Women in IT: Celebrating International Women's Day 2018

Today is International Women's Day (IWD) and this year's campaign theme is #PressforProgress. It's a call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive. Recently you've probably heard quite a bit about global activism for women's equality due to movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp.

These are important movements raising the profile of gender disparity across a range of sectors and issues. This year's campaign theme got us thinking about women's equality in IT and technology and the women past and present who have motivated us to #PressforProgress.

Here six of our staff at the University of York pay homage to their role models.

Katie Burn, Project Officer, Enterprise Projects Team 

"Coming from a non IT background I don’t have an immediate “go to” female inspiration, such as Ada Lovelace. My first thought was to the women that I work with, and have worked with in the past.  I am, and have been surrounded by women who are inspirational to me. And for that I know I am very lucky. What makes these women inspirational?:

• Their ‘can do’ attitude
• The support they give to each other and other staff (both male and female) 
• Their professional achievements 
• Their readiness and eagerness to use their voice and experience to make positive changes to the workplace

Michelle Blake, Head of Relationship Management

"As a mum of two young girls I want to ensure they grow up with amazing female role models. We’ve been enjoying reading Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and one of our favourite stories is Ann Makosinski who invented the Hollow Flashlight, which runs off the heat of the human hand. 

She also created eDrink, a mug that converts heat from your drink into an electric current to charge your phone. She’s only 20 and has made the Forbes 30 under 30, and is studying English Literature.

I love the fact that she combines art and science and I feel lucky that such amazing women exist to inspire my girls."

Sarah Peace, Head of Desktop & Printing Services

"For me, Serena Williams breaks the mould and combines my passions for sport, technology, equality for all and is a positive female role model.

 “My dream wasn’t like that of an average kid, my dream was to be the best tennis player in the world. Not the best “female” tennis player in the world.”

She’s dominated the tennis world for the past decade and now she’s joined the board of SurveyMonkey with a mission to help tech companies diversify their workforce and address equal pay. If she has only half the impact on silicon valley that she’s had on the sporting world, this can only be positive for women in tech like us!

I also love this advert she’s made for International Women’s day "There's no wrong way to be a woman" (She also features in Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls)"

Eleanor Coultish, Network Operations Manager

"Having worked in this predominantly male dominated industry for over 20 years I thought it might be difficult to name some women who have been inspirational to me over the years.  But when I sat down and thought about it, actually it was quite easy.  These are two who particularly stand out for me.

Fiona was a mature student who I met at university when we were studying the same degree course.  She had worked in IT support for many years, leaving to study full time and achieve a formal qualification in IT.  She shared a wealth of knowledge and experience of the IT industry with me and was a big influence in my decision to take this career route.

Helen was a Programmer and Business Analyst and was my manager for a while when I worked as a Desktop Support Technician at South Ayrshire Council.  She had returned to IT after having quite a long career break to bring up her 4 children.  I really admired her for this as technology had moved on so much during her time away.  As my manager she encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and apply to study the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) course which led me to a career in network support.

These are just two of the women who have been influential to me and played a big part in shaping my career. Over the years though I’ve met many inspirational women (and men) in IT who have supported, encouraged and given me advice."

Vicky Wilkie, 2nd Line Support (Systems)

"Coming from a working-class family I was told by a lot of people not to strive for too much and to be happy with what I had. My IT teacher told me I would never amount to anything and for a while I believed him. However, there were two people who inspired me to break away from this mindset and to push myself to try new things. The first was my gran, she didn’t have the chance to go to university and she showed me what an amazing opportunity it was. She wasn’t tech savvy but she helped me to buy my first laptop and encourage me to use technology and explain to her how things worked. I guess she was the first person I practiced my first line support skills on.

The second is my friend Naomi. She has supported me and picked me up every time I have fallen over or doubted myself (which is a lot). It was through her support and encouragement that I decided to change careers and work in IT. Whenever I’m not sure if I made the right choice she reminds me of how far I have come and that, although I still have a long way to go, I will get there."

Jo Loftus, IT Service Desk Manager

"Who is my inspirational women in tech?

A self proclaimed "non - techie" who is now managing the Desktop and Printing team and  has been thrown right in at the deep end handling a change of managed print supplier, Yes, my line manager, Sarah.

Never one to back down from a challenge and there have been a few in her years in IT Services.

She has always supported her staff and encouraged me to push myself and ask questions, in fact I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for her."