Women in tech groups ‘can’t run on inspiration alone’

Groups supporting women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields are struggling to survive as corporate budgets shrink and cultural changes see diversity strategies take a back seat.

Ada Lovelace Day – an annual global celebration of women working in Stem – is on borrowed time.

Named after a 19th century female mathematician, the day was created in 2009 when it was created by Suw Charman-Anderson.

She had graduated with a science degree but felt “fundamentally unwanted” as one of only three women in her class. And later she got tired of going to tech conferences and not seeing any women on stage.

Ms Charman-Anderson says the initiative is running out of funds again, as it did almost two years ago.

“We’ve basically been limping along ever since,” she says. “But I can’t keep making the financial sacrifice.”

It is not a high-budget operation. At her peak, Ms Charman-Anderson secured £55,000 in sponsorship over 12 months. She says that in other years it has been less than half that, despite the high numbers of participation in the events.

Ms Charman-Anderson adds that she is often told by the tech community that Ada Lovelace Day is inspirational, but rarely translates into a much-needed cash injection.

“Organizations cannot work on inspiration alone,” she says. “Everyone in the Women in Stem sector is fighting for money. It’s always been that way, but it seems to have gotten a lot worse.”

A quick internet search reveals a number of women’s social media accounts that haven’t posted any content in months.

And this year saw the sudden closure of the charity Women Who Code, a US-based group with 145,000 members. In June has announced that it was closing “due to factors that have materially affected our funding sources.”

Meanwhile, the US non-profit Girls in Tech community closed in July after 17 years. Founder Adriana Gascoigne told news site Venturebeat that a lack of funding was the “main reason” behind the decision.

Additionally, the UK’s Tech Talent Charter initiative, designed to encourage more diversity across the sector, was shut down in June, blaming tech companies for “quietly stalling” on equality, diversity and inclusion commitments (EDI).

This is something that is currently creating a lot of debate. There are many examples of cuts to EDI teams and budgets within corporations large and small, and just as many anecdotal anecdotes.

For some it is the result of belt-tightening, as even the biggest firms have laid off thousands of workers, but for others it also signals a wider cultural shift away from prioritizing diversity.

High-profile critics of EDI include Elon Musk, who bluntly tweeted in January that it was “just another word for racism.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook strongly disagrees. “Technology is a wonderful thing that will achieve many things, but if you don’t have different views at the table working on it, you won’t end up with great solutions.” he told me when i met him in 2022.

He said there were no “good excuses” for the lack of women in technology.

When you look at the data, tech giants still heavily skew male. Apple’s latest published diversity data is from 2022, and lists 35% of its global workforce as women and 32% of its leadership teams.

In 2023, 34% of Google’s global workforce and 32% of its leadership teams were women. At Microsoft, 29% of executive roles were held by women.

In the UK, while more young women than ever are choosing to study computer science at university, four out of five applicants for entry this year were still male, according to UK university admissions service UCAS, with just under 3,000 women and just over 12,000. men.

Perhaps the most poignant example I’ve heard recently of why the numbers game is still important came from MC Spano, an American tech firm boss who now mentors other women in the industry. She told me that her daughter asked to leave the top math class at school because she was the only girl in it.

“Having camaraderie in Stem classes is just as important as academic achievement,” she says.

Caitlin Gould runs TecWomenCIC, based in Cornwall. The team recently ran a coding club project for 60 school girls. At the end of it, 95% said they enjoyed learning about technology and engineering, and 91% said they understood why the subjects were relevant to their everyday lives.

However, only the pilot was funded.

Ms Gould says she spends up to 60% of her time trying to figure out where to get funding, describing the organisation’s funding as “a patchwork quilt”. She told me that funding often comes in the form of a single payment, or is offered for a new idea, which makes it difficult to replicate successful campaigns.

“It’s really challenging because there’s a lot of goodwill,” she says. “I’ve had politicians and tech people say, ‘what you’re doing is amazing, how can we help?’, but when I say, ‘well, can you give me some money’ they ask if they can volunteer instead.

For the past 15 years, Maggie Philbin, former presenter of the BBC’s science and technology show Tomorrow’s World, has been involved in a scheme called TeenTech, which runs Stem activities in schools.

“Funding is always a problem,” she says. “We have some very loyal funders, but it can be very frustrating when you’re working directly.

“Some funders will fund something over a 12-month period. If you’re really lucky, three years, but it’s very difficult.”

TeenTech is aimed at children aged eight to 19 and does not have a particular focus on girls – but sometimes their talents in this area still come as a surprise to their classmates.

“I learned so much about how to work well in a team,” one teenage boy wrote on a feedback form. “And also that girls are actually very good at technology.”