Stephanie Shirley, Who Created a Tech World for Women, Dies at 91
In 1962, she started a software company at her dining room table with a revolutionary idea: to create a place where women could find a work-life balance.
By Jeré Longman
A refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria at age 5, just before World War II, Ms. Shirley lived with a foster family in the West Midlands of England, near the Wales border. She often expressed appreciation for her adopted country, which she said gave her a “life worth saving,” but she found career opportunities there for girls and women in the 1950s and early ’60s to be limited and stultifying....
In a 2015 TED Talk, Ms. Shirley said, “You can always tell ambitious women by the shape of our heads — they’re flat on top from being patted patronizingly.”
Ms. Shirley started her company at her dining room table with a revolutionary intention: to offer other women a work-life balance. At the time, many educated women left the computer industry after marrying or having a child. Ms. Shirley provided them an opportunity to re-enter the work force while remaining at home, writing code part time with flexible hours.
When the company’s name was changed to F International — it was later F1, and eventually Xansa — the F stood not only for freelance but also for flexible and free. In job interviews, she asked applicants one simple question: “Do you have access to a telephone?”
For the whole piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/business/stephanie-shirley-dead.html