There is a strong culture in the tech industry for expecting people to learn as hobbyist or in their own time.

This disproportionately excludes women, who are still taking on the bulk of caregiving responsibilities. Nearly half of working-age women are providing an average of 45 hours of unpaid care every week, while 25% of men provide 17 hours, and UK women provide 23.2 billion hours of unpaid childcare, compared to 9.7 billion provided by men. Requiring (either explicitly or implicitly through workload) that learning take place outside of office hours limits their ability to progress and punishes them further as a result of ingrained sexist structures - expecting them to be ‘kinkeepers’, both at home and in the workplace. 

To discuss this further, we’re joined by Hayley McCarthy, Co-Founder of Skiller Whale.

After graduating from Cambridge in 2007, Hayley set up and ran a professional coaching and assessment company for 7 years, strategically advising and providing training for organisations like HSBC, Microsoft and Shell.

She has been on the leadership team of two other international EdTech companies and is an author, published by Cambridge University Press. She is a co-founder of Skiller Whale.

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