I did a talk at CogX on this topic.
My name is Mutsa-Pearl and I spoke on the GenZ stage at CogX Day 3 on how we can transform today’s technology systems in the spirit of justice and equity, which you can watch on YouTube https://bit.ly/2B2PeW5 at minute 5:50:50. CogX is ‘The biggest, most inclusive & forward thinking gathering of leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, policy makers, artists, academics and activists of its kind – addressing the question “How do we get the next 10 years right?‘
We are currently facing a very large issue, battling the injustices in our world today. Which is why I thought it was extremely important for me to give the audience a visual of 4 words which are very relevant at this moment in time. The words were Inequality, Equality, Equity and Justice, all portrayed by 4 apple trees as shown below. It is so important to recognise the meaning portrayed; however, it is also important to recognise that these trees do not show the full story. So, it is important to read further on these words and their meanings and origins. Nevertheless, they do a great job at simply explaining why Equity and Justice are important.
Throughout my talk, I explored the importance of diversity and how we can get more people from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities into tech after discovering that only 4% of the UK tech workforce were from a BAME background (according to PWC). I had known that the figures were low, but I was truly shocked. To visualise, a room full of 50 people only 2 would be from a BAME* background. The theme of CogX this year was ‘How can we get the next 10 years right’ and instantly I knew, to get the next 10 years right we had to fix this.
After doing a lot of research, I began to see the impacts from the lack of diversity in the products made. I came across the Home Office passport system which had been labelled as racist in several articles. Upon reading the majority of these articles I found that the passport photo system rejected the image of a young black man after failing to recognise darker skin tones. I wondered how a product with such a great flaw was launched. By me having a darker skin tone, one of the main things I would consider is whether this product can recognise everyone. Is the data set diverse enough? A different person may think of other things which I would not have thought of. In my talk, I compared diversity to an orchestra: An orchestra has a different range of instruments, however together they make beautiful sounds, and this can also be applied to diversity in the workplace and teams.
With a diverse team, products become stronger, better and more suitable for more people. The obvious solution to lack of diversity some may pose is ‘let’s hire more people from Black and Asian backgrounds. However, Sunil Patel COO of PWC spoke on this issue saying, ‘there aren’t many people to employ.’
So, I then took a step back and tried to go back to the root question. How can we get more people from BAME backgrounds into Tech? I came to the conclusion that giving (tech)opportunities to young people from BAME backgrounds is how we can tackle the lack of diversity.
Why? Diversity is all about inviting people to the table. Many young people such as my younger self do not even know there is a way they can sit at this same table. Giving opportunities will help show they can work hard and are welcomed to the table.
To expand on this, my younger self didn’t ever consider tech as a possible career path but once I was given an opportunity to attend a coding workshop with a community called Young Coders Meetup, the world of tech was opened to me. Young Coders Meetup is a coding community which focuses on diversity and inclusion with a 50/50 gender parity and 47% Black and 25% Asian – tackling the lack of diversity in tech. I encourage companies to start splitting their BAME and BME stats as now as more people from asian backgrounds join the UK tech workforce the growing percentages of those from asian backgrounds can mask the still low percentages of people from Black backgrounds.
The ‘giving opportunities’ mindset was also seen from the Teens in AI YouthvsCovid Hackathon which saw 200 young people from all over the world and many from BAME backgrounds take part and learn all about tech
Without these opportunities, I wouldn’t have, now, aspired to be a strong woman in tech.
Opportunities show new interests and talents. Giving opportunities not only plants seeds for a diverse future of tech but can positively impact on a young person’s life.
I was very fortunate to be in an environment where I was given opportunities to be shown the world of tech , however not everyone is. So I encourage you to open doors and provide opportunities for young people from BAME backgrounds. In the future, a life goal of mine is to go back to Zimbabwe, where I was born and give opportunities in specific areas where children are not in an environment where they have opportunities or are underprivileged and give opportunities so their futures can be fulfilling.
To summarise, address the lack of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities in tech; zoom into the younger generation to begin sewing seeds for a better future; give opportunities to unleash and accommodate talent. Young people from BAME backgrounds will be inspired by the people they subsequently see working in tech and begin working hard themselves. A diversified tech is doing the next 10 years right.
*BAME = Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.
Mutsa Pearl 