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.

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 collaboration between IBM and the New York Times T Brand Studio showcased the work of female STEM pioneers through AR.

The Outthink Hidden experience is available through the T Brand Studio AR app which can be download for free on iTunes and Google Play. It works like a virtual museum where people can explore a range of 3D graphics, written stories, and audiovisual narratives to find out the tales behind 10 key innovators in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The app was inspired by the recently released film Hidden Figures, which tells the true story of how three female African American mathematicians who programmed the first-of-its kind IBM mainframe at NASA in the early 1960s and played a key role in the historic mission that put John Glenn into orbit.

“We were inspired to use this app to share the stories of unsung STEM innovators who have changed the lives of people around the world.” said Ann Rubin, Vice President, Branded Content and Global Creative, IBM.

Perhaps by shining this spotlight on this untold tale of the 1960s Space Race, we can help to inspire greater interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, specially amongst women. It fits into a broader range of initiatives such as Stemettes, whose co-founder Anne-Marie Imafidon has been recognized with an MBE in the latest New Years Honours list and the important work in education advocacy championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, which was movingly reflected in her final official speech last week.

Perhaps by shining a spotlight on this untold tale of the 1960s Space Race, we can inspire interest in STEM
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The New York Times has been pushing VR content for a while now, but this is their first major AR initiative, and it potentially allows them to reach a wider audience, by enabling people to experience immersive content without need for a separate headset. It instead deploys sensors to activate a digital layer that augments the space using 3D images, audio, video, and descriptive text, displaying these using just the mobile device screen.

Dorothy Vaughan taught herself and others how to program NASA’s IBM mainframe
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The AR content is activated on those mobile devices thorough special print editions of the New York Times and 150 “geofenced” locations across the U.S. in cities such as New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco as well as notable STEM hubs like NASA Langley Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, the Computer History Museum in San Francisco and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science, or universities including Duke, Cornell and Princeton.

The app highlights the story and accomplishments of three of the film’s “hidden figures” including Dorothy Vaughan, who taught herself and others how to program NASA’s IBM mainframe, in addition to other STEM pioneers including Bessie Blount Griffin, who invented a feeding device for injured World War II veterans and Sara Josephine Baker, who changed the way the world thought about public health, creating the role of the school nurse.

“When we spoke to IBM about their work with ‘Hidden Figures, we recognized that this was an opportunity to bring users into the experience of the film and the remarkable women it showcases,” Said the New York Times’ Senior VP of Advertising and Innovation Sebastian Tomich.

Getting women involved in STEM remains an enormous challenge even in the 21^st Century. So it remains crucial that we not only support grassroots initiatives like KizCode – which enable girls to learn and contribute through key skills such as coding –  but to provide inspiration and role models that this next promising generation of female scientists and technologists can relate to, and be inspired by.

Getting women involved in STEM fields remains a great challenge
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To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke Virtual Reality Consultancy support

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.

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