HerTech - Enabling Greater Diversity and Inclusion

According to World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, Gender equality has suffered since the pandemic began.

The time it will take to close the gender gap grew by 36 years in just 12 months. 

PwC’s  Impact of Covid-19 on Women in Work 2021 report states that on average, women spent 7.7 more hours a week than men on unpaid childcare last year, forcing some women to quit their jobs altogether.

This “second shift”, adding upto 31.5 hours per week, equates to almost an extra full-time job.

While many of us expected the weight of Pandemic to fall differentially (see What's Cooking?), few predicted it to be so extreme. This is in spite of the fact that the economic case for greater inclusion has never been stronger, and there is an unprecedented level of discussion on the topic. It is important that we take tangible action to make progress.

I believe one such opportunity to turn talk into action is HerTech. (PS : Please click on below links for some additional ideas on how we can progress towards greater gender equity - World Economic Forum : Breaking the Gender Divide | CNBC : Why men need to be involved in closing the gender gap)

Technology is rapidly reshaping the landscape in the present Fourth Industrial Revolution. There are many opportunities for us to leverage technology as an enabler for gender parity.

Prioritising and designing “HerTech” holds a lot of promise for the future generations.

I use HerTech as a broad term here to include any technology that improves participation of women in workforce. The use cases, and potential HerTech solution(s) that may have largest impact would vary depending on the context, geography, and the broader community it is deployed in.

A few examples of HerTech could include :

1. AI to reduce human biases in the talent acquisition process.
2. Technology tools that empower women (and, men) to better balance their roles at home and work.
3. Tools such as digital identity that can help female entrepreneurs to set-up businesses efficiently without needing patriarchal approvals. Or,
4. Technology solutions to create smarter cities with better safety for women.

We should direct greater technology investments towards areas that have traditionally consumed a large part of female executive’s time outside work such as child care and elderly care. Given female executives tend to be time deficient, as they constantly balance their multiple roles at work and home, we need to develop new robotics use cases in those fields that will save female executives' time.

These are just a few examples of HerTech solutions that can go some way to promoting greater women participation in workforce. It will require deliberate action to ensure these (and, other) HerTech solutions are prioritised for funding, development and adoption. No generation before now has had access to tools that can potentially help them in all these areas.

To leverage the potential of technology to drive greater inclusion, we need to put women at the heart of the design, development and deployment of these new technologies.

This year's International Women's Day theme is #BreakTheBias. It is a useful reminder that we need to ensure that we do not carry forward the biases that exist in the present work environment into our future, more digital, more hybrid, workplace.

BreakTheBias – HerTech!

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As Chief Revenue Officer, and member of the core leadership team, I have responsibility, and oversight for sales, relationship management, strategic partnerships, commercials, and market development activities at #dltledgers globally. 

#dltledgers is a leader in delivering blockchain-based, open, collaborative, and independent software solutions for enterprises to digitise their trade, and supply chain network.

I have worked in Financial Services, Data and Technology industries for over 25 years in commercial leadership roles managing businesses from early-stage to over USD 2 Bn per annum in revenue.

I am a founding member and previous co-chair of the Male Allies initiative of The Women's Foundation and a member of the 30% Club (since 2013) promoting gender diversity on boards. I am a member of the Development Committee of Habitat for Humanity, HK, and Advisory Board member for NINEby9 - focused on achieving Gender Equity within Organizations across Asia by 2030.

I was previously a member of the Board of Governors and Executive Committee for American Chamber of Commerce HK, and ASIFMA (Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association). 

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/S_Chatrath