Women's History Month - Mythbusters #3

Hello all,

This week I'm sharing 2 wonderful compilations of women achieving in technology spaces.
The first is from the University of Kentucky WIT: UK The Unconventional Paths of Women in Tech and the full panel discussion recording is also online: UK Women in Tech: How did I get here? Panel Discussion.
The second is from the European Space Agency: Celebrating International Day of Women in Science.

SUNY Mythbusters for this week:

Myth #1: Women are not interested in or passionate about technology

"While I wish we had a much higher percentage of WIT, we have over 8%, several of which have children. Not only are they passionate about technology, they are committed and make themselves available after hours to help support our customers for production down situations. One woman heads up our networking team and does an outstanding job. Another woman has been a strong advocate and leader in the Oracle User Group for many years."
- Mike Notarius, CIO, ITEC

Myth #2: Tech careers are only for individuals with strong mathematical or technical skills

"My educational background was not in STEM, however throughout my career I’ve held roles that rely on leveraging technology. While at Xerox Corporation as a Business Analyst I used Access and other MS tools to create reports for work processes, tracking, and decision making. Being curious and open to learning from others, I gained confidence in creating queries and was able to assist in various projects and data gathering activities. There are so many ways to continuously learn throughout a career that can lead to new and exciting opportunities to use technology in any field."
- Dana Laird, Head of Technical Services, SUNY Brockport

Myth #3: Tech is a male-dominated field and not welcoming to women

"In my experience, if you have the skills needed to perform a job, you are welcome."
- Bill Grau, Executive Director, SICAS Center

"I've often been the only woman-identifying person in a technology-related group or meeting. I have regularly run into the brick wall of being passed over in conversation or given a curious look when I walked into the room. And at the same time, I have always been welcomed by other male-identifying people in those groups and have had those inclusive folks make sure that the rest got the message...we aren't standing for that kind of exclusion here in SUNY. Whether the attempted dismissals have come from administrators or from vendor partners, my SUNY colleagues have always had my back."
- Holly Heller-Ross, Librarian and former CIO, SUNY Plattsburgh

Myth #4: Women cannot balance family and personal life with a career in tech

"I hate this myth for every career. This reminds me of a time when my children were young and it was my day to stay home with them during school break. Someone said, 'oh, you are babysitting your kids.' My response was, 'no, I am their dad and today is my day. I don't babysit my own children.' It is both parents' responsibility to balance career and personal life and it is a challenge that one accepts when deciding to become a parent."
- Bill Grau, Executive Director, SICAS Center

Thanks to everyone who's contributed thus far, please keep sending in your stories!
And male-identifying allies...we want your stories too! How have you seen women busting these myths? How have you helped women bust these myths?

These are the myths we are busting in 2025:

• Myth #1: Women are not interested in or passionate about technology
• Myth #2: Tech careers are only for individuals with strong mathematical or technical skills
• Myth #3: Tech is a male-dominated field and not welcoming to women
• Myth #4: Women cannot balance family and personal life with a career in tech

You can still email your stories to me or submit them to this online Google form.

All the best,
Holly