Gender in AI and Robotics: The Gender Challenges from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

166 Pages·2023·2.101 MB·English

by  Jordi Vallverdú

Intelligent Systems Reference Library 235
Jordi Vallverdú   Editor
Gender
in AI and
Robotics
The Gender Challenges from an
Interdisciplinary Perspective
Intelligent Systems Reference Library
Volume 235
SeriesEditors
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Jordi Vallverdú
Editor
Gender in AI and Robotics
The Gender Challenges from
an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Editor
JordiVallverdú
ICREAAcadèmia
DepartmentofPhilosophy
UniversitatAutònomadeBarcelona
Bellaterra,Catalonia,Spain
ISSN 1868-4394 ISSN 1868-4408 (electronic)
IntelligentSystemsReferenceLibrary
ISBN 978-3-031-21605-3 ISBN 978-3-031-21606-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21606-0
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TomywifeSarah,anincredible
anthropologist, andfeminist.Withouther,my
ideaswouldhavenotevolvedasquicklyas
necessary,andprobablythisbookwouldnot
beinyourhands.
Preface
This book should not have been edited by me, as well as I’m a clear example
of the biases existent in Academia: cis, male, white, senior, Western,…the domi-
natingcommunitywhichhasblockedtheaccessofbrilliantwomentotheirnaturally
deservedintellectualpositions.Anyhow,andusingmyprivilege,aswellasfollowing
mylongworriesaboutagender-freescience,IsuggestedtoSpringereditorialanew
edited book on the special issues and conflicts concerning gender which could be
foundincontemporaryAIandComputerSciencefields.Incredibly,atthemoment
ofbeginningthiseditorialprocess,therewasnotasinglebookaboutsuchatopic.
Not pretending to occupy a position that I do not deserve at all, but urged by the
necessitytofixsuchinequality,Iconsideredtheeditionofsuchabook.
Becauseitissadtoadmit,butdespitetheemergenceofnewtechnologies,prevail
the same biases against women. It is worrying to see that the new Twenty-First
CenturyeconomyandsciencearebasedonthefieldsofAI,robotics,andcomputer
sciences,allofthefieldswithaverylownumberoffemalepresence.Thus,thenext
revolution is happening just now, in front of our eyes, without including women
inthem.Therefore,thebiasesandinequalitiesarebeingfixedforatleastonemore
century.Despitesuchascenario,thingscanchange,becausehumanhistoryisnothing
predetermined,buttheresultofactivepressuresandtransformations.Therevolution
mustbeledbywomenthemselves,althoughmalesmusthaveanactiveroleinfixing
theirwrongattitudes.Withoutfemaletutorship,theyhavetoomanyproblemsstillto
solve;maleacademiciansandindustrialexpertsmustlearntoimprovetheirfields.
Because every year is wasted more than the true 50% potential of our societies,
which could be provided by incredibly talented women, who are not welcomed
or allowed to be part of the such revolution. Even subfields like open software or
videogames, which should be more hierarchically horizontal and universalist, are
heavilydominatedbymalebiases.
I’veaskedveryimportantanddiverseexpertsabouttheirviews,ideas,andexperi-
encesinsuchfields.Womenwiththeirvoicesandspecialperspectives.Fromdifferent
fields:Anthropology,ComputerScience,PhilosophyAI,Engineering,History,…but
allofthemagreeonthesameidea:withoutwomen,thefuturewillnotbetrue,but
justarepetitionofthepastwithoutrealadvancesorchanges.Ifeelveryhonoredand
vii
viii Preface
luckyforreceivingtheideasofalltheseresearchers,andwishthatyoualsoenjoy
theirreading.
The forces that act against the change are multiple, and plenty of them belong
to the same social structure. Delaying the natural deadlines and release of this
book, appeared the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. It provided us with several
lessons. But a very important one was: in case of problems, women receive more
pressureandobstaclesthanmales.Forexample,onceconfined,maleacademicians
increasedsignificantlytheirscientificproduction,thankstotheliberationfromdaily
requests(meetings,classes,supervisions,...),andatthesametime,femaleacademi-
ciansdecreasedtheirnormalproductionbecauseofthefamiliarandsocialpressure
(careduties,familyorganization,…),theyinandyangofreality,butalwayspressing
againstwomen.
These dynamics must be transformed, eradicated, and get over. Only by being
awareofsuchproblems,wecancreatemechanismsforsolvingthem.Thefirststep
consistsofidentifyingthebiasandthenlookingforitscauses.Consequently,new
solutionscanbedesigned.Thisistheroleofthishumbleeditedwork:tomakevisible
uniformlythependingintegrationofwomeninnewtechnologiesofinformation.
From my side, I’ll be happy if more academicians, politicians, and the whole
society understand the importance of adding values and talent to the current tech-
nological revolution. The real advances in these fields have been possible, thanks
tothesuperstationofoutmodedandwrongtheoriesaboutintelligence,perception,
sensory-motorprocesses,socialcommunication,languageandsemantics,creativity,
andcausalknowledgeamongalonglistoffundamentalaspectsofknowledgeand
reality.Ofcourse,thecontributionsofthisbookarenotstrictlyrelatedtothegender
debatesintheanalyzeddisciplines,butconsiderfundamentalaspectstobetakeninto
account to produce real revolution research, with a better impact in contemporary
societies.
IhopethatyouenjoythisbookasmuchasIdidwhiledesigningtheprojectand
followingallthenecessarystepstowarditscompletion.
ArenysdeMar,Catalonia Prof.Dr.JordiVallverdú
Introduction
This book covers a rich variety of topics concerning gender issues in Artificial
Intelligenceandrobotics.
ix
Contents
1 OwningYourCareerPaths:StorytellingtoEngageWomen
inComputerScience ............................................ 1
ElisaRubegni, BirgitPenzenstadler, MonicaLandoni,
LetiziaJaccheri,andGordanaDodig-Crnkovic
1.1 Introduction .............................................. 2
1.2 Background .............................................. 4
1.2.1 FactsAboutWomenParticipationinCS ................ 4
1.2.2 ExistingEffortstoWidenUpFemaleParticipation
inCS .............................................. 4
1.2.3 Role-Models ....................................... 6
1.3 OurApproachandMethod .................................. 8
1.4 AnalysisandResults ....................................... 9
1.4.1 Themes ............................................ 10
1.4.2 TheRoleofAI ..................................... 14
1.4.3 Dimensions ........................................ 14
1.4.4 StorytellingFramework .............................. 15
1.5 DiscussionandImpact ..................................... 18
1.5.1 Tie-inwithRelatedWork ............................ 18
1.5.2 TheSignificanceofRoleModels ...................... 19
1.5.3 ThreatstoValidity .................................. 20
1.5.4 OutreachandDisseminationOpportunities ............. 20
1.6 ConclusionsandFutureWork ............................... 21
References ..................................................... 23
2 GenderDifferencesandBiasinArtificialIntelligence .............. 27
ValentinaFranzoni
2.1 Introduction .............................................. 27
2.1.1 UnderstandingtheHistoricalBackground .............. 28
2.1.2 ExamplesofRelevantWomenContributiontoAI ........ 29
2.1.3 IssuesOverviewforLackofGenderDiversityinAI ..... 30
xi