NCWIT TechTalk!

Lucy Sanders, NCWIT CEO!

Startups, Technical Culture, and Why Gender Diversity Matters!!February 21, 2013

I’m Lucy Sanders!

Why Women Matter!

•  Technical women aren’t broken!

•  Technical men aren’t the enemy!

•  The culprit is societal bias (shared by both women and men) that manifests itself in technical cultures!

•  We can (and should) be in action today!

Let’s Cut to the Chase!

Women in Tech: The Facts!

The Numbers Don’t Add Up!

What the Research Says!

Society is Biased About Gender and Technology!

We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us

make sense of the world. But our shortcuts

sometimes make us misinterpret or miss things.!That’s unconscious bias. !

What Causes Societal Bias?!

Society Organizational Culture

Subtle Dynamics

Institutional Barriers Schemas/

Unconscious Biases

Employees

Unconscious Bias Is More Salient in Homogenous Organizations!

Example: White male engineering students

score lower when told in advance that Asians

typically score higher on math tests!

Source: Aronson, et al., 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1998!

Subtle Dynamics Example: Stereotype Threat!

How Stereotype Threat Impacts Technical Women!

Don’t speak up in meetings!

Are reluctant to take leadership positions !

Are overly harsh about their own work!

Can discount their own performance!

Subtle Dynamics Example: Micro-inequities!

Slights: “You’re the receptionist, right?”!

Exclusion: “Oops, I forgot to cc her on the email about the architecture review.”

Recognition: “No, I’m pretty sure Jane would not have had the idea to use a link algorithm.”

Isolation: “Dude, let’s grab a beer!”

Hiring!Selecting people “like me”!!Task Assignment!Women find themselves in “low status” jobs!!Performance Appraisal !Men appraised for effort, skill; women for collaboration, luck!!Promotion!Criteria modeled implicitly on existing senior male leaders!

Institutional Barriers!

“Blind” orchestra auditions, with

musicians behind a curtain, increased the

number of female musicians hired by

25% to 46% percent. !!

Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review, 90(4), 715-741.!

Institutional Barriers Example: Bias in Hiring!

Invite diversity: make it part of your corporate DNA/brand.!Recruit in diverse networks, not just your status quo networks.!Inspect business processes for unconscious bias. !Assure inclusive team meetings and social events.!Audit your physical space for gendered vibes.!

Things You Can Do Now!

Don’t lower your hiring standards, just make sure you are hiring for the things that matter!Don’t form development teams with just one woman engineer!Don’t depend only on female employees to advance your gender goals!Don’t give up: this is a long distance race and not a sprint!

Some Things Not to Do!

Case Study: Etsy!

Etsy grew its number of female engineers nearly 500% by “making diversity a core value.” This not only attracted more women candidates, it attracted higher-quality male candidates, too.!

Changing the Status Quo to Work for Women Works for Men, Too.!

NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology!

Our coalition includes more than 250 universities, corporations, and non-profits.!

We Plug You Into a National Network!

Supervisory Program-in-a-Box Series!

Top 5 Reasons You Should Workat a Startup!

Top Ten Ways to Be a Male Advocate for Technical Women!

Top 10 Ways Managers Can Increase the Visibility of Technical Women!

We’ve Got Free, Research-backed Tools !

Questions?!

Coming Up!

Advocacy Campaign: Sit With Me!

Sometimes you have to sit to take a stand.!!We sit to inspire women in tech.!We sit to recognize women’s visibility.!We sit for the future of tech.!We sit to take a stand.!!We won’t stand for anything less.!!