Saturday is Worldwide Ladies’s Day, a day dedicated to recognizing the vital function that girls play throughout all elements of society. It’s additionally an necessary day in expertise, the place girls make up about 25% of the workforce. To acknowledge the contributions that girls have made in tech and the continued must push for equality, we now have collected selective commentary from girls on this subject.
Hammerspace SVP of World Advertising Molly Presley has held many roles through the years. In 2023, she joined the manager board of the Ladies in Excessive Efficiency Computing (WHPC), the place she has had an opportunity to assist raise different girls within the trade.
“My tech profession trajectory has been vastly influenced by distinctive leaders who’ve pushed me to attain past my expectations,” Presley says. “Though I had a strong technical background upon coming into the trade, ascending to a senior govt function in tech advertising was not one thing I had anticipated. The important thing to my success has been the mentorship of others and my dedication to the job. This mentorship has refined my capacity to pinpoint distinctive product attributes and successfully talk with a diverse viewers.
Molly Presley is the SVP of World Advertising for Hammerspace
“As a result of a big facet of my journey has been mentoring girls in expertise and giving again to those that have mentored me, as my profession superior, I grew to become actively concerned with the ‘Ladies in Excessive-Efficiency Computing’ group (WHPC),” Presley continues. “I presently function the Director of Communications and Outreach, the place I’ve the chance to advertise mentoring packages, curated assets, and job entry that assist girls in HPC, and technical computing obtain their skilled objectives.
“I strongly urge aspiring younger girls within the tech subject to hunt steering from skilled professionals and interact in actions akin to becoming a member of skilled associations like WHPC,” she says. “These communities present important assist, academic assets, networking alternatives, and motivation crucial for attaining success of their chosen profession path.”
Ellison Anne Williams earned a Ph.D. in arithmetic earlier than working for the federal government. She ultimately based Enveil, which a developer of privateness preserving software program based mostly on the rules of homomorphic encryption. As CEO of the corporate, Williams acknowledges the significance of ladies to contribute meaningfully to companies.
Ellison Anne Williams is the CEO and Founding father of Enveil
“On this Worldwide Ladies’s Day, I proceed to give attention to substance and advancing innovation by important contributions,” Williams says. “I selected to maintain my consideration on delivering worth which I hope serves for example of what it appears wish to persistently pursue your dream.
“None of us can do it alone; we are able to and will encompass ourselves with individuals who assist our pursuits and supply encouragement when wanted,” she continues “My recommendation to girls with entrepreneurial aspirations in tech or every other subject is to go for it. As an alternative of letting worry or every other assumption deter, discover significant work and pursue it. Delivering worth by motion will shortly quiet the uncertain–and prepared the trail for individuals who observe.”
Claire Nouet, the COO and co-founder of deep studying startup Pathway, has typically struggled to be taken significantly by others due to how she appears. Nouet appears ahead to the day when that kind of bias is a rarity. Within the meantime, she has some recommendation for different girls on the best way to speed up change.
Claire Nouet is co-founder and COO of Pathway
“Outstanding feminine function fashions are the simplest option to speed up gender equality in tech. Ladies, particularly these within the early days of their careers, must see that different girls are accelerating within the subject,” Nouet says. “Illustration within the tech and startup media has elevated considerably, largely pushed by journalists who’re making energetic efforts to showcase the work of ladies within the ecosystem, however the tech trade can nonetheless be seen as a ‘boys membership.’ I feel that at some point the phrase ‘feminine founder’ shall be outdated. The day we don’t must specify the gender of a founder would be the day that we’re near gender equality in tech.”
Pathway co-founder and CEO Zuzanna Stamirowska, who has a PhD in advanced methods from the College of Pari and is an skilled in gaming idea, has additionally skilled bias within the trade. She has some concepts on how it may be countered.
Pathway co-founder and CEO Zuzanna Stamirowska
“A wise and competent man is well known by the trade, whereas girls with the identical attributes are seen as scary and questioned at each flip,” Stamirowska says. “I’ve seen this worry compensated for by bringing the girl’s appears into conversations, typically in a nasty sense, which might by no means be a subject level if a wise man was being mentioned.”
“A feminine VC pal, who has a Companion title, as soon as instructed me that she must work 10 instances more durable together with her funding committee to make a cope with a feminine founder undergo, even when small,” Stamirowska says. “I feel one of many methods to advertise equality within the tech trade can be to offer discretionary budgets to feminine VCs–to be invested in males or girls, however they need to have test writing capabilities.”
Hinada Neiron is the pinnacle of selling and alliances and neighborhood initiator at Aconso
says her 20 years of expertise present right here that there’s an absence of feminine illustration in tech, and that profitable girls typically undergo from imposter syndrome. That has led her to talk up on the problem of a necessity for change.
“I don’t imagine we’ve created a gender-equal working surroundings. Ladies proceed to must work more durable and nonetheless don’t have equal standing,” Neiron says. “And the tales I’ve heard of derogatory gender-related language being thrown about in workplaces even by the youthful generations present this isn’t a historic or a single organisation’s downside. It is going to be persistent for future generations until we proceed to struggle for change.
“For me, a very gender-equal tech trade is one the place girls haven’t solely the identical skilled alternatives as males of their office, however the place their working surroundings is as inclusive of their wants,” Neiron says. “This requires not solely a larger dedication from their employers, but in addition from the federal government at a coverage stage, for instance by closing the gender pay hole.”
Julia Astashika is senior director of development at StarTree
The IWD 2025 marketing campaign theme is “Speed up Motion.” Julia Astashkina, the senior director of development at StarTree, says that theme resonates deeply together with her, not simply as a frontrunner in tech however as a mom, too.
“My daughter is rising up in a world the place girls proceed to push boundaries in science, expertise, and management, but true equality stays simply out of attain. I need her to see a future the place alternatives aren’t delayed, biases don’t dictate outcomes, and progress occurs in actual time,” Astashkina says.
“We are able to’t afford to attend for change to occur steadily. Progress requires motion, not simply phrases or guarantees, however tangible steps that create alternatives for girls at each stage,” she continues. “This implies actively monitoring illustration, fostering mentorship, and making certain girls have well-defined, well-supported pathways to management. Change doesn’t occur within the background; it requires visibility, urgency, and dedication.”
Associated Objects:
AI Bias Within the Highlight On Worldwide Ladies’s Day
Ladies in Large Information: Does Gender Matter?
Ladies in Information Science (WiDS) Convention Replay