A piece by the New York Times this month exposes a striking gender inequity in the fields of computer science and engineering. Numbers have long ago proven that investing in women as tech entrepreneurs is good for the bottom line, and that co-ed ventures in computer and software engineering tend to be the most successful. The industry has even recognized that the range of products released would certainly benefit greatly from a female touch, particularly since the majority of their newest innovations – in socializing, gaming, and shopping – attract more women than men. And yet, women continue to be scarce in this professional field.
The article presents a situation of gender disparity that is actually quite severe. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, although women own 40 percent of the private businesses in the United States, they only create 8 percent of venture-backed tech start ups. Moreover, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, women make up just 6 percent of the CEOs of the top 100 technology companies, and only 22 percent of software engineers at tech companies. Also, of all the venture capitalists who control the financing for a majority of tech start-ups, only 14 percent are women.
Interestingly, the male dominance is already quite clear in the school setting. One recent report found that girls turned away from math and much more often boys, and that on SATs only one percent of girls, compared to the 5 percent of boys said they wanted to study computer or information sciences in college. This translated into a major disparity in the college setting, where only 18 percent of students graduating which computer science degrees in 2008 were women.
Yet these gender disparities are best illustrated by the stories women tell about their own experiences in this profession. Many talk about the difficult uphill battle they face when trying to receive funds and financing from male investors. Others tell stories of outright sexist comments from their colleagues and clients. One female executive tells the story of a time when investors showed up at a meeting to discuss funds, and spent the first fifteen minutes talking about the kind of deal they would accept assuming the boss was still not there – she most certainly was, but they thought she was just the secretary. Another woman tells the story of finding herself to be the only female employee among a team of male colleagues, and being laid off soon after that. Though it is not entirely clear why she lost the job, she felt that a lot of it had to do with this gender disparity: “Management didn’t quite understand how I fit into the culture and team there,” she said.
Women with tech careers recognize that many times, the sexism is not so much a conscious act but simply because the men have not seen many women succeed in the field before them. In a way, it is a vicious cycle that will continue as long as women remain scarce in the profession. For this reason, women in the field have begun to speak out realizing that younger generations of girls will only be encouraged to pursue a career in the computer sciences if they have role models to look up to.
While the article shows that Silicon Valley still has a long way to go before achieving true equity, there is no doubt that the situation is gradually improving. Women in the field are becoming more proactive in terms of encouraging others to follow in their footsteps, and companies and investors are recognizing the clear benefits of a mixed workplace. The most important step to take, and probably the most difficult one, will be to change the attitudes ingrained in the school and professional settings so that the growing number of women who choose this career in the future do not face the same, discouraging obstacles the minority of women in the field are facing today.
To read the New York Times investigative piece on the topic, please click on the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/technology/18women.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1
