Diversity in STEM Review: let's talk solutions

Using Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics principles to solve problems in order to progress society.

I've been into computers since I was a child. When I was 13 or 14, I was pretty lucky to have a careers counsellor who identified study opportunities for me outside of high school. I was at an all girls school, it was pretty rare for girls to be into Tech. She recommended me to do a Cisco Certified Network Associate course at Box Hill TAFE in Melbourne, and that's how I eventually became a Network Engineer working for Cisco at 19.

If I didn't have that careers counsellor who was so encouraging and was willing to take a chance on me taking on more study at such a young age, I don't think I'd be where I am now. Having a careers counsellor in schools who understands the tech industry and opportunities for learning normalises careers in tech for women in particular.

When I started my first job at 19 years old, I think a lot of folks were surprised to see a young woman interested in Network Engineering. A lot of assumptions were made about me being hired for diversity, etc. I had to prove myself a little more than my male counterparts.

I'll talk about women in Tech in particular.

My belief is that fixing assumptions and unconscious bias is all about the pipeline of women coming into Tech. If there's no pipeline, companies can't hire women no matter how hard they try.

Pipeline is tricky, because we need to change social biases at a very very young age to normalise women in tech so more girls are considering it as an option. It means we need to introduce STEM subjects to girls from literally toddler level, and encourage them to build, problem solve, explore, etc.

Once we fix pipeline, we need to fix social norms that mean women are often less successful in their tech roles. Parenthood responsibilities in particular is still often carried more often by women in heterosexual relationships. Normalising male parents as equal partners is key here. Some ideas:

1) Work from home accessibility.
2) Normalising part time work as not just 'a mothers thing', also having fathers make this decision.
3) Paid parental leave being equal for both mothers and fathers.

Some of the issues are intertwined, because for example, the gender pay gap may contribute to more men working full time than women, but the gender pay gap may also be exacerbated by more women on average choosing to take time off from their careers. There's assumptions by businesses that women will need to take multiple years off, and then there's also just the raw numbers of reduced income from that time off.

If I was to say what is most important:

1) Pipeline. Make schools (especially all girls schools) integrate Technology into their curriculums from prep age.
2) Equal paid parental leave laws so parental leave is not 'just a women's thing' when hiring considerations are made.

That'd be a huge huge step in the right direction.

Yes, they don't work.

All of my experiences has been outreach programs that come way to late in the development of young people. We need STEM normalisation from toddler age, especially for girls.

Tech companies have an extremely rigorous hiring process that can take months to prepare for. They are not willing to change this because it produces more false negative rejections than false positive hires.

I also wouldn't underestimate the power of brain drain out of Australia in the Tech industry. I personally moved to the US for a period of time, you can earn way more money, cost of living is better compared to wages, and you get way more opportunities because the tech companies are headquartered there, so your career progresses fast. Encouraging Australian tech startups, and encouraging them to stay in Australia would be a huge leap in the right direction to reduce this.