THE CONCRETE CEILING Muneera Bano’s work focuses on designing technologies that will help in creating an unbiased, fair and inclusive AI-based future for all people. Throughout her career, she has challenged existing biases in computer science and proven a point: given equal opportunity, girls can outperform men in any field.
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glass ceiling allows you to see through it, you just can’t move up. A bamboo ceiling allows you to hear what is happening on the other side, even if you can’t see it. Where I came from, the ceilings were metaphorically and literally made of concrete. When I was 10 years old my father made me realise that, unlike my brothers, my education was a privilege. Education was denied to every woman in my mother’s generation including her, and many in my generation in the early 90s in north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan, because of gender. Both my parents moved to the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, where I was born and raised. I am the youngest and the fifth child, and the only sister of four elder brothers. My parents raised me as equal to my brothers in every aspect including education. I chose the male-dominated field of computing. I did my Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science in Pakistan and eight years ago I came to Australia to pursue my PhD in Software Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). My decision was met with obvious resistance. A single, Muslim, Pashtun woman travelling abroad for education. It was a strange notion to many. I had never lived without my family before. Not only did I have no family in Australia, there was not a single person in this whole country I could call my friend. The homesickness, cultural shock and loneliness were at their peak in my first year
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of being an international student. The only place I felt a sense of belonging was my university, where I spent my days in the lab in isolation. However, it was my education that kept me on track with a sense of purpose. It was during my PhD I learned how to live my life independently, how to manage my own finances. I travelled around the world to present my research in China, New Zealand, Brazil, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Malaysia, France, Germany, Spain and South Korea. Three years later I graduated with a PhD in Software Engineering and broke my concrete ceiling as a Pashtun woman. I came to Australia as an immigrant, single, Muslim, Pashtun woman from Pakistan. I was told that each of these identifiers is a barrier that reinforces and enhances the others in a vicious cycle. I never considered them as barriers. These are my badges of honour and authenticity. To break any ceiling, you need your “superpower of authenticity”. My pursuit of a PhD was not for a piece of paper, it was a transformational journey of my life towards empowerment. That day I felt this enormous sense of achievement, resilience and fearlessness, so much so that I knew there would never be any ceiling, glass or bamboo, that I am not capable of bringing down, for I am the breaker of my “concrete ceiling”.
Australia’s Nobel Laureates VOL III
