Yahoo Finance London tech boss: 'move needle' to get more girls into tech from a young age
A leading female figure in technology in Britain has called for the "needle to be moved" in teaching to encourage more girls to get into tech subjects from a young age.
Carolyn Dawson, 40, Managing Director of the UK’s leading technology event London Tech Week, told the Standard that a lack of diversity within the tech industry can be traced all the way back to children’s education.
She told the Standard today: “My perspective has changed. A couple of years ago, I thought I could make a difference by trying to get the industry to pay attention, but I’ve really taken that down a notch actually. I now think it really does all start back at the school.
“There’s still this perception, even from parents, that science, computing and STEM topics aren’t really for girls. So from such an early age it’s almost discouraged.
“Equally, when I look at some of the teachers educating our children, they’re not up to speed with digital and the impact of digital skills. We need to move the needle somehow or this problem just won’t stop.”
Ms Dawson, a mother of two, has 18 years experience in digital media, but admitted she began her career by “falling” into it.
“I studied languages at university and wanted a job that would allow me international travel. Informa (an international telecoms firm) had a grad scheme that offered those opportunities along with research skills.
“I wouldn’t have considered myself a technological person, but actually I found it all pretty easy to understand. And technology is easy to understand – we consume it every day.
“While I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of a mobile phone, we are all living and breathing it so it’s actually a lot less complex than people believe.
“I think there’s this barrier to thinking around what technology is, which is so far from the reality.
“So yes, I fell into it, but I stayed because I love it.”
Ms Dawson is now Managing Director for the Technology, Media & Telecoms (TMT) division within KNect 365, and has been chief organiser of London Tech Week for the past three years.
For this year's event, which will take place across London from June 10-14, she and her team say they are committed to “not only to lead the way in tech innovation, but to tackle head-on the issue of diversity in the industry”.
Only 14.6% senior UK tech leaders are women and 70.5% senior executive teams have no BAME members at all, according to a 2018 report cited by the event organisers.
“It’s important that the tech sector reflects the diversity of the capital and so it’s really encouraging to see this emerge as a major theme of this year’s London Tech Week – it’s right that we lead by example in a city as progressive as London,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
While Ms Dawson said getting more women into the industry was important to her, she emphasised the need for wider inclusion, adding that she didn't advocate women-only events.
“Otherwise you just get women talking to women, and broader progress can't really be made,” she explained.
“After all, we aren’t just focussing on encouraging women, we want to make it a more diverse industry all round.”
Of the hundreds of events that will take place over the course of the week, Ms Dawson singled out one as her anticipated highlight.
“The schools competition – that’s what I’m most looking forward to.
“We’re getting students in Year 9 and 10 to submit their ideas on how they would use technology to improve the lives of Londoners. I can’t wait to see what they all come up with.
“I just want all young people to have confidence, and for girls and kids of all backgrounds to have more role models in the industry.
“I have a 9-year-old daughter, I watch how she struggles with maths and I see how that knocks her confidence.
“The problem is, if we let the stereotypes continue of men being the risk takers while women quietly deny their talents, things will never change.”
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