Being a Woman of Color in Technology

UX Y'all 2021 Session with Sanantanita Burnette

Transcript

1. Sanantanita Burnette Being a Woman of Color in Technology
2. Agenda My Journey Into Tech My Experiences Statistics How to turn haters into motivators Advice to others Benefits of DEI Key Takeaways Q&A
3. My Journey Into Tech Arts & Science Physics Pivot Computers & Business Graduation
4. My Experiences ► Work deletion ► Lesson: ALWAYS backup work ► Being left out ► Lesson: Speak up when being treated unfairly ► Underpaid ► Lesson: Always check the market for average salaries and negotiate ► Blessing: I found an ally that helped remedy the problem ► Not being listened to ► Lesson: Always document everything ► Many other microaggressions
5. Statistics Department of Labor Statistics Men 75% Women 25%
6. Statistics 2% Hispanic Women 3% African American Women 7% Asian Women Department of Labor Statistics
7. Statistics Statistica 2021 27.3% 25% 15.3% 13% 6.6% 7% 3.1% 3% 2.2% 2%
8. Turn Haters Into Motivators ► Keep doing you ► Learn from their attitudes ► Use them to learn how to deal with conflict ► Appreciate your victories
9. Advice to Women of Color Be persistent and don't give up Persist Share your story Share Attend networking events Attend Lift as you climb Lift Your opinion matters, is important, and should be heard Speak
10. Advice to Allies Take real action Action Encourage leadership and mentorship programs for women and people of color Encourage Educate yourself and others Educate Advocate for women and people of color Advocate Diversity in work Work
11. Benefits of DEI ► More likely to hit and/or surpass financial goals by up to 120% ► Diverse teams innovate faster ► By gender: 24% higher ► By ethnicity: 36% higher ► Gain competitive advantage ► Diversity equals excellence ► Increases employee retention
12. Key takeaways ► Don’t give up ► Turn wounds into wisdom ► DEI benefits organizations and people ► Speak up even if your voice shakes a little
13. Resources ► Helpful Sites ► National Center For Women & Information Technology ► Guide to Allyship ► Organizations ► Local chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) ► Black Tech Women ► AnitaB.org ► She Geeks Out ► Women Who Code ► Society of Women Engineers (SWE) ► Women in Technology International (WITI) ► LadiesthatUX ► Society of Hispanic Engineers (SHPE) ► Books ► “Equality: Courageous Conversations About Women, Men, and Race to Spark a Diversity and Inclusion Breakthrough” by Trudy Bourgeois ► “Minority Leader” by Stacey Abrams ► “Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Criado Pérez ► “Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code” by Ruha Benjamin
14. Stats at a Glance ► In 2020, the tech industry was made up of 75% men and 25% women (Dept. of Labor Statistics) ► Female Black, Latin, and Native tech professionals make up less than 5% of the workforce at major tech companies like Google, Facebook, etc. (Wired) ► Female Black, Latin, and Native tech professionals make up 12% of the total US workforce in tech as a whole (Statistica) ► 7% of tech are Asian women in 2020 (Dept of Labor Statistics) ► 3% of tech are African American women in 2020 (Dept of Labor Statistics) ► 2% of tech are Hispanic women in 2020 (Dept of Labor Statistics) ► Overall, there was a 2.3% decrease of women in tech from 2019 to 2020 ((Dept of Labor Statistics) ► Decrease of 2.3% of white women ► Increase of 0.4% of Asian women ► Decrease of 0.1% of African American women ► Decrease of 0.2% of Latina women ► Highly inclusive companies are more likely to surpass their financial goals by up to 120% (Drive Research) ► Companies with more diversity in their executive teams have (McKinsey & Company, 2019): ► 25% higher likelihood of financial performance than those with little to no gender diversity ► 36% higher likelihood of financial performance than those with little to no ethnic diversity
15. Thank you!