FRANCE: Gender Inclusion in Decision-making

A 48-hour hackathon was hosted by Missions Publiques in Paris on 5-7 March 2022 with the theme of “Gender Inclusion in Decision-making”. 14 participants worked in 3 teams to propose the best pitch to a highly qualified jury composed of female experts from the French ecosystem of innovation, public affairs, computer science and entrepreneurship.  

Winning team & solution:

IA Ethique – a non-discriminating algorithm, without cognitive bias, to promote access to employment for gender minorities. 

© Hélène Babin (Teacher in Marketing and Gender studies ), Liana Ramarosandy (Sociologist in adaptation / Science-policy-society interface)  and Samirah Tachet (AI scientist and Full stack developer)  

The winning solution was “IA Ethique”, a non-discriminating algorithm, without cognitive bias, to promote access to employment for gender minorities. “Algorithms are not to blame; the only ones responsible are those who design them.” Algorithms, like decisions made by humans, generate discriminatory practices. The results of algorithms depend on how programmers write them. Developers are predominantly white, cis-gender males: the AI they create reflects their cognitive, statistical, and economic biases.  

The solution aims to ensure that the AI used to assist in decision making does not replicate our biases. Because employment is an engine of upward mobility, IA Ethique was designed to encompass a broad understanding of modern employment and to suit different realities. Ultimately, its objective is to allow people from minority backgrounds to access positions, in which they will be able to inform and implement inclusive decision-making. The AI solution proposed optimizes the search engine algorithm to increase the relevance of results and enable informed decision-making through a linguistic configuration for gender inclusion.  

Testimonials from participants:  

“Algorithms are not to be condemned, the only ones responsible are those who design them”, by the winning team IA Ethique 

© Missions Publiques