Because of the sexism of the day
I found that signing
my business development letters
Stephanie Shirley, Shirley being my 
marital name, got no response whatsoever
My dear husband of now over fifty years
suggested that I use the family 
nickname of Steve
Things began to take off
I've been Steve ever since
I was born in Germany at a time of
horrendous discrimination
and my parents did a very brave thing,
they organised for me
to come to England into the arms of strangers
on something called a Kindertransport
which brought 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees 
to this country in '38 and '39
That two and a half day journey
with the preceding problems associated with it
has made an enormous difference to my life
I loved mathematics even at school
and much to my school's horror I wanted to
study mathematics
and girls schools in those days didn't
really do science
I really fought to be taught mathematics
and had to transfer to the boys school
That was a useful introduction to the
sexism of the workforce
when I actually joined them
I lived in the country and like many people really
I came to London because that was where
everything was happening
My mother bought a little house
and a lodger that she had living with her at the time
introduced me to the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill
the hotbed of about 2000 graduates, all male
It had a great portico in the front
"Research is the Door to Tomorrow"
It made a big impression on me and many other people
I left the public sector in the late fifties
and went and worked in private industry 
for the computer manufacturer ICL
Everybody would have coffee together 
in the canteen every day
because that was where people
interchanged information
We were not in little silos
I was a mathematician, you're a scientist, 
he's an engineer
It was an interesting time where 
I learnt a great deal
and became besotted really 
with the computing industry
 
The reason that I left after a relatively short time
was that I hit the glass ceiling
No matter what I tried to do there I was getting blocked
I gave my notice and decided to set up my own company
of women, managed by women, driven by women
It would be a company writing software only
and it was... considered laughable
You can't sell software, it's given away free 
and certainly not with women
and certainly not with women working from home
With much thought I called it Freelance Programmers
which described what we did
There was a lot of always trying to present 
ourselves in a most professional way
When the phone rang and to disguise 
the baby noises in the background
I would have a tape playing of 
somebody on a typewriter
typing very fast of course
We did a vast number of early projects
concerned with operations research
The siting of depots for an oil company
The scheduling of lorries for Tate & Lyle sugar lorries
It remained a woman's company for thirteen years
until in Britain equal opportunities legislation came in
Although legislation was intended to help women
it meant that this all-woman company had to start 
employing men, and so we did let the men in
as long as they were good enough
This great company was eventually owned 
25 percent by its staff
and when we floated on the main
London Stock Exchange
after that there were over seventy millionaires
among the largely female staff
 
The fact that I nearly died in the Holocaust
means that I'm very motivated
to make sure that each day is worth living, 
that my life was worth saving
and that is as strong today seventy five years on
I had built a determination that I
was not going to let other people define me
To break through, to do something new
to not be put off by the conventions of the day
I really really believe that any individual 
can make a difference
 
that if you have an idea, a dream,
something that you want to do
then just go for it
