If we want to go about changing the ratio of women, and let's add minorities, in tech, we have to be willing to encourage friends and talk to the kids.
The idea for this blog post started because this blogger happened on TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington's post called
Too Few Women In Tech? Stop Blaming The Men.
After consuming his text, it must be said that Michael is
just plain wrong - the reasons why, we'll get into later. Moreover, his post mentioned Rachel Sklar, who's a friend and who's work I respect a lot, as "a perennial TechCrunch critic," and
quotes her in the Wall Street Journal, as saying:
Part of changing the ratio is just changing awareness, so that the next time Techcrunch is planning a Techcrunch Disrupt, they won’t be able to not see the overwhelming maleness of it,” said Ms. Sklar, referring to the influential tech conference
It was disappointing to read that because in planning for the trip to New York for TechCrunch Disrupt, New York City, I informed Rachel of the conference via email and asked if she was going to attend. Rachel had made other plans.
It was too bad Rachel didn't go, because while TechCrunch Disrupt New York was mostly male, it wasn't overwhelmingly so - she would have been
somewhat pleased. I'm certain,
as she's a speaker, she will be happy with what she sees at TechCrunch Disrupt SF.
What the official gender count at TechCrunch Disrupt New York was is not known here, but by observation, the mix was better than expected. There were women entrepreneurs competing in the "VC speed dating" contest, like my friend Jennifer O'Neil's startup firm
Tripping.com.
Jennifer O'Neil Started At StubHub.com
I first met Jennifer in 2003 when she was the affiliate manager at then-new StubHub.com. Sports Business Simulations, the firm I started that year, was became one of StubHub.com's most successful affiliates, and Jennifer and I became friends. Ms. O'Neil did everything for StubHub, from managing affiliates, to radio spots, and even the phone greetings. I said over and over again to Jen that she should be on the StubHub board and also to take what she's learning there and start her own company.
Well, at TechCrunch Disrupt New York City, Jen told me she remembered my constant badgering and that played a small role in the development of the confidence she had to start Tripping.com. The point is, women and minorities must be encouraged to start tech firms.
Encouraging Women and Minorities
Michael's really wrong:
men should be blamed for the lack of women in tech. There's nothing at all wrong with having the idea that a person should be picked because they're women or minority or white male, as long as the end objective is diversity.
Moreover, in order to "
change the ratio," we have to start by encouraging girls and boys who are minority to go into tech fields. Just saying "You should think about being a programmer" to a ten-year-older's a great start. Having the tech equivalent of
Junior Achievement is another much needed effort.
In fact, that there's not such an organization active in the San Francisco Bay Area underscores the problem. Imagine if Google executives like CEO Eric Schmidt took one evening a week to work at advising an imaginary start-up at an East Palo Alto school? Planting the idea of starting a tech company in the minds of girls and minority youth will, over time, change the ratio.
But to do that, and to be frank, it's Silicon Valley's men both white and Asian, who have to lead the charge. The only way to change the culture, is to change the behavior of the people within it.
In fact, just because Arrington said the poor ratio of women in tech is not the fault of men, he should be the very person that starts the kind of Junior Achievement-style non-profit organization called for here. Michael must understand that you can't say there's a cultural problem but it's not the fault of the people who are part of the culture. Men are the problem, but men can be the solution, too.
