Innovative new breast pump a reminder of why we need more women in STEM
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In her weekly column, Jo Fox rounds up the news and views that might have flown under your radar.
This week, she looks at why an innovative new device for breastfeeding mothers is so incredible it'll make you want to have another baby, and encourage more women to pursue STEM careers.
The breast pump, reimagined
This is the year that the rather obscure Internet of Things gets real … for lactating women. In a good way.
Any woman who has slaved to the pump knows what a dull, time consuming, and sometimes painful or futile part of motherhood this chore is.
However, finally a tech start-up has dragged this everyday task into the 21st century with its "wearable breast pump that fits in your bra, moves with you, and goes wherever the day takes you".
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is a kind of electronic goods geek-fest (not a pejorative term, in my books) which, in their own words, is "the launch pad for new innovation and technology that has changed the world".
However, whilst aquatic drones, even thinner TV screens and three-screen laptops have their place on the chart of human progress, I think it's fair to say the refining of such technology is not exactly changing the world.
Or at least a breast-feeding mother's world.
Hence why, this year, the new Willow breast pump has taken it by storm, demonstrating how technology can liberate a sizeable number of women from the extremely functional and mundane.
For those unfamiliar with pumping kits, previously innovation seems to have been limited to strapping bottles and cords into a comedy bra, meaning you could walk around as far as the power cord and the tight turning circle of pneumatic double-bottled breasts would allow.
Marketeers have sold this as an efficient development by using hilarious shots of women doing conference calls on what looks like a Blackberry (thereby rendering the innovation immediately redundant).
And we've all fallen for it
However, the new wearable pump ditches all this. As Willow CEO Naomi Kellman told CNET: "We knew we could just reinvent the breast pump, we had to reimagine it … Women want mobility and they want their hands back."
She added: "The Willow cuts the cords and gets rid of dangling bottles for good."
This means one can travel, work, clean-up and walk around whilst pumping.
The device also connects to an app that tracks and records milk supply (so now there really is an app for everything) and importantly, it is apparently incredibly quiet.
In fact, Willow claims it is so discreet that the only visible effect is that "people will think you're a D instead of a B cup". (Which will be interesting on the bus, say, if one is already a D cup.)
Those unfamiliar with pumping should not underestimate the loud noise present devices make. In my case, overhearing one brings on PTSD.
I tell you, the fertile multi-tasking opportunities alone are enough to make one have another baby.
The incredible thing is how little genuine technological innovation is applied around the home to combat the indirect domestic drudgery that babies (bless them) generate.
Not just because of the size of the child-bearing population, but also the missed sales opportunity of marketing to an over-tired, emotional wrought middle-class woman who will literally buy ANYTHING RIGHT NOW that might grab her ten minutes to close her eyes.
And yet, women remain underrepresented in STEM
Or perhaps it's not that incredible. A 2016 report by Australia's chief scientist highlighted the under-representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professions as industry damaging.
Only 16 per cent of the 2.3 million STEM-qualified Australians are female.
I would add that this also means there are significant areas of innovation for women that are therefore simply not thought of, let alone brought to market.
I'm not entirely convinced it is a coincidence that the president of Willow is female.
Of course, this under-representation is neither Australia-specific or industry-specific, as the UK Government has this week reminded us with its new initiative to recruit more women employees.
The CyberFirst Girls competition, aimed at 13-to-15 year-old girls, will see small teams compete against one another to complete a series of online tests and cybersecurity puzzles in a knockout-type draw to win GBP 1,000 (AUD$1,600).
A Government Communication HeadQuarters spokesperson (the recruiting government agency) said that it wanted to find "the brightest and best candidates to protect the nation from future cyberattacks" and that "only 10 per cent of the global cyber workforce is female, meaning millions of British women may be missing out on a career they could excel in."
This attempt to recruit more women comes after a targeted MI5 job advert was posted on parenting website Mumsnet in order to promote the "human side" of global intelligence.
Wanted: Women of Strength
And, in what seems to be a hectic time for global spooks HR, last week the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, went a few steps further by running advertisements with the recruitment line "Wanted: Women of Strength".
The former Director of Mossad maintains that his female agents were better than their male counterparts.
"Women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multi-task," he said in an interview in 2012, adding that women were better at men in "suppressing their ego to attain a goal".
According to the director of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), in 2012 women accounted for 45 per cent of the ASIS workforce, but held less than 10 per cent of frontline roles.
Instead, a former spy said, women were predominantly employed in "back office and support functions".
There are no allegations that this recent global Intelligence drive is related to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Jo Fox is a former ALP political advisor, including on the status of women. She is currently on maternity leave, learning how to fumble a newborn and looking at the gendered world with tired eyes.
Topics: women, babies, parenting, security-intelligence, womens-health, inventions
