Why do we need more women in tech?

Oracle Academy Tech Chat

Oracle Academy is Oracle’s philanthropic education program. In this episode we chat with Alice Goodchild, Head of Oracle Women’s Leadership for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She shares her views on how to inspire girls and women to follow STEM studies and careers, why we need more women in tech, how diverse talent is important to the economy and IT and how Oracle is investing in developing, engaging and empowering current and future generations of women leaders at Oracle.

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Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;03 - 00;00;28;02 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders. Of the Future. Let's get started. 00;00;28;05 - 00;00;54;27 Welcome to Oracle Academy, pictured where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare a next generation workforce. I'm your host to Oracle Academy Program manager for Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Albania. Crushed by North Macedonia cluster in just a few days. We are celebrating International Women's Day, but numbers don't lie. And that is definitely true when it comes to the number of women in tech. 00;00;54;29 - 00;01;25;05 Globally, we see a low percentage of women selecting STEM studies and the percentage drops when it comes to the actual number of women graduating, women entering the market, climbing the hierarchy ladder and becoming tech leaders. How can a company like our approach help women develop their leadership and skills? My guest today is Alice Goodchild, head of Oracle Women's Program for Europe, Middle East and Africa. 00;01;25;08 - 00;01;47;00 Alice joined Oracle seven years ago with more than 15 years work and experience as a senior aides or business partner in companies of the IP and investment banking sectors and is currently based in UK but has a long living and working experience in countries like Japan, France, Spain and Australia. Alice, welcome. 00;01;47;02 - 00;01;50;15 Hi. Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today. 00;01;50;17 - 00;01;55;21 Thank you. Please give our audience a bit of out of your background, then your role at Oracle. 00;01;55;24 - 00;02;27;09 Absolutely. Thank you. So I am the head of Oracle Women's Leadership for the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, a hugely diverse region with over 50 countries represented at Oracle and Oracle women's leadership. Well, it started as a grassroots initiative in 2006 and has now grown organically into a global strategic program dedicated to the leadership and professional development of Oracle women across the world. 00;02;27;12 - 00;02;59;23 And we started off with a few communities in certain countries, and now we have over 120 Oracle women's leadership communities across the globe, which is quite incredible. And in AMEA, the region I represent and we have 40 communities across 35 countries. And in terms of our team structure, we are a global team of eight. And we also have an executive steering committee for Oracle Women's Leadership. 00;02;59;23 - 00;03;26;11 So we have very strong support from our senior leaders. And I remember when I saw this role advertised, I was working as a business partner in a telco organization and I saw the role and I was like, I can't believe they've got a program dedicated to Oracle or to women's leadership. And I honestly think that I've got the best job at Oracle. 00;03;26;11 - 00;03;29;29 So that's a bit of my background for you. 00;03;30;01 - 00;04;00;03 I have to say that Oracle is one of the leading IP companies that they invest a lot in, in diversity and inclusion and of course in the women's development program. But if we want to go a bit back, how would we attract more women and girls to to study STEM subjects and to pursue careers in the technology industry? 00;04;00;06 - 00;04;20;13 Great question. I think there are a number of different ways in which we could do that, but I think I'm going to focus just on a couple of them, if that's okay. And I think for me, the first the first way that we could could attract more women and girls to study STEM subjects is through more. Having more role models. 00;04;20;13 - 00;04;47;25 And I guess if I take girls first and we can talk about role models, but they could be in terms of, you know, the school children, in terms of toys or books or literature, you know, making sure that there are resources for young children to show that there you know, there are roles and opportunities and leaders for you know, for women. 00;04;47;27 - 00;05;24;28 I think that's really important. And we we need to think about all curriculums across the globe as well. So to have a broader digital curriculum, which is relevant to everybody and I think also for girls in in particular, it's very important to show that there's such a, you know, there is such a huge variety in tech jobs. So and it could yes, it could be coding, but it also there are, you know, user experience or, you know, lots of different roles within tech that mean a different different skill sets could be used. 00;05;24;28 - 00;05;59;19 So actually an ad or at Oracle, we have a program, a Spanish Oracle women's leadership team have created Oracle for Girls. So that's really about getting girls aged 4 to 16 really excited about the cool technology that there is and building kind of a sense of community amongst those girls that, you know, and seeing these role models that they can consider that tech might be somewhere where they would want to explore further with their studies as they get older. 00;05;59;22 - 00;06;36;14 And then I think role models, you know, from a from an organizational point of view, I wonder many of the people listening might have heard of the term the only. But there are so many examples where women are still the only woman in their team, in their company, potentially in their organizations, or part of a project team. So it's it's it's really, you know, for those women in particular that serve all women, it's really important to have role models in the organizations to be able to see someone who looks like you. 00;06;36;14 - 00;07;04;03 That's been successful, that's faced different challenges. But you know that, you know, you can progress and will be supported and have the right environment to progress within that particular organization and have the right culture to enable you to do that. And that comes down also to organizations having the right policies and practices really to ensure that their, you know, their environments are inclusive. 00;07;04;05 - 00;07;37;29 And I think you know, tying in to this as well is this sense of fostering a community and belonging and community is extremely important in terms of attracting anyone to to work for organizations or to study particular subjects and enabling a culture, an environment of belonging is really important to attracting more women and girls to study and to pursue careers in the I.T. industry. 00;07;38;02 - 00;07;52;15 So talking about the community and ecosystems, corporate ecosystems, why do we need more women than we think need this approach? 00;07;52;17 - 00;08;20;10 Well, you know, Eleanor, I think, you know, overall, we need more people in tech, as you outlined at the beginning, this massive skills shortages and the tech industry is shaping our world and shaping the future. So, you know, we really need to think about that. But the as we know, the proportion of women working in technologies is going, moving, increasing, but at a very glacial pace. 00;08;20;10 - 00;08;50;09 So we do we do really need to consider how to get more women into tech. I had I read the other day a recent report published in the UK by the Professional body for computing, and it said it was going to take 283 years before women make up an equal share of the workforce in the UK. And we need the gender gap in I.T. to close much more quickly. 00;08;50;12 - 00;09;20;09 The pace of technology, the pace of change. We we just can't be moving that slowly. So I think, you know, for organizations, we need our emerging tech like artificial intelligence to reflect the society that we that we live in. And we you know, the tech helps our industry innovate and rise to the needs of society in a meaningful and responsible way. 00;09;20;11 - 00;09;59;20 So and I think for for women, it's really important. The tech tech, there are brilliant career opportunities in the tech industry and we need women in the and much more kind of diverse employee bases to bring different perspectives to help teams work differently, to empower them to solve problems differently. And, you know, we need it's all about kind of ensuring that our workforce and our people with expertise are reflective of the societies that we live in today. 00;09;59;20 - 00;10;12;07 And there are 51% of women across the globe so that, you know, we should we should be reflecting their needs in the tech industry because that is what's shaping our future. 00;10;12;09 - 00;10;37;29 So being already almost seven years with our women's leadership and talking about the need for the community and for the things and for the companies, what would you say are the benefits of having a strategic program like Oracle Women's Leadership. 00;10;38;02 - 00;11;17;11 That many benefits actually. And I think if I start from the level of business support. So as you mentioned, this is a strategic program and we have buy in from all CEOs, suffocates and active support of our senior executives and the impact of that on the organization is is critical because it demonstrates that our leadership teams are invested in increasing the diversity and inclusion of our organization and creating an environment where everybody can belong. 00;11;17;14 - 00;11;53;03 And when you create that environment for an organization, the benefits are huge. You do become a place where people want to work. You want to attract more diverse employees, you retain more diverse employees. And through that, you know, we we can deliver to our customers, which is really important. You know, we can be more innovative because we have more diverse thinking in our organization, more diverse perspectives, and we're better placed to meet our customers needs and expect exceed their expectations. 00;11;53;06 - 00;12;28;19 I also think a huge benefit of having a program like Oracle women's leadership is that it increases collaboration. Oracle's a massive organization around 170,000 employees globally, and a program like Oracle Women's Leadership crosses all employees, all lines of business, and that gives huge opportunity for collaboration and for knowledge sharing, you know, for individuals developing their own knowledge bases and and increasing their skills. 00;12;28;21 - 00;12;56;15 I also think there's a huge benefit because having a strategic program like this is it's a data driven program. We we know we we can link in with external research such as the McKinsey Women in the Workplace study. And we can understand from that study of corporate America that there is still a huge challenge with this. What they class is the broken rung that first step up to manager level. 00;12;56;20 - 00;13;40;26 And we can then take those insights and look at the data Oracle and, you know, really develop programs that meet the needs and supports our employees and we I would say kind of the one of the biggest overall benefits is around our alignment with our diversity and inclusion strategy more broadly. And this offers so many opportunities to drive that sense of belonging that I'm, you know, I feel passionately about to to work together with other internal groups and organizations to truly create that inclusive culture, to help everybody to thrive. 00;13;40;26 - 00;14;10;24 And and I guess in a program like ARC, women's leadership, finally, you know, that helps create a pride in amongst so many people in the organization that you work for. You know, we recently received an award as one of the Forbes 2023 best Employers for Women, and that's helps create that sense of pride and commitment to diversity inclusion more broadly. 00;14;10;27 - 00;14;42;20 As you mentioned, the role is is part of Oracle's diversity and inclusion strategy. And next Friday we celebrate International Women's Day, and this year's theme is inspired inclusion. So what actions do you think we can all take to inspire inclusion to create a more gender equal world so that we avoid spending the next almost 300 years trying to catch up. 00;14;42;22 - 00;14;44;12 In the UK? It needs to go well. 00;14;44;15 - 00;14;47;19 It's pretty much the same in Europe as well. 00;14;47;21 - 00;15;23;01 International Women's Day is a massive day of celebration, sharing and reflection at Oracle, and each year we embrace the International Women's Day theme and create and deliver events across all communities wherever they are in the world. So I mean, this theme, the theme this year, Inspire inclusion, is is really saying that when we inspire others to understand and to values value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. 00;15;23;01 - 00;15;47;04 So I think there's a number of ways in which any individual could take action within their sphere of influence. And I'm one of those. And, you know, tying so well into Oracle Academies around education and really individuals to take that initiative to educate themselves about gender equality issues and experiences of women in the workplace, that's that's really important. 00;15;47;04 - 00;16;17;29 Every every individual is unique and everybody's experiences will be different. So ensuring that you talk to and educate yourself and understand different unique experiences, I would say it would be a really good action to take. We all have the power to be allies, so to be actively support colleagues who are women, to speak up against any bias or micro-aggressions that might manifest themselves, whether that is in our friendship group. 00;16;17;29 - 00;17;02;13 So, you know, our learning environments or in organizations as well, and to offer that support and understanding. And I think, you know, finally, it's really important. I think, to amplify the voices so actively listen to women's perspectives, to their experiences, and to make sure their voices are heard. And I, I talked about the concept of the only. So, you know, pay attention is that somebody who is the only in in one of the environments that you're presenting and how can you ensure that their voice is heard? 00;17;02;16 - 00;17;23;28 Paul I couldn't agree more. And definitely Oracle Academy is also focusing on making education accessible to all inspiring girls. So as a final question, if you could give one piece of advice to the faculty or students, what would it be? 00;17;24;01 - 00;18;19;28 You're making it difficult with one piece of advice, but I'll try and I think my advice would be to to take a look around you and in your faculty or your course in your team, your organization. Is it reflective of the society that you live in? And if not, what can you do within your sphere of influence to impact that, whether it is, you know, amplifying the voice of an underrepresented group or the only that's in the room, or whether that's taking the time to educate yourself or adding elements to a curriculum to ensure that you're showing more examples of women who have been successful within that particular field. 00;18;20;00 - 00;18;30;27 I Yes, that would be my advice. Take a look around you and we need our organizations, faculties to represent the society that we live in. 00;18;30;29 - 00;19;10;29 Right? So in a sector that faces a massive skills shortage, we definitely need more I.T. professionals and therefore we definitely need to increase the number of women in the sector, their presence, their leadership. It's crucial for the sectors, but also for the economy's growth. And we all can benefit from from the different perspectives and the huge pool of talent that women can bring into the sector. 00;19;11;01 - 00;19;55;12 It's certain that we need to go back into schools, into university colleges, adopt the curriculum, change the culture, make it more open, more inclusive, trying to inspire more girls and women through role models, through women that have already succeeded in STEM. So that we can see a more tangible and quick change in society and then, of course, companies need also to invest in developing women's leadership and skills. 00;19;55;15 - 00;20;05;22 So that's also the corporate ecosystems can benefit from from them. Thank you all for speaking on women's leadership. 00;20;05;22 - 00;20;09;07 Thank you, Linda. It's been my pleasure. And thank you so much for inviting me. 00;20;09;12 - 00;20;27;06 To learn more about Oracle Academy and Resources. Visit the Academy dot Oracle dot com and subscribe to our podcast. Thanks for listening. And don't forget to encourage girls to get involved and study computer science and support women who aspire to become. 00;20;27;09 - 00;20;33;28 That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.