Women in Data is an organisation and movement that aims to empower women and support them through the various stages of their careers in data. Although women comprise about 50% of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(UK) population, only 20% of professionals in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and

data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

in the UK are women. Underrepresentation of women in

data science Data science is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses statistics, scientific computing, scientific methods, processing, scientific visualization, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge from potentially noisy, stru ...

can result in serious issues and in some cases, e.g., automobile crashes, actual harm. With a membership of over 25,000, the organisation seeks to improve the representation of women and girls in data and technology, address some of the key issues, and connect data professionals with partner companies.

Summary

Founded in 2014 by Roisin McCarthy, Women in Data was formed to promote diversity in analytics by encouraging more women to take up careers in the data industry. The organisation is dedicated to supporting and promoting women in the data and technology fields by providing an expansive platform for female and gender-diverse practitioners to share their technical knowledge and network at various in-person and virtual events. To date, Women in Data have worked with a broad range of organisations, including some very high-profile businesses, that support diversity within the data and technology sector. The organisation believes that having greater numbers of women within the sector will generate a competitive advantage for UK businesses by mobilising a wealth of untapped talent.

History

In 2014, with over fifteen years’ experience as a recruiter in data science and

analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...

, Roisin McCarthy observed an industry-wide relative decline in female candidates applying, scaling and remaining in the data sector. The gap in female applicants caused her to examine the underlying issues and potential barriers to women in the data and technology field and led her to collaborate with one of the UK's foremost data experts, Payal Jain. Women in Data was formed to confront these problems and to advocate for change. To bring awareness to the issues and to do something positive about them, Women in Data set about creating a community of professionals in which members could network, share ideas, and support and encourage one another. By design, the organisation offers a free membership to provide an opportunity to connect, engage and belong to this community. Following many media appearances and networking events, in 2015, the organisation held its first major event at the

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

campus. The movement quickly gained traction, and by 2019, the conference welcomed more than 1,200 attendees to the InterContinental London -

The O2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, Town square, piazzas, ...

. A report in 2019 noted that although women still hadn't been entering the sector at the same increasing rate that men had, there had never been a better time to be a woman in this field. In the following year, thousands more attended a week of virtual Women in Data events and workshops and by 2022, the community had grown to more than 30,000 members.

Twenty in Data & Tech Awards

Established in 2017, Women in Data collaborated with Edwina Dunn, Founder of The Female Lead, to create the Twenty in Data & Tech Awards. This annual showcase was designed to celebrate the achievements of women within the industry. Each year a selection of twenty women, at various stages in their careers, are awarded for their contributions to the Women in Data community.

Partnerships

Maintaining partnerships with third-party organisations are an integral component of how Women in Data operates. Today, Women in Data have created over 50 partnerships with organisations on a national and global scale. Supporting partners have included corporations such as

Snowflake A snowflake is a single ice crystal that is large enough to fall through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 100–107.Hobbs, P.V. 1974. Ice Physics. Oxford: C ...

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Experian Experian plc is a multinational corporation, multinational data broker and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on more than 1 billion people and businesses including ...

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

, TUI Group,

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, BT, Very Group,

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

and Hotels.com.

Data For Good

Girls in Data

In 2020, Women in Data went on to develop an initiative called Girls in Data. This initiative was developed to inspire young girls to embrace a career in the world of data and technology by introducing them to

STEM subjects Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

from their early teenage years. Teaming up with Edwina Dunn from The Female Lead on BBC South, the initiative first connected with female pupils at a Hampshire School to inspire and introduce positive role models to the students.

MenopauseX

In 2022, Women in Data announced a further initiative, MenopauseX, in partnership wit
Newson Health Menopause Society
and th
Balance App
The initiative aims to improve the well-being of women by providing data insights and recommendations related to

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...

. The MenopauseX team currently consists of a growing team of 25 volunteers - including data scientists, analysts and

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

Women’s Safety

Commencing in 2021, Women in Data's Women in Data Week centred on the topic of women's safety. As a consequence of the murder of Sarah Everard, the issue of women's safety was brought to the forefront of society as a whole and the organisation investigated how data can improve their safety. Joined by leading industry experts, survivors, technologists and partners a
Kubrick
and

, the group discussed "Data and its importance for Women’s Safety". This topic explored and debated how data strategy, protection, ethics and exploitation affect the lives of women.

Women’s Health

In partnership wit
Capgemini Invent
Women in Data hosted a senior leader's session in May 2022, focussing on

Women's Health Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Often treated ...

. This was in recognition of the persistently poor healthcare outcomes that women face and the urgent need to tackle ingrained

gender inequalities Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which people are not treated equally on the basis of gender. This inequality can be caused by gender discrimination or sexism. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology ...

in the healthcare systems. The event brought together senior experts from a range of private and public sector organisations, including

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

and the

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the s ...

. The mission of the event was to draw on the expertise of those in attendance to better understand the role that data plays - and could play – in improving women's health outcomes. The deductions produced on the day were presented in a whitepaper in July 2022 depicting the role data could play in addressing the issues - and the challenges that need to be overcome in doing so.

References

{{Authority control 2014 establishments in the United Kingdom Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Professional associations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2014 Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom