Ada: Women in Information Technology
Translation: Julie Summers
The Student Paper recently spoke with the board of Ada, an association of women in information technology at UI that was founded three years ago. I posed some questions to the current board, which consists of Sunneva Þorsteinsdóttir (president), Júlía Sif Ólafsdóttir (vice president), Guðrún Karítas Blomsterberg (secretary), and Embla Laufey Gunnarsdóttir (treasurer). All four are in IT-related programs: computer technology, industrial engineering, and mathematics. IT encompasses a broad range of disciplines, but they all involve using technology to process information. Women working in the field have not always been very visible, and Ada was founded to tackle that problem and support women in IT. The organization creates a safe environment for women in IT and gives them a platform for networking, sharing their experiences, and supporting each other.
Photo / Torfi Þór Tryggvason
Unequal gender representation and lack of role models
Women often have a more difficult time in the IT field. The board of Ada says the lack of women in the field as well as a lack of female role models means more attention must be drawn to those women who are already in IT. Women make up a majority of the UI student body as a whole, but the proportion of women in IT programs is much smaller. Embla Laufey and Sunneva say they only realized quite late that studying math and computer science was an option for them, because there was such a critical lack of female role models. The board members all agree that having an association like Ada is important so that women have a place where they feel understood and supported. They’ve had similar experiences and understand what it’s like to be in a program where women make up a small minority of students. Guðrún Karítas says she thinks it’s important to have some sort of community for women and girls, as the vast majority of IT students are male. She says plenty of teachers are aware of the lack of women and that no one is trying to discriminate against them, but she notes that a certain atmosphere can form in these programs. Guðrún says it was strange to leave her junior college class, where the gender ratio was fairly balanced, and enter the industrial engineering program at the university, where the ratio is much more lopsided.
Room for everyone
Ada has hosted company visits, giving their members a chance to meet women working in IT and gain insight into what might be their future careers. Because there are few female instructors in IT programs and a lack of female role models in general, the women they visit at these companies become role models. The board says things are improving for women when it comes to IT and to gender equality in general, but they want to improve visibility even more and make sure girls and women know that these paths are open to them. The association has hosted presentations for children in order to educate them about IT and encourage more interest in the field, especially among girls. Given the current public health situation, Ada hasn’t held many events as of late, but they plan to host more company visits and also want to offer virtual company visits. They plan to continue developing the association next year and hope that more women will feel that they can pursue an education in IT. It will be interesting to see what the future will bring, as more and more people identify themselves as being outside the gender binary – people who also need support. Although Ada has primarily focused on women, it is also open to queer individuals.