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According to head of LumenLab’s Innovation Management Office, flexibility plays a key role in advancing gender equality in tech

While the challenges facing women in tech differ across the region, in a conversation with Dr. Lee Ng about women in the Asian scene , e27 learned there are similar challenges that can be seen in various places.

“People have different expectation of how a man and a woman should behave … There are certain behaviours in a leadership position, that when conducted by men, will be more acceptable. Then there is also the problem with fewer women entering the industry,” she began.

Surprisingly, Dr. Lee mentioned that when it comes to equal representation, China actually does a better job than Silicon Valley where even in giants such as Google, women only make up 30 per cent of its workforce.

“The one place with the best gender representation is actually China! There are a lot more women in tech, as well as in leadership position … When compared with Korea and Japan, Southeast Asian [country such as] Singapore is actually much better as there are more women in the workforce,” she explained.

Dr. Lee knows what she is talking about; she has experienced both the Asian and US market.

She spent 30 years in the US, with 20 years of them in Silicon Valley. Her latest role in the tech hub was as Director of Venture Technology at Siemens, where she worked with venture capitalists and innovators to identify and fund innovative technologies through partnerships and joint technology developments.

Now she has returned to Asia to lead LumenLab‘s Innovation Management Office to leverage past experience in marketing, research and development, manufacturing, business development, consulting, and venture capital, to launch disruptive new businesses for MetLife.

Also Read: 1-in-5 of 2016’s new tech billionaires are Chinese women

Back to school

While talking about the factors that impact a woman’s participation in the tech industry, Dr. Lee started with the most pressing question: Why are women not going to science and tech at the younger age?

“I think the bigger problem is that a lot of women do not choose to major in science and engineering for various reasons … [Some didn’t choose it] because it is not sexy; it is not cool to be nerdy. The other factor is that there is a lack of role models,” she explained.

She also added that this is a general problem faced by both men and women (though it is more prevalent among women).

Then there is also a problem with Asian educational ideals.

“Children, teenagers are being asked to pick their specialisation at a very young age in Asia, far younger than in the US. For example, [in Singapore] by Sec-2, you are asked to pick your O-Level subjects, and if you don’t pick physics or math, you limit your options when you go into A-Level,” she explained.

“Now let’s think about [being a] Sec-2 or a fourteen-year-old. You tend to want to study things when you have friends studying it. It becomes a systemic [problem] where people have to make decisions very early, and it’s really hard to switch major,” she added.

Now here comes the next great question: Do we still need affirmative action?

“Encouragement is probably more important … Rather than calling it ‘affirmative action’, I think having a role model and exposure is more important. The problem is that when you are fourteen, you just don’t know what career [options] are open for people in science and engineering,” she answered.

Also Read: Ollie to women in tech: Growth starts with the decision to try

A mother’s advice

We also talked about Sheryl Sandberg’s phenomenal book Lean In, which she had read and can take some valuable advices from it.

“Sometimes you need to take opportunities as they come, instead of just projecting how it’s going to affect your family life … People project a lot of fear into ‘work-life balance’ when in reality, both men and women will figure out [how to deal with it] when the time comes,” she said.

Dr. Lee ended our conversation with an advice for women in tech industry.

“I always told my kids that there are only two things in life that are irreversible: Having a baby, and dying. Most things like career change, they are reversible. Having that mentality will help you make better decisions, rather than thinking that your career decision [is a matter of] life and death,” she concluded.

Image Credit: LumenLab

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