When we talk about the lack of women in the tech industry, we’re used to saying that it’s their fault: they’re not interested enough, they’re not cut out for it, they’re the ones who decide to quit, etc. At what point do we ask ourselves whether the problem isn’t them, but others? At what point do we ask ourselves if maybe the problem isn’t them, but the others? Answer: never.
The industry often talks about the “pipeline problem”. This is the theory that there simply aren’t enough competent women to hire, because there aren’t enough women with STEM (science, technology, computer science, mathematics) degrees or self-taught women with experience.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say at conferences and panels that “women don’t like technology anyway”!
Let’s break the clichés!
Cliché 1: Women are not biologically suited to technology
False. In 2017, a Google employee wrote an internal memo that became public and inflamed the tech industry worldwide. He suggests that women are absent from the tech industry due to biological differences. Yet the first programmers were… women.
Cliché 2: Women don’t like technology
Researcher Kieran Snyder interviewed 716 women who had left the tech industry after an average of 7 years. The majority said they liked the work, but that the work environment was unsatisfactory.
Cliché 3: Girls aren’t interested in technology
False: Girls account for half of all enrolments in science and math courses. Their marks are almost identical to those of boys. However, women represent only 29% of the science and engineering workforce in the United States. Young girls are therefore interested in technology. It’s later in life that things go wrong.
There’s another way of looking at it. Instead of thinking that the pipeline isn’t full enough, let’s look at why it is, in fact, leaking. It has nothing to do with women, and everything to do with the toxic culture of the industry.
Women suffer sexual harassment
Three out of five women in Silicon Valley claim to have been subjected to unwanted sexual advances, according to a survey for which 200 women were questioned. Two-thirds said the advances had come from a superior. I won’t go into detail about all the sex scandals of 2017. Here are just the names of the companies affected, and remember that this is most likely just the tip of the iceberg: Uber, Tesla, Google, Sherpa Capital, Essential, 500 Startups, Binary Capital VC, Robert Scoble…
Women don’t count
In an article for Wired, journalist Jessi Hempel explains how a tech company’s recruitment sessions work. “While candidates enter, women are often setting up refreshments or fussing with decorations,” she writes. The presenters are often men. They rarely introduce the recruiters. If the company sends a female engineer, we don’t invite her to speak. If they do, it’s to ask her to explain the company culture, while her male counterpart tackles the technological challenges. In just 22% of the sessions observed, female engineers are invited to talk about technical work. When these women do speak, the presenters interrupt them.”
Women are not promoted
In an article in Harvard Business Review, we learn that women in technology are often unhappy with their careers. They perceive that they have little chance of advancing within the organizations they work for. One manager explains that there are some very competent women at junior and intermediate levels, but they leave the company to advance their careers. They’re never considered for promotion, he says.
We have to stop saying it’s just a pipeline problem. It’s simply not true. If we want more women in the industry, we have to face reality. Let’s listen, challenge ourselves and be inclusive.
