Women in Technology

MARCH 2020 | EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

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WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY Maria Menounos The TV personality wants to increase gender diversity in tech and media

The unique challenges faced by women in engineering How women are blazing a trail in the aerospace industry

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The Women in Technology Hall of Fame Celebrates Inductees In 1996, WITI established the Women in Technology Hall of Fame to provide a platform to recognize and celebrate the work of women whose contributions to science and technology were largely being ignored in history.

When Women in Technol­ ogy International (WITI) researched inductees for the Hall of Fame, we discovered a group of women called ENIAC programmers, the world’s first programmers. We

learned that the reason no one knew about them was because whenever the media would visit, the company would send men out to talk to the press while these women remained hid­ den in a room. No one knew what these women were doing, and most people assumed they were secretaries.

Recognition In 1997, WITI proudly inducted those who were still living into the Hall of Fame — by then, they

Carolyn Leighton Founder, Women in Technology International

were in their 80s and had remained anonymous until our research team discovered them. There was not a dry eye in the room. It meant so much to each of these women

to finally be recognized.

Seeing these women who thought they were forgotten and their work unappreciated repre­ sented the exact reason we wanted to launch the Women in Technology Hall of Fame.

Role models This year will be the 26th year of WITI’s Hall of Fame. We are grate­ ful to the more than 125 women who have been inducted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame and will

be celebrating each of them and those to fol­ low. WITI understands that so much work needs to be done and is pas­ sionately committed to achieving gender equity in the workplace. Each woman inducted into the Hall of Fame stands as a role model to educate society about the amaz­ ing contributions women have and continue to make to science and tech­ nology and will continue to stand as a source of inspiration for the youn­ ger generations. n

Publisher Katie Konfino Business Developer Gretchen Pancak Managing Director Luciana Olson Lead Designer Tiffany Pryor Designer Kayla Mendez Lead Editor Mina Fanous Copy Editor Sydney Scott Director of Sales Stephanie King Director of Product Faye Godfrey Cover Photo Stephen Lemieux All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

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Career Advice for Women in Engineering

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RAYTHEON

“My career was paved with running toward the �ıre or toward the problem and challenge,” she says.

“I found that when I ran toward really messy situations, people weren’t trying to elbow me or sideline me, because most people were running the other way.”

Rebecca Rhoads (right) pictured with her daughter, Julianne (left).

SPONSORED

Rebecca Rhoads remembers loving math and science when she was just five or six years old.

Rhoads took that passion and turned it into a career.

She’s now the president of global business services at Raytheon, a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government, and cybersecurity solutions.

But Rhoads faced challenges during her 42-year career, including often being the only woman in the room.

She realized early on that she would have to work harder than her male

peers. During a college engineering class, one of her professors had trouble solving a math problem.

Rhoads jumped up, grabbed the chalk and �ıxed the problem. The professor wasn’t embarrassed and went on to mentor her, including helping Rhoads get her �ırst engineering job.

One of the big lessons he taught her was to know her worth. She was eager to get an engineering job, even if it didn’t pay. But he told her, “Never say that.

Your pay is the currency that the company uses when they communicate your value.”

Right then, she became an equal pay advocate for herself and others.

Persistence and resiliency Rhoads, who has both

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic University, as well as a master’s degree in executive management from UCLA, started her career as an electrical engineer. Over the years she’s worked at General Dynamics, Hughes, and Raytheon.

However, when Rhoads started out in the aerospace defense industry, every woman in the of�ıce was a secretary, except her.

It was a boys’ club atmosphere, where many men hung up Playboy pinups in the lunchroom.

“I found that you just have to have persistence, humor, and resiliency,” she says, explaining initially, male colleagues didn’t welcome the idea of working with women.

Over time, they got used to Rhoads, trusted her, and knew she’d deliver her projects on-time and on budget.

“Maybe it was a little easier for the next female project manager coming in behind me,” she says. “But my guess is that over time, they’ve all had to build those relationships, build the rapport, and build their professional brand, kind of one project at a time, one person at a time.”

Rhoads often moved laterally during her career, which was dif�ıcult at the time. But she realized she needed sponsors to help her have access to different opportunities.

She won over male colleagues by taking on challenging projects and earning the reputation as a turnaround leader.

Diversity and mentorship Rhoads says there’s more work to be done to close the industry’s STEM diversity gap.

That includes helping kids harness their STEM skills and envision and work toward careers in math and science.

Next, she says companies need to have a diverse slate of candidates in the pipeline, which means preparing diverse employees with different tasks throughout their career so that they’ll be ready to take on new roles when the opportunity arises.

She also encourages companies to hire employees via blind selection. That means they don’t look at the candidate’s sex, race, or names. Merit is the quali�ıer.

A mentor for up-andcoming engineers, Rhoads has always been an advocate for young women in engineering. Throughout her career, she’s championed diversity and inclusion, including helping establish Raytheon’s Women Network, the company’s �ırst employee resource group.

She’s also a mentor to many men and women — including her children, 36-year-old Dustin and 33-year-old Julianne, who’s also an engineer.

“It’s very rewarding,” she says. “You give people tools and con�ıdence and then watch them take off.” n Kristen Castillo MEDIAPLANET • 3

SPONSORED BY THE SXSW EDU®

Elevate Your Career in Tech With a Mentor

How One Festival Is Empowering Women in Technology The SXSW EDU® Conference & Festival, now in its tenth year, has a full lineup of workshops to empower attendees to keep innovating and learning.

The annual event happening March 9-12 in Austin, Texas, features workshops, an expo, networking, mentorship opportunities, film screenings, and more.

Many of the offerings are targeted to women. One session looks at improving girls’ financial literacy in high school and teaching them about careers in finance; another is about reshaping how to achieve diversity in the tech industry, including helping women of color in tech careers.

“When you go to SXSW EDU®, you are always going to walk away meeting new people that you never would have met before, and learning things and hearing from people that you had no idea existed,” says Margaret Roth, director of operations at Squadra Ventures.

While running her own data analytics company, Roth co-founded EdTechWomxn in 2013. The women’s leadership development organization is focused on the growth and recognition of women in technology.

Every year EdTechWomxn holds a meet up-style facilitated networking session at SXSW EDU®. During the event, 120 attendees discuss developing women’s leadership with inclusivity, visibility, and impact.

The high energy networking “allows people to quickly get real and connect on a deeper level with each other,” says Roth. n Kristen Castillo 4 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

To advance their careers and meet professional goals, women in tech should seek out a mentor.

Have you taken all the classes you can take but still feel stuck in your career? Or are you just not sure of the next step you should take?

We all hit career low points, but knowing how to get out of them is what takes us to the next level. If you feel stuck in your career or would just like to elevate the work you are already doing, then it is time to get a mentor.

Benefits of mentorship With a mentor, you have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of others, learn from their experiences, and gain their wisdom.

Mentors also provide accountability to your career goals and aspirations, and give you a chance to be heard.

A good mentor first and foremost listens.

Having the opportunity to vocalize your issues and aspirations and ask for feedback provides clarity and accountability to the vision you have set for yourself. After listening, a mentor can share their perspectives and wisdom to provide guidance. By having regular check-ins set up with your mentor, you can receive the guidance and accountability you need to get out of those career ruts and elevate your game.

Networking In addition, having a mentor helps expand your network. By building a relationship with your mentor, you are connected to another

node in a network. It is often said that we are only six degrees of separation from every per­ son in the world, so by connecting to another person of influence, it creates a great opportu­ nity to meet your next client, job opportunity, or even mentor.

Having a mentor can benefit your career, but being a mentor can add additional bene­ fits. By teaching, we learn. You may not know how much you know or don’t know until you mentor. If every woman in tech mentored another woman, the impact would be expo­ nential, and it would only be a matter of time before the struggle of getting women into tech is diminished.

Getting started So where do you find a mentor? Start with your own network or company. For the mentorship to really work, it’s important to have a rela­ tionship or connection with the person you are requesting to be your mentor. If you are strug­ gling to find someone in your network, then it may be time to expand your network. Women in Data has a network of over 7,000 individuals and hosts quarterly events across the United States and internationally.

Take action today and change the state of women in tech by finding your next mentor and becoming a mentor today. Your career will thank you later. n Sadie St. Lawrence, Founder and Executive Director, Women in Data MEDIAPLANET

FORCES DON’T HAVE TO BE RECKONED WITH.

BUT IT CAN HELP

Celebrate International Women’s Day and discover valuable insights in our 12-part ‘Inspiring Women’ series

Olga Andrienko Global Head of Marketing, SEMrush CleverTap has brought together 12 leading female marketers to help you achieve your best within the marketing industry.

Watch at clevertap.com/inspiringwomen

CleverTap presents presents

Computer Science Expert Cherri Pancake on Retaining Women in the Field More women are needed in the computer science industry, and a trailblazing woman in the field is leading the way.

A Pew report shows women are underrepresented in engineer­ ing and computers. Dr. Cherri M. Pancake, a professor of electrical engineering and com­ puter science and Intel faculty fellow at Oregon State Univer­ sity, says that needs to change.

She remembers starting out years ago and being the only woman in a room full of men.

She wants other women to feel empowered to get into the indus­ try and stay.

Computer engineering was Dr. Pancake’s second career; she started out in anthropology.

The methods she developed for applying user-centered design to improve user interfaces can be seen in software products from companies like IBM, HewlettPackard, Intel, and others.

Here she shares her insights on why and how more women can find success in computing.

What challenges do women in computer science face?

The first one is that computer engineers are geeks who want to spend their time alone, doing 6 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

them much more programming. I attractive to find that most of employers. That the young women program has a 100 I talked to want percent hiring to do something Cherri M. Pancake rate and is extwhere they’re President, Association for remely popular going to work with Computing Machinery with employers. others, where they’re going to You’re president be part of a team of the Association for Computing doing collaborative work. And Machinery (ACM). What this isolated geek image makes initiatives has ACM worked on them not be attracted to com­ to increase the participation puting. of women in computing?

The second thing is the stereo­ type of it being a machismo cul­ One that’s most visible is the ture. Obviously, that turns off an ACM-W, the ACM’s commu­ awful lot of women too. nity for women in computing.

It started out originally to pro­ What kind of insights have vide some sort of forums where you gleaned about attracting women could interact with and retaining women in peers and get to know peers and computer science? feel more of a sense of being Focus on teamwork and really included in the community. But it has grown incredibly all over make it clear that teamwork the world. is sharing ideas and working together, not just splitting it up What are a few ways that into parts. The second one that computing professionals, I think is really important is universities, and companies reaching out to other disciplines. can increase this participation We started a post-baccalaure­ of women in computing? ate program at Oregon State. It lets you get a second bachelor’s You need to emphasize collab­ degree in computing, working oration. You need to empha­ online at your own pace, in as size opportunity for growing little as 12 months. From an as a group; you need to empha­ employee’s perspective, it makes

size the things that appeal to somebody who isn’t a geek and isn’t macho.

Managers and bosses need to take some responsibility for encouraging one-on-one and small group support networks.

They benefit the men, too, but they’re critical to retaining women. Otherwise, even if you hire the best woman in the world, you’re going to have trou­ ble retaining her.

What would you love to see 10 years down the line for women in this industry?

Women in computing definitely should be much more represen­ tative of the population at large, because computing is so integral to everybody’s lives. But where I see the biggest change needed in terms of numbers is that only 14 percent of leadership positions in the technology field are held by women.

When we have a free and respectful interchange of opinions, we end up with a much better product, regard­ less of whether we’re talking about designing a course or a product or an application in a clinic somewhere. n Kristen Castillo

How One Company Is Turning Payday Into an Experience SPONSORED

In a recent Forbes article, Jeanne Meister said that “the next journey for HR leaders will be to apply a consumer and a digital lens to the HR function, creating an employee experience that mirrors their best customer experience.”

Employees are coming to expect that their employee experience will replicate consumerized experiences in their personal lives. They seek the same elements of control with personalized, frictionless and �lexible digital work experiences.

Pay is at the center of the employer-employee com-

pact, so it is only natural that the employee experience starts with a pay experience, impacting every stage of the employee life cycle.

Leading employers partner with DailyPay, the premier provider of the daily pay bene�ıt, to offer employees exactly that: a unique pay experience that’s an alternative to the traditional weekly or biweekly paycheck. The company’s new PayEx™ platform allows employees control over when they get paid and the ability to save their pay in different ways.

Flexibility and control Frisch’s Big Boy Restaurants has been offering its employees DailyPay since May 2019. They traditionally pay weekly, but with DailyPay, employees can experience being paid whenever they want. Their

slogan is, “Work today, get paid tomorrow.” By offering DailyPay, they’ve created a more positive pay experience that bene�ıts their entire workforce.

Employers don’t pay anything to implement DailyPay, nor do they need to change their back-end process.

Employees enroll for free and are eligible to experience up to 100 percent of their earned income, minus any withholdings, deductions, garnishments, etc.

They can choose to use that earned income to allocate to savings, pay a bill, deal with an emergency expense — all before their traditional payday.

“We’re not asking everybody to sign up, we are simply making them aware that this positive pay experience exists for them, and they can access it if they

have an unexpected need or want to start saving prior to payday,” said Sheri Harper, the restaurant’s chief people of�ıcer.

Creating a powerful pay experience puts employees in control of their pay by mirroring the frictionless experience they have in their personal �ınancial lives.

Consumers send money instantly to each other via peer-to-peer payment apps, invest in the stock market with a touch of a button, and manage their lives through the latest online banking app. Now, employees can have that same degree of comfort and control when it comes to their pay. At work, this experience helps them to be less stressed, more productive, and stay longer, increasing retention and decreasing costs associated with turnover.

One waitress used it when her husband was sick and unable to work.

Another family hadn’t budgeted for picture day, but DailyPay gave them the �lexibility to access cash when they needed it.

“From an employer perspective, it feels good to be able to help support our team in a way that’s meaningful to them,” said Harper.

In the staf�ıng industry, you may only get one chance to create a great impression as an employer given the nature of the short-term staf�ıng industry. The Adecco Group North America, a temporary staf�ıng business for 85,000 people, offers DailyPay and nearly 40 percent of Adecco employees are enrolled.

“For our employees, the positive pay experience is re�lected in the form of increased �ınancial security,” said Dawn R. Ehrhart, senior vice president of Adecco. “The workforce is changing dramatically, and leadership needs to adapt and respond in new ways to meet the experiential needs of the millennial and Gen Z population.”

Benefits of a positive pay experience At Frisch’s, they’ve seen upwards of a 40 percent improvement in retention for those employees utilizing the DailyPay bene�ıt.

“With a pay experience, workers are happier in their jobs, they provide better experiences to their company’s customers, and they stay longer — a win-win-win for everyone,” said Jeanniey Mullen, DailyPay’s chief innovation and marketing of�ıcer. “I salute these leading women in tech for bringing this powerful experience to their organizations.” n Kristen Castillo MEDIAPLANET • 7

Maria Menounos, TV Host and Businesswoman, on Finding Success in Media and Tech In her long career as television personality, reporter, and now CEO of AfterBuzz TV, Maria Menounos knows what it takes for women to make it in the technology or media field.

Given your incredible career in media entertainment, what advice would you provide to a young entrepreneur working in the technology field?

younger women how cool tech is and all the great rewards that come along with it.

Many women are starting their own productions in the media field, such as podcasts.

What advice would you give a young woman who is entering this space?

I’m less about building starlets, more about “star entrepre­ neurs.” For aspiring TV hosts, I advise focusing more on the entrepreneur portion. For those in tech, I advise focus­ ing more on the star end. Get your name out there along with your achievements and talents.

Many who don’t are overlooked, whereas others with bravado and less talent go further.

Besides the constant changes in tech and social media, it was the hours. Most entrepreneurs need a day job to sustain them­ selves and fund their dream business. I was no different.

You need to continue to be out­ standing at your day job while using all nights and weekends to build your own business.

Do you have someone that you look up to as a mentor within the media or technology field?

Referring back to “star entre­ preneurs” instead of “stars,” I have always looked up to Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, and Arianna Huffington for 8 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

PHOTO: STEPHEN LEMIEUX

You have had such a successful career, including creating AfterBuzz TV. What challenges did you have to overcome getting to this point in your career?

building diverse brands that provided them great auton­ omy. Adam Carolla, Sophia Amoruso, and Bill Simmons are just a few I admire who have given us great models of talent using tech to control their destinies.

Women account for only 30 percent of roles within the tech field. Why do you think it is important to have gender

diversity within the technology field, and how can we change the current statistics?

It’s important for many rea­ sons, if not just to get fresh new ideas and perspectives on challenges. Not to mention that women tend to be more detail-oriented — a crucial component to tech. The change comes with publications like this one, and us teaching

I have 400 hosts at AfterBuzz TV — 99 percent of people pitch me generic entertainment news or shows about hot topics. It’s too wide a net to cast in this podcast glut. I advise to target a niche subject, even a niche within a niche. AfterBuzz works not because we discuss television; it works because each of our 150+ weekly podcast videos targets a different television series. Each show serves a specific fan base from a series, and that’s why it works.

Where do you see women fitting into the world of media in the next 10 years?

I see them everywhere. At After­ Buzz, over 70 percent of my 400 hosts are women and minorities.

It’s our way of facilitating this.

Though it’s less about women taking over and more about all of us working together. At After­ Buzz, we have a 50-50 mission to produce outstanding content and nurture our talent. In 10 years of doing so, we learned we make outstanding content because we care for our talent. My advice to employers is to follow suit. n

SPONSORED BY

PROGRESS LEADERS DISCUSS WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY These industry experts from Progress share stories about their backgrounds, their achievements, their paths to professional success, and the lessons they learned along the way.

HOW WOULD YOU ADVISE A WOMAN INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN STEM? Take risks and try new things until you �ınd what you love. From there, believe in yourself and believe that your abilities, your intelligence, and your skills will get you where you need to go. Don't worry if you don't �ıt the mold of what other people look like or how they act. Your difference is what makes you unique, and that approach is what's going to make you successful. If you're not sure if you can do something, there's nothing better than to go try it. It’s also OK to fail. A successful career is not about not failing. It’s about learning from each and every situation so that you get better and better with time.

— LOREN JARRETT, General Manager of Developer Tools Business

WHY IS DIVERSITY IN LEADERSHIP IMPORTANT? Diversity in leadership means having more skills and perspectives to leverage when solving problems and having to come up with solutions. Leaders in diverse groups have access to more opportunities to explore and more challenges to prepare for that otherwise might not have been brought to the table at all.

— LILIA MESSECHKOVA, Senior Director of Software Engineering

WHO IS A WOMAN YOU ADMIRE? I'm a huge fan of Eleanor Roosevelt. You talk about a woman who overcame things. For example, she was not a good public speaker, but she put herself out there because she had to, to support her husband and to support her causes. She was shy and reticent and then went from being really ridiculed over her looks — she had to deal with a lot of unwarranted criticism — to overcoming it and becoming an inspiration to so many people.

— JOAN GROLEAU, Senior Director of Global Partner Program

MEDIAPLANET • 9

Shifting the Way Young Women View STEM We need to build the world we want to see, and it starts by building up other women.

AG O: M P H OT

10 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

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When I was 21, a male colleague who put in less than half the hours I did was making twice the salary “because he nego­ tiated better” (his words). As I began to seek out female role models and mentors, I saw the lack of women in positions I wanted to hold and the lack of women in STEM careers.

Progress Thankfully, we are now in our third wave of feminism. Wall Street placed a Fearless Girl statue, ready to take on the world, in the center of a space known for its toxic masculin­ ity. We have all-female hack­ athons such as AthenaHacks (USC) and ByteHacks (Spotify), which serve to provide safe and inclusive spaces for women to learn STEM. But for the number of women entering STEM to actually trend upwards in a meaningful way, we need to shift the narratives and perceptions that perme­ ate our culture around what it means to be a woman in STEM.

The old adage reads, “if you can see it, you can believe it.” But today, only 7 percent of women study STEM, only 1 percent of technology CEOs are women, and only one woman was included on

DREXEL CCI

Women in TECH Initiative

Forbes’ 2019 list of 100 innovative leaders.

Role models I remember telling fellow female founder Shivani Soraya, “I don’t

think I can do it. I don’t see any­ body else who looks like me.”

“Look at me — I did it,” Shivani replied. That moment marked an early point in my journey of start­ ing a company. I had someone I could point to and say, “if she can do it, I can too.”

The #LightASpark campaign empowers young girls to consider a career in STEM by introducing them to less conventional STEM careers. Trust me, there are a lot you were never introduced to in school. I’m part of Light a Spark because I want to be the role model, mentor, and coach that I needed as a young woman. I want to show young women that stereotypes are limiting belief systems and falsified illusions.

You can be whoever you are and look however you want and still do whatever it is you set out to do.

When we start to shift percep­ tions around what it means to be a woman in STEM, then a day will come where “the future is female” comes to fruition. n Morgan Mercer, CEO and Founder, Vantage Point

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in the computing field

drexelcci.info/wit MEDIAPLANET • 11

It’s Time for Women to Have a “Shine Crew”

T

en years ago, I wasn’t in a good place. If you met me, you wouldn’t have known: you would have seen a director of a unicorn startup, a positive advo­ cate for women, and a public speaker. On the outside, I looked happy. On the inside, I felt like an impostor — and ashamed for feel­ ing that way.

put, the shine theory states, “If you don’t shine, I don’t shine.”

Time to shine When the conference ended, the conversation didn’t stop.

It changed us. We continued that conversation by creating an online chat group called the Shine Crew. We helped guide each other through interviews, pricing negotiations, and major life deci­ sions. For the last seven years, the A life-changing question At one of the first conferences women in the Shine Crew have I ever spoke at, I met Joanna helped me leave my full-time job and eventually even Wiebe, a successful build my own e-com­ entrepreneur and merce company. keynote speaker of “When you meet the event. I wanted to If you a woman who is be like her with every intimidatingly witty, fiber of my being, and don’t stylish, beautiful, and when she joined me shine, professionally accat the table I was sit­ I don’t omplished, befriend ting at, I was terrified. her,” wrote Fried­ She introduced her­ shine. man. “Surrounding self and after some yourself with the best small talk, I worked people doesn’t make up the nerve to ask her a question that would change you look worse by comparison. It makes you better.” my life immeasurably.

“Do you ever feel like a fraud?”

Find your crew I asked, voice shaking.

“Yes,” she admitted. “All So, ladies, here is my call to action for you: find the women you want the time.”

I was stunned. The woman I to emulate, the ones who scare aspired to be felt the same way you, the ones who make you feel I did, and for the first time in a like a superstar just by knowing long time, I didn’t feel so alone. them. Take a deep breath, be At the conference, Joanna and I, brave, and ask them to join your along with other women, shared Shine Crew. Help each other our experiences and our belief grow. Keep each other in check. in the “shine theory,” a term Celebrate your wins. Life is coined by Ann Friedman and made better when you know you Aminatou Sow that describes have your crew by your side. n their commitment to collabora­ tion over competition. Simply Tiffany DaSilva, Founder, Flowjo.co 12 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

MEDIAPLANET

A Brilliant Intersection of

Art and Engineering

The world of gaming needs smart women to define the new horizons of entertainment. Opportunities for brilliant women are available at Scientific Games in math, art, engineering and IT. Come play.

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Jamie Knight Principal Game Designer

scientificgames.com/careers All ® notices signify marks registered in the United States. © 2020 Scientific Games Corporation and its Subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

Experts Weigh in on How to Set Up Women for Success in Tech Three women leaders in tech discuss the challenges they’ve faced and how companies can promote and empower other women.

Dr. Danyelle Ireland Associate Director, UMBC Center for Women in Technology; Research Assistant Professor, Engineering and Computing Education Program

What challenges have you faced as a woman in technology?

Danyelle Ireland: I’m a social scientist and edu­ cational researcher who supports students through UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). My students sometimes doubt their skills and potential due to notions about who can succeed in computing and engineering.

Marie desJardins: It gets exhausting to always be in the minority, so con­ necting with the other women in the field has been really important to me. Also, many attributes that are seen as positives in male leaders, such as assertiveness, confi­ dence, or decisiveness, are often seen as nega­ tives in female leaders.

Dafeng Yao: Last Saturday, a remote family friend told me that he was surprised by my achievements, because women “usually

suck at technological fields.” This type of ste­ reotypical and impos­ tor syndrome-inducing microaggression routinely happens to women in technology. They drag women down, mak­ ing their work less and less enjoyable.

What can technology companies do to empower their women employees?

DI: It’s imperative that tech companies empower employees and look crit­ ically at programming, policies, and professional development to make sure all stakeholder voices are included. Also, don’t underestimate the power of nurturing relationships at the professional level.

MD: Men who want to be effective, active allies for women in tech need to recognize situations where the existing cul­ ture is not inclusive or diverse, and take steps to change things. Proactively

14 • EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

Dr. Marie desJardins Dean of the College of Organizational, Computational, and Information Sciences, Simmons University

suggest women for advanced technical train­ ing, leadership opportuni­ ties, and visible positions in your organization.

DY: Technology com­ panies need to put women in powerful deci­ sion-making positions.

Give the benefit of the doubt to women. Women might not always look like or talk like the exec­ utives, board members, or presidents in ste­ reotype-perpetuating Hollywood movies. That does not mean women cannot do the work.

Can you speak to the importance of gender diversity in technology roles?

DI: Many challenges in the field could be mitigated by including a wider range of voices at the design table.

Companies have encoun­ tered problems of bias, accessibility, and safety with new products that they could have addressed much earlier by having a

Dr. Dafeng Yao Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. ‘56 Faculty Fellow and CACI Faculty Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech

more diverse team from the start.

MD: Diversity of all types is the key to success for any organization.

Research has shown that more diverse teams work better together, produce more robust engineering solutions, and lead to more sustainable organizations.

DY: Great minds don’t think alike. We need both men and women to con­ tribute their ideas freely.

Oftentimes, I was the only woman in the discussion and I had different opin­ ions and ideas from others — good ones.

How do you measure success in your current role as a female leader?

DI: To see students develop over time is tremendously exciting, as they begin taking on leadership roles and advocating for themselves and others.

It gives me confidence that CWIT is closer to

achieving our vision: Stu­ dents are prepared and empowered to be change agents in creating tech­ nology workplaces that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

MD: Being a university dean means having many tasks to juggle and many hard decisions to make.

It’s impossible to please everybody, so I just try to keep my personal values and the institution’s val­ ues at the core of my deci­ sions and interactions.

DY: To me, success means more females are given the opportunities and resources to fulfill their career pursuits and are able to contribute to this field in a significant and meaningful capacity. The tech talent pipeline is very leaky, losing women all the time, especially mid-ca­ reer females. Our field needs to be aware of the problem, acknowledge the problem, understand pos­ sible causes, and — most importantly — improve. n

Women Are Overcoming Challenges in the Male-Dominated Aerospace Field When Dr. Rebecca Keiser began working at NASA, she faced challenges familiar to many women working in male-dominated fields.

Rebecca Keiser was first approached by NASA in 1999 when she was completing her Ph.D. in international studies. “It was NASA, so of course I jumped at the chance,” she says. But in the male-dom­ inated field of aerospace, Keiser felt she had to work harder to be recognized.

“I definitely felt like I had to overcome a lot of microthreats,” she says, such as “not being acknowledged in a meeting, or people think­ ing that I was the assistant as I was standing in the hallway rather than the one who was going to lead the activity.”

Bias Women who work in male-dominated work spaces often encounter a different social scrutiny when it comes to displaying the proactivity required to move up in a business. “For everyone, whether you’re a man or a woman, to move up the ranks in an organi­ zation, you have to be really forward, proactive,” Keiser says. But there’s a “bias we put on ourselves as women, where we’re worried about what the reaction of oth­

ers is going to be because we know what these ste­ reotypes of women are. If you’re too proactive, you’re going to be considered too aggressive.”

Underrepresented When Keiser first arrived at NASA, she was initially impressed by the number of women working at the agency. “I created my own job at NASA, the associate deputy administrator for strategy and policy,” she says. “In the area of inter­ national relations, we had a really good balance between women and men.”

She later left NASA to work at the White House, and then returned to NASA to work on commercial space policy. “I was con­ cerned,” she says. “I think we have a lot of work to do, because I look at commer­ cial space companies and I’m not seeing as much rep­ resentation of women as I’d like to see.”

Women in aerospace Hoping to tip the balance, Keiser, the chair of the board of directors of Women in Aerospace (WIA), an organi­ zation dedicated to building networks and supporting women working in the field, says, “My big focus for WIA is inclusion. We have to include everybody

in the country. We have to make sure we are respectful of all women.”

WIA is based in the D.C. area, but the organization is beginning to broaden its reach across the country.

“We’ll have an ambassador in the Southern California region, and they’re going to establish their own commit­ tees to think of program­ ming that will be effective in those particular areas,” Keiser says. “And the more we can do this, the better.”

Find support As an advocate for women in her field, Keiser has plenty of advice for women working in any male-domi­ nated industry. “Going into a male-dominated field, it helps to find a support net­ work,” she says. “It’s incred­ ibly important. If there’s even one other woman who can go into that class with you or there’s a mentor, a faculty member, with whom you can form a con­ nection, reach out and use that ability that so many of us as women have to make connections and use it to he­lp yourself.”

Keiser also recognized that leadership roles may not be for everybody, but that women should still not shrink away from assert­ ing themselves. “I’m a firm believer that you shouldn’t have to pretend to be some­ one else,” she says. “You find, through practice, your own way of communicating, your own way of negotiating that works for you. Build on those successes; learn when you start getting those positive reactions.

“We’re socialized as women not to be selfish,” Keiser says. “There’s noth­ ing wrong with being selfish.

Think about you.” n Ross Elliott

Women in Tech Take Different Paths to Career Success The tech industry presents significant opportunities for women to advance their careers. Women on the board of directors at CompTIA share what they’ve learned in this field.

Information technology currently lags behind other sectors in its gender diversity.

But efforts to address the discrepancy are underway in many corners of the industry, which faces a growing challenge of finding enough workers to staff current and future job openings.

The pathways to a tech career are as different as the opportunities that are available. Women who serve on the board of directors of CompTIA, a nonprofit trade association for the global tech industry, share some of the things they’ve learned during their careers.

Be confident “I’m a little headstrong and don’t mind standing out from the crowd, which got me noticed early on,” says Tracy Pound, man­ aging director of Maximity, a company that specializes in IT training, consultancy, and project management. “Have the confidence to stand by what you know and be prepared to embrace the fact that, at least for now, you will probably be in the minority.”

Form connections Dr. Georgette Fraser-Moore, president and CEO of Transformation Lead, LLC, an IT and business operational excellence consulting firm, believes in the power of relationship-building. “My career in tech­ nology accelerated quickly, largely because of my ability to build relationships with a diverse mix of people at all levels,” she explains.

Problem-solving skills are another invaluable trait, according to Lisette Martinez, director of retail sales and mar­ keting at Comcast. “Rather than focus on titles or accolades early on in my career, I assertively chased tough problems,” Mar­ tinez says. “Approaching every challenge as an opportunity to learn and serve has enabled much of the success I’ve enjoyed in my career.” n Todd Thibodeaux, President and CEO, The Computing Technology Industry Association MEDIAPLANET • 15

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