Word to the W.I.S.E. #whystandardsmatter

UL Standards & Engagement
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Science
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to the Word to the W.I.S.E… Why Standards Matter! A podcast series brought to you by UL Standards & Engagement. In the first season we featured remarkable women who used their careers in science and engineering to create a safer, more secure and sustainable future. This season we shift our focus to gender in the development of safety standards. Why safety standards? Standards touch almost every aspect of our lives. They are a set of requirements for how products and systems must perform or are made to instil safety, security and sustainability. Standards can facilitate trade, reduce costs and support innovation. As one guest from Season 1 eloquently put it – a standard is a common language. Regardless of which company manufactures a product or in what country, it will be tested to the same core requirements found in a standard. So, the next time you see hazmat suits fit snugly on men but not women, ask yourself how we can come together to update safety standards to equally address the needs of all genders. Gender equality is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. Yet, in a world in which half the population is women, and many are leaders in the fields of science, engineering, and innovation, only 10% of standards development experts are women. Through Word to the W.I.S.E. We aim to have those conversations, build awareness, and explore future strategies to increase women’s participation in the development of both standards and technical regulation. We will also explore examples of international standards that are truly gender responsive. Remember, you too can have your say. Just use the #whystandardsmatter across social media and pose questions for us on The Word to the W.I.S.E. podcast. And we will try to address those in future episodes. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and like us on any of your favourite podcast platforms!

Episodes

  1. 05/02/2023

    Aligning Standards with the UN SDGs: A Conversation with David Wroth and Grace Callahan, UL Standards & Engagement

    You can read the transcript of that interview with David Wroth and Grace Callahan here: Host: David and Grace, thank you so much for joining us on this critical episode of the Word to the W.I.S.E. podcast. [00:01:13] David Wroth: You're welcome. It's a pleasure to be here. [00:01:15] Grace Callahan: Yes. Thank you for having us. [00:01:17] Host: So, to begin with, what was the idea behind working on this report to link UL standards, catalogues, and standards development processes with the UN sustainable development goals? [00:01:28] Grace Callahan: So, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action for both developing and developed countries to work together to improve human lives and protect the environment. So, with this initiative at UL Standards and Engagement, we wanted to look at how UL standards can help achieve the 17 sustainable development goals in order to determine the impact and benefits of our standards globally. So, our goal with this initiative is to use this information to inform future standards development activities, develop standards to address gaps in the SDGs and to better align existing UL standards to the goals. [00:02:08] David Wroth: Yeah, and I'd like to add on something that I think is sometimes a bit of a misconception about the sustainable development goals. As Grace mentioned, there are a wide range of goals and they're much more than just sustainability. The keyword is development and that means that we're advancing people, planet, and the prosperity together. So, the goals are about education, equity, but also innovation, meaningful and safe employment, and sustainability. And so, we believe that the SDGs represent a set of noble goals for the world, and we want to be a bigger part of it. [00:02:52] Host: And can you tell us more on how you went about the entire exercise? Because one can see it's a rather exhaustive report that uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to determine that alignment. [00:03:03] David Wroth: Right. Our approach you know, combined the best of subject matter expert, our colleagues throughout UL Standards and Engagement really get deep into the content that are part of our standards. And we know that they have this great body of knowledge that we want to tap into. But we also knew that assessing, you know, 1500 standards against 17 goals could be a very, very time-consuming effort. And so, we used some data science techniques. We used several algorithms to predict the association of a standard to an SDG by using a similarity score that takes a look at the text of each of the scope statements of our standards, and then compares that against the description of the SDG and its targets and using this natural language processing algorithm, it essentially takes a look, not just at- are there common words between those two pieces of content, but it's now sophisticated enough to look at - are there similar concepts between the scope statement and the SDG and its targets? And so, by using this similarity score, we gave that score and those results as an input to the subject matter expert, so that they could quickly and easily identify those standards that are most aligned with the SDG. And then they made the final call because again that natural language processing algorithm is just an algorithm and we wanted to make sure that our people, you know, we're able to stand behind the results that we have in this report. And so that's why we combined those two pieces, you know, the subject matter expert piece of our colleagues and the data approach as well. [00:05:15] Host: And so, what are the key areas where standards can make a massive difference in meeting those 17 UN SDGs? [00:05:24] David Wroth: Well to start, it's a great outcome, we think, that we have identified that there are more than 950 cases where a UL standard supports one or more of the SDGs. And in fact, each unique standard in that list supports an average of at least two of the SDGs. And then the other thing that we can say, kind of looking more broadly across the SDGs is for each one of the 17, there's at least one UL standard that can be used as a guide to help support the efforts that achieve those identified targets of the SDGs. But back to the more pointed part of your question, the SDGs with the largest number of associations that we saw. Our first, SDG 7, which is about affordable and clean energy, has more than 130 UL standards that have an association with that particular, SDG - SDG 9, which is about industry, innovation and infrastructure, has more than a hundred associations. SDG 11, which is all about sustainable cities and communities, has 154 individual standards that are linked to that particular SDG. And then finally another one where we have a lot of standards supporting the goal is number 12, which is about responsible consumption and production, which has 120 associations. So, you can see that our portfolio of standards really supports a variety of the SDGs. and in some cases, goes very deep into the goal and the targets that are associated with it. [00:07:24] Grace Callahan: Yes. And we want to highlight SDG 7, which focuses on ensuring access to affordable and sustainable energy for everyone. So, through standardization, we, UL Standards and Engagement help ensure that energy storage designs are performance driven, but they also prioritize safety and reliability as well as sustainability. So, while we found 130 associations between SDG 7 and our standards, two examples of specific UL standards that support this goal include UL 95 40, which is the standard for energy storage systems and equipment, as well as UL 95 40 A, which is test method for evaluating thermal runaway, fire propagation, and battery energy storage systems. [00:08:15] Host: Hmm. [00:08:15] David Wroth: That's a mouthful Grace. [00:08:17] Host: I know it's clearly a lot of standards and the SDGs do actually in fact provide strategies, like you said, David, at the outset, to reduce inequality and promote gender equity. How is UL Standards and Engagement promoting those efforts? [00:08:35] David Wroth: Well, we have a number of different things that we're doing along those lines. But probably the most significant thing that we've done is that we've recently signed the UNECE Declaration for Gender Responsive Standards and Standards Development. And that signature really highlights our commitment to work together towards gender balance and representation in the standards development process in an inclusive way. We also commit to create gender responsive standards and to achieve gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls, which aligns with SDG 5. And so, it's really, a broad set of activities that are going to go across, you know, both who participates in the process of developing standards and making sure that the standards that we develop fully account for the, the way that women work, women and girls work and live and so forth. So, it's across multiple activities there. [00:09:45] Grace Callahan: Yes, and we want to make sure that our standards are really developed for everybody. So, we are currently working on putting together our gender action plan, which part of which includes collecting data on the gender representation on our technical committees, as well as developing guidance information for our standards authors, to make sure that we're developing gender responsive standards. [00:10:09] David Wroth: And there's, there's another angle that, that I'd like to, to highlight here as well. There's also an effort to look at the idea of inclusive language, and part of that highlights the idea that if we use language in our standards or even in our technical committee meetings, that offends people that has the, you know, the chilling effect of not really allowing them to bring everything that they know and the people that they are to the table. And what we've found in some of our analysis of the content of our standards is we have certain language that is very male oriented and sometimes has a, a bit of a, an odd connotation to it. And in talking with a number of standards professionals who are women, they've highlighted the idea that, you know, some of the language that's used in, in our standards and in our meetings, you know, tends to be off-putting. And so, we're addressing that inclusive language as a way to allow everyone who participates in those committee meetings to feel that they can really speak through their voice and bring forward their expertise into the process. [00:11:25] Host: And that inclusivity is really important. So, the next question really is, what is the role of other international companies, institutions, and entities in achieving the goal set forth in the UN agenda, and how can they use the findings of your report to further support the SDGs? [00:11:44] David Wroth: Well, I really believe that in order for us to achieve the sustainable development goals, because they are so broad and so far, reaching that essentially every organization, every company, every institution, and in fact each one of us individually, has a part to play in achieving these goals. You know, part of what we're trying to bring forward here is that standards are uniquely positioned to provide a framework to transition from the goals into specific actions. And by following industry accepted technical standards developed by UL Standards and Engagement and other standards bodies, it provides a blueprint for those products, those systems, and even services, to bolster the efforts that come about naturally. And by following standards you're both allowing people to know that the, the product or the system or the services are built and maintained and designed specifically to be of high quality and to meet this standard that other people have agreed to. But now it's also demonstrating that by doing that, you're taking steps towards achieving the SDGs. So, it, it essent

    Aligning Standards with the UN SDGs: A Conversation with David Wroth and Grace Callahan, UL Standards & Engagement

  2. 04/06/2023

    Women in Standards Development: A Conversation With Lin Xing, Technical Director, SEARI

    One of the key indicators of the move toward gender responsive standards is the increased participation of women experts in decision making and technical bodies. Towards that effort, we travel today to Shanghai to speak to Miss Lin Xing Director Standards and Institute of Testing Technology, Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute. She is part of multiple UL Standards and Engagement Standards Technical Panels, or STPs today. You can read the transcript of that Word to the W.I.S.E. interview with Ling Xing here: Host: Thank you, Ms. Lin Xing, for being part of the Word to the W.I.S.E. conversation. [00:00:51] Ms Lin Xing: Thank you, host. I'm very happy have this opportunity, attend this program. Women play a very important role in the standardization and I'm waiting to share my standardization story with you today. [00:01:08] Host: Thank you so much. And you are an esteemed member of UL Standards & Engagement's STPs, could you share your experience being part of these panels? [00:01:19] Ms Lin Xing: Okay, first as you all know, UL Standards has a long history and widely used. Each UL standards will set up a group with nine interesting characters attends, including producer, supply chain, commercial industrial use, general, AHJ/regulator government, testing standards, customers, and international delegate. So that means if you are related with the standard Standardize Objects, you could attend the working group, which is called STP In UL. For me, I attended two STPs. One is STP 3300 Robot for service, communication, information education, and entertainment. The other is STP 1740. That is for the robot and robotic equipment. In this two STPs, I worked as a chief member in this group and participate in the discussion of standards technical contents. Mm, why I joined these two STPs. That needed to send to Jessie Guo. Jessie Guo, who is a contact person of UL in China, and she attend some standards meeting which was hold from my side, so we know each other and when there some new standard projects starts Jessie Guo introduced the CCDS system to me and new projects. For my experience, the STP groups organization and the management is very professional. And, before each meeting, the Chairman of the meeting, will send the emails to us and, uh, to book the time and, uh, during the meeting, she will, take the notes with our discussion. For the technical difficulties that something may not, we cannot solve in a short time, then, the Chairman or the Project Leader will,set to different groups and let different leader discuss separately and then merger them.. [00:03:51] Host: And could you briefly explain the STP panels you've been part of? [00:03:56] Ms Lin Xing: Okay. , just like I said, I have joined two STP panels, for the 3300, um, this, uh, standards gives the requirement to the service, communication, information education and, entertainment robot. This robot will be used, in residential , commercial and light-industrial environments such like our office or classroom. At present, many robot in STP 3300 range are used in our life. We can see them in our life. Objectively speaking, which star robots appears in the main use. I mean, from the TV which we see had not been widely promoted. Well, the automation and the autonomy of robots we see every day are still in our relatively primary stage. And the safety is naturally also in a relatively preliminary stage. So, the role of the technical standards is very important. And about the another standards is also for the robots that is STP 1740. Uh, it gives the requirements of the robots and the robotic equipment related to 600 voltage or less and intend to installation in according with the national, electrical code NFPA 70. This requirement covers robotic,equipment and system intended for indoor and outdoor use in applications such as part assembling, , part transfer, automated material handling, inspection, loading, dye casting, widing .planting spring, automatic storage system and such things. Mm. I think, uh, these two standards almost covers robot usually used in the industrial or daily life. [00:06:17] Host: Hmm. And as a member of two of our STP panels, could you briefly throw light on how this engagement has helped you both professionally and personally? [00:06:31] Ms Lin Xing: Mm. when we talk from this group and with different experts , from different countries, we can learn each other. We share our, Mm, knowledge and, also, uh, from the talk we can get some information about how this kind of products used in different place of the world. So, um, I think that is a very good opportunity for all of the experts in the group. [00:07:08] Host: You are also involved in leading the proposal of performance test methods for cargo E transport mobility to IEC and have taken a lead on many local standards developments as well. What are the outcomes and what has been the significant impact of the standards which were developed through these panels in terms of safety, security, and sustainability? [00:07:30] Ms Lin Xing: Mm, yes. In November 2021, as the project leader, I put forward the international proposal to IEC on the cargo E-transport, , mobility method and these standards are successfully entered the CD stage now, at the same time, I also act as the co-convenor for IEC/TC/125 WG6. This working group is Safety for the Cargo e-transporters mm. As you know, performance is the direction that enterprise technology continuous purpose, and the security , I mean, the safety is the bottom line of the products. This kind of product used in hotel, uh, hospital and the parks, but the standards,are Blank. And the enterprise scale is not large. Um, so the product cost is very high. They could not offer supply of standard parts in the industrial chain. International sales are more difficult. So I think, the rapid development of IEC cargo e-transporters standards can help the industry solve this problem. And, that is very meaningful work. [00:09:04] Host: That is so interesting. And so, from your perspective, how important is participation of women in standards development, technical regulation, and in the implementation of standards? [00:09:17] Ms Lin Xing: Actually when I saw this question, I'm so confused because the number of women who participate in the standardization work in China is very similar the number of men. The standard is a product of compromise means men and women are similar education level in China and maybe women have higher ability in communication. So, there is very, I mean there is no, no difference of that. The standard itself serves industry regardless of gender. In fact, there is no obvious gender issues in the standard work. At least there are no difference in my surrounding. [00:10:11] Host: And that's so incredible because that's clearly a very unusual situation. So do you believe having more women at the table lead to gender responsive standards? [00:10:23] Ms Lin Xing: Um, yes that is sure, but in China there is a no such concern as women have the equal opportunity in this kind of work. [00:10:35] Host: How important is diversity and inclusion in STP panels? Could you highlight the role played by experts from diverse backgrounds in the development of standards? [00:10:45] Ms Lin Xing: Mm, Yes, I think the diversity and inclusion in STP panel are very important. For example, from the, um, perspective of a third party, you know, SEARI, my company is a third party. The integrity, the repeatability and the standardization for a standard are important aspects to ensure high quality standards. But the product, sold in the market is based on the cost and the customer's acceptance. The highest demand is not always be the best, suitable is the best. So the government regulation appartment also have this appeal diversity of the members, especially from the small and medium, companies innovative capacity can bring in different demands. Reach consensus through discussion and, comprise. This is also conducive to the application of later standards. [00:12:03] Host: And how important is mentorship and what role has mentorship played in advancing you in your own career? Would you consider being a mentor yourself? [00:12:15] Ms Lin Xing: Mentorship is important to help young, standard, participants grow quickly. I met a lot of teachers when I in this series, although they cannot be called a mentor, but an advisor in different stage of my job. My company is SEARI. Uh, it is a third-party inspection agency after I was hired because the standard work is not for gaining profit, I contribute a lot and the job is always taken up by part-time works. Uh, I have act a test engineer and then project engineer, a quality minister, minister of international certification and ect. While I was working both on standards. To be honest the change in my job offered me so experience and benefit me. Now I'm the Director of Standards and the regulation and the response for the standardization of TIC that is the department of SEARI and also construct, uh, training mode for the younger generation of standardization colleagues. Also, I advise some young men and assist them to rapid growth. [00:13:50] Host: What would you tell women who are listening to this podcast about joining STPs or participating in the standards development process? How would you encourage them to join in and participate a little bit more?. [00:14:05] Ms Lin Xing: Okay. In the standard world, there is no gender difference, only the technical discussion. Also, in UL and in the process of STP development, there are many different rules. No matter you are conference organizer, recorder, or the standard drafter, as long as you have a technical idea, you can bring it up and all the experts will fully respect and discuss that. At the same time, people in the group can learn a lot here because the standards has many dimensions. In our discussion, we can enrich our knowledge of standards and deepen

    Women in Standards Development: A Conversation With Lin Xing, Technical Director, SEARI

  3. 03/06/2023

    Equipping the Next Generation of Standards Leaders: A Conversation with Carrie Schmaus, US Department of Energy, and Grace Callahan, UL Standards & Engagement

    You can read the full transcript of that podcast interview with Carrie and Grace here: Host: Carrie and Grace, thank you so much for joining us in this Word to the W.I.S.E. Conversation. [00:01:05] Carrie Schmaus: Great to be here. [00:01:06] Grace Callahan: Yes, agreed. [00:01:09] Host: Carrie, what is your role in the YEP program and how and why did you decide to get involved? [00:01:17] Carrie Schmaus: So, my role in the Young and Emerging Professionals or YEP program is what we call it. I am the chair and I've been the chair for about three years now. And so, I really got interested in this work after I attended the IEC Young Professional Program or the YP program. So, we have YEP and YP, YEP is the US committee and YP is the international program, which I think Grace will talk about here pretty shortly. And after attending that program, which was in 2018, I left really excited about standards and conformity assessment, and particularly the role of young professionals kind of in that whole world. And so, as the program went on, I was elected a YP leader, which is a position that allows for three folks to get elected. And so those folks are able to work on a project of their choice for the rest of the year. And I used my year to focus on expanding support for the Young and Emerging Professionals program in the US, and because I was interested in that, I, of course joined the Yep. Committee and then was shortly thereafter elected Chair. And our work these past three years has really been focused on starting up, a US National YEP program. So, kind of a mirror program of what happens at the international level but focused on US Young and Emerging Professionals. And with this, we're really trying to build a community of these leaders in the United States. And it's been really rewarding for me to spend the last three years on this work. [00:02:51] Host: And Grace, congratulations for being selected this year for the IEC's Young Professionals Program. What has been your experience with the workshop you just attended and the interactions you had so far? [00:03:02] Grace Callahan: So, I was selected by the US National Committee of the IEC to represent the US in the Young Professionals Program. It was such an amazing opportunity to be able to participate in a week-long program where the young professionals were able to learn more about standardization and conformity assessment, as well as observe IEC technical and management meetings and attend sessions on topics related to standards, including digitizing standards and using them, to improve energy efficiency and achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. So, one of my favorite parts was actually just getting to meet the 85 other young professionals from 46 different countries that use standards in their jobs. [00:03:48] Host: That's so interesting. And how has both your involvement with the IEC and the U.S. National Committee influenced your career and line of work and your understanding of standards? [00:04:00] Carrie Schmaus: So, for me, my involvement in the IEC and USNC has really influenced my career, mostly in the sense that I've been able to refine skills that have been really helpful in my day job at the Department of Energy. And so, things like, you know, now I have experience building and implementing a program with the US National YEP Program. , I've planned and participated on panels, so lots of public speaking opportunities. And of course, I chair a committee, so I have some leadership experience, and this has really helped me in all aspects of my career. But I've also experienced a pretty interesting evolution of understanding of standards because in addition to the technical and safety advancements, I've also found the IEC to be a really powerful forum for international collaboration, which is another thing that I find to be really important in my work at DOE. [00:04:50] Grace Callahan: Yeah, and I echo everything that Carrie mentioned. I think that the IEC Young Professional Program has been really great for improving my understanding of standards and conformity assessment through the week-long workshop. I think both the Young Emerging Professionals Committee that Carrie talked about as well as the YP program are both just really great ways for young professionals to really become excited about standards by getting to meet other young people that are also involved, and just by being able to exchange new ideas. [00:05:27] Host: And what needs to happen to make it more attractive for younger professionals? [00:05:33] Grace Callahan: I think the biggest thing is awareness. I would say most people, especially young professionals, don't even know about standards or why they're important, so much less having a career in standardization. I would say secondly, you know, increasing diversity in the standards industry, we really want to create an environment where young professionals feel like they can actively participate and add value. And lastly, I would say, you know, just really showing the impact that standards have on everyday life, like why they're important, why they matter. You know, standards are everywhere. So, we really want to make sure that young professionals know that by pursuing a career in standardization, they can really have an impact on, you know, helping to make the world a safer place. [00:06:24] Carrie Schmaus: Yeah, I think Grace said that really, really well, and I totally agree. I think awareness is one of the biggest barriers facing people getting involved in standards and conformity assessment. And so, I mean, to be honest, before I went to the YP program, I didn't know much about standards. but once I went through that program and was able to spend some time learning and thinking and networking, and really considering the positive impact that standardized conformity assessment can have, particularly in sustainability, I was totally sold. And so, I think a lot of young people really need that connection to whatever it is that they really care about in their work. And so, for me, that thing is climate change. And so, once I understood how standards and conformity assessment could bring our society into a greener, healthier future, really my only question was, okay, how do I get more involved in this? And so, I think if that connection between the IEC work and efforts like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or the UN SDGs, were clear to more people. Then I think there would be a lot of interest. [00:07:31] Host: And apart from awareness, what is the role of mentorship and how has it structured or been structured in the standards community? [00:07:42] Grace Callahan: So, mentorship is really important for young professionals to really get involved in the standards community as well as stay involved. A mentorship can provide, you know, insight and guidance, and, you know, informal mentors are just as important as, you know, formal mentors because sometimes it can be difficult to find one. But I think that especially being a young professional in the industry, having someone who can give you guidance can really make a difference in, in your career and the way that you, think about things and kind of your career path going forward. [00:08:18] Carrie Schmaus: Yeah, I think that is, that's totally right. And I know I've personally benefited from guidance and insight of both formal and informal mentors. But one thing that the US YEP Committee, is really excited about, especially for those coming into the standards and conformity assessment world. Maybe for the first time, or maybe they're still pretty new is that the USNC does have a formal mentorship program. And this is a really neat program because it actually matches the mentors and the proteges or the mentees and then provides kind of a blueprint. A blueprint for what that relationship can look like. And so, as Grace mentioned, of course, for the proteges, that's really impactful and helpful to have kind of that guidance insight into the world of standards, or conformity assessment. But for folks that are mentors, that's also a really rewarding way to spend time. And I think, at least for me, being a mentor can really help you see your career through a new lens as well. [00:09:17] Host: And seeing it through the new lens. What lies in the future for the IEC and USNC plans to develop the next generation of standard leaders? [00:09:28] Carrie Schmaus: So, as we talked about at the beginning, the US National Program is under development now, and with that program, our ultimate goal is to build a community of young and emerging professionals in the United States. And, we have four kind of core values that we've built this program around. The first is diversity, equity, and inclusion. The second is outreach to a wide variety of audiences. We have a group working on events and programming, that will benefit the membership. So things like trainings and other events that will really help people get ingrained into the work. And then international collaboration. And so for the program, we're really hoping to build on these core values and kind of build it out into something that will really serve the young and emerging professionals in the US. [00:10:16] Grace Callahan: Yes, and I wanted to add that we meet monthly, via teleconference with this group. And it's just such a great opportunity to get to know people who are also involved in standards, and really work together and collaborate and, and share, you know, ideas from, from their industries. So if you're in the US and interested in getting involved, you can go to our webpage, which is on the, ANSI website. [00:10:39] Host: That's so interesting. And for young and emerging career professionals, how can they learn more about and build skills in standards? [00:10:48] Grace Callahan: I would say one way is to join the YEP Committee. If you're in the U.S., you can also apply for the IEC YP program. You know, i

    Equipping the Next Generation of Standards Leaders: A Conversation with Carrie Schmaus, US Department of Energy, and Grace Callahan, UL Standards & Engagement

  4. 02/09/2023

    Global Perspectives on Gender Responsive Standards: A Conversation With Dr. Azizah Alogali and Filwah Alqahtani, SASO

    You can read the transcript of that recording with Dr Azizah and Filwah here: Host: Dr. Azizah and Filwah thank you for being part of this Word to the W.I.S.E. Conversation. [00:00:56] Azizah Alogali: Thank you so much for inviting me along with my colleague Filwah to be guests on your podcast. It's actually a pleasure to spend the time with you and talk about developing standards that are truly gender responsive and representative. It's actually the topic that I'm personally interested in and I'm grateful for the opportunity to represent with my colleague, of course, Filwah SASO, and its effort towards achieving gender equality and standards development. Thank you. [00:01:26] Filwah Alqahtani: Thank you, all, and it’s our pleasure to be part of this episode. [00:01:30] Host: Thank you so much. But could you just for our listeners, tell us a bit more about your respective journeys, in particularly your career paths that brought you to the standards development space and what it is that you do at SASO. [00:01:45] Azizah Alogali: Thank you for your question. Actually, for me personally, my professional career began 20 years ago when I start teaching at college. During that period, I was mostly involved in teaching, uh, offering academic advisory services and was involved of course, in the research. Since then, I have worked as a researcher at the University of North Dakota Program Evaluator at the University of Rochester. Then I moved to Saudi Arabia and started my career as a consultant, a full-time consultant, at a technical and vocational training corporation, and also part-time business development consultant in Nagaro. Would like to highlight my work with the women and gender studies department at the University of North Dakota. Within this collaboration, I was involved in examining issues of gender, social equality, and power dynamics. My experience through this career facilitated my understanding of the politics of sexuality and aspects of performance of gender. I also have the opportunity to understand women's achievement and their contribution to history. Generally, my working at the University of North Dakota helped me seek challenges related to women empowerment and take up all leadership initiatives within my community. Currently I work as a full-time consultant at the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO). I start actually working at SASO since, uh, 2020, and I was collaborating all the time with the rest of my team to make sure that our project and initiatives are serving the needs of Saudi Arabia. I also work with the rest of my team to make sure that our initiatives are aligned with the strategic goals of the organization. It is also important to know that my responsibility is not only locally, um, sharing that we involved with our, um, activities at SASO and making sure that activities that SASO align with international organization that we're collaborating with, such as an ISO organization and other organization of course. Bulk of my personal contribution to SASO so far has entitled Developing a New Strategies for Action Plans Based or Recommendations. I have also collaborated with internal team members to develop a new awareness plans and solutions meant to facilitate the long-term growth of the organization. As part of my contribution also to SASO, I have also joined some of the ISO committees and representing SASO as a female employee in some of the ISO technical committees such as the Human Resource Management, governance of organization guidelines for the promotion and implementation of gender equality. And finally, I have joined also the Joint Strategic Advisory Group of Gender Responsive Standards that basically in short, my contribution and my career where it's starting and ending up with SASO. [00:04:35] Filwah Alqahtani: So, for me, uh, I've been working for a while with SASO, but my journey in standardization got deeper a couple of years ago when I became the head of follow up and documentation section. At that time, my work included following up on standard projects from the initial step where a project is suggested to be added in the annual plan of a technical committee or department. Until the final draft of a project becomes an approved standard. Then I became the head of national technical committees’ section where my work shifted from focusing on projects to focusing on technical committee members who are involved in the standardization work. And now, as you mentioned earlier, I work as the manager of National and International Technical Committees department. And being a certified project manager, I represent Saudi Arabia in the number of regional and international technical committees about project management [00:05:30] Host: So, what is your vision for the region in the future of standards development and how are you working towards achieving it? [00:05:39] Azizah Alogali: Well, before I can lay out the vision of our organization concerning the future of standardization, I guess it would be imperative to define what a standard for our listeners who may not have enough knowledge or may not have, uh, familiar with the word standardization or standards. Well, a standard is the document established by consensus, improved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use. Rules, guidelines, or characteristic for activities or their results aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. So, in a simpler term, I can say it's best referred for a standard is something that is established by authority Custom, or maybe General consensus as an example or point of reference. A standard is therefore a measure of, could be quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality. Our vision actually here at SASO is to be internationally trusted entity that empowers life equality and that the competitiveness of the national economy. Concerning standardization, we also focusing on issues Saudi or issuing Saudi standards and other relative documents that are consistent with international standards. We also focus on ensuring that the products comply with the standards approved by SASO, thereby guaranteeing environmental and health protection as well as general safety. Our organization actually known for ensuring the quality of national products and services. We do this by, uh, providing suitable Saudi standards that allow products and service to, to compete in the domestic and international markets. Uh, it is also our additional responsibility to protect the Kingdom's markets from the substandard and the counterfeit. As you can see here, our vision in general is to see Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf also become a centre of excellence in standardization activities. Taking a step toward standards development could help our region accelerate action towards achieving the sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations. And to achieve this kind of vision, we have invested in collaborations and consensus that can facilitate the standards developmental process. SASO strongly believes in the fact that impactful standards are an outcome, just an outcome of a strong will to come together and build consensus on the way forward. The spirit, actually of the collaboration and consensus is what we need as a region. To drive standardization work and to achieve a sustainable future. Apart from that, we have also committed to inclusive in standardization process that place everyone, everyone in a leading position to achieve their ambitions for sustainable development. And this is why, maybe explaining why we have invested in bringing together expert from different sectors of the world and authorities experiencing coming together in their responsibilities. It is also important to note that we manage most of the national quality infrastructure in the Kingdom. Covering aspects of standardization, testing, product inspection, certification, metrology, and also technical regulations. I can also leave the floor for colleague Filwah to talk about the standards, issuing strategies as a part of our vision here at SASO [00:09:12] Filwah Alqahtani: It's important to mention that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a crucial country in the Gulf, region, and an equal part of the international community. For this reason, it's important that Saudi products and services have access to and are accepted on international markets. Therefore, SASO strengthened its position, operation, and work at the international level in cooperation with International Standardization Organization and has newly developed its standards issuing strategy to ensure that the internal needs of the Kingdom are met. Consequently, wherever possible, national, and regional standards will become the same, or let's say, at least based on international standards. Our standards’ issuing strategy was built on a number of criteria, which includes Saudi Vision 2030, government priorities and strategies, the needs of real stakeholders. So, uh, Saudi social and non-economic priorities in addition to exports and imports, this strategy resulted in 181 priority areas for product categories as well as technologies and services standardization that we are aiming to cover. Also, standardization in the broadest meaning of the term, of course, is not limited to the development of new standards. As part of the development of the strategy, SASO undertook a self-assessment of the standardization department against the requirement of good standardization practice as promoted by ISO to figure out areas in which SASO shall undertake improvements during the period of the strategy, which is from the current year in 2022 until the 2024. [00:10:56] Host: And given what both of you said, how critical are the roles of technical committees, local bodies, and collaboration with other stakeholders [00:11:05] Azizah Alogali: Thank you for your question. It's important to note that all of these institutions are

    Global Perspectives on Gender Responsive Standards: A Conversation With Dr. Azizah Alogali and Filwah Alqahtani, SASO

  5. 01/09/2023

    Bringing More Women Into Standards with Veronica Lancaster, VP of Standards Programs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

    You also read the transcript of the podcast interview with Veronica Lancaster here: Host: Veronica, thank you for joining us in this Word to the Wise conversation. [00:00:58] Veronica Lancaster: Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here and to contribute to Word to the Wise. Some of my friends and colleagues have participated and I'm happy to be included in the conversation. [00:01:08] Host: You've such vast experience in the standards development industry. Tell us a bit about how you began your career and the opportunities that were offered for women standardization professionals. [00:01:20] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, well, my career in standards was somewhat of an accident in that my original interest was in training, development and human resources. I spent five years in the Army when I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted my day job to be, and that was a great learning experience. It helped me develop discipline and drive. After I was honourably discharged, I started focusing on HR and training and development, which led to a job working for a small satellite office that had three employees and was about the size of a bedroom maybe. So, it really left a little room for advancement, even though it was really focused in on developing training and development programs for different organizations. So, at that point, I, I started looking for other jobs that might have a little bit more opportunity for growth, and I found a job working for a telecommunications association that was focused on standardization. I fell in love with the process immediately and I grew within that association. I fell in love with the process itself, getting engineers to work together, and I started working for a few great people that really gave me room to grow, and they mentored me. So, when I started working in telecom standards in the late 1990s, the dotcom boom was still really hot. And there were a lot of companies that were involved at that time. However, the number of women that were working in the development of standardization was limited. Within telecommunications, it seemed to depend really on the specific field of expertise regarding how many women were participating. So, for example, we saw stronger participation from women in ordering and billing, as well as in network rating and routing. But other areas such as optical networking, timing and synchronization and packet technologies and systems, they were heavily male. Many other committees in telecommunications, but that's a pretty good example of how it gets started, but you know, it's starting to get better. [00:03:31] Host: And where is the standards development field now with regard to greater diversity and inclusion and gender responsiveness. [00:03:40] Veronica Lancaster: I believe that there is greater awareness about the importance of diversity, inclusion, and gender responsiveness, which is a great start to improving behavioural changes. As part of my volunteer work, as you mentioned, I'm the president of the Board of Directors for Women in Standards. And that's an organization that's focused on promoting the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in standardization. We're a fairly small organization with over 500 individual members. But our beginnings were humble. We really started as a networking organization. We were supporting the importance of getting to know each other in the field. So, we started with just a few networking events among, women that were working in standardization in the Washington DC area. It's an interesting community in that, a lot of people that work in the community tend to stay involved in standards. Like me, they love it. So, as we started with just a few friends getting together now and then We grew into an organization that incorporated in 2019. These women that participated, they could see the importance of networking, sharing information, and learning from each other and supporting each other. So, what I love seeing, is how internationally that's been, going down the same path. For example, in my personal work in the International Electro Technical Commission, also known as the IEC, I'm never sure if everyone knows what that is, but they're a global organization that's focused on bringing more than 170 countries together to create international standards. So, we had a very similar experience in the IEC. I work within a couple of technical committees, but specifically TC 100, which is similar to the work that CTA does, in audio and video and multimedia. When I started, there were only a few women that were participating, but we began to gravitate toward each other, and we started creating our own network. Throughout our time we began hosting dinners during our face-to-face meetings, and we started discussing issues and challenges that we were all facing, and that led to support and growth. We began to volunteer more. When I started working in this TC, the leadership was mostly male. However, I'm happy to say that many of the women in that network were now holding leadership positions within TC 100, and were also our nation's head of delegations at times. So throughout that support, we volunteer to be leaders of working groups, ad hoc groups, strategic groups. And TC 100 is now chaired by a woman, Ulrike Haltrich of Sony, and she represents Germany. And she's part of that original network, so I'm happy to call them all friends, but I'm happy to see that that awareness and that support and networking overall, it's led to greater things for all of us. I think, networking and mentoring and these types of scenarios can lead to greater confidence and support through caring and friendship. [00:07:01] Host: So, with the networking and awareness and all the exposure that you've had to the international community of women, what will it make easier for women, particularly young and emerging professionals, to have a greater voice on the decision-making table? [00:07:16] Veronica Lancaster: Yeah, I thought it's a great question. I think. Coming back to networking and mentoring. Those are two of the greatest tools that can be used to boost confidence and support a talented professional, whether they're just starting a career or showing an aptitude for standardization. I have a colleague on my team that originally started in CTAs research department. Her master's degree in her education is really focused on research. Research has a really nice alignment with standardization in that you can start to see how some of the trends are indicators of future standardization needs. So, she helped us support our standardization efforts throughout the pandemic and even though we all started our work thinking it was just temporary, she fell in love with the work and with how standards are built. So, when we, you know, started to come through the pandemic and we had a job opening, she applied internally and, she's been with us for a couple of years now. She has such a strong interest in learning more about national standardization efforts, as well as international standardization efforts. So, we're really thrilled to have her. She has that natural understanding of the linkage between the trends, that you'll find through research and the need for standardization in emerging areas that can support those trends. But she really has a knack for understanding the importance of the process itself. So, through that introduction to standardization. Mentoring and maintaining that networking connection with her after the temporary work was over, we created a new standardization professional. So, I'm excited to see her take the reign someday. I think she's going to be in it for the long haul, and that's exciting. So, To me, that's really what's important. Mentoring those that you see have a natural understanding and ability maintaining your network. And also, I think it's especially important for women to see themselves in the leadership roles that they aspire to hold someday. I remember attending an international event with a younger professional on my team years ago, and we were watching an opening ceremony and she mentioned to me we're sitting next to each other that it was, kind of a stark image to see a sea of men in black suits in the opening ceremony. And she wasn't wrong. So, I think we have to think about what we're projecting and what that represents to the next generation. So, in addition to networking and mentoring, could start considering what it is that we're projecting. You know, is it more of the same or can we make an effort to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority? [00:10:10] Host: And as more women step forward and take on leadership roles, what needs to happen for the standards development community itself to come together to make sure that these voices are truly heard, where it matters. [00:10:24] Veronica Lancaster: You know, I think awareness is a huge factor. For example, the, the US hosted the, the last IEC general meeting in San Francisco over the last week of October, in the first week of November of this year. During that time, our meetings were face to face for the first time since the start of the pandemic. However, a lot of progress has been made, within gender responsive standards initiatives. So, for example, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Gender Responsive Standards Initiative. That itself led to future work by a variety of international standards bodies such as the IEC ISO, ASTM International, and then there's a variety of national and regional standards bodies that support gender responsive standards, and that includes governmental authorities, regional organizations, UN organizations, such as the International Trade Centre and UNICEF, as well as academic and research institutions. So, let's talk a little bit about gender responsive standards and, and what they are. These are standards that consider the distinct and different needs for different genders. They also consider, the efficacy o

    Bringing More Women Into Standards with Veronica Lancaster, VP of Standards Programs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

  6. 11/30/2022

    Stakeholder Diversity in Standards Development with Megan Hayes, Senior Technical Director, NEMA

    You can read the full transcript of the interview with Megan Hayes here: Host: Megan Hayes, thank you so much for joining us in this Word to the Wise conversation. [00:01:09] Megan Hayes: I would just like to thank UL for the opportunity and I'm excited to provide my perspective on diversity and inclusion in standards [00:01:17] Host: . What an incredibly rich experience of 22 years in standards. Megan, tell us a bit more about the industries you worked in and the work you do now at NEMA. [00:01:28] Megan Hayes: So, I started my career a long time ago in telecommunications at the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. After about four years there, I moved to the Consumer Electronics Association, which is now the Consumer Technology Association where I worked in wireless power and product safety. I then came to NEMA and I worked in lighting and medical imaging. I spent about a year and a half at the Plastics Industry Association, which was really interesting as they're dealing with all kinds of sustainability issues. And about four years ago, I came back to NEMA as their Senior Technical Director, where I'm responsible for their overall technical program from the standards that NEMA develops to the organizations that we participate in, like UL and NFPA and the IEC. It's a lot on my plate, but I have the most amazing team to support me in moving the electro technical industry forward. [00:02:28] Host: And looking back at your career path, when did it become critical to you personally to have more diverse opinion and decision making on standards development bodies? And how did that come about? [00:02:40] Megan Hayes: I'm not sure if there's an exact specific moment, and I'll bet that most of my cohort would agree that it's, it's almost a spectrum of understanding the importance of stakeholder diversity. But as I thought about. You know how my thinking has evolved over time. There are a few conversations and , events that have happened that have really helped to shape my thinking. One is discussions with the American National Standards Institute and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission about the critical importance of the consumer perspective in developing standards for product safety. Another is the focus on ESG that so many of our member companies have and, and how that's shaped thinking for trade associations like NEMA. The IEC governance and reorganization work that has led to the diversity advisory committee. And then finally, and I think one that we're all thinking about is the United Nations Sustainability Goals, specifically goal number five about, gender equality. And that's really helped over time to ensure that so many people in standards are now thinking, "Do we have the right people at the table to make the most effective standards that we can?" [00:04:00] Host: And as chair of IEC's Diversity Advisory Committee, what are your key focus areas? [00:04:07] Megan Hayes: So, before the Diversity Advisory Committee, there was a task force of the IEC, council board, then now just the IEC board and that diversity task force did an amazing job in setting the diversity advisory committee up for success. And they identified three key focus areas for diversity within the IEC and those are gender diversity, regional diversity, and stakeholder diversity. And you know, if you think about it for an organization as large and diverse as the IEC, where the members are countries and not companies, those three factors are really the correct factors for the IEC to be focused on. [00:04:52] Host: And apart from considering stakeholder diversity and gender, how can standards bodies themselves address the question of greater representation of diverse voices on their own technical panels and boards? [00:05:04] Megan Hayes: I think that the first step for any standards development organization is to really think about who are the right people to have at the table. , The IEC Diversity Task Force did a great job focusing the IEC on those three factors, but those aren't gonna be the correct ones for all standards development organizations. And once an SDO has thought about, you know, what are the right diversity factors, then it's key to create a program that really ensures that the SDO is trying to engage with, diverse stakeholders and the people that we, that really need to be at the table. Sometimes it's really difficult, you know, I mentioned conversations with ANSI and the US CPSC on, on consumer participation. It's hard to get consumers at the standards table, but it's not impossible. And, you know, reach out to your networks and your colleagues and, and folks at other SDOs and, and talk about to them about how they've gotten the right people at their table and, and take those lessons to heart in your own organization. [00:06:08] Host: And apart from getting the right people to the table, also, how crucial is mentorship and succession planning by the current generation of standards professionals to pass on the baton to the next generation? [00:06:22] Megan Hayes: I think right now mentorship, whether it's through a formal mentorship program or an informal mentorship between two committee members is critical. When I first started in standards 22 years ago, which sounds so crazy to me, it was a lot of sink or swim. Join this committee, sit on this panel and figure it out. I don't think that's the best way to bring the new generation in. And it's, it's certainly key to ensure not just that you have the right stakeholders on your committee, but to ensure that they're being engaged in the work. And without that mentorship and having somebody who's been there, kind of explain what's going on, what the rules are, how the procedures work, Folks are just gonna be confused and they're not gonna engage in the actual work at hand. And so from my perspective, Everybody that's been sitting on a technical panel for more than a few years should be doing their best to welcome new participants, to mentor them either formally or informally, and to ensure that we're not speaking what I call "standard speak" at meetings and explaining what's going on. You know, the more acronyms you'd use does not make you smarter. It just makes everybody else confused. [00:07:45] Host: And it alienates people so that engagement doesn't happen. So when you look at the standards development community the way it is right now with regards to being more diverse and inclusive, is it about striking a fine balance between diversity and how different regions also define gender and inclusiveness? [00:08:03] Megan Hayes: So, I think that depends upon the standards development organization for the International Electro Technical Commission, as I mentioned, our members, our national bodies are countries, and it's key that we are sensitive to different cultural expectations from around the world. For NEMA, uh, we don't have the same challenges that the IEC has, but different companies have different cultures. And so I think we have to strike that balance between wanting to ensure that we have diversity and understanding where our members are coming from, whether they be national bodies, companies or organizations. You know, for the IEC, when we focus on gender, the expert management system allows three choices. That is Mr. Ms. or Mx. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and I understand that here in the United States and in many other countries around the world, we consider gender on a much broader spectrum. But that's not true for all of the IEC member bodies. So the IEC had to strike that balance, and, and I think that they've done a good job of that, and, and I think every organization needs to ensure that they're understanding their member's culture and being sensitive to any of those needs. [00:09:20] Host: And it's about striking those balances. But are there any examples from your experience of standards challenges that eventually worked out because they were open to and went along with more diverse perspectives? [00:09:35] Megan Hayes: I could probably come up with dozens of them, Right? and I think anybody that's been in standards long enough could. I'll give one example. When I was in the consumer electronics industry, we, we were working with the US Environmental Protection Agency on, energy efficiency for televisions. Mm-hmm. , and they wanted to. Write their own standard. We convinced them that the right place to do that on, on how to measure the energy consumption of televisions was at the IEC. When we started to do that work, we realized because we had this international community that people around the world watched TV differently. Mm. and when you take a TV out of the box in the United States, it's set up differently than if you take it out of the box in Japan. And, uh, that led to what the IEC staff likes to call the most boring CD in the world, or D V D. And it literally is just a set of clips that represents how people watch TV around the world. that Other regulators could rely on that standard and ensure that it reflected their own population. [00:10:46] Host: That is so interesting because you're taking into consideration so many different factors. So what is the impact on standards development when the consumer perspective, is seriously taken into consideration while developing those standards? [00:11:00] Megan Hayes: I mean, I think at the end of the day, if you're talking about a consumer product, you wanna be designing that product for the consumer. And without the consumer perspective, you don't understand how the product is being used. I always say if you're in a discussion on standards development and you keep hitting a block or you don't know the answer, you don't have the right people at the table. A while back we were in discussions again with the CPSC about the issue of button cell batteries and little children getting ahold of them, eating them, and getting really sick. And the consumers at the table were insistent that

    Stakeholder Diversity in Standards Development with Megan Hayes, Senior Technical Director, NEMA

  7. 11/01/2022

    Inclusive Language in Standards Development: a Conversation with Muhammad Ali and Caroline Treuthardt

    You read the transcript of the interview with Muhammad Ali and Caroline Treuthardt, here: Host: Ali and Caroline. Thank you for joining us on this Word to the Wise podcast. [00:00:48] Caroline Treuthardt: Thank you for having us. [00:00:49] Muhammad Ali: Glad to be here. [00:00:51] Host: Could you both tell us a bit about what you do in your organizations, especially around developing more inclusive practices with respect to standards development. [00:01:01] Caroline Treuthardt: Sure, thanks again for having us here it is a pleasure to be speaking with you. And I can give you a quick intro into what we are doing here at UL Standards and Engagement. So, regarding inclusive language, we are currently in process of developing our own internal guidance for this approach. And that means drafting everything from documents, for handling our in-house policies and procedures. As well as planning for how we want to approach this topic in our standards catalogue. I, myself, I am a member of the inclusive language team that has been tasked with developing this guidance. And so, this team is in its infancy, and we have just begun drafting methods for how to introduce and implement the updated terminology. And in this stage, we are having to review and define our approach. It is really understanding the why of inclusive language to ensure that we reach the intended impact of the how. So that, includes educating our staff, our stakeholders, on why we are choosing to go down this journey of inclusive language. And then, you know, determining the best ways to have these terms implemented into our existing standards. [00:02:08] Muhammad Ali: Thank you for having me. I work for Industry Standards, Program Office responsible for managing the overall external standards engagement and leading HP strategic standardization efforts in US based standards organization. HP participates in over fifty-five standards development organizations, trade organizations, consortia, and fora, with over four hundred experts involve in standards development. Creating a culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has long been integral to HP success. And we think that diversity and inclusion at all levels drive innovation and performance. Internally I lead internal outreach efforts on diversity and inclusion for our office. And we have recently launched an internal toolkit for our experts participating in standards development activities. You know, we started out on these efforts, within our office by understanding our current demographics of our participants, and then coming up with a plan on how to expand diversity within standards development activities. So one of the outcomes of that plan was a recently released internal toolkit to educate our internal stakeholders on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG Five on Gender Responsive Standards and inclusive terminology relevant industry standards efforts and then also providing them the guidance on creating and finding gender responsive standards. [00:03:45] Host: And as both of you do these interesting things, why has inclusive language become so important in the standards development process? What does it bring to the table? [00:03:57] Muhammad Ali: Standards development is not possible without the use of collaborative teams. We call them working groups in most of the standards development committees, and really, you know, effective use of inclusive language is essential to pull productive collaboration and really promoting diversity in, in standards, development activities. And language that is racially, ethnically, and culturally inclusive is effective in promoting respect, reflecting diversity, and avoiding any kind of negative stereotypes. Standards, procedures, and any kind of relevant technical documentation is therefore a powerful tool for building inclusion and supporting diversity. There are currently efforts underway in majority of the SDOs, major SDOs to create principles of inclusive terminology and other relevant policy documents pertaining to promoting diversity and inclusion at the org level. So, in my view, standardization is really a key to challenging gender inequality and standards and a standards development process, play a critical role in promoting gender equality. [00:05:16] Caroline Treuthardt: I absolutely agree and second everything that Ali has just said. As he noted, HP and others and us here at UL Standards and Engagement, it is our belief that inclusive standards will open that standards development process to a wider set of stakeholders. And our intention as an SDO is to build the best, most applicable, most useful standards that we can. And if our spoken language or our written terminology is preventing full participation from our stakeholders, if they in any way feel unsafe or unwelcome, we are not going to be able to develop that standard to be as applicable as much as we intended to be. And so, for us to do our jobs well, and to serve the public by keeping everyone safe, you know, we need to have those traditionally marginalized voices at the table. And by incorporating inclusive language, we are going to create an environment where we welcome that wider array of voices. We include those experiences and hopefully more data actually to review and consider. And by inclusive data in my mind, I am thinking, you know, it is data that covers a wider set of demographics, such as a pain threshold or a body dimension of a woman or a child versus men, which is typically the data points that we have readily available. And so, with all of this included, this ensures that the science behind the safety in our standards is reaching more folks and helping more products and more systems be safe as it is more applicable to more people. And in more situations, [00:06:51] Host: And as, you go about making standards applicable and you go and try and bring all that data in. How do you engage existing groups of decision makers with the whole idea of making standards development language more inclusive and all encompassing. [00:07:06] Caroline Treuthardt: That's a great question. And this is definitely, a piece that we are still working on. And our executive team asked us this exact question, not too long ago. So, as we are kind of going down this path, first you're saying, you know, what levels, like, how do you engage these different groups? Well, pretty much we are going to speak to anybody that will listen. And as we are doing that, we are kind of figuring out the different, the best ways I should say to approach these different groups. And so far, we've kind of been able to weed out two prongs of an approach, and I am sure there is many more, but so far, we've, we've kind of stumbled upon two. And the first is really education. And I think that education piece is going to be very dependent on who you are speaking to. So obviously if you are speaking to executives or decision makers, you know, they are going to want to hear more of the business case. And if you are speaking to, the grumbly folks who just, think you are being, reactionary to the situation going on in the world today. You know, you can kind of break it down in a different way. To show it's just the difference of the way you approach it. And you could show some different things that way. So, it is really all about the education piece. And luckily internally here at, at UL Standards and Engagement, we have a group that specifically works with engaging our stakeholders. And so, we have been working with them to develop a focus group and these focus groups we were asking, you know, our stakeholders, what kind of information do you need to be engaged in this conversation? What do you think that you're going to need to make your best decision? and through that, we're hoping, you know, to develop a toolkit and Ali, I might reach out to you after this and kind of see how you're doing on your toolkit. So that's that's the first approach is defiitely, education. And then the second prong is the implementation. So, as we are kind of sharing this message with our stakeholders, a lot of the feedback, I should say, pushback, you know, if we, if we do get pushback, it is usually they are concerned with how we are going to do it. You know, are we going to do a copy paste and just ignore the application of the term where it is in the standard for, for example. And so, they really want to know what our plan is for implementing that. And that is where we are trying to engage them, to have them be part of that conversation to make sure that the right word goes in and you know, is it, is it a copy paste with just a word exchange? Is it rewriting the whole sentence? Do we need to re-evaluate what we are trying to say. So, it is I think we have a lot of interesting conversations ahead of us and I'm looking forward to it. [00:09:42] Host: And so, as you educate and have those conversations to implement more inclusive language, for the sake of our listeners, if you could just identify some terms or terminology that can be avoided or replaced by other more inclusive terms? [00:09:57] Muhammad Ali: Yeah, sure. Terminology should be clear and unambiguous conveying only the intended meaning to all readers. And we can produce more inclusive documents by avoiding terms with negative connotations. So, I will give you some examples, blacklist or whitelist. You know, these are some of the terms that are, used in many technical standards currently. And these terms have the negative connotation of, racial discrimination. So, some of the alternative terms that, that we could use instead of blacklist could be block list, denial list or drop list similar to that for whitelist, we could replace that with allow list, access list, or permit list. So, you see that, if you think about rewriting the text, instead of directly replacing the non-inclusive term, it actually makes the text much more clear and allow you to replace the

    Inclusive Language in Standards Development: a Conversation with Muhammad Ali and Caroline Treuthardt

  8. 09/16/2022

    Decoding Gender Responsive Standards with Michelle Parkouda, Manager, Research, Standards Council of Canada

    You can read the transcript of the interview with Michelle Parkouda, here: Host: Michelle Parkouda. It's really great to have you on this season of the Word to the Wise. [00:00:48] Michelle Parkouda: Thank you Shivraj. It's great to be here. [00:00:50] Host: Tell us Michelle, a bit about yourself. What led you to research on gender and standards? [00:00:58] Michelle Parkouda: I'm going to be honest with you. I never imagined I would do research on this topic. Gender equality has always been something that's been really interesting to me, but honestly, I had no idea what standards were. So, a number of years ago, I, I saw a job opportunity and I saw the job description and I went through a description and I thought, oh, I can do all of those things. But the job description was through a recruiter. And so it didn't name the organization. So, I put in my application, I got a call the next day saying, you know, we wanted you to come in. And then they told me what the organization was. And as soon as I heard what the organization was, I said, Hmm, I'm not sure this is for me. And I did that thing that women do where I knew that I was qualified and I met all these qualifications, but then I had that little doubt because I thought that organization, and it's not familiar to me. I don't have enough knowledge of it. So maybe I'm not qualified for this position. And so, I hesitated, but I have a really pushy husband. And so, he's like, no, no, just go for it, go for it. And so I did, I applied and I went through with the interview process and I ended up getting the job. Even when I got the job, I was like, what have I done? I'm not sure this is the right fit for me. , My job was to demonstrate the economic and social value of standards. And so thankfully I've been given a lot of autonomy within that, and there have been initiatives that have taken place. So, in, in particular, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, they have their gender responsive standards initiative. And as I started to hear about that work and work that was happening in other places. It really started to inspire some of the research that I did. And it really, it really resonated with me. And so now here I am. [00:02:31] Host: And so why is it so important to understand that link between standards and gender equality? [00:02:39] Michelle Parkouda: So I think, I think like me, a lot of people aren't really aware of what standards are and they don't realize how much of a role they play in our society and in our life. There's research that shows that 93% of global trade is impacted by technical regulations, which include standards. And so what that means is if standards are not as responsive for women, that we are going to be perpetuating inequality just through the regulations that we have. And so I know that might seem a little bit abstract. So let me explain with an example, and I'm going to use an example of something that's become all too familiar to us lately and that's face masks. And so we've got these face masks. Now medical face masks are based on the measurements that you would have for a 20-year-old American male soldier. That doesn't fit a lot of women very well. It doesn't fit a lot of other ethnic groups very well. And so, what we see is that these medical grade face masks are not as responsive to people. And it's meant that women in particular have been at greater risk during the COVID pandemic, particularly those that work in healthcare settings. It's not just face mask. We've seen this with crash test dummies. So crash test dummies are also based on male anthropometry. And what that means is that women are at a higher risk of being injured or killed when they're in a car accident. Because these crash test dummies are not designed for them. So we've got all these examples that we can see in specific sectors and with specific products, but it can actually be broader than that. And so you mentioned some of the research that I did. So a couple years ago, now I did this study where we wanted to look at the relationship between standards and health and safety. The idea being that standards should protect health and safety. And so what we did with this research is we looked at the relationship between participation in standards development and the number of people that die as a result of unintentional injuries or accidents across countries. And we control for some variables that might be kind of confounding. We did find that there's a relationship, but it turns out that that relationship depends on your gender. And so for countries that are more involved in standards development, they have less men dying as a result of unintentional injuries. So, standards are helping to protect men. When we look at the results for women, there is no such relationship. So, it means that involvement in standardization is not protecting women as well as it is protecting men. And that's why it matters. [00:04:57] Host: Hmm. And what is the current situation? You alluded to looking at different countries and the involvement. With respect to countries and how are you now challenging this gender bias or inequity? [00:05:12] Michelle Parkouda: Yeah, so I think one of the greatest things that's happened is, um, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, they have their gender declaration for gender responsive standards and standards development. It was released in 2019. And currently there are over 80 signatories. And so, it has been signed by a number of countries and organizations all across the world. What's important about this, this gender declaration is that it asks the signatories to develop a gender action plan. So it's not enough to just sign and say, oh yeah, we agree with this. We actually want them to say, what are you going to do about it? So, the Standards Council of Canada, we've developed an action plan. You know, Rwanda has developed an action plan. A lot of countries have the, the Bureau of Indian Standards, their plan emphasizes improving representation, and also ensuring that standards are gender responsive. There's also regional bodies that are getting involved. And so there's increased awareness, at least at the organizational level about the importance of this and there's activities that are happening. [00:06:09] Host: And what are the big challenges despite the action plans now there, out there for everyone. And where will we see the most success with changing the status quo as it is today? [00:06:19] Michelle Parkouda: Mm-hmm . So I'm going to focus on two challenges and then I'll tell you what progress I think we've seen with those. So, the first is around awareness. And so yes, we are seeing things happening at an organizational level. However, sometimes that awareness is limited. And so, uh, about a year ago, ISO and IEC did a survey of their technical committee chairs. So, these are people that are responsible for overseeing the development of standards. When they surveyed them 75% of respondents said that they had not considered gender in the work of their committee. There was this perception that standards are neutral. That gender doesn't matter, that safety doesn't distinguish. And hopefully, you know, if you weren't already convinced you are now that there are safety differences when it comes to standards. And so, we have this large portion of people that still see that standards, you know, that gender doesn't matter. That's what they think. More personally, I can tell you that the first time I gave a presentation on this topic in my organization, I had somebody approach me afterwards. And they said that when they saw that, what I was going to be speaking about, they kind of rolled their eyes and thought, oh, this is another feminist rant and thought that there was no relevance to it. She said, and this is, it was important to note, this is a woman. And so, women and men can also have these both, this perception that standards are gender neutral. And so, she said to me that after the presentation, she realized that, oh, this does matter. There's something to it. So I appreciated the first that she had the courage to tell me this and that also that I was able to change her perceptions of it. Because clearly if she thought this, she wasn't the only one. It's something I've seen. This is where I've seen progress. So, within my organization, you know, At first, it would be me or maybe one of my colleagues that would really speak up on this issue. More recently, I've been in meetings where something will be said, and somebody else will mention the gender considerations before I can. And that's how I can see progress. There's this increased awareness and other people are taking this cause up. The second challenge I see is around representation. And so, standards are developed by committees of experts. And we know that when more women are involved in the development of a product, it makes it more gender responsive. Because we're relying on experts. We often are limited by the labour force. And so in countries, in particular where women do not participate in the labour force as much, it can be harder to get those experts on committees. This can also be limited by the sector. So we have certain sectors where women are not as likely to be employed. And so that means it's going to be harder to attract women in those fields. So representation is an issue that we need to address. But this is something that can be addressed. And so, the, what there is happening more is that there's been better tracking of this information for a long time standards. Developers had no idea who was involved in the development of their committees. They didn't know what the gender composition was. There's still a lot of missing data there, but it is something that is starting to be tracked. And as we do that, we're gonna be in a better position to see if we're making progress, to see which initiatives work. And that's where I can see us h

    Decoding Gender Responsive Standards with Michelle Parkouda, Manager, Research, Standards Council of Canada

  9. 09/16/2022

    Season Two Trailer #WhyStandardsMatter

    Word to the W.I.S.E. #whystandardsmatter

    Season Two Trailer #WhyStandardsMatter

  10. 08/08/2022

    Ep. 9 Why Standards Matter: Safety, Security and Sustainability with Dr Charlotte M Farmer Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, UL Research Institutes

    You can read the transcript of the interview with Dr Charlotte Farmer here: Host: Doctor Charlotte Farmer, an absolute pleasure having you on the Word to the Wise podcast. Dr Charlotte Farmer: It is my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Host: You have [00:01:00] such an inspirational academic business and leadership journey. But if I were to ask you to go back to the very beginning, when did the motivation to really pursue the field of science and engineering really begin? Dr Charlotte Farmer: I will have to say as a young girl. I'm one of 10 siblings. And, , one of my siblings went to school far, far away, it felt like.. And she went to school at Vanderbilt University in Engineering, and it was at that time that I saw that I could strive for something much broader than I was currently experiencing. And so it was at that time, in my life, I may have been 10 years old and I said, I want to be like her. So I automatically saw [00:02:00] my sister doing amazing things. And I said, I want that. Host: And for women listening to this conversation, it would be important to understand how you became a leading executive of so many large enterprises. Can you please briefly tell the story?. Dr Charlotte Farmer: What a story. There were multiple pivots. And what I mean by pivots are points in my career, when I knew it was clear, I had to reinvent myself. Re-imagine what was next? Because you often hear this term, what gets you here will not get you there. And so my pivots were very painful actually, and eye-opening. So I'm happy to share that with my vulnerability, with your audience. The first pivot was, , one where I had saved this [00:03:00] multi-billion dollar company from closing down and I was going to receive my award and I'm going to a boardroom in, in reflection. It was a boardroom, but I didn't know that. And I'm going up the stairs to the door. And my hand is almost on the door. And this very dignified gentleman comes behind me and says, You must be lost, go to the receptionist to get a guidance. It was at that point upon reflection, I realized you just saved the company and the individual who you saved doesn't perceive you as the person, who could be receiving this award. Now, my award came in the mail four weeks later. And I can't even began to [00:04:00] explain how I felt about it. Other than to say, I channelled those feelings into decisive action. I sought a sponsor. And I immediately went into pivot mode and, , got an MBA. And that MBA allowed me to look above what I called it, that first pivot, my cement ceiling. So you hear about a glass ceiling. You can see what's above you, you know, it's there and you're trying to figure out how to get there. A cement ceiling is, I didn't even see what was behind that door. And it was obvious to me. I never was going to see what was behind that door and hitting my head against the cement ceiling could only result in a lot of pain. So that first pivot, it was the first pivot to just reinvent myself, because clearly [00:05:00] a chemical engineer with distinction and a graduate degree in chemical and saving a company ,was not going to be enough to grow in this organization. So that's the first pivot. I'll give you a few more pivots. Cause I know we've got a short amount of time .After I graduated from business school and got a really cool degree. Went to Hong Kong finished my second year. Was chased down by a consulting firm. They literally found me in Hong Kong. Nobody knew my forwarding information. So I felt pretty special and, , went to work for that company, ultimately, and then there was 9/11. So every most people, most people, at least in the States know where they were and they know what occurred in their lives when 9/11 occurred. So I happen to [00:06:00] be at a really high point in my career. At least I felt like I was, and then there was tragedy all around me. A great amount of tragedy, and it was a very personal reflection of what would happen in my life. So my husband was living in, a different state, while , I was living in New York, you know, just living the New York, fast paced, you know, life's great dream. And he basically said, we're not moving our family to New York. It's way too different, to different too difficult, too, too dangerous, just those three D's. And so I had to pivot again. Now, what I didn't tell you is that I had three kids in addition to my marvellous husband and I had to pivot toward my family this time, that first period pivot was [00:07:00] away from my family in a different country. I'm grasping at the stars in my career. This next pivot was more about how do you embrace your family while doing well and continuing to grow? So Booz Allen and that was the company I was with, gave me the opportunity to completely shift, I literally had to quit one job in our commercial business and hopefully get hired into our technical business that advised the federal government. There was no transfer. So I literally lost my job. I was unemployed. Let's let's just let that wave over you. I was unemployed for 6 long painful months while the other part of Booz Allen decided whether they wanted me or not. So in this second pivot again, I'm very humble, humble. You can think of these as [00:08:00] peaks and valleys, I'm definitely in a valley at this point, hoping I can get an opportunity to go to the next company .They take me in, but because I came from the ivory tower in our commercial business to our federal business, all of that came with me. And so I was given this test, that nobody else wants. In a place that nobody else wanted to go, and I was able to transform that tiny little task into a, almost a billion dollar business. And so I went from that valley to another peak. Well guess what? Here comes my last pivot and then I'll let this story go. My business is really going well and I've got another pivot I got to make because my baby, my daughter wants to go to college and my [00:09:00] career is just taking over, just overshadowing my family once again. And here's my husband. He says, look, I raised the boys, your daughter's 14. She needs her mom. Guess what? Charlotte, you got to make some tough decisions. So I pivoted again, I went from running my almost billion dollar business to going to a company that's in systems engineering. And what was enticing was that Charlotte, here are the benefits your daughter's gonna have a mom, she's got to get into a marvellous college because you're going to treat your daughter as if you're treating your clients, which is like, they're going to be successful. And while you're, while you're taking this sabbatical, I literally looked at this pivot as a sabbatical, a chance to rest, refresh, and stretch myself. And so I went to the best possible place, you could go for systems engineering. And, you know, with the intent of getting a PhD while being a great mom. [00:10:00] And so I went to the MITRE corporation. And then again, the universe just will not let me stay mediocre. I have to stretch. I have to grow. I have to make a positive impact. That's why I exist to make a positive impact on the world. And so in my efforts to get her into , a military institution, it was West Point. You have to get Congressional approval. So here I go again, I'm hobnobbing with individuals who are going to help us get a Congressional, nomination. And in the process, I began to advising our nation's leaders. So here we are back at that peak again. Good news. She gets into school. She graduates ,fast-forward, great career advising at MITRE, making a difference convening heads of state, heads of business, heads of [00:11:00] academia in ways that make the world safer. And I'm at this next juncture. Another pivot by the way, building a new capability here at Underwriter's Laboratories. Long story short, you gotta be humble. You gotta be prepared to pivot and you gotta be prepared to change and grow and, and lean in to that pain. Thank you for that. Host: And just sticking with the whole idea of the cement ceiling and all the pivoting that you had to do,. You had degrees in engineering, then you went on to do a master's of business administration. Do you believe you had to try harder because you were a woman and a woman of colour? Dr Charlotte Farmer: Yes, yes, yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. Why? Not my mom, I told you I had 10 siblings. Guess what? Eight of those are girls eight girls, two boys. [00:12:00] And my mom would always say. To this day, she's 96 and I'm 50 blahblahblah. I'm not going to say much, but she would say, you know, we've done as God has commanded us. And yet there's . there's room to, her way of saying, you can be the best that you can possibly be. And yet there's room, there's always room to striving and growing and do better. And she would always say, as we were leaving, in addition to that, be the best one there. You have to be 10 times better to be noticed. Because here's the thing, when you walk in a room and you're not saying anything, the way you look, the way you dress, the colour of your skin , your gender, they're screaming out things to people, and you're not saying anything. So when you speak, when you engage, [00:13:00] when you, make an impact. It needs to scream louder, then the way you look. And, and so as a result that has stuck with me, I show up very subdued. I wear boring clothes and boring colours. So that the only thing you hear is the intonation of my voice. The, the meaning of my narrative, the purpose of my intent, hopefully that's what shines through. And of course the outcomes and the results of my actions so that you don't see the person, you just see the results. It is, it is painful. It is true. I [00:14:00] wish I could tell you, the world is different just is not. There's this notion of intersectionality. And when you think of intersectionality, you think, oh, they're just making excuses. Well, when you live it, you know, right away, it's not an excuse. It's real. I challenge a

    Ep. 9 Why Standards Matter: Safety, Security and Sustainability with Dr Charlotte M Farmer Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, UL Research Institutes

Trailer

About

Welcome to the Word to the W.I.S.E… Why Standards Matter! A podcast series brought to you by UL Standards & Engagement. In the first season we featured remarkable women who used their careers in science and engineering to create a safer, more secure and sustainable future. This season we shift our focus to gender in the development of safety standards. Why safety standards? Standards touch almost every aspect of our lives. They are a set of requirements for how products and systems must perform or are made to instil safety, security and sustainability. Standards can facilitate trade, reduce costs and support innovation. As one guest from Season 1 eloquently put it – a standard is a common language. Regardless of which company manufactures a product or in what country, it will be tested to the same core requirements found in a standard. So, the next time you see hazmat suits fit snugly on men but not women, ask yourself how we can come together to update safety standards to equally address the needs of all genders. Gender equality is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. Yet, in a world in which half the population is women, and many are leaders in the fields of science, engineering, and innovation, only 10% of standards development experts are women. Through Word to the W.I.S.E. We aim to have those conversations, build awareness, and explore future strategies to increase women’s participation in the development of both standards and technical regulation. We will also explore examples of international standards that are truly gender responsive. Remember, you too can have your say. Just use the #whystandardsmatter across social media and pose questions for us on The Word to the W.I.S.E. podcast. And we will try to address those in future episodes. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and like us on any of your favourite podcast platforms!

Information