What makes women hold back when it comes to not just starting out in STEM roles, but sticking with them? What do women need to know when entering a career in technology? How can women learn to support each other and being each other advocates vs. the opposite? These are just some of the things that we addressed in this month’s Women in Technology Leadership Live Recording.

We welcomed Dr. Dawn Owners, Director of the BS ITS Program at the Jindal School of Management at University of Texas - Dallas, and we had a completely candid conversation about the landscape of women in technology, and what can be done to help bring more women in, support them, and guide them to leadership roles.

There was a lot of discussion about what makes women different, which was so refreshing, considering we may feel like we’re going on this career journey alone. Plus this is a great listen for men because it can help to understand the differences, and if you see a rockstar woman on your team, what you can do to support her career.

1:35 - Dr. Owens shares her journey from tech into teaching
3:10 - Why she stayed in a role for over 13 years, the keys to the job that kept her engaged and going
5:20 - How she finally got the courage to start applying for new jobs and getting outside of her comfort zone
7:25 - How have the students change since when she first started teaching until now
8:10 - Dr. Owens advice for kids who are thinking about college early on in high school
8:50 - How do we get over the barrier of the myth that IT just means programming (because programming is what can detour women from joining technology roles)
11:50 - Now that we’re getting more women into technical programs, but how do we now avoid the drop-off in technology roles
13:10 - One of the biggest reasons why women stay out of engineering
15:30 - What advice would Dr. Owens give to a student who is getting encouraged to take on roles that they’re great at, but maybe not something that they want to do
15:50 - Why women make better leaders in STEM roles
17:25 - What would Dr. Owens recommend to people are more like introverts but want to move into a leadership role
19:10 - The discussion of women not having each other’s back - and how we are our own worst enemy, and how do we begin to change that?
22:30 - Has social media made women helping other women better or has it made it worse?
23:55 - What we can do to be the solution vs. add to the problem
26:45 - What are some other routes that women can take in technology that fit a more extroverted personality
28:35 - Should women approach roles to fit into a man’s world vs. understanding women’s needs and working toward fulfilling those. And yes, in this conversation we talk balance
33:05 - Was there ever a challenge when trying to find a balance in work/life?
36:10 - How do we get more women to step into leadership roles within technology
38:55 - Confidence and knowing where you want to go is great, but what happens if you’re not quite sure where exactly you want to go?
40:35 - What are the differences in the generations in how they see gender or is it still similar?
43:10 - Is awareness fragility, and how should this be addressed in technical roles