The role of sensors to help women in everything from fitting the right bra to potentially protecting them from domestic violence were the subject of discussion at the NSSN’s Women in Sensing Event at Wollongong last week.

Difficulties with keeping women in STEMM careers (science, technology, engineering, medicine and maths) was also up for discussion with a panel of women leaders saying the fact less women were in senior STEMM-related professions or were awarded funding for their research or ideas, resulted in less inventions designed to assist women.

The panel was moderated by NSSN Board member and Deputy Chief Scientist at CSIRO, Dr Jill Freyne.

The audience heard while much had changed for women who want a career in STEM, still more could be done to support much needed diversity in the workplace.

From left to right: Dr Tamantha Stutchbury, Dr Elena Walsh, Dr Theresa Harada, Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee, Dr Jill Freyne during the Women in Sensing panel event.

While Ethnographer and Human Geographer Dr Theresa Harada said sensors are being used in ankle bracelets to track criminal men to some effect, Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee asked if sensors are being used for any biofeedback on men to help some of them control their behaviours.

“More than protecting women, I think we need to look at what’s happening in men’s lives as well and how can we change them rather than keeping them away,” the sports physiotherapist and lecturer in anatomy in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences said. “So a form of biofeedback, warning men to hold back and controlling their behaviour (could help).”

A/Prof McGhee, the Co-founder/Director of Breast Research Australia, says sensors have a place in her area of research which is related to breast-related issues that impede women from being physically active or reaching their maximum sporting performance.

“Sensors can be used in bras, for physical activity or for a woman who has had breast cancer…or even for women wearing bras for 12-14 hours a day, (for measuring) how much discomfort do we have, what’s the optimal pressure to protect or support the breast, but not to press too much pressure on the shoulders so women are uncomfortable,” she said.

From left to right: Dr Theresa Harada and Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee.

Dr Harada, an expert in sensory methods who works with people with mobility challenges such as those with vision impairment, said smart sensing helps people to navigate their environments and contributes to their quality of life through enhancing their self-confidence.

She also raised the importance of considering the social side of technology.

“Not only in the difference (technology) can make to people’s lives but also in how we think about technology and how we can apply it,” Dr Harada said.

“It’s not always just a technological fix. We have to consult with people on how they’d like to use things and what they want from the technology. So it’s really important to have that social element involved when you are talking about technology.”

Lecturer in Philosophy, Dr Elena Walsh, described the role of smart sensors in her work with emotion recognition technologies.

“There are smart sensors related to both the recognition of the emotional space and there are also attempts to include ways to modulate a user’s emotional state coupled with emotional recognition technologies. So that’s a really exciting space to be in,” Dr Walsh said.

From left to right: Dr Tamantha Stutchbury and Dr Elena Walsh.

“As someone who is in the Humanities, there’s a huge interest in some of the ethical and policy and governance related issues relating to new technologies that we maybe don’t fully get or understand their capabilities.

“And we’ve been looking at ways to either work better with IoT technologists and scientists.”

Director of iAccelerate Dr Tamantha Stutchbury described the iAccelerate entrepreneurial community as one of the most diverse and inclusive spaces of its kind in Australia.

iAccelerate supports people to take their ideas and turn them into a start-up or a social enterprise to make an impact in the world.

Dr Stutchbury, who has a background in biochemistry, translational research and leadership, said she is a strong supporter of getting more women into STEMM.

“But also women who are already in the pipeline to stay in the pipeline and to rise to the highest levels in whatever organisation they are in,” she said.

“As I’ve moved through my life, I became more and more aware …of how much our world was designed without taking women into consideration.

“And really in order to make sure that we were living in a world with the solutions that we needed for (women)…that sometimes we needed a deeper set of skills or innovations to provide the same level of opportunity for (women).

“And as soon as I realised that, I was like “we just have to make sure that there’s as much diversity and opinion in a room”.”

Members of the audience at the Women in Sensing event.

Dr Harada said women have many structural and institutional barriers and hurdles that make it really difficult for them to get into STEMM positions and entrepreneurship.

“And I think it's something that we really need to think about in terms of diversity and intersectionality,” she said.

“If you're a woman, if you have a disability, if you are from an ethnic background, if you are sexually not heteronormative, that just layers and layers and layers challenges on what you can do in any field in this world, and especially is difficult in STEMM.

The event heard examples of poor statistics about career for women in STEMM, including how 12 percent of the engineering workforce are women and the ratio of men to women in a tech firm is three to one.

Also discussed was the fact that academic publication rates for men went “through the roof” during the COVID-19 pandemic, while many women academics were juggling caring responsibilities for children, parents or partners.

Dr Harada said often an assessment of what made a good leader is based on male role models.

A/Prof McGhee said it was important that women support other women.

From left to right: Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee and Dr Jill Freyne.

“We sell a story that you can have it all… I think we have to tell young women that it is really hard,” she said.

“Yes it’s going to be tough, but you’re changing the world.”

The panel also agreed there had also been some extraordinary change that supported women in STEM, such as women now breast feeding at work.

“I think that (change) is because of women,” Dr Walsh said.

“But I don’t think we should be so grateful for it. We should be demanding more…you have to be brave and stand up for yourself,” Dr Harada said.

Dr Stutchbury encouraged employees to support women with flexible working conditions.
“If you support women when they are juggling childcare, they will make that payback ten-fold,” she said.

Dr Elena Walsh said it was important there be a focus on inclusion and diversity in any innovations because “you might not be interested in inclusion and diversity… but you might be interested in accuracy.”

From left to right: Dr Tamantha Stutchbury, Dr Elena Walsh, Dr Theresa Harada, Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee, Dr Jill Freyne.

The NSSN Women in Sensing event series started in 2022 with the aim of profiling women researchers and leaders from across the network of nine universities, providing inclusive platforms for networking and identifying collaborative opportunities.

The next event will be held later this year.

It’s time for a world designed for women too, sensing event hears