2021

Women at the Table have been asked to brief the CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women experts on on artificial intelligence and algorithms and women’s rights and gender equality.

The briefing follows on from our brief to the European Commission Gender Equality Unit in the spring. We hope to make a clear case to CEDAW about the outsized impact biased artificial intelligence is having and will continue exponentially on the lives of women and girls in every corner of the world.

Women at the Table, the <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms, & the f<a+i>r feminist AI research network will be doing a series of International Women's Day events to celebrate Feminist AI and Technology & Innovation in March

The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, Graduate Institute Geneva + London-based think tank Global Policy Insight and AI Policy Lab series on AI & SDGs

Panel with:

Ivana Bartoletti, Co-Founder, Women Leading in AI Network; Visiting Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute

Lowri Angharad Rees, UN Women

Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Women at the Table / <A+> Alliance

Jérôme Duberry, Research Associate & Lecturer, Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy

CGIAR is the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network, with 15 Research Centers operating in 108 countries, working with 3,000+ partners, currently transitioning to One CGIAR.

We're super excited to address the CGIAR family to focus on Women in Leadership on IWD, a particularly critical issue for women in research and science, and in food systems response.

with Youth Leaders and Youth Professionals (YLYP) of the Committee on the Status of Women (CSW)

Speakers:

• Raesetje Sefala, AI Researcher at Mila (Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute) and a computer science Master's student at Wits University, Johannesburg.  creating ground truth datasets and using machine learning to study spatial segregation in South Africa, post-Apartheid.
• Sofia Kypraiou, Data Science  École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne  exploring and enhancing a practical toolbox for AI and Human rights.
• Joana Varon  affiliated to the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Executive Directress and Creative Chaos Catalyst at Coding Rights (Brazil),  Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Moderator: Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, CEO/Founder, Women at the Table, co-founder <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms

Networking Event at Trustworthy AI Hackathon @MozFest

 

Networking event within the hackathon supported by

Building Trustworthy AI working group,

hosted by AI IRL Space

to help the Feminist AI Regional networks supported by <A+> Alliance & f<a+i>r share global perspectives & foster greater network/coalition building.

with

Renata Avila, co-founder <A+> Alliance

Paola Ricaurte, Tecnologico Monterrey

Jaime Gutiérrez, Tecnologico Costa Rica

Raya Sharbain, Jordan Open Source Association

Sorja Hongladarom, Chulalongkorn University

Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Women at the Table / <A+> Alliance

 

Open to all Mozfest participants.

The G-app: Gender Gap Application measures on which topics women are speaking, for how long, in which capacity and with what authority.

International Organisations provide the space and infrastructure for deciding the direction of the international community. Ensuring that a plurality of voices are heard is key for these decisions to have legitimacy. But how is this plurality measured? Do we understand the duration of time or the subjects on which women speak in international fora? Do we understand in which capacity women speak: as decision makers, as experts, or experientially? It's not sufficient for women merely to be present, or even to speak in the conference chamber, they must also have influence in outcomes.

Women's political participation in climate justice movements and the intersection with technology.

• Zainab Yunusa, Gender + Youth activist from UNFCCC's Youngo focused on COP-26
• Fotini Bakadimi, Green Member of Hellenic Parliament
•  Mozilla's Environment Director newly incorporating climate + internet
•  Women at the Table  moderator.

Why and where can algorithms produce inequality outcomes? Why and where can algorithms be gender biased? How can a human rights-based approach be applied to computer algorithms that engage, reason about, and make decisions on people?

A workshop to further integrate concepts of intersectionality and bring work to the next step to draw clear lines from human rights principles to code, with a unique blend of human rights law and data science.

A collaboration between Women at the Table, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, & EPFL.

A first in a series of workshops.

The Generation Equality Forum is scheduled to kick off in Mexico City as an intergenerational and intersectional global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-chaired by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with civil society.

This event has three specific objectives:

• Preparation of Action Coalitions including Technology & Innovation of which <A+> Alliance / Women at the Table are leaders

• Development of a multilateral feminist strategy to propose and promote accelerated changes towards gender equality in the coming years.

• Formation of a multilateral alliance of countries to promote the gender equality agenda.

• Closing Keynote:  Leveraging AI and Data for Inclusion and Systems Change

  •  How can new technologies can be leveraged for systems change and tech design be leveraged to foster gender equality and inclusion. 
  •   #GDDF21. https://digitaldevforum.com/agenda/
•  Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Co-Founder, <A+> Alliance, CEO and Founder, Women at the Table
• Dr. Tara Cookson, Assistant Professor of Gender and Development, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia

• Ecem Yilmazhaliloglu, Founder of Technoladies; WEF AI Youth Council Member/Representative of Turkey, Diversity Advocate, and AI4ALL alumnus

• Alisha Arora , Founder at The HopeSisters, AI for good advocate, Mental Health Change Maker

• Aki Enkenberg, Senior Adviser of Development Policy: Digital Cooperation, Technology & Innovation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland

• Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Women at the Table​

• Moderator: Patty Alleman, Senior Advisor, Gender Equality, UNICEF

DAY ONE. Wednesday May 26th

15:45-16:00. Opening Remarks

• Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, Cardiologist and Founder, Institute of Gender in Medicine at Charité Berlin and of the International Society Gender Medicine (IGM)

16:00-17:30. Panel One
Innovative Tracking + Screening in Gynecology  

• Leon A. Boston, CEO of Mobile ODT: using artificial intelligence for cervical screening, evaluation, and sexual assault forensics.
• Siew-Veena, Founder of Testmate Health: at home STD Kits
• Dr. Sonali Mohanty Quantius, Founder of Haplomind: supporting perinatal depression and anxiety.

17:45-19:00. Panel Two
Gathering Female Specific Data Sets by Innovative Means

• Laura Symul, Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, whose research focuses on women’s health and menstrual health in particular. This includes research on fertility, on cycle-related symptoms and on drivers of changes in vaginal microbiome communities. She uses a combination of self-tracked data from mobile phone apps and devices and clinical multi-omics data.
• Eric Dy, CEO + Co-Founder of Bloom Life: remote personalised maternal and fetal healthcare.
• Marina Pavlovic Rivas, CEO + Co-Founder of Eli Health: a product monitoring hormones in saliva at home to enable women to make informed decisions about their reproductive and general health
• Sarah Kerruish, Chief Strategy Officer of Kheiron Medical: using artificial intelligence to help radiologists detect breast cancer.

19:15-19:30 Closing Remarks

• Dr. Carole Clair, Faculty of Biology & Medicine, University of Lausanne, specialising in the differences in clinical management induced by the gender of patients. She is also co-head of the department of training, research and innovation at the Center of general medicine and public health. She is a doctor who graduated from the University of Lausanne, FMH specialist in general internal medicine, Master in Science in Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

19:30-20:30 Attendee Mingling/Networking on Hopin

DAY TWO  Thursday May 27th

16:45-17:00 Opening remarks:

• Dr. Brigitte Leeners, Director of the Clinic for Reproductive Endocrinology at the University Hospital Zurich who will speak about what the daily life of a patient that comes to her looks like/ the issues they face and how innovative technologies can help with treatment/ facilitate their daily life

17:00-18:30. Panel One
The Future of Contraception + Fertility

• Dr. Lynae Brayboy, Chief Medical Officer, Clue: an FDA approved menstrual tracking app
• Pascal Koenig, CEO + Co-Founder, AVA: a bracelet that tracks multiple physiological parameters, including pulse rate, breathing rate, and temperature in order to detect the five most fertile days of a woman’s cycle in real time, while also delivering personalized insight about reproductive health and pregnancy
• Frederik Petursson Madsen, CEO + Co-Founder, Oui: a new approach to contraception that works by topically engineering the cervical mucus to provide effective contraception with minimal side-effects.
• Eirini Rapti, CEO + Founder, Inne: which uses the hormones found in saliva to determine a woman’s most fertile window thus acting as both a fertility aid or a form of contraception

18:45-20:15. Panel Two
Gynecological Pain + Symptom Management

• Alexandra Alvergne, an Oxford Fellow and CNRS researcher whose research focuses on understanding the relationship between reproduction and female health, including working on contraceptive dynamics, infection and menstrual health, diversity in age at menopause and the impact of reproduction on ageing.
• Dr. Sari Prutchi Sagiv, VP of R&D, Gynica : a medical company researching and developing cannabinoid solutions to target gynaecological symptoms and diseases.
• Cécil Réal, Co-Founder + CEO, EndoDiag: company developing new endometriosis diagnostic solutions for healthcare professionals. These solutions are intended to contribute to a better endometriosis diagnosis, a more personalized patient management, more efficient treatment options and fertility strategy.
• Chantelle Bell & Anya Roy, Co-Founders, Syrona Health : a startup that tracks endo and health symptoms, and allows users to access a community of patients with similar symptoms as well as providing doctor approved insights.

20:15-20:30 Closing Remarks

• Dr. Sarah Springman, Rector, ETH Zürich 

20:30-21:30 Post Event Mingling/Networking on Hopin

<A+> Alliance is super excited to host & moderate a panel on

AI DIPLOMACY FOR INCLUSION

• Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre
• Aurora Díaz-Rato Revuelta, Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organisations 
• Jarmo Sareva, Ambassador for Innovation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland

Caitlin Kraft-Buchman, Moderator

Join us at the University of Geneva Summer School

<A+> Alliance and our co-leaders of the Tech & Innovation Action Coalition for Gender Equality:

UNICEF, ITU, Microsoft, Rockefeller Foundation, Salesforce, Global Fund for Women, Social Builder, Digital Grassroots, Koç Holdings, and Governments of Finland, Chile, Armenia, Tunisia and Rwanda

as we share our Commitments, bond with other Commitment Makers, and begin the journey to make more systemic and transformational change happen in tech & innovation for gender equality.

JOIN US as we launch our Feminist & Inclusive AI initiative for three years of papers--> protoypes --> pilots supported by IDRC

with

Dominique Charron, IDRC’s Vice-President, Programs and Partnerships

Paola Ricaurte,Associate Professor, Department of Media and Digital Culture, Tecnológico de Monterrey & Faculty Associate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University

Dr. Soraj Hongladarom, Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

Raya Sharbain is the Program Coordinator at Jordan Open Source Association, Amman

Feminist & Inclusive AI

Feminist AI‘s goal is Inclusive AI harnessed to deliver equality outcomes; designed with inclusion at the core; creating new opportunities & proactive, innovative correction of inequities.

JOIN US as we launch our Feminist & Inclusive AI initiative

with

Special Guest: Dr Nuria Oliver,

<A+< Advisory Board Member, IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow, 2021 Abbie Award Winner for Technical Leadership

Feminist & Inclusive AI

Feminist AI‘s goal is Inclusive AI harnessed to deliver equality outcomes; designed with inclusion at the core; creating new opportunities & proactive, innovative correction of inequities.

Critical Data Studies (CDS)

Masters Level part of a new bundle of interdisciplinary optional courses opened to students from UNIL and EPFL

Hosted by

Charlotte Mazel-Cabasse

Executive Director

Center for Digital Humanities Unil-EPFL

We will explore the Toolbox with Sofia Kypraiou (who recently completed her Masters Thesis at EPFL on the topic) with expert intervention from Asako Hattori (OHCHR).

Watch this space for events from <A+> Alliance Regional Partners:

LAC: Tec Monterrey

MENA: Jordan Open Source Association

SEAsia: Chulalongkorn University

University of Oxford reading group on algorithmic management / AI in the workplace where Women at the Table will discuss its recent paper: AI Recruitment: Digital Dream or Dystopia of Bias?

The participants are graduate students and faculty from across various disciplines, including Law, Economics, Computer Science, and Sociology at Oxford University.

The <A+> Alliance is thrilled to be one of eighty projects selected for the Paris Peace Forum held every year with the aim to place global governance at the top of the international agenda.

Join us to help to transform the global conversation on algorithms  and algorithmic decision-making to include gender, race and equality