Women in EdTech - a short reflection

I really should be concentrating on something else at the moment.

But two tweets from @femedtech have reminded me of an experience that I thought I'd share. It won't take long and then I can get back to what I'm supposed to be doing.

First tweet was

We're looking critically at ed tech tools this afternoon at #digped with @chris_friend and @Jessifer - Have you ever considered who runs/sits on the board of your favourite ed tech tools? Is there a gender balance? #femedtech

— femedtech (@femedtech) July 30, 2018

It immediately reminded me of an experience I had with a particular company - which I won't name. I didn't reply, but it's been on my mind. Then today I saw this:

We're looking at moments of vulnerability and embarrassment throughout our careers at #digped this morning. There are lots of stories of women feeling vulnerable, particularly when playing the 'expert' role. #femedtech

— femedtech (@femedtech) July 31, 2018

and I realised that I had to share my story.

Customer Advisory Board

So, a couple of years ago I was invited to be on the Customer Advisory Board for one of my favourite ed tech tools. It involved a number of webinar-type meetings and a major on-site meeting. It lasted about a year and I haven't heard anything in a while about it, so I don't know if it still exists (the CAB, not the tool) or if I just got dropped.

The on-site meeting took place in a city that is quite a distance from Galway - i.e. there was a lot of travelling involved. When I arrived, we were all (about 30 people) in a large board room, and I took my place at the long table. As an introvert, I don't work well in such situations, and there were a lot of loud people in the room who could easily talk and give their opinions. So I settled into my observer mode and watched.

"New table by Jonathan Baring" (CC BY-ND 2.0) by manhattanloftcorporation

An early observation was that there were a good number of women in the room, certainly more than 10. This was a positive sign - as a computer scientist I have often been the only woman in a room. But then I realised that all the women except 2 (me and one other) were employees of the company. So, of about 20 people on the CAB, just 2 were female. This, I thought, was reflected in the discourse at the meeting, with a focus on technical topics.

It wasn't all bad. The female employees included some very senior people in the company and some very senior developers. So, to answer the first tweet above - plenty of women on the board.

Embarrassing Moment

At an event later that evening (remember I had travelled a significant distance) hosted by the company, I was chatting to one of the senior women employees. I mentioned my observations at the meeting, regarding the imbalance on the CAB, and she agreed with me. We both then approached the most senior woman in the company and voiced my/our concerns. She completely dismissed them, in a way that made me feel almost petty for even saying something. She denied that gender was an issue at all. I was shocked and a little embarrassed (hence responding to the second tweet above).

Of course, replaying it in my mind (as an introvert often does) I can think of many ways I should or could have responded. But I didn't. I probably mumbled something and moved on. A missed opportunity!

On being a woman in technology

Flowers for International Women's Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day and there was a plethora of blog posts and twitter messages identifying various inspirational women. Twenty five years ago I would have found this unnecessary, demeaning even. But now, with a pre-teenage daughter about to enter secondary school, with her whole life ahead of her, I'm increasingly concerned about the world that she is about to encounter.

I grew up with just one sister, no brothers. We were never told that there were career paths not open to us. We both ended up taking Computer Science degrees and both continue to work in technology. I went to an all-girls convent school. I took Honours Maths and Physics, because I liked them. Originally I wanted to be an accountant (like my dad) or an actuary. But then I got the CS bug, and decided that's what I wanted to do. I graduated in 1990, one of 8 girls in a class of 34 computer scientists - that's almost 25% female. I took a joint honours degree in Maths and Computer Science; of four of us to graduate with this degree, 2 were female.

When I started lecturing computer science, the first group to graduate (in 1999) had five women out of 13 (almost 40%). For the first few years, as class sizes increased, the ratio of female students remained around 35%. But then something happened. Jump forward to the final year class of 2009, the last undergraduate CS class I taught, when there was not one female in the group.

Twenty five years ago, I thought Women in Technology was an unnecessary movement and wanted nothing to do with it. Today, it's a recognised problem. Catherine Cronin has written a much more informed article about the issue. There are various articles about why we need more women in technology. We also hear that women entering the field are likely to face a difficult culture. I think it's also true to say that many women who work in technology, like myself, are bewildered by the situation. Mounia Lalmas, who did her Phd at the same time as me, in the early 1990s, and who is a brilliant computer scientist, wrote about this recently. Perhaps Mounia's post, more than any other, has inspired me to write this today.

One suggestion that keeps coming up is that young women need more (female) role models. Like Catherine Cronin (in the article mentioned above), I don't subscribe to this as the solution.

I note that many recommendations focus on role models and mentoring for girls. I believe such initiatives are powerful and necessary, but by no means sufficient in effecting the level of change that is required. - Catherine Cronin


I had no female role models. I adored and feared (in equal measure) my Maths teacher at school (Mrs Kelly), but I never wanted to be her. As an undergraduate, I had no female lecturers in either Maths or Computing. The first time I encountered a female academic in CS was after I had started my PhD. And, as Mounia writes "why do I want to be like somebody else?"

I was certainly inspired and influenced by various people, male and female, and I was lucky as an undergraduate and postgraduate student to have people who encouraged and supported me. I never noticed a gender imbalance; although clearly it did exist, it just wasn't an issue. I'd like to subscribe to Mounia's conclusions:

 listen to advices and recommendations, and decide what is RIGHT for you. Change what YOU think should change while remaining you. Take responsibility. And enjoy being you. - Mounia Lalmas


But ultimately, I do believe that there is a culture problem. I find it hard to accept that this exists in 2014, but evidence suggests that the situation is getting worse, and I fear for my daughter's future. And here is my problem with role models: no woman should have to be a role model for her gender. I don't want to push my daughter, who is clever, sociable, sassy and very much her own person, into a STEM career, just to make up the numbers.

I had a conversation last week with a bright young postgrad student. She started out, in college in the US, as a Maths student, the only female in her class. After some time, she realised that she would prefer to major in English Literature. She felt guilty in making that change, because she felt she was letting down her whole gender. It took a strong woman to choose Maths in the first place, and an even stronger woman to give it up.

So, here's to all the strong women out there - you know who you are.

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