Conference: Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech: A Meeting Series to Develop a Systemic Action Plan

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The National Academy of Sciences will organize a three-meeting workshop series for tech industry, academia, non-profit organizations, and goverment to come together and engage in a sustained dialogue to inform and catalyze systemic action to support current and future women of color in tech. Broadening participation in technology is a national imperative, not only because it is a matter of societal equity and beneficial to innovation, but also because of critical labor market needs. Women of color are underrepresented in tech education, and careers and many years of research has documented that women who identify as African American, Black, Hispanic, Latina, American Indian, Asian American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or of other Pacific Islander face a range of structural and social barriers in tech education and careers. The meeting series will culminate in the development of a systemic action map, co-designed by the participants, that will guide a dynamic systems-change strategy. This three-meeting series will bring together a range of stakeholders across academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations in tech to work together to develop a systemic action map, which will serve as a resource to the broader tech ecosystem in supporting efforts at intersectional gender equity in support of women of color in tech. This meeting series is distinctive in its focus on the creation of a community-built resource to guide a systemic approach that is specific to women of color in tech. The effort is guided by the 2022 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study report Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech. The map will serve as a resource that will visually show where there are opportunities for disruption in the system that can serve as levers for change, as well as identify inhibiting feedback loops that consistently undermine policies, practices, and efforts that seek to support greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in tech but fail to do so meaningfully. At the culmination of the three-meeting series, the systemic action map, and associated report that explains the map and the process for its creation, will be made available as a public resource. The map will guide the development of an implementation plan. This effort will ultimately reveal ways in which stakeholders across tech can work together, or separately, as appropriate, to advance action with the key insights that emerged from the mapping process. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.