Ivan: 0:03

Hello and welcome again to the Bench Report, where we discuss recent debates and briefings from the benches of the UK Parliament, a new topic every episode. You're listening to Amy and Ivan.

Amy: 0:13

Today we're looking into the debate around Ada Lovelace Day. We've been through the Hansard records pulling out the uh key points about her legacy and importantly the current challenges for women in STEM fields here in the UK.

Ivan: 0:25

Our aim is really to understand this disconnect. You have Ada Lovelace, essentially the world's first computer programmer back in the 1800s. Fast forward to today, and women make up what? Only about 15.7% of the UK's engineering and tech workforce. How did we get here?

Amy: 0:42

Well, let's start with Lovelace herself, born in 1815, quite the background, daughter of Lord Byron, the poet, yes, but also Lady Annabella.

Ivan: 0:49

Who was, I understand, a gifted mathematician herself. Byron called her the princess of parallelograms, wasn't it?

Amy: 0:54

That's the one. And Ada really embodied that mix. Even as a teenager, um, 13, I think. She was sketching designs for a steam-powered flying horse, full of imagination.

Ivan: 1:05

But her really big contribution, the one that echoes today, came from working on Charles Babbage's analytical engine.

Amy: 1:11

Absolutely. Babbage, he saw it as a powerful calculator, basically. Numbers in, numbers out. But Lovelace, she had this incredible insight. She saw it could be a general-purpose machine.

Ivan: 1:22

Meaning it could work with more than just numbers.

Amy: 1:24

Exactly. Letters, symbols, musical notes, potentially anything that could be represented logically. She grasped that fundamental concept of computation long before anyone else.

Ivan: 1:35

She called it poetical science, didn't she? This idea of blending maths with creativity, with the humanities, it feels very relevant now with all the talk about AI ethics and human-centered tech.

Amy: 1:47

It really does. And she even touched on machine intelligence way back then, argued that Babbage's engine could only do what it was programmed to do. It couldn't originate anything truly new. That's known as Lady Lovelace's objection. Still debated today, in a way.

Ivan: 1:59

So she laid the groundwork centuries ago, which makes these current UK statistics quite stark. Just 15.7% women in engineering in tech roles. And it seems the problem starts much earlier.

Amy: 2:12

Oh, definitely. The pipeline starts leaking very early on. Research mentioned in the debate showed that by age 10, only about 11% of girls want to be engineers compared to um 44% of boys. That's a huge gap.

Ivan: 2:27

And this leaky pipeline, as it's called, it has real economic consequences, doesn't it?

Amy: 2:32

Massive ones. The estimates cited were between two and three point five billion pounds lost to the tech industry every single year because of this attrition.

Ivan: 2:42

Now here's something that really stood out for me from the debate materials. The common assumption is often about women leaving for caregiving reasons, family responsibilities, but the data presented suggested that accounts for less than 3% of cases.

Amy: 2:55

That's correct. It's a persistent myth almost. The real drivers, according to the evidence discussed, are much more systemic. Things like being underpaid compared to male colleagues, finding career progression stalled, and just a fundamental lack of leadership opportunities.

Ivan: 3:09

So if the problem is baked into the system, the solutions need to be systemic too. What came up in the debate on that front? Role models seem key, like Mary Somerville introducing Lovelace to Babbage.

Amy: 3:23

Role models are crucial. And mentorship. The debate highlighted modern examples too, like UMaths achieving almost 50% female uptake in their year 13 courses through targeted support.

Ivan: 3:34

And there were examples of structural changes having immediate impact.

Amy: 3:38

Yes. Doddroll Bank Observatory was mentioned. They switched to a double-blind evaluation for deciding who gets time on their radio telescope. Just removing potential bias in the review process pushed female usage up to 50%. Quite remarkable.

Ivan: 3:52

But there are still significant structural barriers being pointed out. One that caught my eye was the issue around childcare for PhD students.

Amy: 3:59

Ah, yes. The stipend is around 15,000 pounds on average. But full-time nursery can cost, what, 12,500? And PhD students aren't eligible for the free childcare hours. That's a huge financial hit, right when people are trying to build their research careers.

Ivan: 4:13

It effectively penalizes having children during a crucial career stage. So was there any forward movement announced?

Amy: 4:20

There was. The debate concluded with the government announcing a new women in tech task force. Its specific mandate is to look at exactly these kinds of systemic issues: pay, progression, childcare access, and propose concrete actions.

Ivan: 4:35

It makes you think. Lovelace envisioned the future of computing before computers even properly existed. What discoveries, what innovations in medicine or climate solutions or just new technologies are we perhaps missing out on today because we still haven't fully fixed these structural issues that keep talented women out of the room.

Amy: 4:54

It's a sobering thought, and her legacy is very tangible. The U.S. military's core programming language is named Ada. It underlines the need, really, to make sure we unlock the potential of everyone in the generations following hers.

Ivan: 5:05

As always, find us on social media at benchreport UK. Get in touch with any topic important to you.

Amy: 5:10

Remember, politics is everyone's business.

Ivan: 5:13

Take care.