More Female Leaders, for Technology, Please
Shortage of female leaders, particularly in Technology sector is one of many reasons why I co-founded "Diversity in Data Society" with friends this year. We simply need more Females to be in technology, as well as ensure that these ladies can proceed to become leaders. Whilst I never felt being a female held me back in either learning mathematics or programming or becoming a leader or anything else. I am aware that many others had retrieved their fight in entering the technology sector or promoting to management or moving towards many other great things they want to achieve in their lives, because of their female gender. Yes, in 21st century, there is still a considerable number of ladies constrained because of this, which is more than upsetting. It is a loss of talent and innovation to the world as a whole. And why does this still happen?
If you imagine walking into a meeting room where your boss is a male, the boss of your boss is also a male, so does your clients and the rest of the people in the room; a line of ‘oh, you can do it’ is meaningless. Both unfortunately but luckily, a very similar scenario happened to me recently when I attended the PyCon conference in Cardiff, Wales on October. Having long heard the odd (maybe almost absurd) gender ratio in the technology sector, I still was very surprised to see that in a roomful of 35+ people, I and another lady were the only 2 females attended. And surely, the session leader was also a guy.
The story started with me came later than everyone else to the session, stood frozen by the door trying to find a seat in an already over-capacitated room. I didn’t spot the lady at the time, and thought I probably entered the wrong room; gender is something I rarely take account in an event, but not this time. (You can’t tell yourself there are so many girls when looking at only 35 faces with beards or moustaches.) Soon after I sat down, a guy on the table said to me: “you are very brave to be here, I can help you if you find it hard at any time.”, with the rest of the table nodding. This line of welcome set down the swinging heart inside me from earlier surprise. And they meant it, my understanding at every stage was assured, and when I offered “let’s work together” for the following session, it was happily agreed. Not rejected because I am a girl or a complete junior. [this should definitely be encouraged in workplaces.] Retrospectively speaking, I was unfortunate to walk into a room where the male to female ratio was 18:1. Instead of being neglected or just told ‘you can do it’, I received tremendous help from many good Samaritans on my table, and across tables during the entire workshop. As well during tea break, I was involved in friendly, useful discussions, some gave tips for my programming development which I am still using and will continue to. [Thanks to PyCon and its generous participants.] In addition, it shouldn’t be underestimated that even though there was only one other lady present during the workshop, and we had no interaction, her presence alone silently told me “I can do it”.
But here comes the question: is this a true reflection of workplaces in FinTech or other companies? Alongside everyone being so busy keeping their KPI up for their own assessments, being female is clearly the gender minority in the working environment. As a female, does she have female leaders to look up to; does she receive enough encouragement to go ahead; sufficient attentions to ensure her context understanding; does she still receive fair team play opportunities at all time? We know the answer to female role models currently is often “NO”, but why so, and can this change and how?
Supposedly, one solution is to turn all questions above into statements, statements of actions and implemented procedures in companies. Nevertheless, how do we make sure these women initiate their moves towards technology companies in the first place? It is undeniable many women gave up in technology or leadership because they see the imbalance gender ratio, or don’t see any female leaders. Therefore, we return to the start regarding “Diversity in Data”, a society I co-founded with my friends in the university. This society aims to:
1. create a community of QMUL female undergraduates and alumni in sciences to share their experience with a career in Data Science, by inviting data speakers to inform and set role models for students to become leaders in Data Science (as females).
2. encourage women to take up programming courses in one of the most used programming languages in the sector, by providing workshops in small groups.
Reason for the former aim is data science or technology overall, is an area where women are currently underrepresented. Hence initiative to encourage and support female scientists to pursue such a career would be invaluable. Reason for the latter aim is that unfortunately, programming is a skill that is currently more associated to the male cohort at QMUL and any scheme that has the chance to change this should be executed, thus the forming of programming workshops. As mentioned earlier, repeating “you can do it” is less useful than taking actual actions to help and work together, so that women are truly empowered.
We inspire our society members about data science through top speakers presenting various aspects of technology in talks or panel discussions. My team would really appreciate seeing 1:1 gender ratio in our events. Myself and everyone in the committee, do not want ladies to miss amazing opportunities in the future due to their underworked technical knowledge/ skills compared to male peers. Or that any employers insincerely recruit/ promote under-skilled female candidates due to social pressures.
Nonetheless, as much as my team are working to make sure more women become more confident and skilled to go ahead for FinTech or Data Analytic roles. Please ensure they will receive nice inclusive welcomes, chances to grow, opportunities to excel, to become leaders of your company. As after all "it’s not a matter of opinion. There’s a tonne of evidence from McKinsey and Harvard Business School that diverse teams make better decisions." So, let's have More Female Leaders, in Technology, Please.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/more-female-leaders-technology-please-shuping-li/?trackingId=0jH70NL8fbGIp7wJLSmVmg%3D%3D
----Link for original Post. (Go and like =P)
http://www.businessinsider.com/innovate-finances-women-in-fintech-powerlist-2017-2017-11 ----Thanks for inspiring me for the article above.