JT - International Women's Day 2020

Women in Technology: The Game Changers JT Group Limited

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So often we see news stories about gender disparity in the workforce. But positive change is happening.

For example, did you know that as of 2019 there were over one million women working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) industries in the UK? And while this figure represents 24% of the total STEM workforce — it is a significant milestone for our sector nonetheless. But, it’s also important to say that there’s still much work to be done.

Together, we need to encourage more women to join STEM industries.

So — with celebration and awareness in mind for International Women’s Day 2020 — we wanted to reflect on the contributions made by women in technology to inspire the next generation of women in tech. Because, without their contributions, the internet and modern computing would look entirely different today.

Despite all odds, women who changed the game emerged changing the direction of technological evolution. Here are just 9 of the most inspiring women in tech, who have each fundamentally shaped the world of connectivity and digitisation...

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Ada Lovelace The first technology visionary Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, child of poet Lord Byron, was the original technology game changer.

From her childhood, Ada was fascinated with mathematics and science. In her youth, she drew diagrams and wrote essays on building a steam-powered flying machine — this was an early indicator of her incredible mind and staggering foresight.

On June 5th, 1833, Lovelace met Charles Babbage and discussed his plans to build an early mechanical computer. Over a decade later, Lovelace’s fascination with computing had not faded. She was tasked with translating a paper on the Analytical Engine from French, and added over 20,000 words of ‘Notes’ that discussed her view on the potential of the device.

Within these notes, she wrote a sequence of operations that would use the Analytical Engine to solve mathematical problems.

It wasn’t recognised at the time, but these ‘Notes’ were the first computer program — a series of processable instructions to be used by a machine to solve an issue.

In the modern age, Ada Lovelace is seen as an icon of scientific achievement and one of the earliest technology visionaries.

Image source: Science Museum Group Collection

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Dame Stephanie Shirley Programmer turned philanthropist Stephanie Shirley came to the UK as an unaccompanied child refugee in 1939, fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany.

She excelled as a software programmer early in her career, before, with just £6, founding ‘Freelance Programmers’ (later Xansa) in 1962, to create job opportunities for women in programming.

The team grew to over 300 staff, with just 3 male programmers, and their projects included programming Concorde’s black box flight recorder.

From this, she made a £150m fortune and has now devoted her life to philanthropy, giving over £135 million to good causes across the UK. Her charitable Shirley Foundation has made over £67m grants and initiated a number of projects that are pioneering by nature, strategic in impact and significant in money terms.

Current activity is targeted at national strategies for autism.

“We waste too much time being afraid, when what we should really fear is wasting time”.

Dame Stephanie Shirley

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Image source: Wikimedia Commons

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Grace Hopper Computing Pioneer Grace Hopper was born in 1906. She is best known for her contributions to early computing, notably kickstarting the development of modern computer languages.

After enlisting in the US Navy in 1942, Grace was assigned to work on the Mark I at Harvard University: a huge electromechanical computer.

After spending weeks analysing the blueprints of the machine, Grace wrote the first-ever computer programming manual — a 500-page resource that taught others how to program the Mark I. In 1952, Hopper led a computer programming team and developed the first-ever compiler, able to take human-readable syntax and convert it into machine-readable binary code. This enabled her team to create two programming languages, MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC. These early programming languages set the path towards modern software development and Hopper was instrumental in promoting their adoption.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”.

Grace Hopper

Image source: Bloomberg

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Without the contributions of Grace Hopper, programming would still be written in machine-understandable code, rather than the expressive language we use today.

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Stacey Horn Social networking pioneer In 2020, using a social network to chat with friends, family, and strangers is an addiction. But in the early 1990s, virtual communities were populated by computer enthusiasts alone.

Stacy Horn, originally working as a telecommunications analyst, changed this when she founded EchoNYC in 1990, making her one of the few prominent women in the early days of internet culture.

Unlike technology-focused communities, Echo’s membership was over 40% women and hosted conversations about literature, film, culture, and real-life, much like online communities we know and use today.

This made Echo’s electronic bulletin board the most female-oriented in cyberspace, and Horn created a mentor program to orient new women members of the service.

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Image source: The New York Post Archives

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Dr. Radia Perlman Networking inventor Dr. Perlman is an American computer programmer and network engineer responsible for the invention of various networking technologies that helped make the internet possible.

In the 1980s, Radia invented the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges.

This enabled networks to be large and complicated, essential to build the infrastructure behind the modern internet.

Later, she improved the efficiency of these networks further, making huge contributions to other areas of network design and standardisation.

These internet enabling inventions were delivered despite being a minority in tech. When studying at MIT in the 1960s, she was one of only 50 female students in a class of over 1000.

“Somebody who was doing a magazine interview with me thought that it would be sort of cute to call me that [“mother of the internet”] because all sorts of men were saying ‘I invented the Internet’, and nobody was saying that any women had”.

Dr. Radia Perlman

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

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Perlman holds over 100 issued patents, lectures at the University of Washington, Harvard University and MIT and has received awards such as the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award among numerous others.

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Dr. Adele Goldberg User interface designer Goldberg began working at Xerox PARC in the 1970s, helping to develop SmallTalk-80.

This programming language was one the first to create graphic user interfaces (GUIs) featuring display elements that are commonplace today, such as windows, icons, menus and a mouse cursor.

Infamously, Xerox would demo this technology to Steve Jobs — despite Goldberg’s refusal — leading to Apple launching their version shortly afterward.

Working with Alan Kay, she wrote an article titled “Personal Dynamic Media” in 1977. This predicted the future of computing, where individuals would use highly portable computers to exchange personal media, such as photos and files – sound familiar?

Her contribution to technology is significant, to say the least — every time you open a new window, click an icon or move your mouse, you have Dr. Adele Goldberg to thank.

“Don’t ask whether you can do something, but how to do it”.

Dr Adele Goldberg

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Image source: Bettman Archive

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Elizabeth ‘Jake’ Feinler The original Google In 2020, if you need to find a company online, you ask Google. If you want to be listed online, you can buy a domain name in minutes via GoDaddy, Google Domains or Gandi. But in the 70s and 80s, you had to ask Elizabeth Feinler.

Between 1972 and 1989, Feinler ran the Network Information Center (NIC) from the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California.

One of the NICs responsibilities was keeping a directory of the people and servers on the network, which was initially distributed by post. If you need to make a change or request information, you couldn’t just search for it online. Instead, you picked up the phone and called Feinler. In her own words, “the NIC was like the prehistoric Google. People came to us for everything”.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons (License)

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Hedy Lamarr Hollywood Star and Wi-Fi Pioneer Film enthusiasts may recognise this technology pioneer from films such as Lady of the Tropics, Boom Town and Samson and Delilah. But less well known are her contributions to wireless radio communications.

Lamarr was born in 1914 in Vienna, Austria and she achieved stardom as a teenager. In 1942, Lamarr received a patent for a radio signalling device, which rotated radio frequencies to prevent enemies from decoding messages. Although originally designed (and used) for military applications, the system was an important step in the development of communications for civilian use.

For example, frequency hopping is used in modern Wi-Fi networks.

Image source: Wikipedia Commons

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Her contribution wasn’t recognised at the time. However, in 1997, she received the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award in recognition of her work.

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Ursula Burns Against all odds Ursula Burns made history when she became CEO of Xerox in 2009. This made her the first African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

From starting as a summer intern, Ursula took on a range of roles over the years before being announced the successor to CEO Anne Mulcahy, another trailblazer for female leadership.

Upon being appointed as CEO, Burns was tasked with turning around the company. During her leadership, Xerox massively developed its business process services and the company towards the future services that facilitate so many business across the world today.

“Believe that there are no limitations, no barriers to your success — you will be empowered and you will achieve�.

Ursula Burns

Image source: Bloomberg

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At JT, we support all our employees regardless of gender and want to ensure every career at JT is supported and nurtured.

We’re ready to promote greater female representation in the technology and telecoms fields, building off the pioneering work done by the women featured in this eBook.

Today, on International Women’s Day, we also wanted to recognise the significant role women play in our business many of whom have been building a career in technology for decades.

To find out more about our own JT women, pioneering Digital Customer Experience, Operations and Automation, or bringing our world-class network connectivity to our customers...

Click here

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We’re always on the lookout for creative, innovative, team-oriented and knowledgeable individuals who are passionate about our brand and share our purpose of connecting our customers to their future.

To find out more information about the roles and opportunities at JT, visit: www.jtglobal.com/careers JT Group Limited

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