5 Things to Know About Bias in Technology & We All Have a Role to Play

<p>Lyndal Hamwood is The Dream Collective’s Senior&nbsp;Marketing Manager with over 10 years’ experience in&nbsp;brand development and business&nbsp;strategy&nbsp;across Australia, APAC, UAE and USA.</p> <p>When she’s not creating large scale digital campaigns with some of the world’s favourite brands such as Coca-Cola Amatil, Facebook &amp; Google, she’s working with clients to develop their unique employer brand story and creating commercially-minded marketing strategies that challenge the industry status-quo.</p> <p>In this episode, she shares the 5 main points to note on the bias in technology.&nbsp;</p> <p>1. Human bias in tech development: Machine learning analyzed 3.5 million books to find that adjectives ascribed to women tend to describe physical appearance, whereas words that refer to behaviour go to men.<br> - Source: World Economic Forum: <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/men-women-books/" target="_blank"><u>https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/men-women-books/</u></a><br> 2. Women developers account for just under 10% of developers in Australia. <br> - Source 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: <a href="https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#demographics" target="_blank"><u>https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#demographics</u></a><br> 3. Women are leaving the tech industry at greater rates than men (and no, it’s not to have children)<br> - Source: 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: <a href="https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#demographics" target="_blank"><u>https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#demographics</u></a><br> - Source: TechRepublic: <a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-more-than-half-of-women-leave-the-tech-industry/" target="_blank"><u>https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-more-than-half-of-women-leave-the-tech-industry/</u></a><br> 4. Representation matters: Entrenched bias from a young age and gender stereotypes in media are driving women &amp; other diverse groups away from pursuing a STEM career<br> - Source: G