Analytics: It’s a Woman’s World

I’ve spent my entire career in technology. I’ve often been one of only a few women--often, the only woman--at a table of men. Recently, I returned to my alma mater to speak about careers in Data Science. I was escorted to the very classroom where I met one of my lifelong girlfriends, now a teacher in the program from which we graduated. We got a laugh as she took the same seat she always did when we were students. Laura and I were a stark minority back then – six women in a graduating class of about 60.

I’ve spent my entire career in technology. I’ve often been one of only a few women--often, the only woman--at a table of men. Recently, I returned to my alma mater to speak about careers in Data Science. I was escorted to the very classroom where I met one of my lifelong girlfriends, now a teacher in the program from which we graduated. We got a laugh as she took the same seat she always did when we were students. Laura and I were a stark minority back then – six women in a graduating class of about 60.

The classroom may have been the same, but the audience was different. It was an even mix of men and women, all interested in Data Science and careers in Analytics. In fact, this particular master’s program had a majority of women in its first year, and next year’s applicants are split 50-50.

Analytics gurvi (that’s a female guru) Meta S. Brown noted in Forbes in March 2017 that, according to government data, nearly half of all analytics professionals are women.  “A woman in analytics is as common as a man in analytics. You can’t say that of engineering or physics, and you certainly can’t say that about computer science, the one major STEM area that has actually shown a long-term decline in female participation,” she wrote.

We own analytics, but it’s not always seen that way. Just look at the speakers on the stage and the top of the career ladder in analytics. The talent pipeline leaks—women are challenged every step of the way, particularly in continuing a career arc after time away to raise children—and the role of data scientist can lean heavily toward the still-male-dominated preserves of database and coding skills. We need a supportive network of like-minded women to help us consolidate our gains and make the most of our opportunities.

That’s why the SAS-led Women in Analytics initiative is so timely. We are at an inflection point for women in STEM industries in general, and our success in analytics in particular can be a standard-bearer for the movement. We need to give voice to this success. With women occupying only 23 percent of the STEM full-time workforce, according to Statistics Canada, and earning about 30 percent less than their male counterparts, we need STEM leadership, and role models, now as much as ever.

The drain on female participation in STEM begins in the early high school years, where girls begin to demonstrate less interest than boys in science and math. It’s a common myth that because they’re wired differently, girls have less mathematical aptitude. As reported in the September 2017 TD Economics report “Women and STEM: Bridging the Divide,” 15-year-old Canadian girls routinely outperform American boys on Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics tests administered across the OECD. Scores for girls in other developed countries mirror this; those of Singaporean girls are comparatively off the charts. It’s not aptitude that’s keeping girls out of STEM, it’s attitude. We have to erase the notion of men’s work and women’s work at the source of the pipeline by offering girls strong role models and exposure to learning opportunities in a context that encourages STEM excellence instead of discouraging it.

Analytics is a great gateway to STEM for girls for many of the same reasons women are comparatively well-represented in the discipline. It appeals to female wiring. Analytics is concerned with the solution to a contextual problem more than the mechanics of solving it. It’s horizontal in nature, creating opportunities for breadth of engagement, learning and influence. And it leans on soft skills and the disposition to connect people, processes and technologies. It’s a women’s world.

The need for strong role models doesn’t end with graduation. Networking and mentorship play huge roles in the career development of women.

There is a substantial body of research into the science and psychology of mentorship. It’s fascinating, and worth delving into in more detail some other time. Mentorship is largely about maturity—the maturity to recognize other women as allies and protégés rather than the competitors we are early in our careers. Mentors help us negotiate the various (sometimes awkward) phases of our careers through the wisdom of their experience.

Having a network of other like-minded women is another important support through our careers. Sharing problems means sharing solutions; the connection to your next career opportunity may be a handshake away. And a network allows you to take off the game face for a while and commiserate over fate’s vagaries or celebrate achievements.

In the mathematics of community, networking and mentorship are constants, not variables. And community is what we are hoping to build with the Women in Analytics program—a space in which we can teach and learn, explore and illustrate the breadth of scope of analytics in business, where we can each have a share of a powerful, collective voice on the direction of the industry. And, perhaps most of all, WIA can serve as a beacon to girls and women looking to move beyond the stereotypes and contribute in ways only they can.

SAS is a natural for a leadership role for WIA, and not just because of the software. The company has fostered a culture of nurturing talent and accommodating the demands of family life, from on-campus day care and schooling at our Cary, N.C., campus, to progressive work-from-home and family leave policies across the organization. But we can only provide a stage; the voice must be yours. To find out how to become involved, join the network by visiting our WIA portal at www.sas.com/ca/womeninanalytics. Together, we can create a resource that provides inspiration and practical learning, a springboard to opportunity, a forum for that voice.

Analytics is a growth industry. It’s the place to be for an exhilarating, high-profile, well-compensated career, a cornerstone of our economic future from government policy development to targeted product marketing. Thanks to fortunate circumstance, it’s also a field that plays to our strengths as women.

Canada has landed smack in the centre of the world map when it comes to analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. There’s a spotlight on developments coming out of our field in Toronto and Montreal, Ottawa and KW, Alberta and B.C. The WIA community offers an opportunity to share that spotlight.

Or hog it, if we want to. After all, it’s a woman’s world.

To join the network, visit www.sas.com/ca/womeninanalytics

About the author:

Amanda is a technology, fraud and operations leader with over 15 years’ experience in payments and 25-plus years’ experience in financial services. Amanda is focused on finding solutions to customers’ fraud, waste, loss and abuse problems. She is passionate about data and analytics and the role they play in reducing financial crimes and creating better public outcomes in Canada. Amanda works to bring business and technology together in partnership.