There is a mum I know who is an engineer; she told me that she actively discouraged her daughter from studying science despite how much she loved it, because her personal experience had been so difficult.
Jill Tang, 2022 WE Empower Finalist, Asia-Pacific
In a field where women are the minority, Jill Tang wanted to draw that gender gap to a close and shine a light on the inequalities that women face within the industry. Tang co-founded LadiesWhoTech and has since massively grown the company to over 70,000 peoples’ communities. The company’s four pillars stand to promote women in STEM to the community, provide women’s digital empowerment, provide career development, and create a community network. The forefront of Ladies Who Tech is a mission supporting the Sustainable Development Goals including UN SDG 4: Quality Education, UN SDG 5: Gender Equality, and UN SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Quality Education
Tang found that for STEM education, while there was a surplus amount of information available, there was no centralized or systematic way to access direct learning or to find job opportunities following. The app for Ladies Who Tech was created to provide that clear path and expand accessibility for STEM learning opportunities. These efforts have established connections with education and jobs for more than 100,000 women so far. This demonstrates how Ladies Who Tech develops SDG 4 by utilizing the pillar regarding “digital empowerment”.
Gender Equality
The primary initiative of Ladies Who Tech is to draw the gender gap to a close by aligning company work and policies to support women in business. This alignment includes but is not limited to; training programs, mentorship or sponsorship, purchasing from and promoting women-owned businesses, and engaging with women and male ally leaders to promote change and provide encouragement.
Sustainable Cities and Communities
The initiatives towards sustainability and equality from the social enterprise of Ladies Who Tech, in turn creates opportunities for the community to establish better policies and programs to close the gender gap. Jill Tang consistently seeks to promote diversity and inclusion, and to aid the fight against workplace burnout and competition. All of these efforts contribute to building more sustainable workplaces, making safe environments for women to pursue careers in STEM.
Remember that things might not work out as planned, so accept it. Fail Faster and move on
The WE Empower UN SDG Challenge is a first-of-its-kind global competition for women entrepreneurs who are pushing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and leading innovation in sustainability and climate change through their businesses. This Contributing Series highlights finalists of the Challenge whose work demonstrates how business models and social entrepreneurship can drive global impact.
by Samantha Studstill