Making a Difference
I was sad to learn of the recent passing of Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley. I came across this amazing woman when researching an article on the history of women in tech. Thank you to David Inkpen who shared a link to a BBC interview from 2015 with Stephanie Shirley! She was born Vera Stephanie Buchthal in Dortmund, Germany. She came to the UK at the age of five, as a refugee at the beginning of World War II. She later changed her name to Stephanie Brook. She worked at Dollis Hill Research Centre (where the enigma code cracking computer Collossus was built before being moved to Bletchley Park). After completing a mathematics degree at night she was promoted from working on mathematical calculators to working on electronic computers. She later worked at Computer Developments, a division of British computer manufacturer, ICL. Due to frustration with being disadvantaged due to her gender, she decided to set up her own software company, Freelance Programmers, which at its peak employed eight and a half thousand employees.
At the time of the interview back in 2015 she had given away £67 million. She commented though that more important than this was her sharing of ideas, contacts, drive and energy. She also gave the gift of co-ownership, with a quarter of the company she set up going into the hands of the employees at no cost. She donated a significant amount of money to tech as she believed she should return some wealth to the sector her wealth had come from. What a great world it would be if more of the tech industry had this philosophy!
At the time of this interview she was the major private donor for autism in the UK. Her comment about being told she needed to 'manage' her autistic son better, reminded me of the Grace Hopper quote:
"You manage things; You lead people"
And what a great leader! She said at the start of her tech business she had created 'jobs for women with children'. This changed to 'careers for women with children' and then to 'careers for women with dependents' to support women with caring responsibilities. When the equal opportunities legislation came in she opened up roles to men also, and she commented on how more diverse work environments bring the best innovation.
In my article on the history of women in tech, I asked the question where did the women go when they were pushed out of tech in the 1960s? One person I came across in my research was Steve (Stephanie) Shirley. Stephanie Shirley used the name Steve as she was taken more seriously when she used a man’s name! Although it infuriated her, she found that she got in the door by using a man’s name. She set up a highly successful software company and hired women who were no longer wanted by the tech industry. She commented that people laughed at her back then for thinking she could sell software. She saw the value of this talent that other companies ‘could not’ offer flexibility to. She offered women flexible working arrangements with the ability to work from home. Her team worked on high tech critical projects including programming the black box for the Concorde, a tech marvel of that time! In her book “Programmed Inequality”, Mar Hicks shares that women were the largest trained technical workforce of the computing industry during the second world war and through to the mid-sixties.
It is interesting to see how flexibility and remote working was possible for tech employees over sixty years ago and in today’s high tech society some are still struggling with this! Her approach was very much about empowering and giving autonomy. It was also about trusting and inclusivity. A theme that comes up with individuals and teams I work with is the wish to have an impact and to make a difference. We can take inspiration from this wonderful woman who had a vision of what was possible in tech all these years ago! She wanted her life to be a ‘life worth saving’. What a legacy she leaves!
References & Links:
o Check out the full article "Where did the women go?" here
o Steve / Stephanie Shirley’s TED talk: Why do ambitious women have flat heads?
o Stephanie Shirley’s book “Let It Go”: https://www.steveshirley.com/books/
o A tribute by Autistica: https://www.autistica.org.uk/news/a-tribute-to-our-founder-dame-stephanie-shirley-ch
o Mar Hicks author of “Programmed Inequality” speaking at Women in Tech Sweden 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMWl0qh3mI
