Women in Tech for International Women’s Day

A major round-the-clock virtual Women in Tech conference takes place on International Women’s Day [Monday March 8, 2021].

All 200 plus speakers at TECH(K)NOW DAY will be women, although anyone can attend. Some of the biggest tech brands have backed the event, including Netflix, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Samsung Internet, Microsoft Azure and Github. JP Morgan, Bumble (who just launch an IPO a few weeks ago), and Shopify are also among other companies who are supporting the event.

Showcasing women in tech (cis, trans + non-binary folks) and their craft, speakers will address a range of topics from coding, cybersecurity, AI, robotics and blockchain. It will also focus on career and personal development, start-ups and business strategies with the aim to inspire women all over the world.

Founder of TECH(K)NOW DAY, Gen Ashley, a former VP at Citigroup, is an active leader in the Tech community in London and currently an Ambassador for Google Women Techmakers.

TECH(K)NOW DAY began in 2017 to help re-dress the imbalance of women in tech and coding.

Gen Ashley said: “It’s taken a long time for the achievements of women, who have played significant roles in advancing science and technology, to be recognised. It’s only in recent years that the stories of black women mathematicians who were instrumental in getting ‘men to the moon’ in the ‘60s, or the coders in the Second World War Enigma project were told.”

Tech Talent Charter (TTC) published research in March 2021 stated that women make up a quarter of technical roles; just a 1% increase from last year.

Gen added: “Although representation and visibility are getting better, we need to actively and positively engage and inspire women into what is arguably the most important sector in the world. Tech touches all our lives, from the everyday online experience to epic space exploration. It is the forefront of innovation.”

Gen Ashley was awarded an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft. After taking early retirement, she has been leading the movement to get more women into tech and coding since 2014. As Director of Women Who Code London, she built up a community of around 6,000 women in tech.

Gen added: “When I was in school, I did hear about Ada Lovelace, who in the 19^th century became the world’s first computer programmer, as there were subjects that covered Computer Science history. Later on, I learned about the work of Grace Hopper, who was a pioneer in computer programming. While their stories are already actively included in history, there are a whole host of women, whose significant works are yet to be actively acknowledged, recognised and talked about. We can’t change the oversights of the past, but we can change the future. Ultimately, we want to inspire girls and women into maths, engineering and science, as well as celebrate those who are leading global tech innovation now.”

The round-the-clock conference will be hosted over several time zones.

TECH(K)NOW DAY is a twice-yearly event hosted in March and October, and the next one will take place around Ada Lovelace Day in October this year.

Registration is free, sign up at https://www.techknowday.com/

Editors Notes

For media enquiries, or to request an interview with Gen Ashley, contact clair@causeuk.com M: 0753 194 8014

Photo shows Gen Ashley.

TTC Research https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252497146/More-than-20-of-tech-employees-hesitant-to-speak-about-diversity