About the gender gap around the boardroom tables in the Tech Industry. Ladies all across the world, listen up. We have pulled together a team of courageous women prepared to tackle the gender divide. It is in the Biggest Issue facing the Tech Industry right now, it isa facing the Tech Industry right now, it is a broader problem across the working world too. Representing all the women. Salute. Here is what they are up against. In Silicon Valley, just one in ten senior positions are held by women. A recent survey of the world s tech powerhouse found that 60 have faced unwanted sexual advances. 65 felt left out from social events because they were a woman. And 84 have been told they we re woman. And 84 have been told they were too aggressive. Ultimately, women end up quitting techjobs were too aggressive. Ultimately, women end up quitting tech jobs that more than double the rate of men. Lets meet our core team of four women, all working in the bay area. Reuter is a design strategist atjp morgan chase. She likes to collide the digital and the physical world. Once we have these women in the workplace, how to accommodate an environment that is suitable and is inviting . Roman is a scene in manager in a tea and advises companies of ethical use of ai. Manager in a tea and advises companies of ethical use of all systematically seem a female stu d e nts systematically seem a female students be offered lift the core roles or being told they are not a good culture fit. Natalia came to Computer Science late. She found herself on an engineering course and is now Software Engineer who loves coding. It is already a minefield working in the industry is that we have to work harder. Anyone who isnt part of the dominant culture has to work so much harder. And lorry he was an academic and gender research at Stanford University. Even people who are on board may still be implicitly or unconsciously disadvantage in women. 0k, ladies. It is time to reveal what your challenge is. You have five days to find out what is Holding Women back from the boardroom in the Tech Industry and then come up with a solution that could improve the situation for them and you must reveal your ideas to a group of your peers at the end of this week. Lets do it to help our team get an even deeper understanding of what women working in Silicon Valley are up against, were introducing them to two women who are willing to share their stories. Take a seat. I am erin, ido their stories. Take a seat. I am erin, i do day to find that a Company Called father, they are software for teams to track, manage and complete their work. We are cropping pretty quickly so recently i transitioned from being just a Data Scientist also managing Data Scientist and i think it has been difficult in a couple of different ways. Now that im a manager i am suddenly in meetings with a lot of other managers, i dont talk unless someone other managers, i dont talk unless someone explicitly asks me for my opinion about something. If i am asked to talk, i would say a little bit of shakiness in my voice. I also definitely drop a register of my voice, iam definitely drop a register of my voice, i am speaking lower sol cant release nick loudly because it is uncomfortable. And then i started trail off and, get. Erin prospect fear of speaking up in meetings of a common one amongst women fear of speaking up in meetings of a common one amongst women so fear of speaking up in meetings of a common one amongst women so perhaps she can enlighten the team about what is holding her back. In my mind i start to go into my head about, like, how many people are in the room and how valuable their time is. As everyone in the remit to hear this . I have a lot of filters i go through that i dont know that eve ryo ne through that i dont know that everyone necessarily goes through. Our Research Shows and a group of eight, three people will speak 67 of the time. So in general, there area of the time. So in general, there are a lot of people who dominates the airtime and it isnt unusual. Despite all of that, environments where it is a competition, you do wa nt to where it is a competition, you do want to speak up. When you do speak up want to speak up. When you do speak up in meetings, how do you feel that people will respond . Do you feel you we re people will respond . Do you feel you were taken seriously . Ive not had a ton of problems in my Current Company with people talking over me or things like that. It is more about the confidence. Confidence may be part of errants issue. That is not a problem for softwa re issue. That is not a problem for Software Engineer layer. She still found the Tech Industry difficult to navigate as a woman. It is a thousand little cuts. A lot of little things, signifiers that you are not as respected. I drove to the city from stanford for two hours to do this in person interview. At the very end of it they told me they did not think i was a good fit. Then the head of recruiting wanted to give me a hug. There are some definite challenges associated with being a woman challenges associated with being a woman intact, especially a woman of colour. One of my co workers put his hand on my bottom and i remember at that moment thinking was a in hindsight, 2020, was unacceptable. I was a deer in the headlights. Did you think about afterwards bringing it up to the Hr Department . decided not to report it because i wa nted decided not to report it because i wanted a job in that company. You are being personally assaulted and you have to spend so much time thinking about how he will take it or how to phrase it to hr so it is not turned back on you as the in turn, as the in this situation. 50 we have met erin and lea. What do you think . I think the myriad experiences of all women. It was very brave and courageous of them to speak up and share these experiences. We have a lot to look forward to. Thank you very much for your time forward to. Thank you very much for yourtime and forward to. Thank you very much for your time and also for getting involved. Lets see what happens next. We are setting up a base camp at the playground. An incubatorfor start ups in palo alto, complete with state of the art 3 d printers. The team have split up to fight the battle of the bald room the battle of the bald room the battle of the boardroom on different fronts. Rumman and the tarlee are working together. We think we will narrow width down into something we can accomplish in a few days. We will not break the Glass Ceiling in a few days. You will need to pace yourself. It is easy to get carried away and say i will do one more thing and then the next thing you know it is for am. Youre eating ta keaway know it is for am. Youre eating takeaway pizza and its terrible. And roya will lead a separate work strea m roya will lead a separate work stream and has been influenced by errants experiences stream and has been influenced by erra nts experiences of stream and has been influenced by errants experiences of nervousness in meetings. It stuck with me when she was talking about how she would get these biological symptoms when she was in a meeting and she feels that she has to Say Something but then she does not say it and the heartbeat and sweating and breathing. It was quite interesting to me to hear that. Meanwhile, laurie will be ensuring that the two solutions are grounded in solid research. In her office at Stanford University she shared her thoughts with me on the challenges ahead. One of the things i hope we identify the micro dynamics. The amount of times people, when they approach this issue, want a big solution. I believe it is how much we do every day. The dynamics of whether my ideas of valued. Or whether when you talk about who did great work whether my name is included in that list. Those micro dynamics really matter but are often overlooked. We need to change that and i hope we will tackle those issues. There is a lot to consider as the team hunt for solutions. They do have their work cut out over the next few days. Live from silicon value, you are with me in the newsroom of aussie. Com. The bbc 100 william in the newsroom of aussie. Com. The bbc 100 william women challenge launches into its second day was a global radio broadcast. The challenge team are with me. Eireann is also on hand to share her experiences in tech. I have a hard time speaking up in meetings. And there is a roomful of people who wa nt to there is a roomful of people who want to have their say about gender in the boardroom. Will this conversation give our teams extra inspiration and guidance . Is it true that 40 inspiration and guidance . Is it true that a0 years ago, almost, in 1978 yup that a0 years ago, almost, in 1978 yup coined the term the Glass Ceiling . I am embarrassed to say that was our long ago. Time to get an update from the tarlee and roya. They had been listening in and had some ideas. I can see a lot of code going on. What are you doing . There isa going on. What are you doing . There is a lot of emotional labour involved for someone who does not fit the dominant culture of Silicon Valley. We think it is important to share the work across allies, management, meeting facilitators to change meeting culture to be more inclusive. Could i thank our experts here. Radio programme comes to an end. I will return with a solution on friday. And that is just a quarter days away. It is time to check on another member of the team. Hours the project going . The challenge invent a prototype . Good so far. We have tapped into a few former students of my boot camp to come and help. A few Data Scientists, a couple of programmers and hopefully a designer. Can you rely on them . Will they deliver something . Hopefully. Roya wants to catch up with one of the key guests after the show. Marilyn is a gender work place specialist and invented the term Glass Ceiling back in 1978. Roya wants her opinion on one of her ideas. As part of our Concept Development we thought about having a secret Sisterhood Society for women where, that they could send each other messages and be part of his women network. When i was a young woman in business, i was isolated from other women. Networking became important. When you are working in a hostile environment where women gather it is seen as an act of rebellion, you need the anonymity to share ideas and share experiences but to know you will not be analysed for it. I think that some sort of an Anonymous Network or an off line network would be useful. With marilyns confirmation that she is heading in the right direction, roya and the rest of the team wrap things up before they make their way back to base. Meanwhile, i had to San Francisco to get the more insights into how gender affects your workplace experience. Theoretical neuroscientist vivian underwent a gender reassignment operation ten yea rs gender reassignment operation ten years ago. Not many women spent the first half of their lives as a man. Not many women grew up without people telling them they couldnt do maths. Did you notice the difference when you came into the workplace as a woman . I showed up at work and eve ryo ne a woman . I showed up at work and everyone was amazingly embracing and they were so kind and i thought wow, all of those stories you heard, they are wrong. This can be a wonderful experience. But i then almost immediately notice that no one asked me maths questions any more. People that actually knew me beforehand, in some ways it was like the ultimate acknowledgement that i was a woman in the workplace but it was so stark and shocking. What did you do in that situation . I will go into the details of the paper i published on the specific subject that they are talking to me about. I will take them on a tour of the algorithms i invented. When people doubt my technical skill, the single best thing i can do is make them realise how foolish there. Vivian has the confidence to stand up for herself in difficult situations. But back at the playground, work is well to help women in male dominated industries who cannot get their voices heard. Roya has drafted in some volunteers. Camille is a mechanical engineer who will help with hardware. Her claim to fame is that she once to barack obama when he came to speak at her college. He made a visit to our school and i was selected as one of the engineering students to introducing. When he got on stage he made a point to speak about my position as a woman in science. Also new to the team isjulie, and industrially industrial designer. And betsy, who had flown in from new york. Shu runs a Company Creating wea ra ble york. Shu runs a Company CreatingWearable Technology for dogs. Roya has chosen her recruits carefully. She has decided that one of her prototypes will be a pair of wea ra ble prototypes will be a pair of Wearable Technology allowing the wearer to receive positive messages from other women. We tend to stay away from these sort of things. She has a plan for a separate piece of work as well. Eyecatching art aimed at men. We were talking about how men need to be educated as well. We thought that we would have some sort of physical installation, experiential thing. With an abundance of ideas the physical objects to make, it is time for her tea m objects to make, it is time for her team to hit the shops. An gonna check amazon prime now. team to hit the shops. An gonna check amazon prime now. I found the resistors. Whoohoo christmas has come early this makes a great sound. That would be exciting. Natalya and rummans new recruits have also arrived. Skip and dwight will come in useful because the women have decided that their Tech Solution to address gender dynamics in meetings should be an app and they reckon they can make one in three days. There we go. Is their feedback about their emotional state . Feedback about their emotional state . Like an emerging . Are we providing that . Like soliciting . It is getting towards the end of two and royas team has decided that the wea ra ble and royas team has decided that the wearable tech should take the form ofa wearable tech should take the form of a piece ofjewellery. These wea ra ble of a piece ofjewellery. These wearable prototypes. And i have a look at them . I wont break anything . No. Now you will not. , ladies. You can see we tried to make this model and the prototype, what we wa nted this model and the prototype, what we wanted to talk about, how these wea ra ble we wanted to talk about, how these wearable s track womens biological responses. A pendant as this could howells the equipment. Is exciting to see this. This isjust the first point. Year will continue to evolve and develop. Check back in with us. Well done. Rumman and natalyas team also had a good day with their app so they decided to call it a night. The intensive coding session will begin tomorrow. We have reached the Halfway Point of the challenge week. Rumman and natalyas sub team is attempting to build an app to assist with meeting dynamics. They only have two days left to get ready for fridays reveal. We are building a react app. React native is an open source tool put out by facebook that lets us right code injava script which is the language of web development, and compile that into iphone and android apps. What is open source . It means that the code is available to anyone who wants to use it. At the meetings app will use it. At the meetings app will use Voice Recognition technology to track who is speaking in meetings and will be able to produce in depth feedback on meeting dynamics. What is this . That is a Natural Processing tool that can do interesting things with words. People can figure out the emotion behind your words, positivity, people can figure out the emotion behind yourwords, positivity, it can tell how the times you refer to yourself. Percentage of time spoken, cognitive words versus emotional. These rule possibilities for what the app can do . We do not have a good name for it yet. A name. I can help you with a. We will use the bbcs help you with a. We will use the bbcs website and social media to ask the audience to help rumman and natalya to come up with a name for their app. De need anything . Ok. Meanwhile, roya is going shopping again but she is leaving leaving her team behind. It is human sized, the height. So if we glue this together. When it gets really loud i dont wa nt when it gets really loud i dont want to add my voice to the cacophony. I back off when things get clustered. And roya is back from the shops. Hello how is it going. Good some of the bbcs foreign bureaux have helped her crowd saw stories of workplace sexism from all around the world, or her art installation aimed at men. And now she wants more help is to home from lori. We get all these responses from around the world and we would like to record it in a womans voice and also a mans voice. And i was wondering if you had the research that you mentioned about perception and how. Yes, ed king is studying in linguistics at stanford and he studied when the exact same word is said bya mans studied when the exact same word is said by a mans voice authored by a womans voice, it changes the perception of the word and its associations. It would be great to have, like, a research from a man, you know, that works perfectly, with the whole installation. It is called me too, so we want all of the man to get on board and say, you know what . Me too. When roya name the installation she could never have imagined that two weeks later me too would become a globally recognised hashtag in the campaign against sexual harassment. Lori has offered to pick the stories that will be recorded to the art installation and she is