gender bias Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Katrine Marçal – How Including Women could Fix almost…

September 21, 2021September 21, 2021
by Claire

Our guest for this week’s episode is Swedish best selling author, financial journalist and women’s economic champion, Katrine Marçal.

Katrine’s two books, ‘Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner’ and her latest book – ‘Mother of Invention – How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men’ explore how women’s roles and contribution have been systemically ignored over time.

Katrine has a fun and engaging way of telling stories that show just how much we’ve missed out on by overlooking the value women bring to the table. Not surprisingly, she also shares how frustrated she is that we’ve missed out on countless potential innovations because there haven’t been enough women involved in the process.

Katrine’s first book was named one of The Guardian’s Books of the Year in 2015 and she was named as one of the BBC’s top 100 women in the same year. Her latest book builds on this impressive record.

In this fascinating discussion you’ll learn:

How the founder of modern economics, Adam Smith, overlooked one very important factor when he came up with his ‘self interest’ theory and what impact that’s had on women and what we’re paid,
How innovation history has overlooked or re-written women’s vital role in computer science and the founding of software,
How and why a company that specialised in women’s underwear won the contract to make the spacesuits that took the Apollo astronauts to their history making landing on the Moon; and
How Katrine herself comes up with her original ideas and perspectives.

So sit back, enjoy and be prepared to have your eyes opened by the insightful and engaging Katrine Marçal.

Useful Links

Katrine’s website – find her books here

SheEO home page

Interview with Vicki Saunders, CEO of SheEO

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Chasing Equality

March 9, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is in honour of International Women’s Day.

We don’t know about you but this feels like a bit of a watershed year in terms of gender equality and sexual harassment issues rising to almost boiling point in multiple places around the world.

Now is the time to call out inequality, injustice and gendered violence when we see them in action.

In this episode we reflect on:

Why we still need to keep gender equality on the agenda and why IWD is important
How the pandemic created a triple whammy for women
Great advice on how you can call out bias when you encounter it at work, and
How virtual meetings haven’t necessarily improved things for women’s voices being heard.

You’ll get to hear some advice from us and from one of our favourite guests, NASA’s Trudy Kortes, so enjoy this Future Proof Me episode.

Useful Links

Womens March 4 Justice website

Petition to Australia’s Prime Minister on Gendered Violence

Mia Perdomo – Latin America’s Warrior for Women

November 17, 2020November 17, 2020
by Claire

Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next

This week’s episode features Colombian founder, Mia Perdomo. She and her co-founder have built a business fighting for equality for women at work across Latin America.

Mia trained as a psychologist but always thought of herself as a feminist. In 2014, Mia attended a four month long leadership program at a US university, and had what she describes as a ‘life changing experience’. It was here that she realised she could be an entrepreneur and deliver social change.

She teamed up with fellow course participant, Peruvian, Andrea de la Piedra, and together they launched Aequales, a business focused on closing the gender gap in Latin America. They started by offering diversity consulting services to businesses in Peru and Colombia.

But when business wasn’t as good as they hoped, Mia and her co-founder were forced to get creative.

And they did!

In this episode you’ll learn:

How the idea they came up with totally changed the prospects for their business, without losing its mission
Why Mia is so passionate about being a ‘for-profit’ business with a social cause
How she and her co-founder have navigated building a profitable multi-country Latin American business and …
The astounding way some companies treat female job candidates

Without further ado enjoy this episode with the passionate and determined Mia Perdomo.

Useful Links

Ellen Broad – Her Surprising Path to Big Data…

November 3, 2020November 13, 2020
by Claire

Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next

This week’s episode features a woman who never dreamt she’d end up working in a high tech environment. In fact, Ellen Broad imagined she would be a lawyer or librarian when she was younger.

However this tech exec and academic is now a Senior Fellow at the 3A Institute at the Australian National University. The Institute is a multi-disciplinary department created to help humans prepare for, and navigate, a world that will be forever altered by AI-powered ‘cyber-physical systems’.

A little bit more about Ellen, she trained as a lawyer (more about that in our conversation) and she’s worked in data-related roles in the Hague and in the UK, including being an expert adviser to the UK Secretary of State on Data, and head of Policy for the UK’s Open Data Institute.

Not only that, but Ellen has also written an award winning book on AI and its impact on humans called ‘Made By Humans’.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Ellen navigated moving countries, and finding work, without having any network in her new home-base
How she’s found her voice to speak up against gender bias
What it’s like working in a truly diverse team – hint it’s not always easy
Why she’s using social media a lot less these days, and
Where she thinks technology will go in the next five years.

Enjoy this episode with the unassuming and very smart Ellen Broad.

Links

3A Institute website

Ellen Broad’s website

Ellen’s Book – Made by Humans

Griffith Review Article – Computer Says No

Resources Recommended by Ellen

Coded Bias Documentary

Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

PAIR Program with Google

The Coding Train – Daniel Shiffman

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Calling Out Bias

October 27, 2020October 27, 2020
by Claire

Brought to you by Microsoft’s The New Next

How do you go with sensitive conversations? They’re not easy are they?

This week’s mini episode shares how NASA executive Trudy Kortes has learnt over time to call out gender bias when she experiences it.

If you’ve not heard one of these bite-sized episodes before, the idea is to focus on the most valuable insights, gems of advice and ideas from our incredible guests . . . all focusing on the theme of future proofing ourselves and our careers.

Trudy’s advice includes some great principles for all difficult conversations, so make your next difficult conversation a little easier with this bite-sized nugget of wisdom and experience.

Useful Links

Trudy’s orig episode: A Career in Space and Real Life Moonshots

Brukty Tigabu – Changing African Kids Lives With TV

July 16, 2019
by admin

Our guest this week is one of the most determined and resilient people we’ve ever met. For the past 14 years she’s been on a mission to improve education for millions of children in Ethiopia encountering challenges on almost every front. We’re talking about the amazing Brukty Tigabu.

At the age of 10, Brukty took on the role of head of her household after her mother became very ill. She found a way to make ends meet by selling vegetables from their garden in the market. She credits this time in her life with giving her the basic business and survival skills that helped her get where she is today.

And where you find this former school teacher today, is running the social enterprise she co-founded called Whiz Kids Workshop. It creates educational media programs – including 3 internationally awarded television series for children in Ethiopia. For the past 14 years Whiz Kids Workshop has inspired a generation of young children in Ethiopia with their most famous and loved program, the puppet based educational TV show called Tsehai Loves Learning. They’ve also published over 100 books in 7 languages, produced radio programs, DVDs and teacher training – all to improve literacy, health education, gender equality and early childhood education.

Brukty has won many accolades for her work including the World Economic Forum’s “Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the year 2018”, Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ 2012 and the Rolex Young Laureate Award in 2008.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Brukty found her life’s purpose to enrich the lives of children and teens in Ethiopia and beyond
What it’s like being a woman running a business in Ethiopia (seriously hard)
How she pushes through fear
Why she found herself not being able to get out of bed and how she got herself going again.

Please enjoy this episode with the incredible Brukty Tigabu.