Ada Lovelace Day
Yerp. Another celebrative STEMist article.
Who was Ada Lovelace?
A few years ago I didn’t even know who Ada Lovelace was. So, just in case you don’t know, here is a quick intro: mathematician, British, born in 1815, considered by many as the first programmer in computer history.
Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm to be implemented in a computer (apparently, this could be a myth — but, regardless…) she had a history in the early days of computer science, and is respected as a visionary and reference in the history of computer science.
The Ada Lovelace Day exists to encourage and celebrate achievements of women in their careers, specifically STEM jobs (STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Why is this a thing?
- STEM jobs are better paid
STEM industries are generally better paid than fields like humanities, education and arts. - Females are less likely to choose a STEM career than males
It seems like we (women) are majority in faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, while STEM is still predominantly filled by blokes. - We are failing on retaining women in STEM careers, half of us drop out.
Even when women get a STEM degree, we are very likely to bail on our careers. Harvard Business Review says that 41% of highly qualified scientists, engineers, and technologists on the lower rungs of corporate career ladders are female. But more than half (52%) drop out.
Therefore, encouraging (and celebrating!) women achievements in STEM, is one of many things we can do to try to balance the gender pay gap (although the pay gap seems to persist even when men and women play the same role, but I’m not even going this way, let’s leave this for a different article).
The right reason: feminism about freedom of choice
Ada Lovelace Day isn’t about making all the girls pick STEM careers instead of humanities or art schools. It’s not about discouraging non-stem subjects by saying that choosing a STEM career is the only way we can have a successful career. It’s about telling girls that we can study and work in whatever field we choose. Including science, engineering, IT, etc.
We can be whoever we want and do whatever we want. We can be artists, teachers, scientists… We can be housewives (yes, if it’s YOUR own choice) and yes, we can be leaders in tech roles.
Feminism is about giving women choices, freedom and more opportunities.
It’s not only about money
Nope, it isn’t because we want to make more money than men, it’s not about being superior to men or this sort of BS that people mistake feminism for. This is not a competition, it’s about social justice. We do want equality in our incomes, please — but the issue is so much bigger than gender pay gap.
Like many girls, I went to Arts School, and opted to study Humanities and Social Sciences. I was always encouraged to be artsy and creative, while my male siblings were encouraged to study science and engineering.
Nowadays, I’m fully immersed in the tech field (although my role is still very human-centric). In 10 years of my career in technology, uncountable times, I was the only woman in my team — and when I’m not the only one, we are, at least, minority.
There is a feeling that caucasian-male-heterosexual don’t know about:
Every time I hear “the director / the client / the CEO or <insert here any label you like>”, my brain expects this person to be a guy. It’s unconscious. Me, you, all of us, are immersed and surrounded by unconscious bias. We don’t even think about it (that’s why it’s called unconscious).
Then, when I get to meet the director / the client / the CEO, and I see that it is another woman, I feel a mix of pride and contentment (in the lack of a better word), and I know she is also happy to see that I am a woman too. It’s almost like mental high five. It’s not about relief, we are not afraid to work with guys. It’s not a surprise, fortunately it happens more and more often.
I’m just proud to see another woman, in a male dominated industry. I know what it takes to get here and I’m proud to see that we’ve gone this far.
That’s why it matters.
