Women in Tech: The Silicon Ceiling
When I first attended the Webby Awards in 2001, I noticed an anthropological paradox: The line to the ladies' room was nonexistent, the men's, long.
Where were all the women? Surely they existed in the then-budding Internet industry (I did!). Why weren't they celebrated at the event CNN then pegged as the "Oscars of the Internet"?
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
That was eight years ago. It's 2009, and I just attended TechCrunch50, the Sundance for Startups -- and a vantage point from which things don't seem to have changed much.
Of the conference's judging panel of 20 experts -- a distinction meant to highlight the industry's most influential entrepreneurs, VC's and media -- only one was female (Google's VP of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer). And out of the 50 start-ups selected to pitch at the conference, a mere two had female founders: Alexa von Tobel of Learnvest and Christina Jenkins of HealthyWage. That's an average of less than five percent female representation.
Where the Women Aren't?
One might argue that there aren't that many women actually present in the tech industry, and that this can be traced back to the low female-to-male ratio at any college -- or even high school -- computer science program. (I was the only girl in my high school computer science class, for instance.)
There's some truth to that. Valley-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yanda Erlich, who previously worked for Mayer at Google, divulges that, during his tenure at principal investment firm Battery Ventures, he only saw about 10 percent female entrepreneurs walk in the door to pitch their startups. That's low. But remember that these were women who were filtered from a pool of hopefuls. And this figure is still double that of the aforementioned five percent.
Yes, We Do Exist
There are indeed a good number of influential women in this industry -- ranging from Gina Bianchini, CEO of well-funded ($120M), do-it-yourself social networking site Ning, to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer who Fortune named one of the 50 most powerful women in 2007, to Caterina Fake, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded photo-sharing site Flickr and just launched collective-intelligence, decision-making site Hunch.
Moreover, the companies women start and/or take leadership roles in represent all angles of the tech industry ecosystem. For instance, there's leading tech blog TechCrunch's CEO, Heather Harde, as well as founding partner of early-stage, uber venture capital firm Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston -- and Leah Culver, a software engineer who co-founded micro-blogging site Pownce, which was acquired by blog platform SixApart.
And with respect to women breaking the news about these start-ups, female tech journalists include TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy, CNET's Caroline McCarthy, All Things Digital's Kara Swisher, the New York Times' Jenna Wortham, the Wall Street Journal's Julia Angwin, LA Weekly's Alexia Tsotsis, and Megan McCarthy, editor of the Valley's go-to news aggregator TechMeme.
The aforementioned list doesn't begin to scratch the surface. In fact, it only represents the fraction of women who have already gathered a certain amount of attention. For every Marissa Mayer, there's also a Susan Wojcicki (VP of Product, responsible for Google's monetization and measurement platform products); both women have impressive backgrounds and run products that are core to Google's business. But most people and publications -- as far-reaching as Vogue -- only focus on one.
The Valley Vacuum
So why the gap in representation? After all, it's not a dynamic that's gone unnoticed. There are even women-in-tech type organizations, like Girls in Tech and Women 2.0, that have been running for years with the aim to close this gap.
One could blame the industry's flirtation with misogyny that may shun entrepreneurial women in the Valley away from attracting attention. Another culprit might be the infringing expectation the industry seems to borrow from the 1950s (as recounted by AMC's fictional hit show, Mad Men): If you're a woman, you might get noticed for your work as long as you're attractive, not particularly eccentric and generally easy for a company to wear. 
The problem is that to start a company in the Valley -- especially one that's conceptually fresh -- you're likely to ruffle some feathers and be generally riskier than this expectation provides room for.
While these observations are by no means exhaustive (and rather speculative and simplistic), they begin to trace a seeming Silicon Valley vacuum that is inherently difficult for women to enter. It's not that being a successful, widely renowned female entrepreneur in the Valley is impossible, but there's evidence of a greater barrier to entry for women -- a Silicon ceiling that may get in the way between the businesses they'd like to build and the venture capital and marketing vehicles required to get these businesses off the ground.
Whatever the reasons, let's hope this industry grows out of them quickly -- so that it can truly surface game-changing products and services, regardless of the gender of their innovators.
[Disclaimer: I had previously worked at Flickr, one of the companies mentioned in this article.]
[photo credit: AMC, Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in Mad Men]
Follow Maya Baratz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mbaratz
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Good article- age old views on women in Biz/High Tech. 20 years of experience/Telecom industry has been a journey into the realm of 'good ol' boy' clubs of America. They exist in many but not all corporations & small business. Starting biz relationships with major firms gave me many nicknames but my favorite amongst them was 'girlie' given to me by a Baby Bell executive. Terms of endearment only served to inspire me=perform consistently better than my male counter parts. BTW-the 'girlie' executive never called me that again learning quickly that his project ran flawlessly and solutions diffused 'issues' when he contacted me. He addressed respectfully going forward.
The tech industry taught me that performance and results in the tech arena far outweighs gender issues. Getting your foot in the door is far more challenging as a woman.
In the expanding age of technology I continue to be sadly amazed that the 'Equal Rights' amendment did not pass in this country. Until that day women continue to tread in the snow without snow shoes making the journey a challenge. Ladies learn to ski! Everything women or men being need to be successful in business resides within them. Women are powerful, creative, filled with resourcefulness but that power must be claimed through performance not entitlement without arrogance or disrespect for the male gender. Having said that women should work equally not harder to receive the same opportunities as men. Just my two cents~
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Since the lack of role models is a part of the problem, NCWIT (The National Center for Women and IT) is trying to help by having a great collection of podcast interviews with successful women entrepreneurs. Many are from Silicon Valley.
Check them out at www.ncwit.org/heroes
Baat Enosh
Entrepreneurial Alliance
NCWIT
There are two separate issues here, getting more exposure to women in the industry and getting more women involved in computer science specifically.
I think there are some simple things we can do to further the footprint of women in business and online.
For example, how many female entrepreneurs or executives do you follow on twitter?
How many do you retweet?
Small efforts can make a big change in terms of who is seen as a thought leader and subsequently invited to speak or participate in events.
Working for a woman Maya mentions (Gina Bianchini at Ning) is inspiring, and I highly recommend finding mentors in the industry (or mentoring others).
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Very well put, Laura. I agree the issue is two pronged, and we need to attack it on both ends. And I also agree that getting women to support eachother is a crucial first step.
I launched a net company in 2000 after nearly 20 years as an executive in business media. In both cases the top level all companies was nearly always 100% men. Women were mid-level management, HR, customer service or marketing.
As a president, I tried to change that... but discovered two things. Women ages 30-50 didn't apply for or weren't willing to take on jobs or launch companies that would require them to forgo a personal life. Men in their 30s and 40s, on the other hand, would apply in droves for jobs that would take 100+ hours per week and every fibre of their being to accomplish, even if they had a brand new baby or several young kids at home and their wife also worked. (I was actually shocked by this heedlessness.)
The other reason for women not being on top was that they didn't have the egos for it. I'm not so much saying women's egos were small as men's egos were overblown. Many highly qualified women are matter of fact about themselves. Many underqualified and less-than-impressive men are convinced they were gods gift to start-ups or the CEO's office.
Personal conviction and ego can drive success. Let's face it, we all know plenty of men in high places that are not as qualified to be there as they think they are. I call it the bravado factor.
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Dear Maya,
As a scientist and a writer, I interact with many "progressive" groups. The attitude you describe is prevalent in all of them: science fiction writers, space exploration/SETI enthusiasts and practitioners, transhumanists, futurists. The leaders are perpetually self-selected white (upper-)middle class Anglosaxon men.
I wrote about this issue in two of my blog entries. Here are the links, if you're interested:
Girl Cooties Menace the Singularity!
http://www.starshipnivan.com/blog/?p=658
Is It Something in the Water? Or: Me Tarzan, You Ape
http://www.starshipnivan.com/blog/?p=712
I wish you luck with this struggle, which won't be easy. It's like pushing stones uphill, like Sisyphus. And each generation of women encounters it anew.
Best regards,
Athena Andreadis, Ph. D.
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Thanks for sharing, Athena! I'll definitely take a look :)
In terms of women in the hard sciences, I think there may be something to the fact that women can have less interest. I was on my high school math team and excelled at physics/calculus/computer science. I was encouraged by faculty members and my engineer dad to pursue a career in tech. But I just couldn't get excited about it, and went the design/art/editorial path instead.
I've also heard that the larger technology companies sometimes have quotas for female programmers, which leads to enticing employment packages for female engineers right out of school -- but can keep these women out of the startup spotlight.
What can we do about it? I don't know. I think positive role models make a big difference, and I think it's going to take time.
"Are you a designer too, or just inspired by your husband's work?" (Someone actually said this to me recently at a tech event. To be fair, there was a language barrier.) This is definitely an issue I've been thinking about a lot lately.
At a basic level, I think there are certain personality characteristics that each gender is encouraged by society to have. I learned fast that being a strong, opinionated female didn't go over well (especially at my Texas middle school) and toned it down.
Years later, after having been editor in chief of a magazine and currently in the process of starting my own company, I still haven't figured out my identity as a female in a leadership role.
For those who don't know what I mean, Mad Men has done a great job of developing this plot line with Peggy (nice tie in, Maya!). She's had different "role models" come through in the form of successful female characters and seen some of the different personalities she can "wear" to be successful. Sexy, cutthroat, manipulative, or maternal -- but to date she hasn't found one that wins her any friends in the office. "What they really want is something between a mother and a waitress" - Joan Holloway.
I'm going to keep trying "charming and agreeable" even if it is the long way 'round.
Based upon my 30 years experience as a Hi tech engineering executive, I must disagree. Women excel in the human relations aspects of technology. Women make superb product management, product design and product marketing contributors and leaders. Women engineers, while not as frequently found as males, make wonderful and invaluable engineering team members.
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I agree that women can make great engineers, product managers, etc. And I agree that there aren't enough of them to go around. So I think we agree, unless I'm missing something here. :)
Is there evidence that female entrepreneurship is lower in the tech industry than in other industries?
If I were to pick some other industry at random -- say, restaurants -- would I see more than 10% female representation in business founders?
Without that statistic, it's impossible to judge whether there's a problem with "Silicon Valley", or with the gender barriers to business founding in general.
Maya - great write up!
As a female CEO, I found this article along with every other article I’ve read on the subject frustrating. Not because there’s something wrong with the article (it was great!), but because it reminds me how hard the process is.
Even on this web site, if you click on the Tech tab above the first thing you see are 6 highly influential people in tech and only one of them is a women. With only 5% of the fortune 500 companies run by women, I’m not sure why we think the tech industry would be any different.
The whole notion that women aren't into tech is ridiculous. Personally, I think the reason men do better in tech is that they move up faster - they are always networking and looking for the bigger, better deal. Women on the other hand are busy doing their jobs. Ever read "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office?"
I think if you’re a woman in tech you need to realize that there is a wealth of opportunity out there and you don't have to follow anyone else's standards for success. This is an industry where you can go it alone and build a great business. Focus on your product, hire other women if you want and don’t let someone else's perceived value of your worth dictate your next move. While they may ignore you and your business in the beginning... eventually your success will attract attention.
@bakespace
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Thanks for the comment, @bakespace! I'd love to hear more about your experience. What made the process hard for you?
I've done a lot of thinking on this topic recently. A few things:
1. I think most of the focus (and this conversation) should be placed on encouraging girls - not women - to enter the tech field. The majority of us who regularly attend Girls In Tech, Women 2.0 and the like are already drinking the Kool-Aid, so to speak. However, if I had someone when I was 15 encouraging me to follow my interests, which have always been rooted in the Web/problem solving, I probably would have found myself working in the development side of tech as opposed to the communications/marketing side, which is where most of the women in this industry are today represented.
2. Personally, I observed there to be a good number of women at TechCrunch 50. More so than most tech events I go to, actually. The ratio just wasn't reflected up there on the stage.
I'm also not sure the judging situation is really a problem and the issue we should be discussing. Most of the people who've experienced the greatest business successes in Silicon Valley are men, so is it any wonder they were chosen as judges? Wouldn't it have been worse if TechCrunch added a number of female judges just to fill a quota?
Bottom line: Let's take a few steps back and start this conversation not with what we are observing today, but with what occurred ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. Disparities don't occur overnight.
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1. I wholeheartedly agree we should also encourage younger girls to study computer science, etc. (like I mentioned in the piece -- I was the only comp sci student in my high school class)
WRT women at TC50, the thing is (as I express in the article) -- we do have plenty of women that could have been represented there, without having to fill any quotas.
And sure, the past does partially explain what's going on -- but that doesn't mean we can't change it and focus on the future. In the past, women were hindered from doing an array of different things.
As a women in tech [even in the media space], I do find it frustrating with the lack of female presence in start up culture. I remember when I first started and CNET, many of the people I would interview definitely treated me like a woman in a negative, demeaning way. I was also young which probably didn't help--watching Peggy on Madmen is slightly reminiscent! Thinking back to that time, I think I can count the number of women I interviewed on one hand. It is odd that the women who are in tech get so much attention online and off--it is as if we are some strange alien breed of women who also like technology. I don't understand why tech is such a "good old boys" club, even after being in the professional space for many years. I hope that the trend starts becoming more in our favor and that there is an equalization that takes place.
@Emilie- I co-organized and was on the panel for that Girls In Tech event and do think it's strange we have to bring awareness to the fact that women exist in a certain field. It was a great event that I think brought up some interesting points and I am happy that you took something away from it!
http://news.zdnet.com/2422-13568_22-154407.html -Video of me interviewing Carly Fiorina on Sexism in the Workplace. She had some great insight on her experiences being called a "bimbo." In her book, Tough Choices, she talks about men in business and how she actually had to go to a strip club to secure a deal. Interesting read.
The lack of women in tech is continually frustrating, as is the girlification of the female presence (often lead by women) that does exist. I'd love to see more female founders and engineers but there are simply too few to be much of force in th...e Valley.
It's easy to say that women are discriminated against, or that there is pressure to conform to a male standard, but the truth is if a woman started an interesting company and was competent she could behave however she pleased as long as she had the results to back it up. It's a shame that there are so few females doing this, let's hope that this changes soon.
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Good insight, Melody. I agree that there are far too few women in the space, and there are definitely those who help perpetuate the "girlification" tendency -- it's simply easier to take the "if you can't beat them, join them approach." But it's a dangerous little slope, esp. when it comes to potentially ignoring an issue that does, in fact, exist.
There are indeed female entrepreneurs who've started some very interesting companies (including the ones listed in this article) -- and including groundbreaking ones -- like Flickr :). I agree that there should be more. In order to do that, we need to push things forward. That means encouraging more women to participate while also addressing some of the industry standards that may be hindering them. We can and should do both.
I'm as exhausted as the rest of us that Marissa Mayer was the only female judge at the most prominent tech conference of the year. I'm also sick of incidences like last December at Le Web conference when the organizer, Loic Le Meur called Mayer "hot" on stage after she spoke. The issue is real and needs to be discussed, however I'm not convinced there are industry standards preventing us from succeeding.
Silicon Valley was built around people creating innovative products. Women have the same opportunity as any man to build a compelling company and let its success demonstrate our competence. I believe the issue stems from the lack of female engineers (I was also the only female student in my high school CS class) rather than a ceiling the industry has build for our gender.
You don’t need VC money or the industry’s blessing to build powerful product, but few women are trying, which is the real issue.
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@emilie: Agreed. We want to get to a point where we don't need these support vehicles.
@bokiluis: That's interesting; thanks for sharing. What did you do for Apple?
This topic is interesting. Went to a Girls in Tech event recently. Left me feeling dual things:
-Gladness that women and others are getting together to discuss and further assert themselves in the tech scene
-Sadness that women and others have to get together to discuss and further assert themselves in the tech scene
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