Boulder <3s Women in Tech
Boulder Startup Week: May 15, 2013
Jenny Slade, NCWIT
@ncwit | @bldrstartupweek | #BSW13
Women Make Boulder Awesome
Why Women Matter to Technology
Women Correlate with Success
Analysis of more than 20,000
venture-backed companies
showed that successful
startups have twice as
many women in senior
positions as unsuccessful
companies.
Dow Jones VentureSource, 2011.
Women Help Companies Grow
Tech companies with women have
been shown to use 40 percent less
capital and be more likely to
survive the transition from startup
to established company.
Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," 2010.
Women Improve Innovation
The presence of women in a group is
more likely to increase the collective
intelligence (problem-solving ability,
creativity) of the group than the
presence of individuals with higher
intelligence.
“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance
of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris,
Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.
Women Enhance Teams
Groups with greater diversity solve
complex problems better and faster
than homogenous groups.
Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton
University Press, 2009.
Women Are 50% of the Population.
Why Handicap Your Hiring by 50%?
"We simply cannot afford to alienate
large chunks of the workforce. It is a
widely understood truth that the single
biggest challenge is attracting the right
people … to literally handicap yourself
by 50 percent is insanity.”
- Dan Shapiro, Google
Women Are 50% of the Market
Women in Tech, By the Numbers
57
Percent of U.S. professional occupations
held by women
26
Percent of U.S. technology jobs held by
women
20
Percent of U.S. software developers who
are women
11
Percent of women executives at U.S.
venture-backed startups
Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2012; Dow Jones VentureSource, 2012.
The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Why So Few Women in Tech?
Pipeline
Attraction
Attrition
Society’s Biased About Gender and
Technology
What Do You See In This Picture?
What Is Unconscious Bias?
We all have shortcuts,
“schemas” that help us
make sense of the world.
But our shortcuts
sometimes make us
misinterpret things.
That’s unconscious bias.
Unconscious Bias = Stereotype
Threat
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
Unconscious Bias = Tokenism
African
American
s
Xkcd.org with modification by Cohoon, 2012
Unconscious Bias = Micro-inequities
» Slights: “You’re the receptionist, right?”
» Exclusion: “Oops, I forgot to cc her on that email.”
» Recognition: “No, I’m pretty sure it was Tom’s idea,
not Jane’s, to use a link algorithm.”
» Isolation: “Dude, let’s grab a beer!”
Unconscious Bias in Performance
Appraisal
Identical resumes.
Gendered names.
Reviewers (of both
genders) strongly
favor John in
skills, hireability,
and salary.
Howard vs. Heidi
Howard vs. Heidi
Howard vs. Heidi
Unconscious Bias in Hiring
“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.
Unconscious Bias Is…Unconscious.
Women and Men at Startups See
Things Differently …
Case Study: How Etsy Grew Its
Female Engineering Team by 500%
Don’t just say you care about diversity
Take action from the top
Show why your company is a great place to work
Invest in early talent
Integrate your workspaces
Put more than 1 woman on a team (don’t isolate them)
5 Things You Can Do Today
1
Invite diversity. Use diverse networks, not
just your status quo networks, to recruit.
2
Include a woman, and a pile sort, in your job
interviews.
3
Remove biased language from job
descriptions.
4
Audit your physical space for gender-neutral
vibes.
5
If you’re a man, be a male advocate.
1) Invite Diversity
2) Include a Woman, and a Pile Sort,
in Job Interviews
Pile sort: www.ncwit.org/interviewstrategies
3) Remove Biased Language from
Job Descriptions
CONFIDENT OBJECTIVE DECISIVE
ANALYTICAL AUTONOMOUS DOMINANT
“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD: http://ww2.ncwit.org/pdf/A.Kay_JobPostings_EAmtg12.pdf; http://vimeo.com/46501265
4) Audit Your Physical Space for
Gendered Vibes
(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer
science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045-1060; http://www.ncwit.org/physicalspaceuw
5) If You’re a Man, Be a Male
Advocate
What’s Good for the Goose …
WeNCWIT
Can Help.
is the National Center for
Women & Information Technology
Our coalition includes more than 250 universities, corporations, and non-profits.
Get Going with Free, Researchbacked Resources and Programs
We Plug You In.
Panel
» Ingrid Alongi: Co-founder and CEO, Quick Left
» Jim Franklin: CEO, SendGrid
» Greg Greenstreet: VP of Engineering, Gnip
» Leslie Osborne: VP of Product + Operations,
Standing Cloud
» Krista Marks: Engineer, Founder of Nimbee, Kerpoof