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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

WiMLDS 2019 Q1 Report: https://reshamas.github.io/wimlds-2019-q1-report/

Code of Conduct article: https://reshamas.github.io/code-of-conduct-for-nips-and-other-stem-associations/

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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