Redefining your role — BBC WiSTEM talk — Empowerment

Author Sura Karnawi, Art by Diala Brisly

This was a conversation with BBC Wistem network on May 19th 2021.

I’m sharing with you insights into my journey, the mindset that I cultivated that has helped me to overcome challenges and push boundaries in order to thrive in STEM career and to contribute to building an inclusive culture for women. Also it’s awareness about what can happen to other women in other sides of the world. Also to remind you that you have important role. .

I’m using Diala Brisly art she’s socially-conscious artist, she opposed the political divisions in Syria and openly expressed her point of view in works that supported the women’s hunger strike in Adra prison). She has done amazing work as you’ll see, she was featured in BBC news). We also work together now, as my startup video game combines art and technology. We produce art together.

Growing up in Iraq (War, education and art)

As a little girl I was only given fewer choices in life so I had to learn the skill of being resilient, adaptive. Although growing up I witnessed three wars, my parents tried to normalize the experience of growing up for me as a child. It was home filled with love and they encouraged me to work hard and to stay true to myself. I focused on education. I had fiery passion for drawing and creation, and building which later developed into interest in computers. I also draw to distract me from the hardship that I was going through. But I couldn’t stop asking questions why I can’t express myself?

Displacement

Following the claims of Iraq having mass destruction weapons, 2003 there was war, in July 2006 there was almost everyday a suicide bombing, kidnapping, all of that forced according to the UN four million Iraqis at that time to be displaced out of their homes, to become “refugees” in another country, which it was mostly Syria.

There was uncertainty about the future. No belonging, no status, I was one of the 4 million displaced people. I left with one small bag 2 photo albums and color set, a few clothes and I never been back since.

It was a difficult time for my family with no security, no legal status or financial stability.

Fear and traditions maintained status quo for women

Fear and tradition maintained and limited status quo for women.

Insecurity and fear and financial pressures had sharply increased the vulnerability of women and girls, and rates of practices such as child marriage, had spiked. For example, women and girls had higher rates of poverty, access to school and health care were no longer assured.

According to WHO (World health organization) : Women and girls are more vulnerable to sexual abuse in displacement and disaster situations.

I couldn’t help noticing that. One day where I would go to hair salon, I met a girl there she was 16 and she told me her husband made her work as a prostitute and she was planning to escape that day, then she asked me what other options I have? I will never forget it. I felt something inside like it was my calling to do something. I must do something.

Dreaming about a different reality

I dreamt and envisioned different reality

I had so much so much passion and love for life. I dreamt about being able to express myself freely and living fearlessly, reality was different I escaped it. I escaped reality.

What must I do about my reality?

What must I do to be my own role model?

What must I do to push boundaries?

What must I do to thrive?

I looked for a role model or someone to save me. Then started thinking about the women came before me and forged the path. What they must have done to break the status quo? They must have pushed boundaries.

I dared to ask myself the question: What must I do to be my own role model? What must I do to push boundaries? What must I do to thrive?

Once you ask question you get answers, I realized I must work in some computer capacity, I must take actions, I must be an independent woman.

With not much thinking I started looking for a job and found one with a cut on wage because of my legal status, yet I felt rewarded to being given the chance to work. Yet there was still fear of being exploited, fear of harassment because it was client facing job required interaction with customers. Sadly, the fear were real I experienced them. At times was close to give up. I thought to myself why it had to be that hard? Is it something wrong with my choice of computers? But I kept going.

But my hope, my vision for a better future, to be independent women, that I truly believe that men and women should be give equal opportunities was way bigger than any fear or discouragement I encountered along the way.

Then people around me started to shift their perspective as well and they started more to see the world through my lens, I was getting more support.

Then that I worked and achieved independence I wanted to help my community. Through connections I got an interview with UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) I started work at evenings. Which was outreaching to vulnerable families, specially victim of violence, I met hundreds of people, pushed boundaries, met with decision makers, ministers of countries like Holland, Germany, my mission was to reach-out to the biggest number possible then get their stories heard. My support network they were all involved they helped me a lot with that mission, they all backed me up they were I had so many allied. I started the program 1 of 4 then ended up being hundreds when I left.

Hope

I felt satisfied that I had a day job in a computer capacity and a second job which were I was reaching out and helping my community. I was breaking rules, making a new ones that worked me, even if that meant taking huge risks.
Then I was going to immigrate to Canada. I thought there was no need for me to fight for equality any more, everyone has equal opportunities, and I thought only will be judged for the quality of my work or my opinion and not because of any other biases.

I felt I didn’t fit in as an immigrant, as a woman in tech

Of course growing up in a patriarchal society raised my awareness of deeply rooted issues of gender inequality. Yet after living and working in Canada and UK, I realized that those issues are endemic in many sectors of western societies as well. The STEM fields and especially the technology sector is still very male-dominated, which can discourage many women from joining a career in this area for fear of not fitting in.

.. And I experienced that.

But at some point I wanted to be more into engineering (development). My education was not qualified I couldn’t get a job, I felt I needed a hands-on experience rather than more education. I went to English writing classes, I went to do 6 months internship which were I learnt so much and met incredible people, attended networking events in 6 months I had over 500 LinkedIn connections. Then I found a job through linked as a junior web developer. I was so excited. It was a great learning experience for me I worked on variety of project, but to my shock I was the only female in the team. I thought it was just Iraq then but now what? I was a minority. As an immigrant and a woman in tech I felt alone, didn’t fit into the culture.

Have you ever doubted yourself?

(* There’s so much awareness now about hiring women, it wasn’t at that time. Which is improvement)

I really doubted myself as an immigrant as a woman in tech I didn’t feel I fitted in.

I have doubted myself.

Have you ever doubted yourself?

Who makes you doubt yourself the most?

My friend she worked as a business analyst, she was brilliant and always pulled off work, but constantly she was asked the question if a project was too technical for her? She felt frustrated.

I realized it is common to doubt yourself when you try to fit in environment that is not designed to include your demographic.

Once Alexander Den Heijer, Dutch inspirational speaker, said “When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”

It’s important to admit that choosing a path that’s less travelled by your demographic is more challenging, because the environment would be most likely missing that demographic perspective.

And I believe we came a long way but STEM fields, still missing more of the female perspective. I believe the institutions must adapt not women should adapt.

(* The pandemic brought some changes already, there’s already a shift in the way we work. We must do our part as well. There’s still work to be done)

Being part of Diversity

“When holding back our perspective we hold back diversity.”

I think it’s important to recognize it’s difficult for some of us women to be alone in STEM fields. There is no doubt that there is a strong correlation between the women’s representation and the lack of female perspective in STEM fields, which results in one of the issues of data bias.

Invisible women book she talks about AI systems. How the AI systems and algorithms are created by people with their own perspective, experiences, backgrounds, blindspots which unfortunately can lead to development of fundamentally biased systems.

That’s what I experienced. Resolving this issue isn’t just about having a team that looks diverse, it’s about being able to recognize the perspectives that are missing. With half of the population being female we deserve to have the female perspective it will only get better. Your ideas, your opinions, your advancement are so much needed.

One of the biggest challenges I believe we face in STEM careers is us women finding our voice to speak up when we are a minority. There are a lot of reasons we hesitate and don’t speak up or express ourselves — the fear of being wrong, or being judged or criticized, create conflict or be judged for what we’re saying. When we as women hold back and hesitate, we hold back diversity of thought and different perspectives. We fight so hard to get a seat at the table and then the seat is not being used — it’s just being warmed up.

When we speak up we get our ideas heard, we are not holding back progress.

Also when we speak with curiosity up in a way of sharing perspective, or gaining perspective, it’s an invitation for others to get involved. And when we get others involved so many will be part of the solution like there will be male allies, we will get more support, more sponsorship.

It all start with just one action, one thing at a time it could be just speaking up.

There have been times in the past, when I’ve shared an idea and I have been told how I came up with it it’s so creative, I think I just happen to see the world differently and that’s the power diversity it improves thinking.

The more we speak up, share perspective and express our opinion the more likely people around us will see the world through our eyes.

We have an idea or an ambition, then we hit a roadblock or someone might discourage us, are we gonna stop there or are we going to keep going?

Give a chance to your burning ideas, to expressing yourself, get your brand heard, standup, speak up, thrive because your unique view is much needed. Of course there’s no certain outcome.

Being open and showing vulnerability is crucial for change, “Vulnerability is the willingness to show up and be seen, despite uncertain outcomes” ~Dr. Brene Brown

Joining the BBC

BBC is 100 year old institution, there’s hierarchy, legacy products, I felt at times really limited by myself to express ideas, “who is me to change anything that it’s so established?”. But on the other hand it offers unlimited opportunities in terms of how big it is, number of employees, access to different networks like this one and the people you meet that can open doors for you. At the upfront I learnt about One BBC, also the facilitator Jeremy talked about how you can just ask to meet anyone we want if we ask the question “can I pick up your brains?” by sending an email or just face to face. I made sure I did that!

I was a software engineer I worked with account FE, we did the authentication and authorization applications which is the gateway to personalization. It was used by products like BBC iPlayer so users could have personalized content.

Joining BBC as 3 months pregnant and I think I met about 70% of job requirements I felt I was pushing it and I doubted myself at the beginning. I felt like I didn’t know what to expect but hoped for the best. Yet I felt I was representing my whole demographic “pregnant women” so I felt responsibility, I wanted people around me to associate pregnant women with working hard. That thinking made me feel responsible with responsibility came great powers.

I made this drawing of “Spiderwoman” With great responsibilities come great powers. It’s unlike the movie of spiderman “with great powers come great responsibilities” I believed we as women shouldn’t have to choose between career growth and raising family, yes the system doesn’t make it easy to do so but I believe that shouldn’t limit us.

Joining a team that valued trust has helped me a lot in empowering me, also joining BBC WISTEM gave me so much encouragement, I felt I was not alone. Women like Rebecca Sailsbury and Blanca Garcia they encouraged me, supported me.

Although it sounded like taking a big chance at the beginning but it was absolutely worth it, I learnt so much and I felt fulfilled I contributed to number of areas. I was able to present live demos, I contributed in being a judge in coding hackathons, I was able to be an accessibility champions, and worked on the development for BBC profiles, I reached out to different teams/ members in design and engineering. For example I reached out to ask (Claire/team lead she was on the call) her whether we can integrate cbeebies video games into our applications to make creating profile experience fun and interactive.

Most importantly I met and was influenced to have very valuable conversations that impacted my decisions and the way I was thinking. Like the trust leadership style by my manager (Marc Littlemore) when I was at the BBC which really influenced me to have more confidence in how I lead and lead with trust. All of that taking a chance has paid off very well in preparing me for the next step.

Although I thought I would be staying with the BBC at least for 5 years but pandemic happened and it accelerated my plans.

Solidarity — you’re not alone

I think it’s important to remember we are not alone.

I think it is important and think about the next generation my niece (Dima) she’s in high school STEM programme. Student females are more likely to consider a career in the tech industry if there are enough female role models within the industry.

Remember the women came before us and forged the path. Katherine Johnson was a STEM pioneer and family woman who lived an amazing life with many challenges.

How about “We can do it” — This iconic phrase was first introduced during World War Two; next to the infamous image of a woman in overalls ready to work. Until this day this image has symbolized solidarity and empowerment for women. Those women did so much for us and we need to continue their footsteps. So 75 years later what exactly are we doing to help empower women to go out and ‘do it’? What must we do?

Also most important to think about and remember the women who are already here now in this journey together, we have to let each-other know we are not alone and rise each other up.

Look at Wistem it’s an amazing network of women, you can utilize it to validate ideas, feelings, to connect, feeling empowered or helping someone. Maybe you can help someone different that looks like me. I think it’s important to remember and give chance not only to women but men, allies who are really making things happen.

Besides my desire to grow in the technology industry, I have a vision that I can be part of something bigger than me. I hope to contribute towards building an inclusive culture that reflects, empowers, and utilizes different perspectives that will have an impact on what we do and what we create.

I know only 10% of startup succeeds and there’s no certainty about the future but I feel satisfied that I have taken this path.

I thought I had to choose to be either an artist, or a software engineer, or choosing thriving career or family. But When I questioned the limitations of a defined role that was by society, or a team or even my own limitations, I realized I don’t have to fit in in any definition. It all started by trusting myself and others more and asking the questions what must I do?

In our daily lives I believe it’s really important when we are faced with a challenge, specially the one that might limit our role or make us feel stuck to question the limitations. Asking the question what must I do? What most I do to break barriers? What most I do to thrive? Imagine what can we do collectively.

“ Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” ~ MW