole needs to realize that achieving meaningful equality is never going to be an easy process, and there isn’t one quick fix to a problem that is so deeply ingrained into industry practices. “I’ve noticed that some companies are proud of their overall male-to-female employee ratios, but if you dig deeper, you find that many women are employed at much lower levels than their male colleagues are. It’s almost like a pyramid, and very few women can make it to the top.”

There's no difference between men's and women's ability to learn. Science isn’t a sport where men can run faster than women can
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The bottom line, happy concludes, is that we need to provide an equal opportunity for everyone to learn, no matter if you’re a woman or a man. “Technology evolves quickly; the most exciting thing for me in the high-tech world is that you always have something new to learn. While it is up to the individual to demonstrate how fast and how much they can learn new skills, we can’t exclude some people from the beginning by not even affording them those opportunities.”

Women are no longer shy; we’re becoming more vocal instead of just being receptive
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We need to achieve parity at every level in order to affect true change, and companies that do rise to the challenge will also reap the well-known benefits that diversity brings to innovation and productivity in the creative sectors.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. You can follow @alicebonasio on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or subscribe to her Inside VR/AR Newletter for all the latest curated immersive news.  

The post Making Technology More Diverse appeared first on Tech Trends.

As the CEO of a early-stage startup, I’m proud of what we’ve built, but our team consists of 10 men and 1 woman, and that’s a problem.  

By Samir El-Alami, CEO of doctorly

Women in tech, I need your help.

As CEO of doctorly, one of my responsibilities is recruitment. I am ultimately responsible for building and leading a team capable of realising our vision
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This makes sense, as we are an early stage startup and it is imperative that all early stage employees really buy into our company vision and fit into the culture that we are actively trying to build and nurture. Every hire, this early on, has a massive effect (for better or worse) on the culture. I would describe this responsibility – building a working environment where employees feel valued, empowered, engaged, respected and challenged – as my number one priority.

What exactly is that vision?

Our vision is universally relatable: We want to enable people to live healthier lives.

We have all dealt with health systems and know how old fashioned the processes are. We wish it could be better and more inline with service levels in other industries, for ourselves, for our friends, for our family, for everyone.

We are all children, brothers, sisters, parents, humans… so it’s not difficult to find people who believe in what we are doing and who want to contribute to its success.

What that looks like in practice

• We save the doctors from their 90s software and bring them into the 21st century with our new cloud powered, digital first practice management software. (Help the doctors).
• We empower the patients via our fully integrated health app, where they can digitally book appointments, access and share health records, communicate with their doctors digitally and a whole lot more. (Help the patients).
• Integrate other services and tools from across the health industry into our platforms enabling doctors & patients to access the best of what’s out there, all via a single holistic platform. (Help the whole health industry).

So far, so…so.

We’re pretty early stage (we just turned 1 year old) and are currently 11 people based in our lovely Berlin office – CEO, COO, CMO (medical), CBDO, CTO, HO-CRM, 2x Full-stack developers, a Frontend developer, a UX/UI designer and a Key Account Manager.

Our investors are happy. Doctors are happy. Patients are happy. The wider health-industry stakeholders are happy.

10 men. 1 woman. Here in lies the problem for me (us).

What is the point of a tech-startup?

To innovate. To disrupt. To create new ways of thinking, new ways of doing things. To help industries to evolve. To create employment. To help people to grow and evolve as individuals, in the hope that they will pay it forward, if and when, they move on to other companies.

What breeds evolution and innovation in life? Diversity! You need all kinds of people, all kinds of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives, talents, methodologies and points of view to truly get to the right answer (whatever the question may be). To the right way of doing something (whatever you are trying to achieve). To the most informed opinion. To the optimal culture.

Now, to be fair, the one woman we have in our team (so far) is a cofounder, and across the 10 other employees we are incredibly international and represent a wide range of backgrounds, beliefs and lifestyles. Everyone is also committed to the vision and to creating a wonderful culture.

But it’s not enough. No way near.

Things are going very well at doctorly. We are growing. Some of the open roles include;

• x3 Full-stack developers (C#, .NET
• x3 data migration/on-boarding managers (business analyst, intelligence, Data experience)
• x3 Customer success manager (experience in medical field a plus)
• x1 Product Manager/Head of Product (experienced building & leading a successful growing startup product team)
• x1 UX/UI designer (UI focus, Mobile app experience)

I am aware unconscious biases exists and glass ceilings are everywhere across every society, industry and culture
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I am 100% certain we can fill these roles with really great people. (That’s a good thing).

But I want to ensure that I am doing enough to actively promote ourselves & our wider (tech-startup) industry as one that can be inclusive, that can be enriching, nurturing, kind and value a work-life balance. Putting the people/team at the forefront of not just what we do, but how we do it.

Over the past year and a half, I have reached out to thousands of candidates regarding roles at doctorly and I have interviewed hundreds and hundreds of them.

And here we are with a, yes wonderful, team, but it is lacking in diversity, and thus, lacking what we need to become the best team and company that we possibly can be
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My cofounders and I are constantly in discussions regarding internal structures and how we believe they ‘should’ be.

For example, we all know that in general, women get paid less for doing the same roles as men. We see this across multiple industries, company types and countries.

At doctorly we have a very transparent structure to remuneration where everyone can know what everyone else is earning, because we’re trying to lay the foundations for a company structure focused on openness and mutual value.

Is it me?

In my mind, I believe I am fair in the way I source, fair in the way I interview, fair in the way ‘WE’ decide who to hire, but I am also aware unconscious biases exists and glass ceilings are everywhere across every society, industry and culture. Simply put, in the way I write a job description, in the language I use in the telephone interview.. I could be unconsciously discriminating.

The typical interview process at doctorly looks like this

• A lot of personal reaching out to candidates via Linkedin (CEO).
• Phone intro interview with the CEO.
• In-person one hour meeting with the respective manager +CEO.
• Competency based interview.
• Cultural interview, where the whole team takes the candidate for drinks/dinner and get to know each other on a personal level (everyone has a say on a hire).

Certain questions roll around my head

• Are the roles we are hiring for simply not attractive to women?
• Is my way of sourcing, (direct to candidates via Linkedin), not the best way to access the wide pool of female talent?
• Is the wording/vocabulary I use off-putting?
•  Is the early stage of our company unattractive?
• Is the startup industry, and its less-than-inclusive reputation, a deterrent to women applying?

Over the years, I have always been fascinated by, and determined to overcome, unfair biases in all aspects of life (even my dissertation for my Archaeology degree at university was focused on how multiculturalism within society and the politics of heritage are intertwined with how we learn ‘history’ at school. It’s all about representation and inclusion).

During one period of job-hunting (in London) I decided to conduct an experiment. I applied for jobs with the same CV but changed the name from Samir El-Alami to James Smith
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I’m sad to say the response rate to James Smith was markedly higher than Samir El-Alami.

But I believe times are a’changing and I am optimistic that as long as people are ‘trying’ to do, and be, better, then things will improve.

I have worked with startup companies pretty much my entire adult life, 10-11 years or so. I am aware there are clear problems in this industry (the industry I love). I have sat at C-Level management meetings, looked around the table and been struck by the lack of diversity (not simply with respect to gender).

I have seen the early stage 'bro/alpha-male' culture. Maybe I have even been a part of it at one time or another
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I acknowledge it. don’t like it. I don’t want it. I’ll fight against it.

But we need help.

I've reached out to a lot of people on the subject, men and women, who have worked or still work within the startup scene and the feedback has been interesting...
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Some of the feedback that came up multiple times;

‘It’s always like this at the beginning of a startup because there are more technical roles (e.g. developers) and these candidates are overwhelmingly male’

‘Once the company grows and you start hiring Marketing, HR, Product management, Sales people, you will have more women applying.’

‘Women crave job security and are less likely to apply for roles at super early stage startups. When you get bigger they will apply.’

‘Men are more likely to jump from somewhere they are comfortable for a new opportunity, where as women are more likely to stay somewhere they are comfortable and will only look at new roles when they actively decide to move on.’

‘Startups have a reputation of not being female friendly, so less women are interested in working in one, dealing with all of that bravado & testosterone.’

I hear it. I don’t like it, and while there may be some truth dotted around there, I don’t/won’t believe it. I refuse to take some of these opinions as fact

I have been privileged to work with amazing women over the years, in ALL kinds of roles throughout a startup. They added SO much value to them
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If I could hire them all, I would!!

But I’ll settle for their help and advice for now

What can I do, as an early stage health-tech startup CEO? What can we do as a whole company, to ensure that we attract the best talent from ALL backgrounds, experiences, cultures, genders, lifestyles, religions and abilities?

The point(s) of this post are:

Drawing a line in the sand. This is a problem and I want doctorlly to take an active part in addressing it

I don’t want to guess.

• We need women to tell us what it is about early-stage tech startups that is not so appealing (if that is indeed the case) and help us find ways to change that.
• We want amazingly talented women, who like the vision of our company to read this and apply for a job with doctorly, and/or tell their friends about it.
• We want amazingly talented women, who believe in the vision of this company, to work with us to actively participate in setting an example to the rest of the tech industry.

I'd love to hear how other people have tackled this issue, advice on best practices and feedback on our approach so far
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We want our company to be the very best it can be. Please help to make us better.

Samir El Alami is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of HealthTech startup doctorly. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter @SamirElAlami

The post Is It Me? Open Letter to Women in Tech appeared first on Tech Trends.

Tech Trends looks for some positive stories to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day and mark #IDG2018.

It’s easy to look at the state of affairs in the world today and despair that we’ll ever live to see a world of gender equality, or even one where girls don’t grow up feeling like fear, abuse and mockery are their rightful lot in life.

Yet in today’s business climate, companies need a dynamic and diverse workforce more than ever. Those who do not champion equal representation are missing out on a big opportunity to maintain their competitive edge and outperform their peers.

It’s easy to look at the state of affairs in the world today and despair that we’ll ever live to see a world of gender equality
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Which makes this year’s International Day of the Girl Child theme – “With Her: A Skilled Girlforce” – so appropriate. It is based on the paradox between the need for educated and skilled workers in the future and the number of young women in employment, training or education, drawing attention and investment for girls to gain those skills, experience and employment.

Women are consistently underrepresented in the science and technology fields, making up only 15 per cent of the workforce in research. Factors such as implicit and explicit biases, lack of role models and quality mentoring all have an impact on the number of women applying for roles in STEM. The growth in the number of female graduates was just 3.1 per cent between 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, whereas the growth in male graduates was 9 per cent.

“Across STEM, the gender imbalance remains intolerably high. Women are being overlooked for appointment to senior positions and this is having a detrimental impact on the next generation of talent to lead technological innovation. The absence of appropriate role models for girls leads to a lack of confidence in their ability, and inevitably, causes bright and talented individuals to turn their backs on promising careers in technology,” says Lindsey Kneuven, Head of Social Impact at Pluralsight.

Now is the time for women to use this momentum to press for equal footing across science and technology, she adds. “It’s the twenty-first century and barriers to employment — whether it’s gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or physical ability — should not exist.”

Kneuven believes that girls have the power to create freedom, equality and opportunity around the globe. But in order to get there, we must open up the technology skills learning that will deliver significant, lasting social impact.

“Women and girls of all ages and all circumstances have the right to thrive through equal access to education. And in today’s digital world, this means learning how to harness technology to deliver the progress that will create a better future for us all.”

On some levels there do appear to be encouraging signs: According to the latest findings from UCAS, women in the UK are 35% more likely to go to university; there are 66,840 more women now on degree courses than men, compared with 34,035 in 2007. Women attending uni outnumber men in 112 of a total of 180 subjects including psychology (81.7%), social work (88.3%) and academic studies (88.7%). Nursing remains the most female-dominated subject with 90.5% female students in 2017.

Women are consistently underrepresented in the science and technology fields, making up only 15 per cent of the workforce in research
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Yet there is still a very long way to go. The 2017 WES survey found that only 11% of the engineering workforce is female (although this was up from an even more appalling 9% in 2015). There has also been some progress according to some recent research by  Fresh Student Living which found that women currently make up 47% of employees in some STEM subjects, with a quarter of the jobs in mathematical sciences and 13% in engineering positions, as the infographic below shows.

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When Microsoft surveyed 11,500 women between the ages of 11 and 30 in 12 countries across Europe about their attitudes to STEM, it found that although many were interested in the subject early on, they tended to lose interest by the age of 15, highlighting the importance of providing hands-on experience and female role models in primary and high school.

“Unfortunately, there is a self-perpetuating cycle whereby women are put off by a career in technology that is seen to be too male dominated an industry. The resulting impact is a lack of women applying and forging a career in a sector that has so much to offer,” says Laurie Presswood, an intern working in the corporate legal team at Dell Technologies. She believes it is vital that the industry addresses its gender imbalance and puts practices in place to encourage women to develop their careers in technology.

“A huge number of my male friends went into IT jobs after studying computing, but not one of my female friends took the same path. It wasn’t until a family member discussed their experience as a woman working within the technology industry that I started to consider the number of different roles open to me.”

That change, she adds, needs to come from the very top, and she points to the example of her own CEO Michael Dell, who is part of the Catalyst CEO Champions for Change, striving for gender equality and inclusion in the workplace.

 

“Working for a business like this that truly values its female staff is helping to slowly change the perception of women working in tech,” Presswood believes.

Meanwhile, many other organizations are pioneering programmes specifically aimed at addressing those enduring imbalances for the next generation of girls.

Launched in 2009 by the Clinton Global Initiative, G(irls)20 aims to place young women at the centre of decision- making processes. through programs which make strategic investment in them through education and training, building networks, and access to opportunity both at home and abroad.

Only 11% of the engineering workforce is female
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Launched in 2009 by the Clinton Global Initiative, G(irls)20 aims to place young women at the centre of decision- making processes
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G(irls)20 works in partnership with over 50 organizations, selecting applicants who show leadership, analytical skills, and the ability to create innovative solutions to the economic challenges facing the world. It envisions a world in which women and girls are able to participate fully in the economic growth, political stability and social innovations of their countries.

These initiatives include the annual G(irls)20 Global Summit which happens this weekend. Two of the extraordinary group of 20 young women chosen to represent their countries at the global summit are:

Diana Voutyrakou

Diana, is a Electrical Engineering and Computer Science student. She focuses on the fields of Robotics and Biomedical Engineering and already has achieved her first scientific publication. Diana holds several awards from National and International Robotics Competitions, as well as an Olympic Distinction. Currently, she is working as an Educational Robotics instructor of school teams, participating in national and international robotic contests, which require knowledge of physics, mathematics, and programming principles. In addition, Diana is the founder and general manager of Unique Minds, a non-profit (NPO) whose purpose is to assist students and young adults to identify and follow their ideal academic path. She has been awarded twice as Greek Women of the Year between 18-23 years old.

Zeynep Gulin Boncu

Zeynep is a Electrical and Electronics student at one of the best university in Turkey. She is passionate about engineering coming from an engineering family, and has been part of global projects for over 10 years. Together with her family, Zeynep’s started with her Comenius project which hosted an Italian and two Indian girls. She has been a volunteer in AIESEC for 6 months and has recently been approved for a volunteer project on marketing and management in Brazil.

A related G(irls)20 Girls initiative is Girls on Boards, which invests in changing the status quo for women at decision-making tables in communities across Canada. And speaking of girls on boards, change is not all about grand global movements. There’s a huge role that grassroots initiatives can play, and every individual has the power to make a difference, as I found when I met the amazing folks at Board of this at a recent event hosted by Skullcandy in London.

We just have to do what works, and whatever it takes so that our daughters and granddaughters don’t also grow up in a world of #Metoo
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This creative start-up – headed by skateboard engineer and designer/maker Ash Baigent and illustrator/artist Rae Smith – uses creativity and skating as tools for empowerment and unity, shining a light on issues such as female empowerment and mental health.

“Our mission is to bring people together from all walks of life and our workshops provide a platform for discussing issues that often divide people – allowing them to express themselves in new ways, explore their creativity and give themselves permission to communicate within a friendly, supportive and open atmosphere,” Ash and Rae told us.

As one of the girls who attended a recent workshop recounts, she loved the concept of ‘reclaiming the skateboard’.

“I now feel more confident to learn skateboarding, and I’m inspired by the growing community of female skaters. The more female skaters can get together, the more empowered we will feel,” she says, proving that there isn’t one magic formula for supporting girls and give them the confidence to achieve their goals and dreams. We just have to do what works, and whatever it takes so that our daughters and granddaughters don’t also grow up in a world of #Metoo

“For this year’s International Day of the Girl, I hope that women around the world will begin to look at STEM careers as an area where their skills and personalities are as appreciated and valued as men’s,” concludes Presswood.

We can only hope. And fight. And VOTE. Because this, is not OK.

2 out of 3 girls in the UK have been sexually harassed in public.

It’s not a compliment. It’s not part of growing up. It’s not ok.

Retweet to join us and say #ISayItsNotOK > https://t.co/zN7QBpNF37 #DayoftheGirl #IDG2018 pic.twitter.com/cQqi7hNJ1H

— PlanInternational UK (@PlanUK) October 8, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Celebrating Girls in Tech appeared first on Tech Trends.

New research by Microsoft offers insights into how more girls can be encouraged and supported in pursuing STEM careers.

The World Economic Forum reports that by 2020, for every digital job created, four traditional jobs will be displaced for a man – but 20 will be displaced for a woman, making it critical to keep young girls interested and staying in these career paths.

STEM is creative, challenging, and it is what future innovation is built on
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Following International Women’s Day, Microsoft unveiled the results of a survey amongst women and girls which reveals some interesting facts about why we still see such gender inequality of representation in STEM fields, and suggesting ways to tackle these problems.

Encouragement from teachers, parents, and mentors is a crucial factor in attracting and retaining female talent to STEM careers
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For example, while 72% of girls surveyed say it is important for them to have a job that directly helps the world and 91% describe themselves as creative, only 60% understand how STEM subjects are relevant for their lives and the types of jobs and things they could do with STEM knowledge. When they do learn about real-world STEM jobs and accomplishments, their perception of the creativity and positive impact of STEM double in some cases.

The World Economic Forum reports that by 2020, for every digital job created, four traditional jobs will be displaced for a man – but 20 will be displaced for a woman
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As one high-school student put it: “The word ‘engineer,’ it’s misunderstood, I think to most people it sounds like more of a masculine-based job.”

Kiki Wolfkill, Studio Head for Halo Transmedia says knowledge of technology is something that can open many opportunities for women, and it is important that they understand that STEM subjects are fundamentally creative.

“It took me longer than it should have to realize that everyone telling me that because I was creative that I wasn’t cut out for math or science was WRONG. Creativity and STEM are not mutually exclusive and in fact, so much better together. There are so many forces at work as girls are learning their way and it’s easy to get discouraged or to lose confidence. STEM is creative, challenging, and it is what innovation for the future is built on. STEM is not one thing – it is the ability to create/use/evolve technology to build a better world and it needs diverse voices and backgrounds – that has to be encouraged and nurtured.”

Yet the study identifies some of the common stumbling blocks that such women who achieved successful STEM careers had to overcome along the way:

Nearly half (49%) of women currently working in STEM say that they have faced stereotypes in the field and 57% of women in technology fields specifically say they have faced stereotypes as a woman, as Shannon Loftis, General Manager of Publishing, Xbox recalls:

“I was once accused of cheating by a professor who just could not believe I had grasped the subject matter of an advanced calculus course. There have been many setbacks, both early and late, and regardless of the cause, I’ve always found it worthwhile to work around, plow through, and keep on. I wish I had more awareness of my female predecessors prior to entering college. I feel like I stumbled into the field. I want to share what I’ve learned so women can aim at what I’ve had (and then aim higher, and higher). Early access to STEM thinking, to acquiring fluency in technology and math, opens the mind and the path to whatever comes next.”

Another finding that emerges is how the perception that STEM careers not a natural fit for women builds up over time. Only 31 percent middle school girls believe that jobs requiring coding and programming are “not for them” but by the time they get to high school that number jumps to 40%, and 58% college women count themselves out of these jobs.

The perception that STEM careers not a natural fit for women builds up over time.
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To counter this, it is important to provide girls with activities to connect their interests with STEM subjects. The hands-on experience girls get in STEM clubs and activities stokes their interest: 75% of girls who participate in STEM clubs/activities understand the types of jobs and things they could do with STEM knowledge (compared to 53% who do not participate in such activities). One 8^th grader told the study:

“I want a teacher who wants to be there and has new ideas about how to take on life, especially for us girls because we feel cornered by all the pressure to make money and take care of family and friends. My tests say I’m a good engineer and I wish I knew what that looked like in real life. I want to see women in STEM careers on posters in the hall, in our history and science texts, and visit our classes.”

Encouragement from teachers, parents, and mentors is also a crucial factor in attracting and retaining female talent to STEM careers. 65% of middle school girls who are encouraged by a parent say they’re likely to study computer science in high school, compared to 36% who haven’t been encouraged by either parent. 61% of girls who know a women in a STEM profession feel powerful when doing STEM, compared to 44% who don’t know a woman in STEM, yet only 36% of girls know a woman in a STEM profession.

“It's critical to mentor girls from classroom to the boardroom,” agrees Toni Townes-Whitley, Corporate Vice President of Industry for Microsoft. ”We need to ensure that young women with STEM backgrounds participate in interdisciplinary functions from design/build to consult/implementation processes in the tech industry and as elements of digital transformation in all other industries. The best part of working in a STEM field – for me – is the ability to envision, experience and engage in the transformation of how businesses operate, people work and live, and societal issues get addressed with technology.”

Bonnie Ross, Head of 343 Studios (which makes the Halo games) agrees that it is difficult for women to stick with pursuing a career in STEM when there isn’t a large support group of other women in class.

“It can be stressful, intimidating and lonely.  It can also be difficult to see the connection of CS or engineering degrees to what you’re passionate about. That being said, I fundamentally believe in the next 5-10 years, that regardless of job function (writing, film, marketing, etc.), some form of technical background will be needed or desired for the job candidate.  I believe candidates that have any technical experience, will get the nod over those that don’t.  I think we need to mentor young girls and women to help show them what they can achieve with technology---not what technology is, but what they can create with technology.”

Helen Chiang, General Manager of Minecraft also recalls how her parents’ support helped her stay the course:

“It’s incredibly hard to be an outlier, especially during the teenage years, and learning in a community of peers that had similar interests kept me from leaving STEM early because it wasn’t considered popular in my regular high school. Where I grew up, it wasn’t popular for girls to be smart or interested in challenging subjects within STEM. I went through a period of wondering whether I should pretend to not understand subjects or dumb myself down so that I would be liked. I have to credit my parents, who reinforced in me from an early age that it’s much more important to always be curious, always be learning, and continue to challenge yourself -- than to want to be liked. Friends and popularity come and fade, but what’s in your brain should stay with you a lifetime.”

Some of the report’s key recommendations include:

• Supporting extracurricular activities that teach girls how to create and build confidence through STEM
• Emphasizing the link between STEM and creativity
• Showing girls and young women that there are real-world, world-changing jobs in STEM and computer science.
• Ensuring teachers interact with girls as much as boys and in qualitatively similar ways
• Encouraging parents, teachers and other parental figures in a girl’s life to support and foster interest in STEM
• Showing how interest in STEM and computer science can lead to success in school and in a career.
• Providing positive role models and mentors in STEM careers

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter

The post Infographic: The STEM Gender Gap appeared first on Tech Trends.

Ill-informed sexism is less harmful to gender equality than tech giants who fail to make an emphatic stand against it.

What’s most depressing about the Google anti-diversity memo saga is not James Damore’s pathetic attempt to justify his ideologically-based sexist views with flimsy scraps of pseudo-science. Nor is it the hordes of right-wing trolls tripping over their feet to proclaim him a hero in the white man’s struggle against oppression.

James Damore was after the attention and wanted the chance to sue Google
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Unfortunately, there’s so much of that sort of thing around that frankly it barely registers on the scale any more. Women routinely have to deal with such fuckwits– be it in the workplace, social media or the White House – so we don’t tend to notice unless – like in this instance – it finds a bigger platform and goes “viral.”

Which is clearly what Damore was aiming for. He wanted the attention and the chance to sue Google, both of which he got in spades. Well done, little boy, your momma must be so proud.

Full disclosure: I’m really not a technically gifted person. But while there are many possible factors that influenced the fact that I ended up a writer rather than a coder, I’m confident that me having a vagina isn’t one of them. I also know many people in full possession of a penis who are as inept in STEM subjects as I am – just as I have met countless freakishly talented engineers, data scientists and other various technologists of both genders over the years.

My choice of career - shock horror - does not hinge on my genitalia
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It really does make one tired that we should have to argue that our genitals are not the determining factor in what career path we happen to choose. That this is due, rather, to a complex mixture of socio-economic background and upbringing, education, availability of opportunities, timing, some dumb luck, and yes, natural ability which (as per above) does vary from person to person, whatever appendage they have dangling (or not) between their legs.

The infamous Google memo attributes lack of diversity in tech to biological differences
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It’s an old saying – recently used in Game of Thrones which is where I plucked this opportune quote from – that everything someone says before the word “but” is absolute bullshit. And such is the case with the first paragraphs of Damore’s steaming pile of chauvinist manure, where he claims to value diversity and inclusion, and not to deny the existence of sexism – before proceeding to lay out how he doesn’t believe the gender pay gap is real (it is) and how women are biologically less suited for certain roles. Particularly if they involve stress.

To those who have not read Damore’s infamous 10-page memo (I have subjected myself to the ordeal, but wouldn’t really wish it upon anybody) the crux of the offensive argument runs thus:

On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed because:

• They’re universal across human cultures
• They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal testosterone
• Biological males that were castrated at birth and raised as females often still identify and act like males
• The underlying traits are highly heritable
• They’re exactly what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective

Note, I’m not saying that all men differ from women in the following ways or that these differences are “just.” I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.

The best example of his fundamental misinterpretation of historical legacy and societal pressures as imprinted and inherited biological traits is expressed in the paragraph where he argues that a key female characteristic is “extraversion expressed as gregariousness rather than assertiveness. Also, higher agreeableness. This leads to women generally having a harder time negotiating salary, asking for raises, speaking up, and leading.”

Yet as any woman who’s ever tried to negotiate the line between being assertive and likeable in the workplace will tell you, that is not really something that comes naturally or comfortably to us, it’s a survival tactic we have to employ because assertive women are generally perceived in a negative light, prompting the need to protect fragile egos by not appearing to be a threat.

He then goes on to list in a tone of undisguised outrage Google’s discriminatory practices, which include (shock horror!) mentoring classes for people of a certain gender of race, and special treatment for “diversity” (his quotation marks) candidates.

Humans, in Damore’s alternative facts universe, are generally biased towards protecting females, and we have “extensive government and Google programs, fields of study, and legal and social norms to protect women”. How that tallies with the female experience of over the past few centuries of rape, murder, exploitation, lack of voting rights and being paid much less than men for the same (or more) work isn’t exactly clear.

According to this young white male, women are less able to cope with stressful jobs
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Gender differences are often, he mansplains, a perception of the “grass being greener on the other side” but when a man complains about a gender issue he is wrongfully labelled a whiny misogynist. Imagine that!

His helpful suggestion is that we shouldn’t get so hung up on what he terms “unintentional transgressions” as the focus on microagressions increases our tendency to take offence and self censor. In other words, the “authoritarian policies” that force people to worry about whether their behaviour makes women uncomfortable are putting too much stress onto the already downtrodden white male class. Luckily for them, however, men turn out to be much better suited to biologically deal with such stresses.

We always ask why we don’t see women in top leadership positions, but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs. These positions often require long, stressful hours that may not be worth it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life.

Women, it seems, suffer from Neuroticism (higher anxiety, lower stress tolerance) which “may contribute to the higher levels of anxiety women report on Googlegeist and to the lower number of women in high stress jobs.”

You really do have to laugh at this point. I mean, look at the poor little lamb. Not only is it highly unlikely that he has much direct knowledge of women’s biology, but if that’s a guy who knows leadership and stress, then I’m Lord Buckethead.

For starters, take a look at his LinkedIn profile (from which he hastily removed mention of a PhD from Harvard that as it turns out he had not completed). While I cannot speak to any personal struggles that might justify his prejudice against women and persecution complex, his professional trajectory tells a story of someone from a privileged background who went from an Ivy League education to his job at Google via a brief stint at MIT.

Would he ever have had the gumption to cope with the stress Katherine Johnson was subjected to at NASA? A widow raising her children while being subjected to the daily humiliation of not even having a toilet she was allowed to use? Coping with the very real discrimination of being a black female in the segregation era, she still managed to deliver all her ground-breaking scientific work in the most highly pressured environment imaginable. And many – many – women do cope with stress, and juggle careers and family/caring commitments every day, thank you very much.

To say that women are unsuited for coping with stress is an utterly ridiculous notion, but the final nail on the coffin of Damore’s argument, is his offhand belief that technical jobs are inherently better suited to males, (at one point he argues that more men may like coding because it requires systemizing) overlooking the historical fact that for many years computing was seen as a traditionally female role. Not only that, but women have pioneered computer science throughout the ages, from Ada Lovelace to Grace Hopper, Betty Holberton, Lois Haibt, Margaret Hamilton and so many others. Look them up. Their stories are well worth a Google.

Is it any wonder that this young white privileged male feels a complete disconnect with the reality of anybody who has actually had to struggle against bias, or that he advocates a lack of empathy as a virtue?

I’ve heard several calls for increased empathy on diversity issues. While I strongly support trying to understand how and why people think the way they do, relying on affective empathy—feeling another’s pain—causes us to focus on anecdotes, favor individuals similar to us, and harbor other irrational and dangerous biases. Being emotionally unengaged helps us better reason about the facts.

While it is rather sad to see such man-children stubbornly clinging to the notion that their little winkle makes them special, what depresses me the most is actually the fact that Google has been so utterly spineless in dealing with this latest crisis.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s response to all of this was to say that this was “not OK”, which even by Silicon Valley standards (and here I mean the hit HBO spoof series) doesn’t come close to cutting it. Tut-ting at this sort of thing is simply not a proportionate response when one of your employees regurgitates such offensive tripe. Delaying disciplinary action until the public outrage leaves you with no alternative is not cool, and it’s definitely not OK to act like this is an aberration in a company that has been found guilty of perpetuating that gender pay gap. You know, the one Damore assures us doesn’t exist:

Yes, in a national aggregate, women have lower salaries than men for a variety of reasons. For the same work though, women get paid just as much as men. Considering women spend more money than men and that salary represents how much the employees sacrifices (e.g. more hours, stress, and danger), we really need to rethink our stereotypes around power.

It’s also not acceptable for Google’s new Vice President of Diversity, Integrity & Governance, Danielle Brown, to imply in her initial response to Damore’s memo that this was a political view, which he was supposedly entitled to express. Your right to express an opinion stops where it actively makes the work environment for your co-workers a hostile one. Your right to self-expression does not trump their right to be respected by their co-workers.

It is not acceptable for Google to not take a firm stance against such blatant sexism
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Don’t get me wrong, I love Google and recognize the huge contributions it has made to society. But – to quote from Spider-Man – “With great power comes great responsibility.” For a company with Google’s reach and influence, neutrality is just not an option.

Girls growing up and considering their “choices” for education and their future careers will be aware of what Damore says, but they will look to Google’s reaction – and what they do next – for their cue as to whether going into tech is something they can, and should do, or whether it will still require the sort of heroic struggle those early pioneers of computing underwent.

Girls will be watching to see what companies like Google do next
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If Google prioritizes making a safe space for people like Damore rather than actually tackling those real and enduring problems head on, they will inflict more damage than a legion of angry white misogynist trolls could ever hope to. They urgently need to take decisive action and send an unequivocal message that this sort of thing is really not OK. If they need someone to show them how to be assertive, I’m sure there are many brilliant women in tech such as Cindy Gallop that would happily show them how to grow a pair.

Article originally published on The Huffington Post

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Don’t be Evil Google: Stand Up For Diversity appeared first on Tech Trends.

Diversity is essential to innovation, so it’s a sad to witness the enduring paradox of white male dominance in a sector such as tech. While there’s much left to do, however, in this guest post Ben Barlow looks at some hopeful signs emerging from the Fintech sector.

Fintech is still trailing behind other sectors in terms of employing women at senior levels
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Fintech came under criticism recently when it was reported that it is trailing far behind other industries in terms of having women employed at senior levels. The Financial Times reported worrying statistics on the percentage of women executives in Fintech globally, which is just 8%, compared with the 22% in the major banks.

The representation percentage of women in Fintech stands at around 8% compared to 22% in banks
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While the figures for women at senior levels in the banks aren’t particularly stellar either, the gap in Fintech does raise some questions. There are various theories around why it is so much bigger than the banking gender gap – for instance that Fintech is fed by both finance and technology as industries, and there are less women in the tech sector. But how is Fintech as an industry supporting women who do aspire to senior positions, and making sure their companies are appealing environments for professional women going forward?

How do we ensure that companies are supporting women who aspire to senior posts?
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It is important to note that while there may only be 8% representation from women at the very highest levels (board level executives), more women are finding success in Fintech careers right now, and those in senior roles do not see the small number of women at the top level as an impediment to their own career progression. Kathy Adams, Head of Financial Planning and Analysis for ETX Capital, came to work with the Fintech brand seven years ago having had experience in other sectors, including real estate and media. She believes that – at least as far as her company is concerned – the necessary elements are in place to support ambitious and talented women to succeed in reaching their goals.

There has been a real positive change in recent years in terms of networking opportunities for women
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Kathy Adams –  ETX Capital

“I’ve never felt this was an issue here at ETX as I was recruited by a woman, and when I came in there were other women at senior levels in the business. The number of women across the business has also steadily increased in the time I’ve been here, most noticeably in the technology roles.”

Adams also feels there is a supportive attitude amongst female professionals in her industry, and believes this is an important factor in driving improvements from within the sector.

“I’ve noticed a real positive change in the last few years in terms of networking opportunities for women within the industry and initiatives set up by women to support their peers and the next generation of women coming in.”

She added that there are important, on-going ways the industry can help foster a culture that makes female professionals feel welcome and valued, such as supporting mentoring schemes for junior staff, taking a zero tolerance approach to discrimination, as well as making sure that positive role models such as her own are recognized and serve to inspire the next generation of girls to enter the profession in the first place.

“In terms of being a positive example, it’s important to make sure the female success stories get put out there and recognised,” she says.

While it can be easy to identify problems in gender equality within a sector, it is much harder to find concrete solutions. And while it is important to continue to call out bias and inequality, it is also important to recognize where strides are being made in the right direction, and make sure we build on that to ensure a better and more diverse tech industry for everyone.

For companies looking to gain a competitive edge through technology, Tech Trends offers strategic Virtual Reality and Digital Transformation Consultancy services tailored to your brand.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Tackling Fintech’s Gender Gap Problem appeared first on Tech Trends.

Being a woman at a tech conference, specially a developers’ gathering such as Microsoft Build inevitably means you’re outnumbered. Looking around, I’d guess the ratio of men to women was at least 10 to one and that’s me being extremely generous with the counting.

Being a woman at a tech conference still means being grossly outnumbered
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Cornelia Carapcea Senior Program Manager – Cognitive Services

The upside of that is that it’s one of the few occasions where, in an extremely crowded, large-scale event, there is no queue for the ladies bathroom. The downside is that it reminds us that tech still has a ways to go to address its gender gap problem.

Tech still has much to do to address its gender gap problems
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Yina Arenas – Principal Program Manager with Harry Shum

We need positive role models to inspire girls to go into tech
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Part of the solution to that enduring problem, however, is inspiring more girls to get into tech in the first place, and this is where I think Microsoft deserves a shout out. Because although everywhere else women might have been outnumbered, they were a majority at the keynotes.

On the main stage at Microsoft Build 2017 Women were in a majority
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Rimma Nehme Architect, Open Source Software Analytics + NoSQL group

It was great to see such a diverse group of talented and confident female experts proudly showcasing their teams’ work. From Laura Jones showing the audience how Cortana’s AI and the cloud will make our lives easier to Maria Naggaga and Rimma Nehme rocking some live coding,there was no shortage of empowerment on stage.

A diverse group of talented women confidently showcased the work of their teams
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Maria Naggaga – Program Manager

Innovation director or human experience and design Haiyan Zheng had the audience in tears with the story of how she built Emma, a wearable that offered hope for Parkinson’s sufferers to better control their symptoms, and Yina Arenas joined Harry Shum during his AI keynote to show off the new translation feature for PowerPoint (the computer seemed to deal much better with her Spanish than Shum’s Chinese, but overall it was a very impressive demo.)

Haiyan Zhang with Emma Lawton and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Day two didn’t feature quite as many women, but Lorraine Barden, Engineering & Product Strategy partner director of program management got the most enthusiastic applause when unveiling the Windows Story Remix app which is being released as part of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The idea behind the app is not only to seamlessly make all your content accessible – end editable – across all devices, but to inspire you to tell stories with it. I was particularly excited to see the ease with which she incorporated Mixed Reality elements into those stories.

Lorraine Barden's Windows Story Remix demo was a highlight of #MSBuild2017 keynote
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Lorraine Bardeen GM, Windows, HoloLens, and Mixed Reality Experiences

I later caught up with Lili Cheng, a distinguished engineer and general manager at FUSE labs, and I pointed out my impressions regarding this prominence of female tech talent at build. Cheng is at the forefront of research and development of AI solutions for the Microsoft Graph, and she said that having diversity in teams is crucial to solving the immensely complex problems they face:

Diversity is crucial in finding the best solutions to complex problems
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Andrea Carl – Director Commercial Communications

“We have to have a diverse group of people working on AI, otherwise it’s simply not going to end up being as good as it should be,” she concluded.

For companies looking to gain a competitive edge through technology, Tech Trends offers strategic Virtual Reality and Digital Transformation Consultancy services tailored to your brand.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Women in the Driving Seat at #MSBuild2017 appeared first on Tech Trends.

A social enterprise is empowering young girls from underprivileged backgrounds to find independence through digital skills education

For Kizcode Founder Mujde Esin, learning to code changed her life
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“Learning to code opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. It was like learning a new language. All of a sudden things start to make sense and I began to grasp the inner workings of digital technology and its importance in our everyday lives.”

Growing up in Eastern Turkey, Mujde Esin’s school only had the most basic facilities, and even after moving to Istambul for secondary school, she only had access to rudimentary technology. Coding was a revelation to Mujde, sparking the curiosity to learn more and the confidence to look at the possibilities in the wider world. She improved her English and was eventually awarded a scholarship to do her Masters Degree in the UK.

Learning to code opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me
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 “I wanted other women like myself to have access to these wonderful opportunities. Nothing has a bigger impact in a person’s life than education, but women, especially those from ethnic backgrounds like my own, face many obstacles in obtaining access to education. I thought I could play a part in changing that.”

Mujde founded KizCode in 2015, a social enterprise dedicated to teaching coding to young women from ethnic minority groups.

“Initially we’re targeting tens of thousands of Kurdish and Turkish girls from underprivileged communities, both born in the UK and in Turkey,” she explains. “Learning happens in a fun and safe environment, but it’s incredibly empowering for future women entrepreneurs, who can reach a wider market and more effectively supplement their marketplace-based activities. Coding in this case can be the catalyst to their independence, both financial and intellectual.”

I began to grasp the inner workings of digital technology and its importance in our everyday lives
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“Digital technology is changing or replacing conventional teaching equipment and techniques. This ranges from replacing blackboards with interactive ones to being able to interact with your tutor in virtual environments, and in future all aspects of education will be pervaded by technology in some way or another, and this effect will ripple out into wider society. I believe the next generation will be one of makers, we see children already starting to create their own devices instead of relying on readymade ones. I think giving them the confidence to know how things work and make new ones is the most important thing we can teach them about technology.”

Digital technology is changing or replacing conventional teaching equipment and techniques
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Mujde is a huge fan of other projects that try and close the technology gender gap, such as Code First; Girls, Women Who Code, Stemettes and Girls Who Code, but she also sees the need to specifically engage with ethnic communities, who have different and additional barriers to entry when it comes to accessing technology and education. KizCode received its first funding from a major tech and logistic company in Turkey, and are now looking at partnerships that can help them expand. With the government recently announcing a £20 million fund to help integrate Muslim women into British Society through better English Language learning provision, it seems that initiatives such as these should also be encouraged and supported by all sides.

KizCode are now looking at partnerships that can help them expand
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I believe that technology education has the power to transform our society
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“I believe that technology education has the power to transform our society, not only helping to close the gender and skills gap, but to bring all these diverse communities that currently feel excluded. By offering them positive and tangible alternatives we’re empowering them to make a positive contribution to society, and to benefit from the digital economy. Everybody wins.”

We’re empowering women to make a positive contribution to society and benefit from the digital economy
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Promoting Inclusion through Technology Education appeared first on Tech Trends.