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I'm going to get started just because we don't have a lot of time and there's a lot to go through. Sorry to cut the conversation short! Hello! I'm Hilary, and this is "We've Always Been Here: Women Changemakers in Tech." I work as a full-stack developer at TenForward Consulting in Madison, Wisconsin, and you can find me on Twitter at HilarySK.
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All right, so I'm going to cover four basic sections in this talk. The first is "Who Needs Women Anyway?" Then, we’ll look at how women’s roles in tech have evolved from clerical to cool. I want to start with some changemakers you might have heard of before, those who are more celebrated. After that, we will move on to women who are doing exciting things currently in the field, as I believe they are worth paying attention to. Finally, the last section is about how to wake others up to this issue.
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So, it’s great that you came today, but I hope this helps keep the momentum going in your life and tech career. If you want to follow along, I have the slides online at tinyurl.com/women-changemakers. I want to give a quick disclaimer: there are hundreds of women I could have included in this talk. This isn't a definitive list but rather women whose stories I found particularly interesting.
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So, who needs women anyway, right? We've had a lot of men in computer science and programming, and it seems to have been fine. But I really like this quote: "It really amazed me that these men were programmers because I thought it was women's work." This was from a woman hired in 1953, and it shows how attitudes have changed since the early days of programming. We wouldn’t have many things we take for granted today without contributions from women in technology.
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So basically, if you have a more diverse company, you make more money. Reports from 2015 and 2017 indicated that diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform non-diverse companies, 45% more likely to report market share growth, and 70% more likely to capture new markets. That’s pretty impressive!
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Now, everyone loves better software, right? We’ve all seen the consequences of homogeneous engineering teams leading to poor products. For example, there were airbags in the 80s tested primarily on male-sized dummies, which resulted in injuries and fatalities for women and children. Then there’s facial recognition that failed to see people of color and voice recognition software that couldn’t understand women. All of this could have been avoided if just one person on these teams was from a different background.
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A study by the Harvard Business Review in 2017 found that software teams that have at least one member of the client's assumed ethnicity can understand their clients' needs 152% better. These are real, measurable impacts!
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Mentorship and role models are important. There's a cyclical issue: we don’t have many women in tech, partly because there aren't many visible female role models. A global study released in March showed that 48% of women currently working in technology cited a lack of mentors as their biggest barrier to advancing in their careers.
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When we elevate women, we elevate everyone. Eliminating worldwide gender gaps in labor participation, hours worked, and productivity could grow the world economy by 26%, translating to an astonishing $28.4 trillion lost each year due to the underrepresentation of women in the workforce. It’s not just about money; these are good jobs with great lives, and women and people of color deserve access to them.
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During World War II, attitudes toward women in computing changed because of a male shortage and the idea that women could be employed for lower wages. They began hiring women for computing roles, and it seemed that the more physically attractive a woman was, the more likely she was to get hired in these positions.
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As late as the 1960s, many believed that computer programming was a natural career choice for savvy young women. In fact, the original computers were largely female, as seen in the film "Hidden Figures." Initially, programming was viewed as a low-skill clerical function, akin to typing or filing.
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However, this perception began to change in the 70s and 80s when more men entered the field post-war and the perception of programming began to shift toward being a more male-dominated field. We started seeing stereotypes that ridiculed and sidelined women in programming, associating the field with male genius.
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As more men entered the industry, the prestige and pay associated with programming increased, while the opposite occurred for women. For instance, throughout the 70s to now, we've seen how other industries that gain female participation often see a drop in prestige and pay.
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Despite social conditioning, many women defied the odds. Ada Lovelace is one of the most famous examples. She wrote what is often considered the first computer program and envisioned computers as tools capable of creating music.
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Grace Hopper, also widely recognized, created the first compiler and advocated for programming in natural language instead of complex mathematics. She earned a PhD in mathematics and, at age 79, was retired by the Navy, but due to her crucial contributions, they gave her special permission to continue working.
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Dorothy Vaughan, another pivotal figure who worked at NASA as the first black supervisor, became an expert in Fortran. She observed transitions from human to electronic computing and made a conscious effort to adapt by learning a new skillset while advocating for other women.
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A remarkable story involves the ENIAC project, the first all-electronic digital computer, programmed by six women. Their efforts went largely unacknowledged during the unveiling ceremony, where no women programmers were invited, highlighting the erasure of women from tech history.
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Moving on to Marjorie Lee Browne, one of the first women to earn a PhD in mathematics, who secured a computer grant at North Carolina Central University. She championed initiatives encouraging women and students of color to pursue math and computing.
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Radia Perlman, known as the "Mother of the Internet," created spanning tree protocols, which laid the groundwork for the Internet. Her early exposure to programming through her mother undoubtedly influenced her groundbreaking career.
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Margaret Hamilton worked on the Apollo missions, coining the term software engineer and pushing for rigorous testing. Her innovations saved astronauts' lives during crucial missions by implementing safety checks for human error.
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Karen Sparck Jones, one of the earliest contributors to information retrieval systems, created the concept that underlies search engine algorithms we use today. Simultaneously, Mary Kenneth Keller earned the first doctorate in computer science in the U.S. and was pivotal in developing the BASIC programming language.
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Kareem Yuyama, a trailblazer working on game programming, space shuttle program technology, and now Amazon drones, exemplifies the ongoing contributions by women in tech. Similarly, Sophie Wilson designed one of the earliest microcomputers while still an undergraduate and created the ARM processor core, foundational technology for modern devices.
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Window Snyder, dubbed the 'sheriff for the Internet,' has been instrumental in security for major tech firms while advocating for diversity and women's leadership in the field. Tracy Chou used her platform to highlight the importance of tech diversity data, creating a movement that tracks tech industry's diversity statistics.
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Erica Baker, who created an internal salary spreadsheet at Google, aimed to expose wage discrepancies but faced backlash for her initiatives. Today, she leverages her experience towards diversity work at Slack, a company committed to improving representation.
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Yoky Matsuoka, a founder of Google X, has worked on groundbreaking technologies like self-driving cars and the Nest thermostat. She's a MacArthur Genius awardee and serves as a powerful inspiration for women in the tech space.
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Presa Tabriz, the "Browser Boss," leads a team of engineers at Google Chrome, showing that women who rise in tech often break barriers and assumptions in place against them. She did not grow up with computers but has become a leader in a field that still struggles with representation.
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Finally, I want to highlight an ongoing call to action. If you’re interested in supporting women in tech, consider following inspiring individuals on social platforms, organizing Wikipedia edit-a-thons, supporting local women in tech groups, and, of course, hiring women, particularly women of color. They deserve opportunities, representation, and acknowledgment.
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There are still countless women doing remarkable work that we didn't cover today, and the landscape is always changing. To help keep the momentum going, I’ve created a curated Twitter list of women in tech who are doing amazing work, and I encourage you to connect.
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In closing, I would like to thank you for your time today. We've discussed the remarkable contributions of women in technology and their ongoing importance in shaping the tech landscape. I know we have some time for questions!