Raafi-Karim Alidina, consultant at Included looks at why diversity is crucial when it comes to product development within pharma and life sciences.
Many organisations are realising the need for change. This has been catalysed by the Black Lives Matter movement and the inequalities highlighted by the pandemic. The need to be actively anti-racist has become more apparent and urgent, with organisations rightly under pressure from internal and external forces. This leaves leaders with the task of addressing bias in processes, structures, and behaviours. Many turned to technology, on the logic that this would remove the bias that is unconscious in people and create a more equal, inclusive approach. This thinking, however, is flawed as these machines and algorithms are still created by people. This leads to the creation of biased technology.
Bias in technology design
Recently, I went to a barbecue restaurant with my partner. When I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, everything was touchless: there were automatic faucets, hand dryers, soap dispensers… even an automatic paper towel dispenser. However, as soon as I tried to use any of them, they wouldn’t work! No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get the sensor to detect my hands and dispense water or soap. Then, someone else came into the bathroom and tried to wash his hands and everything worked perfectly. What was the difference? His skin was white, while mine was brown.