Posted by I was thrilled on Friday, when the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI) celebrated me as they were celebrating National Women in Science and Engineering Day (Friday 17th January, 2025), a day which honours the achievements of women and allies in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
This is a day promoted by Women in Science and Engineering (WISE). The WISE initiative began in 1984 to encourage more young women into STEM. They have a campaign goal for women to make up 30% of core-stem roles by 2030.
As a tutor on the WI Learning Hub, the WI asked me to share my experiences, my thoughts on gender parity and encouraging more women and girls into STEM fields.
I thought about it for a while and then as is my way I wrote a blogpost about what I thought: Women in society, women in STEM, which I summarised for the WI to reproduce in the tile below:
I stand by this.
I myself, would never have chosen to study computing or engineering or AI, it never even occurred to me that I could. And, even then, IT is just something I did, lonely in technology-land and lecturing in universities (mainly to men and boys), with women elsewhere which is why I joined Gothic Valley WI (GVWI), to make female friends.
It was only when ChatGPT began hitting the news that I thought:
I can talk about AI and IT from a women’s perspective as a female computer scientist, explaining how it actually works in a way that other women will enjoy.
Dr Ruth Stalker-Firth
So I did!
I began with my GVWI in 2023. They cheered me on and and supported me as I began giving talks on the WI Learning Hub, which has since led to other speaking opportunities, and whilst I have always been grateful to work in IT, now I am overjoyed that I can take it outside of IT, outside of academia and share what I know.
I love the WI Learning Hub and will continue talking on there for as long as they’ll have me. The WI is made up of so many women who work tirelessly to improve society and who need to know what AI can and can’t do so that AI is another tool in the WI arsenal to help bring about change for the good.
As the WI celebrated me and shared my latest courses on the WI Learning Hub, I felt really appreciated and couldn’t help but think if we had more women at the technology table, wouldn’t the world of IT just feel a little bit warmer?
And so to that end, I will keep demystifying AI (a term a friend of mine came up with as she came along to support me) as my way of helping women learn more about AI, separate the fact from the fiction, and think about whether a career in tech would be for them.
Whilst, my talks on the WI Learning Hub are aimed at the members of the WI, anyone can sign up on using the links below.
Click through to find out more:
My latest talks. Book now:
Ghosts of AI: 12th February 2025 @ 6pm
Bacon on ice cream: 5th March 2025 @ 7:30pm
And, I might just see you there!
Alternatively, if your organisation would like me to come demystify AI, or recount the female stories about the female role models who invented the field of computing, then please contact me via my talks page, and if the talk you want isn’t on there, don’t worry, I have plenty more to choose from.
Images © NFWI
