Lancashire mum working in STEM striving to tackle gender inequality

Alice Ashcroft, 26, worked in a software development team for six years where she began to notice the effect of gender bias in the tech field so left her job to carry out her PhD in Gendered Language and Tech.

Offering an example of this gendered bias, Alice said: “I’m looking at when people are designing software, a man would say ‘buttons should go on the left’ and a woman would say ‘I think the buttons should go on the right’.

"A man is more likely to be listened to and it’s not men or women’s fault that this happens. But there’s no point in having everyone in the no room if not everyone is listened to.”

Alice is a PhD student, researcher and Instagram micro-influencer (Image: Alice Ashcroft)

After taking a year on maternity leave, the Lancaster University graduate started posting more about the challenges of parenting and working on her lifestyle Instagram account.

She said: "I was blown away by how many other parents were going through the same thing.

"My research focuses on women in technology so I knew the stats, but hearing parent’s actual experiences was just something else. I found that there was a real community of people out there who were all struggling to juggle their responsibilities, and who were happy to share advice and support each other.”

Speaking on the prejudices she would face working in an industry where women are underrepresented, Alice said: “When I’ve worked with external stakeholders and other people in the industry, the way women were being treated was different to the way men were being treated so the problem wasn’t internal for me, but it’s the way we were being perceived by others on the outside sometimes.

“You meet women who are going through the exact same thing. Historically, there has only been one seat at the table for women and women have had to fight each other for it and it’s been quite a hostile environment because we’ve all been pitted against each other.

“Whereas now, we’re saying, ‘actually we need more than one seat at the table’. We don’t just want one woman there, we need women of colour, and women from different socioeconomic backgrounds to take these seats up as well so the community for the most part is absolutely incredible.”

Alice is passionate about using tech to create positive social change and hopes to inspire young girls and women to do the same.

Alice has just established the Women In Lancaster Digital (WILD) network for those in digital and tech roles where women can collaborate, build a community and get information, through training sessions, workshops and talks.

Speaking on how to address inequality in tech and encourage young girls and women into STEM, Alice also noted research she and three other women, Kelly Widdicks, Emily Winter, and Lynne Blair, collaborated on a few years ago.

Alice said: “We found that women and girls are more likely to engage in computer science subjects in schools if they had real world application and application to the social good.

“So a really important part of this is making sure it’s part of the syllabus and curriculum and making sure that it’s not just coding for the sake of coding but a project that’s contributing towards social good, for example; saving the planet because you’re looking at sustainability, or transporting food to areas where food isn’t growing.

“That’s what I’m really passionate about, so I’m hoping with this WILD network, we can have women go into local schools and talk about these kinds of projects and help these young girls and women who are hoping to enter the field feel like they’re being supported and feel like they’re contributing to something good as well.”

Alice’s WILD Network event, located at Fraser House Hub on South Road, is taking place from 10.30am to 12pm on Thursday, April 27. You can claim your free tickets and find out more here.

You can follow Alice's Instagram here.