Even in today's modern, 21st-century world, the facts about women in the technological industry can be disheartening. Women remain underrepresented across a wide range of technology-related fields. For example, in 2017, women were minorities in fields including computer programmers, software developers, web developers, and virtually all engineering fields.
While it would be easy to get discouraged by statistics like those, there are plenty of women influencers in tech to look to for inspiration. Slowly but surely, these women have been changing the perception that the tech industry is a male-dominated world where women can't be successful.
Below, we have highlighted ten female influencers who have made their mark in various technology fields. Their work is inspiring, and we're taking a closer look at their backgrounds, their career paths, and their accomplishments.
Wolfe figured out a way to making the dating app scene more female-friendly when she founded Bumble. With Bumble, only women have the power to start a conversation with someone else on the app.It's an innovation that empowers women and has made Wolfe's name in tech.
In her current role of Executive Director Bryant oversees the organization, which focuses on teaching girls of colour to develop apps and learn computer programming. Though it started in San Francisco, Black Girls Code is now in cities across the U.S. and in South Africa.
In addition to her inspiring career, Baker's influence can be felt through the advocacy work she does to ensure that STEM fields are inclusive of women and other traditionally underrepresented groups.
As the President and CEO of SpaceX, Shotwell could easily be considered one of the world's top female rocket scientists. Her daily responsibilities are diverse and could include everything from overseeing an upcoming launch to preparing a spacecraft for a trip to Mars to strategizing company growth.
Inspired by her brother's autism and the limitations that she saw within the Medicaid system, Kim started healthy analytics company Nuna. The company analyzes how effectively Medicaid is responding to the needs of hundreds of patients.
Kim drew on her background as a product manager with Google and used it to start a tech company that addressed something personal to her.
Currently, Pahlka is known for her work as the Founder and Executive Director of Code for America. The company works to pair technologically skilled people with local governments so they can help cities address community problems and overcome challenges.
At Google, Mayer worked on products like Google Maps, Gmail, ad Google Earth, and she is likely applying that same design thinking to the challenges and operational questions she faces every day at Yahoo.
Most people aspire to contribute to the field of computer science. Picard is credited with starting an entirely new branch of it, called affective computing. In 1997 she published a book about this work, and from there, affective computing took off.
10. Yoky Matsuoka
Matsuoka's real passion, however, is for artificial intelligence and robotics, and her work has earned her a MacArthur "genius" fellowship. It's likely that she will bring her knowledge of that space to Nest, and continue to build smart products that can be used to improve the daily lives of people everywhere.
The landscape of the technology field is changing, but it will take more strong, smart women influencers like the ones above to make that happen. Sharing the stories of those who have come before can inspire the next generation of women to enter tech fields.
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