Can you guess this scene?
“A T-rex creates havoc. Meanwhile, Lex reboots the computer system and saves everyone’s lives. Without her insane hacking skills, everyone would be the snack of those intimidating dinosaurs.”
Yeah, you are right. This iconic scene is from Jurassic Park.
Gone are the days when women’s tech expertise was the part of such Hollywood films only. Over the years, the fair sex has made a commendable contribution in the field of technology.
It simply means that tech is not a male-dominated industry anymore. From HedyLamarr, Susan Kare, Grace Hopper, to Ada Lovelace and Mary Lou Jepsen, women have redefined the technology from time to time.
Today, this “men only” section is dominated by over 50% of women in the USA. A 2015 survey has revealed that only 11% of all executive position in Silicon Valley was occupied by women. And 25.5% of Google’s global leaders are women.
With the tech industry getting more gender diverse, the role of women is going to be crucial in emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain, Robotics, and 3D printing. In other words, women in emerging technologies can play a crucial role.
Here we will discuss how women can benefit the industry in the wake of these emerging technologies.
Removing the “Sexism” From AI and Data:
Apple faced the heat of criticism when it showed male “businessman” emoji by default to the users while typing words like CEO. Google Translate has also found itself in hot water due to its interpretation of gender-neutral Turkish phrases. For example, the words “doctors” and “nurse” are gender-neutral, although Google-translated ‘o birdoktor’ and ‘o birhemşire’ into ‘he is a doctor’ and ‘she is a nurse’ respectively.
A recent report revealed a bias in Amazon’s AI recruiting technology as it was trained mainly to read men’s resumes.
This has prompted many tech giants to diversify their teams by bringing more women to the board. The paradigm shift of blockchain technologies from theory to development has also made it necessary to go beyond the reliance of male tech experts. That’s the key reason why we need the contribution of women in emerging technologies.
Increasing Productivity:
According to one survey, gender diversity can increase profit and productivity for companies. It shows that organizations that went from zero female leadership to 30% female share show the rise of 15% to their profitability.
It also minimizes the gender pay gap in tech companies with more women executives, according to a study by Redfin and PayScale.
Representing the Needs of Half World’s Population:
Another point stressing the importance of women in emerging technologies.
It is strange but true that most tech products are male-oriented or designed according to the men’s needs. For example, seat belts are designed to protect men as claimed by the American Journal of Public Health.
Women often find they’re too cold while men report being comfortable—this is because the temperature sensors tests are conducted mostly on men. Talking about the power tools, well, they are designed for men. The point is here that there are many things whose original audience has been men.
Therefore, women need to take the lead in this scenario to design technology that can help the 49.5% population of the world—that’s of women. This way, technology can be more meaningful for the other half.
Last But Not Least—Women Can Humanize Technology:
A female worker brings passion, emotions, empathy, and heart to the table. And these “soft skills” can make a big difference when it comes to humanizing the machine.
Bottom Line:
So you must have understood the role of women in emerging technologies.
A more gender diverse workforce can benefit the world of technologies. It is no secret that women can excel and thrive in tech-based fields like coding, cybersecurity, AI and engineering—even in the odd conditions. Tech businesses should amend their hiring policies to bring more women talents to the board.