ALICIA ABELLA: Hello.
I'm Alicia Abella.
And I'm here today to share some thoughts I have
around Women's History Month.
Women's History Month is important to me
because it's important to share with the world,
with our communities, with ourselves
the importance of the contributions
that women have made throughout history, whether the women be
scientists and engineers, politicians, writers, doctors,
nurses.
There are so many contributions and impact
that women have had throughout history.
And it's important to be reminded of those
and to remind everyone of those contributions.
It's not often obvious when it's not often
given enough attention.
I'll give you an example.
Recently, I was in a science museum in the United States.
And I noticed that there was a wall where
there were many photographs of engineers and scientists
and a blurb about each.
And what struck me was that there was not
a single female scientist and engineer on the wall.
They were all men.
And surely, I know of many examples of women
throughout history that have made big contributions
to the scientific community.
And yet there wasn't a single one on the wall.
So it's important to have a month like this
to showcase those contributions that women
have made throughout history.
I myself am celebrating Women's History Month by participating
as much as possible in events and activities such as this,
where I have an opportunity to share my thoughts,
my advice to other women, and--
either those just starting out in their careers
or maybe even mid-career women to help
inspire them, to be a role model for them.
It's important.
It's especially important in the field
that I'm in, which is the STEM field--
Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math-- where we don't see that many women.
This year's International Women's Day theme
is Breaking the Bias.
I'd like to share a bias that I think
we can work to break both in our communities and our workplace.
And that is the bias that says that women cannot be technical.
And so this is certainly a bias that I think we still
need to work on, especially as you
look at the numbers of women that
enter into technical fields.
I myself am a computer scientist.
I got my degree at a time when women enrollment
in computer science was at its peak, which
was in the late '80s.
Women enrollment in computer science
and getting degrees in computer science at that time
was close to 40%.
As of 2021, that number was more like 18% of women
were getting degrees in computer science.
So rather than increasing the number of women in that field,
the number has been decreasing.
And I'm sure there are many reasons that can
be pointed to why that's so.
But I think there's a bias about women can't be technical or--
and so that's one that I think we need to work on because we
need women in the technology fields to help with innovation
and to bring diversity of thinking there.
I was asked to share some advice that I
would give to the next generation of women
as they begin their careers.
I have two pieces of advice.
The first is to set clear goals for yourself professionally, as
well as personally, but definitely professionally.
In setting a goal, it makes it easier
for you to realize what it is you need to do in order
to achieve that goal.
Without an end goal in mind, it's
harder to see what it is you need to do in order
to reach that goal.
So setting clear goals is important.
But they don't have to be big, lofty goals.
You can set smaller goals.
But making sure you set goals so that you could figure out
what to do to get there is important.
And then secondly, my advice would
be, as you progress through your career, to give back
and to share the experiences that you've
gained throughout your career with others,
especially women, but really anyone else
that's coming up behind you.
It's important to pay it forward.