With ‘Fit for Purpose? An Exploration of Non-degree Pathways into Data Analysis Careers’, the RSS unveiled significant skills gaps that prevent the UK from making the most of the globally flourishing data-science industry. Here, Fiona Sweeney, partnerships director at Women in Data®, centres women and girls in the drive for a better and stronger data workforce.
Guest blog post by Fiona Sweeney
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) recently carried out a policy review to better understand how non-degree pathways, like apprenticeships, are meeting industry needs. They explored the role of these training pathways as avenues into data-analysis careers. Moreover, they addressed ways better equip individuals in statistics and data analysis for the new digital economy and perhaps transition into data and analytics roles, filling the industry’s burgeoning skills gap. At Women in Data®, we wholeheartedly endorse
the recommendations of the report and are committed to supporting all pathways that attract more female talent into the world of data, statistics and AI.
Women in Data®, now an active community of over 55,000 data and tech practitioners and 70 corporate partners, work with individuals, our community, organisations and legislators to achieve gender parity in the data and tech industries. You may think this is a simple, achievable aspiration, but there’s a long way to go!
Women are hugely under-represented across all STEM fields, and the data industry is no exception – right now in 2023, for every 4 male analysts and data scientists that join this industry, there is only .68 women. This means that men outnumber their female colleagues in data by more than 4 to 1. And the gap is getting wider: back when Women in Data® was formed in 2015, 26% of the industry was female. Four years later in 2019, that percentage was 31%, and we were beginning to look forward to the realisation of gender parity. But then the pandemic hit …. As women were disproportionately impacted by job losses and changed personal circumstances, the proportion of women in the data and analytics space dropped to 20%. In 2023, we are at 25%, so we are in a worse position now than when Women in Data® was founded nine years ago.
According to the World Economic Forum, there will be 149 million new jobs in data, AI and tech by 2025. Yet in the UK, fewer than 17% of girls take STEM subjects at school, and over half of women in the tech industry leave by the midpoint of their career – more than double the rate of men.
If you do the math, and we all do the math, it is clear that this gender gap is widening to an extent that makes our Women in Data® mission impossible to achieve. So, women are not joining the industry, nor are those that have joined staying in an industry that is growing quickly, one which already has a problematic skills gap.
Addressing this imbalance is the right thing to do on so many levels. Most of us are aware of the risk of bias, including gender bias, as we increase our use of AI in our businesses, but this is not just an issue of ethics. This is a business imperative. If we don’t fix this, the benefits of the new digital and AI economy – to individuals, business and society – will not be optimised. I’ll not see gender parity in my lifetime, but that is what makes me even more committed to accelerating our efforts so that my daughter and my son will reap the benefits as we lift everyone up.
Attracting more women into data and analytics requires a multifaceted approach that addresses several different aspects, from education and training to workplace culture. But our strong belief is that we need to start in schools to ensure that girls understand the pathways that are available, breaking the misconception that you must have a STEM degree to have a career in data and analytics.
To make this happen, Women in Data® has launched our sister organisation –
Girls in Data – to develop a curriculum for schools called ‘The Inspiration Sessions’. The process of delivery is very simple, yet hugely powerful. Focusing on girls aged 14–15, we recruit volunteers from our members, over 7,000 hand raisers so far, train them in delivering the four-part curriculum and then connect each volunteer to a school. They go to the sessions, not just to train the young adults but to be role models, but also bringing their personal stories to inspire the students. The aspiration is that the assigned Woman in Data will stay connected and help build a data-first mindset in the school, year on year.
To understand the attitudes and motivations of girls at this age, we grounded our curriculum in deep research and developed it with teachers and experts in the field. We undertook original research that used neuroscience responses that focus results on what girls and boys feel, not what they say or think. The analysis was conducted using an advanced online surveying approach which measures implicit reaction time (IRT), rather than traditional tick-box questionnaires. IRT captures people’s immediate, intuitive gut responses, which are often very different from what might be said. By utilising this advanced research technique, Women in Data® were able to tap into young people’s true emotions and feelings and thus build the curriculum based on our key findings.
The Girls in Data initiative is working on so many levels:
- Our members are honing their presentation and delivery skills through the process
- Our corporate partners are utilising their volunteering days to make a tangible difference in their community outreach
- We have already taken several thousand girls through the curriculum, and we have only just started
- We are working in schools in under-served communities to support both students and parents
- We are amplifying the issue of skills gaps for the emerging industries
Most importantly we delivering tangible, measurable solutions.
Like the RSS, we believe that improving the skills needed to ‘ethically and effectively manage and use data is increasingly important’, and we join them in
calling for changes in education that open up new pathways to the data industries. If you would like to understand more about Women in Data® or join our Girls in Data initiative, please contact
Hello@womenindata.co.uk.
With three decades in the data and analytics industry, Fiona Sweeney joined Women in Data® to drive change and give back to the industry that has given her so much. She is developing new ways to ensure the needs of partner organisations are met, while at the same time supporting a growing membership of over 55,000 data, tech and analytics professionals.
The RSS report ‘Fit for Purpose? An Exploration of Non-degree Pathways into Data Analysis Careers’ was generously funded by the Gatsby Foundation.