Thread by @realscientists

Let me tackle this: What am I doing to ensure equity and justice for women in my field (tech / data science)?

https://twitter.com/drlizzieskinner/status/1371222005714853888

Recent data: ~80% of technical roles in the biggest tech companies are held by men.
wired.com/story/five-yea…

Further: ~92% of Fortune 500 CEOs are men, and I have yet to meet a female CTO.

Let me preface my answer to the question with Angela Davis’ famous quote: “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”

The point applies not only to racism, but to systemic inequity of all forms.

I work in a field (tech) that excludes non-Asian POC and women. There are pockets of the field (startups) where work-life balance is a huge problem. I also come from, and am still adjacent to, a field (academia) with the same issues.

So I try to be anti-misogynist. I’m very deliberate and assertive in making sure people are given the respect and courtesy that they’re owed, that the work they’re doing is equitable and aligned with their personal goals, that I push back against bias or mistreatment.

There are 3 things I do:

1. Make my hiring process as equitable as I can.

2. Make sure women on my teams are heard and getting full ownership and credit for their work.

3. Listen to and share stories of women and non-binary folks in tech and academia.

Some steps I take in hiring are in this older thread:

https://twitter.com/astrobassball/status/1309834583693758464

I remove or balance wording that are known to result in applicant bias.
glassdoor.com/employers/blog…

I don’t do “on the spot” coding interviews or brainteasers.



I instead spend a lot of the interview time asking about their experience and the things they’d like to work on, and make sure that convos and evals are relevant to the day-to-day work.

https://twitter.com/astrobassball/status/1357759412111372291

I assign a take-home data challenge that is representative of the actual day-to-day work, and encourage them to communicate questions or need for an extension by email, as they might for a work project.

I always include women and multiple non-technical stakeholders in the interview panel.



Not a statistical sample, etc. but I’ve hired 2 people since joining. We were fortunate to hire the panels’ top choices, and they're both women.

And yes, I make damn well sure that they're compensated the same as their male teammates.

On to the 2nd point.


I make sure everyone gets to lead and present their main projects, and that their opinions are heard and respected.


In the past, I’ve added woman colleagues to group emails from which they were left off despite their expertise on the topic.

Again, I’m acutely aware of being in a field where women’s voices are often overlooked or not taken seriously.

I praise colleagues' work by name when I update leaders on projects. Every time someone on my team does something awesome, almost the entire C suite will hear about it.

On the third point, I know women in my fields (academia and tech) put up with appalling abuse & disrespect.



I make a real effort to share their voices and stories, and I’m always listening and learning. I think/hope that followers of my personal account see that.

I also do my best to be accountable to criticism, and honest with myself.

Yes, I've effed up. I've learned to apologize, listen, and really, really try to do better.

Finally, on a personal note, it makes my blood boil how tech and academia have excluded and forced out women.

Since my AP science courses, across 5 academic institutions, 3 tech jobs, I have NEVER, EVER seen anything but excellence from the women I was lucky to have as peers. So when I hear that 80% of tech jobs are held by men, I know that it’s because the system is broken.

I know my anger means little on its own. So I will use my voice to share with fellow men how effed up things are, and tell them to step up and help fix it.

Everything above, to all of you, is just words. I'm just a man tweeting a good game.

What matters is what I'm able to do for my coworkers + direct reports + prof network, that they feel supported and feel that I make the workplace better. And for that, you'll have to ask them.

I would love to hear:

What are some other things I should try?

What have you seen work, or not work?