Change Who's Boss - If Not Your Loss...
The #DataEveryone Twitter chat, since its inception in September, has been a way to gather the opinions of experts in data science. But the platform also provides a place for us to connect in live time and brainstorm off each other’s ideas.
On June 9th, #DataEveryone focused on exposing racial bias in AI models while discussing ways to combat it. Though you may have seen talk of AI bias circulating the Internet, it is important to recognize how much Black and Brown women are negatively affected by it. Joy Buolamwini, Founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, reports that AI systems she’s vetted have only a 1 percent error when guessing the gender of lighter-skinned males. The error rate soars to 35 percent when working with the faces of darker-skinned women. We can attribute this bias in part to a severe lack of representation of Black and Brown leaders in tech spaces. Yet acknowledging the problem is not even near half the battle. In 2014, the percentage of Black and Latinx technical employees at Apple was 6%. And guess what? In 2020, it’s still 6%.
So what can we do to place Black and Brown technologists in places of real power?
Most tech experts within the #DataEveryone community believe that companies’ “Diversity & Inclusion” are not the answer.
“I’ve eliminated the phrase ‘D&I initiatives’ from my vernacular because it’s pretty meaningless as it relates to improving working conditions for Black people,” said Health Data Scientist @DataKimist. In fact, many D&I initiatives are not proactive and rather reactive. “I find that many D&I initiatives are rolled out only after a company messes up and Twitter has dragged them,” explained Data Science Blogger @daniebrant. “For some companies, it’s more about getting good PR than actually making change.”
In many cases, these initiatives formed out of disingenuous motives can be harmful to Black employees. “Folks think hiring a Chief Diversity Officer is enough and often the ‘CDO’ is the token Black person on C-Suite,” said Data Strategist @Scar_Data. “Current D&I initiatives fail to place Black leaders in roles outside of CDO positions and that pigeon-holes them.” @import_alise, Senior Analytics Engineer at Netflix, adds that “some companies don’t have a dedicated D&I leader, which forces this work into those few Black and Brown employees who are already overburdened with their own work.”
And how do we build spaces that actually feed and service Black individuals in tech?
Aside from defending their low numbers of Black employees, companies fail to create positive, nurturing environments for the employees they do have. “A lot of the times companies hire , but don’t look at what is required to keep Black and Brown employees including mentoring and creating an environment where these employees feel safe to voice their opinions and critiques,” said Health and Data Researcher @thedariaedits.
A culture that supports the growth and flourishing of Black employees was needed across the board from the get-go, but it’s encouraging to see powerful leaders in tech, such as Creator of #BlackTechTwitter and Founder of Black Tech Pipeline, @ParissAthena, fighting intensely for change: “The step I’m taking with Black Tech Pipeline is only working with companies whose priorities align with ours, and agree to consultations that will help them improve their work ‘culture.’ I make sure that they’re making the effort to create safe spaces for Black technologists.
What you think we need is probably not it…
“The worst policies are from people making decisions for what they believe a group needs,” said @thedariaedits. “Have diverse teams, not just ‘diversity of thought’, and the conversations will happen.”
@import_alise agrees: “We need more representation. When the right people are in the room, the right conversations will be had. If we leave it to non-Black individuals, then we will continue to have bias rampant in our algorithms and our workplaces.”
Though reforming education and the history people are learning will be helpful in the long-run, the immediate solution to bias is putting Black people in charge right now. As @thedariaedits says, “We all know the stakes of being a representative for our needs. We don’t take it lightly and we won’t waste that opportunity.”
Have something to add?
Join us at the next #DataEveryone chat on Tuesday, July 7th at 1pm ET.