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Artificial Intelligence Conference

O’Reilly + Intel AI (NYC)

Better Together Diversity Networking Lunch

17-Apr-2019

RESHAMA SHAIKH @reshamas

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@wimlds

Building a welcoming and supportive community for women

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THE MISSION

  • To support and promote women and gender minorities in machine learning & data science [& artificial intelligence]
  • Membership inclusive to any person / gender who supports our cause

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About Me: RESHAMA SHAIKH

  • Statistician / Data Scientist
  • Organizer for New York WiMLDS chapter for past 4+ years
  • Board Member
    • WiMLDS
    • Big Apple Py (annual PyGotham Conference)
  • Teach Git workshops in NYC --> advance open source

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

To O’Reilly for their support of WiMLDS over the past 4 years

For their commitment to diversity

  • Community outreach to connect to women
  • Offering scholarships and travel stipends
  • Forefront of Code of Conduct implementation
  • Support of inclusion-focused nonprofits
  • Organizing a regular diversity luncheon

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ABOUT WiMLDS

  • Founded December 2013
  • 63 chapters in 27 countries
  • 29 000+ members
  • Board: 4 members (US)
  • 130+ organizers world-wide contribute to our community
    • Includes sponsors and our members
    • Includes our supporters on social media
  • ISC: involve organizers outside of US * in-progress *

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WHAT WE DO

  • Speaker events that feature women
  • Panel discussions require 50% women speakers
  • Events
    • Workshops: Python, R, TensorFlow, Probability
    • Open source sprints
    • Career Workshops
    • Code & Coffee
    • Hackathons
  • Job Board on our website

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OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE

  • Participation rates by women in open source are quite low (11%)
  • Even lower for Python (2%)
  • Lower still for the scikit-learn(a) library (0 to 1%)

(a) scikit-learn is the machine learning library for Python

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Scikit-learn Open Source Sprints

  • All day Saturday event to work on “issues” on GitHub library
  • Events in NYC:
    • March 2017
    • September 2018
  • Expanding for 2019:
    • NYC: August
    • Nairobi, Kenya: June
    • San Francisco: November
  • We are looking for sponsors!

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WHAT CAN BE DONE

  • If you hire or interview, consider that less women apply for positions, rewrite your job descriptions
  • If you manage, knowing women ask less often for raises and promotions, be an advocate for them
    • At my last job, a co-worker advocated for a pay adjustment
  • Let women speak
    • Amplify their voices at meeting

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WHAT CAN BE DONE… more

  • Awareness of “manels”
    • Do not agree to be on a “manel”
  • Be aware
    • When men go out for a drink or play golf with other work colleagues, it is a disadvantage for women
  • Mentor and sponsor those from URGs
  • Code of Conduct, “walk the talk”
    • Create a space that is safe and welcoming for all

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WHAT CAN BE DONE… more… more

  • Have the difficult conversations
    • Give feedback
    • Receive feedback
  • Crucial Conversations is a great book!

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WHAT CAN BE DONE… data

  • Surveys
    • Please complete them → indicate gender. There’s a saying “we cannot understand what we cannot measure.” If we are not keeping statistics, then it is hard to implement and measure change

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FINAL THOUGHTS

  • Don’t be afraid to ask, we all are figuring it out, including ourselves
    • “Women & non-binary” ---> “women & gender minority”
    • Code of Conduct implemented < 2 years ago
    • Example: Riyadh chapter
  • Pie will get bigger

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CALL FOR ACTION

  • Sponsorship
  • Jobs can be posted on our Job Board
  • Follow us on social media
  • If your city doesn’t have a WiMLDS chapter, can begin one!
  • A Code of Conduct creates an inclusive and welcoming environment with accountability

We’re happy to answer any questions.

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More Information

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Connect with WiMLDS

Twitter: @wimlds

Website: wimlds.org

Email: info@wimlds.org

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Connect with me

Twitter: @reshamas

Website: https://reshamas.github.io

Email: reshama@wimlds.org