Women Leading Tech: Monash University’s Yolande Strengers Talks Women’s Increasing Role In Tech

If anyone knows full well technology’s influence on our everyday lives, it’s Yolande Strengers.

As the Associate Professor of Digital Technology and Society at Monash University, Strengers has become globally heralded and cited for her work in the intersecting fields of social sciences and information technology.

It was Strenger’s 2020 book, The Smart Wife: Why Siri, Alexa, and Other Smart Home Devices Need a Feminist Reboot – co-written with Jenny Kennedy – for which she received international praise, highlighting the startling ways feminised AI, such as Siri and Alexa, had adopted traditional “wifework” and housewife characteristics, thus potentially hindering progress in gender equality.

It was this acclaimed publication, as well as her extensive work advocating for gender equity, and continued studying of the ways smart technology influences – and upholds – outdated gender norms, which landed Strengers (featured image) a gong at last year’s Women Leading Tech awards in the Education/Research category.

Strengers is also the associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion at Monash’s faculty of IT – sponsors of the “Education/Research” category at this year’s Women Leading Tech awards – a role in which she provides leadership and helps implement initiatives to promote further inclusiveness for all staff and students.

With the Women Leading Tech awards presented by Atlassian returning April 28, 2022, we decided to chat with Strengers about the tech sector losing its geeky and masculine stereotype, a sociologists’ increasingly urgent role in technology, and the myriad of programs and initiatives Monash offers to ensure women continue to thrive in the field.

B&T: What inspired Monash’s Faculty of IT to become involved with this year’s Woman Leading Tech awards?

Strengers: In the broader technology discipline, women have historically been underrepresented, and often their contributions have not been as celebrated or acknowledged as their male colleagues. We’re always wanting to amplify and celebrate women’s voices in the tech field, and to support initiatives like Women Leading Tech that are doing great work to showcase all the amazing talent out there.

How do awards like Women Leading Tech help gender-equality causes within the industry?

They work in a number of ways. For the recipients of the award, they can help us feel confident and get over that problematic imposter syndrome so many of us suffer, and provide formal and independent acknowledgement of our expertise and our achievements. 

In the broader sector, it’s a good stamp of approval and a recognised symbol of achievement onto women in the field that are leading in various ways; amplifying their experience, their achievements, their voices, in ways that wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t received that award.

Sometimes brands are called out for being “performative” in their partnerships. Why is Monash Faculty of IT’s sponsoring of Women Leading Tech the opposite?

We’re certainly committed to making meaningful contributions to gender equality, both through the establishment of my role – associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion – and also through many initiatives we’re doing at Monash, particularly in the faculty of IT, to champion women and to increase the representation of women in the tech field.

We have one of the largest cohorts of women in our undergraduate and postgraduate programs [and] we’re constantly striving to hire more women and give them wonderful experiences through their education, so we can try and turn around the problems we have in this field.

Great! Tell us about these initiatives.

We have a ‘women in technology’ industry mentoring program, which partners up industry mentors with our undergraduate students to try and support their career development.

Last year we also partnered with Monash Tech School to develop a program for year 7 to 9 girls, to get them interested in IT, [and] to show IT isn’t a geeky industry. Through that, we’ve been showcasing our double degree – showing you don’t have to do just IT, you can do IT and [any other course] – to try and diversify who might be interested in our courses and programs, and get more people involved.

We have a Women In STEM network as well in the university, which goes across a number of faculties, and holds a range of events, programs and initiatives for women across the university, to support all of our career development.

We [also] have our own equity, diversity and inclusion awards in the faculty, where we showcase all the work we’re doing in our research to support gender equity. For instance, I’ve been doing a major piece of work over the last few years on the feminisation of voice assistance, and the impact that has on gender equality.

We’re also deeply involved in our mission of ‘IT for social good’ in doing projects, and partnerships that actually advance gender equity as well.

Why is gender equality in tech of particular importance compared to other industries?

As a university and an educational institution, we are so instrumental in giving people experiences that will set them up for a career in IT, and will get them excited and want to continue a career in IT.

That goes for all genders. It’s not just about women’s experiences and making sure we have more women in IT, it’s also about everybody in the field and the discipline being aware of the diversity challenges the sector has, and the effect that has on work environments, on research that gets done, [and] on products that are designed and delivered. All of those concerns are central to our curriculum, and the programs and courses we deliver, so that everybody gets an understanding of how to contribute to the broader objective of an equitable and inclusive industry.

As part of the largest IT education providers in Australia, that’s so important for us to have that front and centre on our agenda, and hopefully be able to make that big difference, in terms of the pipeline into careers and industries that IT is embedded in.

Looking forward, what will the next decade look like for the industry in terms of achieving gender equality?

I think there’s still a lot of challenges ahead for the sector and the industry. There has been slow progress, and in some cases no progress, in a number of areas, which is why it’s so important to have initiatives like Women Leading Tech, and to really keep these issues on everyone’s radar.

Computer science and IT sectors [are] losing their masculine, geek stereotypes. They’re starting to become much more inclusive – not just of diverse people – but of diverse disciplines and concepts.

For instance, I’m a social scientist, and I’m now employed by an IT faculty and doing research on technology. I’ve come in through a completely different pathway to what many of my colleagues have, and I know many of the leading tech companies in the world are now employing sociologists and anthropologists and geographers and other social scientists that are so critical to the social change that comes with embedding technology into our lives.

Understanding those changes, making sure IT is heading in a direction that’s good for society, and – from a business perspective – making sure technology is working are all central concerns that aren’t going to go away, they’re only going to get stronger.

That will provide opportunities to diversify the industry and will increase representation of people who have typically been marginalised.

What’s one thing you’d like to say to the women who are currently thinking of entering the awards? Any advice or pieces of wisdom for them?

Most people look at these awards, and the people who’ve won it, and feel intimidated. It looks a little out of their league. I would say to anyone who feels like that: Go through it anyway. Everybody is doing amazing in their own right. Don’t compare yourself to others, because there’s so many women doing amazing work in the technology fields. What have you got to lose? Just give it a go [and] put in an application, it doesn’t take that long. You do deserve it.

Find out more about the Women Leading Tech Awards HERE, and get started on your submission HERE.

Tickets to the awards are now on sale HERE.

KEY DATES 

Entry deadline: Tuesday 22 February 2022
Late entry deadline: Tuesday 1 March 2022
Shortlist announced: Thursday 24 March 2022
Early bird tickets end: Wednesday 30 March 2022

As an initiative created to support gender parity and representation across the tech industry, Women Leading Tech is an event inclusive of non-binary and gender diverse members of the tech industry, as well as any individual identifying as a woman.

Thank you to our Women Leading Tech sponsors: