Event Report: Reflections on Women in Tech [Unfiltered]

Digital Officer Becky McMillan and volunteers Chiara Bassini and Hyeran Lee attended a day of empowering talks at Women in Tech 2024!

Missed out on Women In Tech 2024? No worries, we've got you covered! In this series of three instalments, digital Strategy Officer Becky McMillan and volunteers Chiara Bassini and Hyeran Lee describe their main takeaways of the day. In this article, we follow digital officer Becky McMillan as she tell her experiences as someone who managed to turn her passion for the world of tech into a job, reflecting on community, vulnerability and inclusivity.

So, what can I possibly say about such an incredible event that hasn’t already been said?

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid stumbling across the many rave reviews for Women in Tech on social media, a quick summary: the festival aims to bring together women from across the tech industry to delivery boundary-breaking talks, celebrate accomplishments, and uplift one another to drive change against intersectional challenges.  Without being there, the atmosphere is difficult to describe.

I’m going to try by comparing it to the first anime convention I ever attended.

Bear with me.

Growing up I loved reading, played video games, and was obsessed with manga. As you might imagine, this did not exactly endear me in any teenage popularity contents. My status as a fully-fledged “nerd” was validated as objectively accurate upon being crowned Geek to Chique at my Sixth Form prom.

(While I’m still unsure whether to take this a compliment or insult, I remain the proud owner of a  commemorative sash).

All this to say, I never felt quite able to fully embrace my passions at school.

When I was sixteen, I had the chance to attend an anime convention in Leicester. My mum and dad, arms thoroughly twisted, agreed to drive myself and my best friend down to the University for a long weekend of panels, talks, screenings, games, and JPOP discos.

Outfitted in an anime costume hand-sewn by my talented and ever-tolerant grandma, I found myself enveloped by the enthusiasm of people who shared my interests and obsessions; who accepted and uplifted my passions instead of shutting them down; who were welcoming to a new face, and excited to pass on their knowledge about the things I loved.

The Women In Tech Festival is the closest I have come as an adult to replicating that experience.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you might know that I’m not from a tech background; for most of my working life, a key challenge has been trying to convince children to put lids back on glue sticks.

My lack of experience didn’t matter. Women in Tech welcomed women at all stages of their careers to listen and participate. Accomplished senior leaders shared the stage with those new to the field; inspirational founders followed the Lord Mayor of Manchester.

Our two student interns, still on their educational journeys, could have been made to feel irrelevant through talks made impenetrable to those without equal years of experience. Thanks to the generosity of speakers in sharing their wealth of accumulated knowledge, and their courage in transparency on challenges, both left feeling welcomed by the community and inspired to continue forging the path for women in tech.

This was in part due to the courage of the festival’s speakers. Women In Tech advertised itself as a different sort of conference, promising a raw, honest, and authentically unfiltered event. If anything, this is an understatement. Women on the stage showed incredible bravery speaking candidly on topics that we are often told – implicitly or otherwise – are too agitative, too personal, or too badly inappropriate for the professional environment.

Clare Sudbery (she/her) and Janet Coulthurst shared their experiences of going through the menopause while working, the symptoms they experienced, and the challenges they had suffered before receiving essential support. Like Chiara Bassini, I had never heard the women in my own family broach the topic of menopause, let alone as part of an event inherently focused on working life. Clare and Janet’s openness about their sometimes upsetting experiences will help a younger generation of women prepare for the inevitable change, and have the confidence to advocate for appropriate medical care, effective workplace accommodations, and an open network of support. By speaking out about their struggle, and the ways in which they were let down, Janet and Clare empower female leaders of the future to drive change. No woman should feel shamed, lost, or pushed out of her role due to lack of understanding around a ‘taboo’ that half of the world’s population will experience.

Ruth M. spoke openly about her transition journey, celebrating how embracing her authentic self had only enriched an already successful career. When there are no visible examples of achievement by people with certain backgrounds and experiences, it is easy to believe that they do not exist – that routes to success are simply not possible. Within a media landscape where high-profile celebrities can enjoy successful careers alongside hateful diatribes against transgender people, stepping into the spotlight is not easy. By showcasing her career accomplishments, with the public backing and support of her employer, Ruth proved that gender transition does not necessitate sacrificing a career.

Much has already been said about Beetroot Consulting Ltd Kanika S.' Pet to Threat talk, which gave shape to an uncomfortably recognisable phenomenon. The overwhelming response to Kanika’s talk on and off social media underlines the real scale of the challenge for racialised women in the workplace, with the disturbing familiarity of Kanika’s examples a unifying thread for discussion. The trajectory of a ‘diverse’ woman from a championed asset to vilified threat upon challenging the status quo of an organisation resonated with undeniable truth for much of the audience, either as a witness or target. As a white woman, I have not experienced the same battles as a woman who is Black or Brown. By naming and giving structure to an often amorphous phenomenon, Kanika’s talk empowers allies with the tools to identify, prevent, and challenge the progression of Pet to Threat in circumstances where it may not be safe for the target to do so. Change can only occur through recognition of the problem and purposeful action. Speaking openly about the issues enables a community of passionate people to build a future that is genuinely inclusive.

In the final session of the day, our very own Digital Strategy Lead Sherelle Fairweather joined Kanika, alongside Manchester Digital's Head of Talent Skills, Emma Grant to facilitate a collaborative workshop exploring the absence of Black women in tech. Although new to the sector, I am likely to see people who look like me in the spaces I enter; the same would not be a true of a Black woman at any stage of her career. Insights from discussions revealed an appetite to better understand the reasons behind the gap, and a desire to create change by building upon the ideas and solutions suggested.

To bring hidden systemic issues into the light demands radical vulnerability from the speakers. Conversations such as those at the Women in Tech festival cannot occur in every space.

So let’s return to anime conventions.

As a relative newbie in the tech world, I admittedly haven’t toured the full gamut of UK tech conferences – but I can’t imagine many other professional events that could bring to mind a comparable energy to a room full of zealous manga fans.

As a teenager, being surrounded by people who were fiercely proud of their passions enabled me to embrace my own. I had found a community that I felt understood me. I could talk confidently about things I considered important without mockery or judgement. In short: I could be more fully myself.

The Women In Tech conference carves out a similar space – albeit with fewer foam swords and artistically styled wigs. Women who had been told their voices are too disruptive, radical, or inconvenient, spoke candidly on the subjects that mattered deeply to them, weaving personal experience through talks with uncompromising honesty. Authenticity isn’t achieved without trust, but the community that has grown around the Manchester Tech Festival has forged an environment that enables people to be themselves, to speak openly, and to spark the difficult conversations that are necessary to affect meaningful change.

Before I begin to seem like I’m imbuing the anime convention experience with too much nobility, this is admittedly where the comparison begins to fray.

The ultimate mission of my teenage anime convention? To entertain and connect a community (and potentially financially cripple its guests through the hard-sell of adorable anthromorphic foodstuffs.)

The ultimate mission of the Women In Tech Festival? To create a future where women from all walks of life can step into leadership within a diverse, innovative, and ambitious digital scene.

Connecting the aims of an event in which I spent three days carrying around a gigantic plush riceball with one empowering its audience to drive the changes needed to create a more truly inclusive tech industry may be a demand too far as a writer.

And yet the atmosphere still puts me more in mind of the conventions that so inspired me as a teenager than the conferences I attended over the ten years spent in my former career. This isn’t an insult to education, but a compliment to the Women in Tech team; it’s not common to find any event as an adult that feels as new and exciting as one attended as a teenager. A long time ago, I left a convention with confidence bolstered by the togetherness of a united community, charged with optimism and renewed passion. Fifteen years later and the Women in Tech Festival has achieved the same thing.

You certainly can’t say that for most work events.

As part of Manchester Digital Strategy, I’m privileged to be part of a team that shares the Women in Tech Festival’s ambitious vision of creating a more inclusive culture within Manchester’s tech scene. To build a more equitable future, we must continue to lend support to events at the forefront of change.

Chiara, Hyeran, and myself are all women new to the world of tech.

All three of us left the event with eyes open to the challenges we may need to confront, but with reassurance of the guidance and support of women who have come before us. Despite the desperate need for change – and the necessity of continuing advocacy for more genuine inclusivity – the overwhelming response to the event has been one of inspiration. There is a growing community in Manchester that is united in its vision of a fair and equitable future, and hungry to see it realised.

The possibilities that lie ahead are infinitely exciting.