Alexa, Siri and female robots: can education help women to fight sexist stereotypes?
Chair: Rosie Niven, content editor, Jisc. Speakers: Serrie Chapman, founder, Women Tech Hub Bristol Miranda Mowbray, lecturer faculty of engineering, University of Bristol Suhad Aljundi, future technologies developer, Jisc With female voices and, in some cases, names, many consumer artificial-intelligence products can reinforce stereotypes about a woman’s role. These stereotypes help to maintain long-term problems of a gender imbalance in the tech workforce. The UK has one of the biggest gender pay gaps in Europe – currently 21% and women are often concentrated in lower paying administrative roles. Women make up 23% of those in core STEM occupations in the UK and 24% of those working in core STEM industries. There are more long-term factors too - women tend to have less advanced technology skills than men from early in their education. And the effects of these imbalances could be devastating - women are tipped to lose out disproportionately because of AI as roles in which they are over-represented disappear. So what do we need to do to tackle gender bias in technology and how can the education sector help women to move beyond the stereotypes into a glittering career in tech? This panel - made up mostly or entirely by women in tech and education - will discuss these issues, why they matter, and what we should be doing to tackle them.
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Alexa, Siri and female robots: can education help women to fight sexist stereotypes?
- 1. Alexa, Siri and female robots Can education help women to fight sexist stereotypes? Rosie Niven, Content and communications editor
- 2. The gender gap in tech 2 •Women make up 23% of those in core STEM occupations in the UK and 24% of those working in core STEM industries •This drops to 17% in ICT profession roles •Within STEM occupations, women are often concentrated in lower paying administrative roles •The UK has one of the biggest gender pay gaps in Europe – currently 21%
- 3. PA not developer 3 What do we think of when we picture a personal assistant? BBC Online: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/161C1/production/_105116509_twenty_twelve_2012.jpg
- 4. The Guardian 4 “Patriarchy tells us that women serve, while men order…technology firms seem content to play into stereotypes https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2019/mar/04/adios-alexa-why-must-our-robot-assistants-be-female?CMP=fb_gu
- 5. • Serrie Chapman, founder, Women’s Tech Hub Bristol • Miranda Mowbray, lecturer faculty of engineering, University of Bristol • Suhad Aljundi, future technologies developer, Jisc The panel 5
- 6. Gender imbalances in STEM 6 Women make up 23% of those in core STEM occupations in the UK and 24% of those working in core STEM industries. 12/03/2019
- 7. The gender pay gap 7 The UK has one of the biggest gender pay gaps in Europe – currently 21%, and women are often concentrated in lower paying administrative roles 12/03/2019
- 8. The Conversation 8 “Closing the gender gap in digital skills would remove one factor contributing to the gender pay gap in UK universities.” https://theconversation.com/gender-pay-gap-at-universities-could-get-even-worse-heres-why-107456
- 9. Effect of Industry 4.0 9 Women are tipped to lose out disproportionately because of AI as roles in which they are over-represented disappear 12/03/2019
- 10. The Guardian 10 ”the next fight for us women is to ensure artificial intelligence does not become the ultimate expression of masculinity.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/13/women-robots-ai-male-artificial-intelligence-automation
- 11. customerservices@jisc.ac.uk jisc.ac.uk Thank you Rosie Niven Content and communications editor rosie.niven@jisc.ac.uk
Editor's Notes
- Although Siri, Alexa and Cortana lack bodies, they embody what we think of when we picture a personal assistant: a competent, efficient, and reliable woman. These products frequently come with female voices and, in some cases, names. Some have argued that this can reinforce stereotypes about a woman’s role – a PA rather than AI developer. Women like Sally from TV’s Twenty Twelve. Who can rustle up a suit and tie combo for her boss Ian Fletcher in half an hour or choose a president for his wife. Highly capable, but not a leader or creator.
- common link between all three AI assistants is revealed: they are all supposed to be women (although Siri speaks with a male voice in the UK) Providing assistance has long been considered a woman’s role EqualAI, an initiative dedicated to correcting gender bias in AI, has created what it says is the first genderless voice, which it calls Q Could this help technology firms resist the easy association between femininity and subservience, in favour of something more progressive?
- Universities also plan to use more advanced technology. Gamification is on the rise in universities. This is where universities personalise a student’s learning, using game design thinking in non-game applications. And as women in higher education are generally less likely to be skilled in using these technologies, they may well be left behind – widening the gender pay gap in higher education – while also making it harder for women to progress in their careers.
- The real problem is the governance of AI, the ethics underpinning it, the boundaries we give it and, within that, who is going to define all those. if a non-diverse workforce is creating them, they are more prone to be implanted with unexamined, undiscussed, often unconscious assumptions and biases about things such as race, gender and class. Some academics, such as Joanna Bryson and Luciano Floridi, argue that AI companies should be regulated like architects, who learn to work with city planners, certification schemes and licences to make buildings safe. They argue for watchdogs and regulators.