Women In Data & ‘The Female Lead’

Letitia Oglesby
November, 2017

Last week, I was particularly inspired by one of the talks at the Big Data London show. The Female Lead, a non-profit project, was founded by data science entrepreneur and one half of Dunnhumby, Edwina Dunn. The project aims to inspire more confidence in women from all walks of life and backgrounds, and to provide positive role models for future generations.
Something that really stuck with me, was the point that all young boys can name their heroes (football players, film stars and so on), but women often still name their mums as their heroes. No doubt all mothers are heroes, but I agree that we should certainly have other broader inspirations. Something that I have sadly seen first-hand with so many female friends and candidates, is this ‘imposter syndrome’ (lacking the self-belief that you can really influence something).

I strongly believe that the reason inequality still exists is because women themselves don’t have the confidence and self-belief to push themselves, not because of institutional discrimination.

The Female Lead encourages us to aspire to other women and ourselves as role models. So, they have partnered with Women in Data 2017, to celebrate women on the 30th November. They will be producing a long list of women who have been hugely influential in the Data space, and there will also be an opportunity later on for people to vote for their top woman. More details of this will follow, when we know more.

In the mean time, please have a look at their websites, as I hope that you will be inspired too. I also really recommend Edwina Dunn’s book (The Female Lead) of 60 inspirational women and their stories.

-Liz Norman

https://www.thefemalelead.com/

http://womenindata.co.uk/

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