As part of DataFest20, we attended the Turing’s Testers Women in Data Science event- encouraging school girls to get involved and close the gender gap in data, technology and computing.

On the 9th March we were excited to attend the Women in Data Science DataFest event at Dynamic Earth. Hosting approximately 180 school girls from all over Scotland, this event was curated by the multiple award winning Turing’s Testers, a group of school girls who are passionate about technology and encouraging other school girls to get involved and close the gender gap in computing.

As part of the challenge, teams had previously completed numerous online tests to make it to the grand final. We were delighted to be one of the partner organisations asked to present a data challenge to the teams as part of their final task.

Given that the focus of the day was all about championing women in data science, our data challenge involved using Scottish Government data to analyse the gender difference in commuting time to work across Scotland. Our teams were given access to a data set that included variables such as age, gender and location. They then had to quickly decide how best to sort and assess the dataset to present our judges with some useful facts and conclusions.

These could include:

• How does commute time for women compare to men, on average, in Scotland?

• Which three areas in Scotland have the longest commute for women and which three areas have the shortest?

• Does being under 30 or over 30 have a big impact on commuting time?

• What conclusions might you draw from this data on women’s commuting in Scotland?

The presentations were scored on their content, accuracy and the effectiveness of their communication. All of the teams did really well to work with the data and present back to us in a very short amount of time. We heard some innovative conclusions on the day, discussing issues such as women’s role in the home, child care, job stability with age and even ‘the patriarchy!’

Alongside the challenge workshop, the teams were able to listen to presentations from women working in data science discussing their career pathways and the options that are available for the girls if they are interested in exploring a career in data or technology. Presentations were delivered from representatives from The DataLab, CodeClan, BRIM, Accenture and BlackRock - all giving inspiring and motivational talks about their experiences.

It was a great day for us to be involved with, and so exciting to see so many students engaged and enthusiastic about data science. We had a lot of fun - and hope that the teams enjoyed our data challenge! Congratulations to the winning schools and to all those who took part. Many thanks to The Data Lab, Toni Scullion and the Turing’s Testers for organising such a wonderful event.

If you would like to find out more about the gender commuting gap, please follow the links below:

Commuting time by Travel to Work Areas (UK)

Commuting Time by Travel to Work Areas (Scotland)