Empowering Women in Data and Shaping an Inclusive AI Future

Imagine you have gone into a bank, your applying for a loan for your dream home. You have worked so hard, you’ve saving, You’ve given up time building a career. You’re confident going into it because you have a great credit score, this is the moment you’ve been working towards. You sit down with the loan officer, and they tell you don’t qualify. The reason you don’t qualify is no fault of your own. Your being judged off of demographic data rather than facts.

Diversity doesn’t exist to give a warm and fuzzy feeling, it empowers teams to be more innovative, Its directly correlated to an increase in return on investment and is crucial for AI safety and to combat data bias.

Why is data bias harmful?

• hinder equitable progress
• Could cause widespread misinformation
• Privacy violations
• Geo political unrest
• Adversely affect public safety

Why do we need Women’s voices specifically to fight data bias?

• Women control or influence 85% of consumer spending — Tech Crunch
• U.S. women control approximately $11 trillion in assets, a number that is expected to grow to $30 trillion by 2030-Forbes
• Researchers believe that the greatest wealth transfer in U.S. history is here. Recent estimates suggest that some $84 trillion will be passed down from older Americans to Millennial and Gen X heirs through 2045 — and that $16 trillion will be transferred within the next decade — NY Times

Facts at a glance:

• Women make up 25% of Technology
• 1/4 of Technical roles
• 50% leave by 35 (1/8 technical roles)
• 56% leave by mid-career
• 45% of recent layoffs were women
• Black, Latina, and Indigenous women represent just 4% of all technology workers,in the UK its 0.77%

Competitive Analysis

• Companies led by women are more capital-efficient, achieving 35% higher ROI
• Women-led startups have 12% higher revenue than startups run by men, according to the Kauffman Foundation

Why should we care about helping women get into tech?

Research shows that diversity increases a company’s return on investment and enables them to create better software, but we still struggle to increase diversity in technology. Investments in training, the democratization of resources in tech, mentorship and sponsorship, returnships, apprenticeships, flexibility and remote work may help change this. In this blog we’ll talk about how.

In December 2020, 100% of the 140,000 jobs shed in the US economy were held by women. In January, 80% of 346,000 workers who lost their jobs were women according to Fortune. Forbes states that 5.4 million women have lost their jobs during COVID. This is on top of all the normal retention problems that women in tech face. Women only make up 25% of computing jobs, African American women are only 3%, and Latin women are only 1%. Even before COVID,women were leaving Tech at a rate of 45%. The challenge for women, new and reentering tech, is getting practical hands-on experience to be desirable candidates. In September 2020, 863,000 women left the workforce. In September 2021, about 309,000 women left the labor force, the second time in the pandemic that the start of a new school year and loss of child care has caused a major drop-off of women from the workforce.

Post Covid times we are seeing

In the current landscape of anti-DEI language and companies getting rid of their DEI teams, is diversity no longer important in Tech? After years of investment to get more women and people of color in technology, do we no longer care?

Every company needs some sort of tech to be competitive–we are currently creating the tech of the future. We are building models and collecting data that will help companies to make decisions that have a huge impact on people’s lives for generations. Without diverse teams working on the technology to create these mechanisms, we aren’t putting our best foot forward to create the best, most unbiased tech that we possibly can, and we do everyone a disservice.

Why women?

According to Forbes, U.S. women control approximately $11 trillion in assets, a number that is expected to grow to $30 trillion by 2030. Women make 91 percent of new home purchases. Researchers believe that the greatest wealth transfer in U.S. history is here. Recent estimates suggest that some $84 trillion will be passed down from older Americans to Millennial and Gen X heirs through 2045 — and that $16 trillion will be transferred within the next decade.

Women’s perspectives can be translated into new or improved products and services, which leads to growth in market share or expansion into new markets. Fortune 500 companies with at least three women in leading positions saw a 66% increase in ROI. Numerous studies show that companies that place a priority on hiring women manifest higher organizational and financial performance.

I was lucky to be accepted into an apprenticeship to get my first job in tech, and it changed my life. As a Military spouse with 3 small children, I struggled even while working on a college degree to get internship opportunities because of moving across the country on orders from the US government. . I went back to school when my son was 4 months old.

How does tech benefit from having more women and diversity?

“A more diverse workforce is better tooled to identify and remove AI biases as they interpret data, test solutions, and make decisions.” — Sindhu Gangadharan

According to Harvard Business Review, companies with more ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean. With more diverse organizations, we gain a diversity in voices and perspective.

Diverse organizations digest information differently. These organizations are also more likely to constantly reexamine facts and remain objective. Non-homogeneous teams are simply smarter. Working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance, according to Harvard Business Review. Data Biases create flawed software and affects how companies can better serve all of their customers.

We’ve been trying to recruit more women in Tech for years. What isn’t working?

The short answer is retention. Women make up 57% of the overall workforce. Comparatively, women make up only 27% of the workforce in the technology industry. Of the 27% that join the technology industry, more than 50% are likely to quit before the age of 35, and 56% are likely to quit by mid-career.

What can you do to make things better?

Advocate for training programs, apprenticeships and Return-ships. These are ways to help people from diverse backgrounds to get into technology that may otherwise not have the opportunity. Volunteer to assist with Career planning, being a Mentor and or Sponsor.Foster a flexible and inclusive work culture. So you’ve hired women, but have you created an environment they can thrive in? No one wants to be apart of a team they don’t feel valued or heard in. Invest in Unbiased interview practices. Saying like “Culture Fit” are an immediate red flag.

Offer family-friendly work policies and benefits for everyone and Flexibility. paternity leave for men and women -proportionate leave helps to establish better early care giving habits. A Claudia Goldin, Nobel prize winning economist said that secret to closing the wage gap was for women to have couples equality.

Elevate Women’s voices. Do you have a women coworker who’s talked over in meetings? Are your female co workers always force to take notes? This is your chance to be an ally and advocate. Have you ever considered attended or supported employee resource groups? Volunteer to take notes or do the paper work, so it doesn’t become a only woman's job.