Another shining example of how women can lead in 'a man's world' from Rebecca George OBE FBCS
Earlier this year, Rebecca was appointed as the new President of the British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT. In addition to acting as a Managing Partner at Deloitte, Rebecca has long been involved with the BCS, which has 65,000 members working across the IT industry.
Whilst working in the USA, Rebecca was first inspired to get involved in many diversity initiatives, including promoting the participation of women in IT. Over the last 20 years, she has continued to focus on gender diversity, and she has recently commented to GardPass Cyber that “It is vital that women and girls see themselves represented throughout the IT industry, including Cyber, because its influence on society is now as strong as any sector”.
Her ambition for equality and diversity has not stopped and she continues to support women in IT at all stages of their careers ranging from school, university, graduates, maternity leave and executive promotion and retention.
In both 2014 and 2015, Rebecca was voted the 20th ‘Most Influential Women in IT’ in Computer Weekly, as well as being identified as one of the 30 women in the 2014 BCS Women in IT Campaign.
She agreed with us at GardPass Cyber about the important role of women in IT sectors, and why it is essential that young females are encouraged to enter this industry:
“Tech leaders and their teams are increasingly looked to by policy makers when they make really big calls that affect everyday life – for example using algorithms to make decisions about us. That’s why diversity and inclusion matter and why BCS partners with inspirational groups such as Coding Black Females and focuses so many of its external events on the voices and experiences of women in the sector”.
As we look into the future, diversity and equality are essential for businesses to grow and succeed as Rebecca states that “we are grappling with big ethical and technical choices, such as AI development, that will impact our generation and those to come. To be safe and effective, the teams creating this technology need to be drawn from diverse backgrounds bringing the perspectives and experiences from a range of communities”.
For this reason, our team at GardPass Cyber are trying to challenge the stereotype of IT workers, promote diversity and shine the light on some of the most influential women in this sector.
Many thanks to Rebecca for speaking with me regarding this issue!
Look out for my series of posts!
If you would like to know more, please contact me.
Email: Emy@gardpasscyber.com
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