Tag: Women in Technology

Cecilia Aragon: Women in Data Science Breaking Down Binaries and Taking a Human-Centered Approach

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While the total number of women receiving college degrees increases, what hinders the expansion of diversity in the data science field? To address this persistent gap, women working in the fields that feed into data science have been working to change the circumstances that hinders women from pursuing work in the field, as well urging society to consider the harmful consequences of a field which has historically excluded the voices of women.

Dr. Cecilia Aragon is a major contributor to these ongoing discussions. She is an award-winning author, airshow pilot and professor—the first Latina to earn the rank of full professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in its 100-year history. Her interdisciplinary methods, active inclusion of diverse students with diverse academic backgrounds, and perceptive research questions, all challenge the traditional expectations of data scientists and question the false assumptions of data science.

Demystifying Cyber: Raenesia Jones Pays It Forward to Young Black Girls

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Demystifying Cybersecurity highlights the experiences of Black practitioners, driving a critical conversation on race in the cybersecurity industry, and shining a light on Black experts in their fields.

This month, we spoke with Raenesia Jones, a cybersecurity operations analyst, about how her work keeps people safe and educates the next generation of Black women. “there are pervasive gender biases that have prevented women from going into cyber but I think it’s time we change that. I’d like for little girls to see someone who looks like them doing the work, so that they too can see themselves in this industry.”

I Will Not Be Overturned: Why I Developed an NFT Collection to Combat the Overturning of Roe v. Wade

My Unorthodox Life star Miriam Haart shares how her background pushed her to battle for abortion rights using NFTs.

“When I saw an Instagram post that said Roe v. Wade would be overturned by the Supreme Court, I felt angry. My rights were being taken away from me, just as they had been growing up in an orthodox Jewish community as a woman.

“But now, as a Stanford graduate, that’s why I created an NFT project that will give 100 percent of its proceeds to fighting for abortion.”

Demystifying Cybersecurity: Author Zinet Kemal Is Paving the Way for Young Immigrant Women in Cyber

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It will take a paradigm shift to defend our national security moving forward. Women and people of color should be at the forefront of this effort. Demystifying Cybersecurity, a #ShareTheMicInCyber and Ms. magazine monthly series, spotlights women from the #ShareTheMicInCyber movement—highlighting the experiences of Black practitioners, driving a critical conversation on race in the cybersecurity industry, and shining a light on Black experts in their fields.

This month, cybersecurity professional and children’s book author Zinet Kemal describes her path to entering the tech industry, and why more young, Black and Muslim women should have a voice in cybersecurity.

Will My Period Tracking App Betray Me? Menstrual Surveillance in a Post-Roe World

Menstrual data and period tracking has already become a lucrative industry for apps. Selling private and personal reproductive health data to companies has created income many fertility apps.

The availability of this data already poses a unique threat to the lives of all people with uteruses, but in a world without Roe the risk of this data becoming a weapon for the anti-abortion movement. They have been known to use such data to influence decision making and reproductive choices. In order to keep this vital data out of their hands action needs to be taken to provide protection and safe alternatives for menstruators.

The Mother Tax: Working Moms Are at the Breaking Point

For each child they have, mothers get a 5 to 10 percent pay cut on average. Meanwhile fathers get a 6 percent pay bump per child.  As the primary caregiver in many households—33 percent of married working moms have identified themselves as their children’s sole care provider—many women have been forced to choose between their kids and their careers.

What will it take for employers to account for the heightened responsibilities of moms in the workplace?

virtual reality (VR)

The Dark Side of Virtual Reality: Sexual Harassment and the Lack of Body Agency

People often focus on the positives of virtual reality (VR): It can provide more immersive experiences. Players can visit outer space or a foreign country without ever leaving their couches. They can interact with other gamers in those virtual worlds. But VR enthusiasts often overlook, or never know about, VR’s darker sides: namely, the risk of unwanted interactions, which falls disproportionately on women and people of color.

Demystifying Cybersecurity: How Mari Galloway and Other Women Are Creating Their Own Careers in Cyber

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It will take a paradigm shift to defend our national security moving forward. Women and people of color should be at the forefront of this effort. Demystifying Cybersecurity, a #ShareTheMicInCyber and Ms. magazine monthly series, spotlights women from the #ShareTheMicInCyber movement—highlighting the experiences of Black practitioners, driving a critical conversation on race in the cybersecurity industry, and shining a light on Black experts in their fields.

This month, here’s everything you need to know about the field of cybersecurity and how to create your own career in it, courtesy of Mari Galloway, CEO and a founding board member for the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu.

A Conversation with Artist Nettrice Gaskins, ‘Beacon of Hope’ Creator

Nettrice Gaskins is a digital artist and self-identified Afrofuturist whose work has been receiving national attention. A 2021 Ford global fellow, Gaskins’s work is featured in the current “FUTURES” exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Ms.’s Janell Hobson, who invited Gaskins to create original art for the Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project, interviewed the artist over Zoom.