If the technological revolution is to work for everyone, it needs the input of all groups – especially the group that makes up 51% of the population: women. As women, our insights and experiences will be different to those who identify as male, so including women in the process means that we are able to create more rounded solutions. It isn’t just air conditioners that were built to be sexist (most are set to the needs of the average man whose body temperatures is naturally higher, freezing out women in the office), other technological mishaps that ignore women’s needs are far more problematic. Seat belts, for example, are designed to the height of a man and do not factor in breasts.
Solutions will ultimately be better when we have more diverse groups involved. Tech is continuously evolving and is part of every industry. It’s really important that young people – especially young women – consider working in tech to shape the future.
When we look at the data, we see companies that have at least one women on the board are 20% less likely to go bankrupt. We also know that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are likely to outperform their competitors by 15%, and those in the top quartile for ethnic diversity are likely to outperform their competitors by 35%. So it’s clear that when we have a mixture of people in the room we end up creating better solutions and happier teams. As an industry, we need to build diversity into everything we do in order to have challenging conversations and, ultimately, come up with better solutions.
For example, many voice-recognition technologies at first did not recognise female voices (despite many AI assistant’s voices being female) because the design teams did not include women. Many voice-recognition technologies still today do not recognise different accents because they are designed by native English speakers, and weren’t made by a team with different backgrounds. If we create diversity in the teams making our groundbreaking technologies, then we are more likely to have a successful business and employees.
When we look at how broad the tech industry is, many people can use their varying degrees (that don’t necessarily need to be in computer science) to move around different roles until they find one that fits their personality and their values. The tech industry is also lucrative. An important part of tech is that people have financial stability because tech is consistently evolving and only getting bigger. However, there is still work to be done – eight in 10 UK companies still pay men more than women, and this needs to change.
A recent study found that 89% of people anticipate a skills shortage in the UK tech sector – a quarter say it will be significant. That’s why more women and people with diverse backgrounds need to consider technology. Whether you’re using your phone or watching TV or tapping your bank card to make a payment, technology is already embedded in everyday life. If you’re a person considering a career in tech, how exciting is it that you can create something that might affect hundreds, thousands or even millions of people.
Sheree Atcheson, ambassador for Women Who Code, a non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. As told to Sabrina Faramarzi