Excited about the future of women in tech, says Brenda Darden Wilkerson, President and CEO, AnitaB.org
Brenda Darden Wilkerson, the President and CEO of AnitaB.org, shares some key developments in the tech industry, and reveals why she loves the industry and is excited about the future.
Today, women in tech and young girls keen to pursue a career in the industry have a number of opportunities to excel in their fields, and are making large strides, contributing to the development of the latest technologies. And while there are many more, there's still a long way to achieve equal representation.
Speaking with HerStory at the Grace Hopper Celebration India 2019 that recently took place in Bengaluru, Brenda Darden Wilkerson, the President and CEO of AnitaB.org, shares her insights into how things have changed for women in tech today, what she loves about the industry, and why she’s excited about the future.
“I started out as a woman in tech a long time ago, and the key difference now is that there are so many women contributing in so many different areas. Tech has expanded so much, and it's really exciting to see women in the things at the forefront. They are helping us create self-driving cars, and all forms of AI,” Brenda says.
In today’s tech-driven world, facial recognition has become the talk of the town, but these systems can be inaccurate and biased against certain groups of people.
A 2018 report by computer scientists Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru showed that some facial recognition systems had a harder time differentiating between people with darker skin tones.
According to BBC, Gebru at the AI for Good Summit in Geneva earlier this year, said that among the 130 million adults in the US that are in face recognition databases, most are white and male, hence making these systems biased against darker skin types and women.
On this glaring issue, Brenda says,
“The men that created it (facial recognition) didn’t necessarily get it right, it terms of recognising women’s faces correctly. So, it’s important for women to be part of it. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve got quite a long way to go.”
According to the AISHE survey 2018-19, women make up only 28.9 percent of students enrolled in engineering and technology programmes across India. A report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute also revealed that women in India occupy just 8.5 percent of senior management positions.
And although the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that companies perform better with increased gender diversity, there is still a massive shortage of women in decision-making roles.
Here are Brenda’s insights into why boardrooms are still dominated by men, and how more women can successfully reach the top.
Brenda is a proud woman in tech, and loves solving real problems that people face across the world. She says,
“It’s not just tinkering; it’s not about creating some ‘cool thing’. It’s about creating solutions for people. And we know that more women and diverse communities getting into tech means that more people’s problems are going to get solved.”
She also says that women in tech tend to think about everybody while creating solutions for human problems, unlike most of the “narrow band of folks (currently) solving tech”.
On the kind of future she envisions for women in tech, Brenda says,
“I am so excited for the future, and to be part of this revolution where young girls and women are coming to really understand who they are, and how important they are. I know there’s going to be a brighter future because more women will be at that table where tech is created.”
She also says that tech, when shaped by women, will be more humane, because they have the skills to ensure that tech will help and not harm.
(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)
