February 1, 2018
Silicon Valley's Women Problem: Is there a fair solution?
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This past January, the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, along with Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki, was interviewed by Kara Swisher of Recode (silicon Valley tech magazine) about the lack of women in the technology sector, specifically in the computer sciences. This was a joint interview with MSNBC, who was represented by Ari Melber. Other topics discussed included how Silicon Valley will adapt to new technologies in the 21st Century, gender equality and immigration and workplace diversity.
Ms. Swisher asked both Ms. Wojcicki and Mr. Pichai about the lack of women engineers and computer scientists in Silicon Valley. Ms. Wojcicki stated that the computer sciences and other tech fields have a 'male-geek' reputation and that this does not encourage women to enroll in university programs that offer coursework in the computer sciences. This did not sit well with Kara Swisher or the majority-female audience, who did not like the response from either of them.
I know that the tech industry is a coveted career, but in order for more women to be in its ranks, women need to pursue majors and coursework that will qualify them to work for admired companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, and Uber. I believe that roughly 20% of computer sciences majors are women, which means men make up the vast majority of graduates that Silicon Valley recruits and retains for their workforce. There is a United States law that states no company or organization can discriminate against anyone based on their gender, race, sexual orientation or political views, and this law has been in effect since the 1970s.
If Kara Swisher wants more women in tech, they need to pursue degrees in the fields of their choice and must be able to enroll in colleges in similar numbers to men, so those tech companies have an evenly split talent pool from which to offer positions. Otherwise, critics like Ms. Swisher are openly advocating that tech companies discriminate against men so that the percentage of women within these companies are close to the mean for both sexes. If these companies did this, they would be open to multiple lawsuits from men who are rejected simply because of their gender. I doubt many of the senior executives of these companies would want that type of negative publicity or payouts that will affect their bottom line, not to mention anger from shareholders who would see their stock prices drop due to the negative attention.
Recently, a software engineer, Susan Fowler, wrote a blog post about how there was a toxic work environment at her previous employer, Uber. She stated she was propositioned for sex from a supervisor, ignored by Human Resources and that the company was more supportive of those senior executive managers she complained about. As a result, she quit and pursued other offers other tech companies made. It was widely read and made a huge impression on the Board of Uber, which removed founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, along with a few other Board members. Former Attorney General Eric Holder became a consultant who reviewed the work environment and made recommendations to how it operates. Democratic fundraiser and founder of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, became an advisor to the company as well, and also made suggestions as to how it needs to function to support its female employees. These were drastic measures to save the reputation of the company, and a new CEO was chosen as well.
The combination of these two large problems does play a part in the lack of women in tech. Will the situation improve? I cannot say for sure. What can be done? Well, part of the issue is the type of majors women choose. Many enroll in the humanities, along with the social services, in addition to the legal and medical fields. I think that women make up close to 50% of medical school students and that they are the majority of law school students. Because of this, law firms and health insurance organizations hire a lot of women, and those fields are represented well. Fields that women do not choose or lack a large representation include the computer sciences, engineering (all classifications) and business schools.
If critics of the lack of women in glamorous fields like tech want to see better representation, they need to put a plan in place for universities to recruit harder and intensively women so they can see what their careers will be like. Schools cannot force women to pursue fields that they are not interested in. What more can they do? Perhaps go into high schools and introduce successful women who have thrived? Sheryl Sandberg comes to mind, but the book she wrote ("Lean In") focused more on the selective type of partners women need to choose to succeed in those fields, which places an emphasis that a women's career should be first and foremost than the marriage she enters into. I tend to not support her ideas. She wants to place men as a second priority, and the women I know want a work-life balance that has rewards for both a woman and her family. Tech companies do make an effort to support this idea, but everyone's life is different, and women have a choice as to what they value and prioritize. Nothing can be forced, it needs to be what women want to do with their lives.
In regards to the toxic environment that Susan Fowler described, perhaps now is the time for tech companies to be aggressive in how they treat their employees. With the recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and other prominent men in the entertainment, media, and political fields, now is time to make serious changes to the workplace. I would recommend that companies force their HR departments to have a written record of complaints and that those women who file grievances can be interviewed and find positive solutions to make the workplace better. Companies must also show those who complained that people who made them uncomfortable were dealt with. New male and female employees must attend sexual harassment workshops and prove written documentation that men (especially) understand what is acceptable behavior and what type of negative behavior will be held against them, and that all who file complaints will be heard and taken seriously.
Hopefully, these measures will be looked into, and whatever percentage of women seek success in these fields, they can be assured that they will be valued and every opportunity for upward mobility will be afforded to them.
I know that the tech industry is a coveted career, but in order for more women to be in its ranks, women need to pursue majors and coursework that will qualify them to work for admired companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, and Uber. I believe that roughly 20% of computer sciences majors are women, which means men make up the vast majority of graduates that Silicon Valley recruits and retains for their workforce. There is a United States law that states no company or organization can discriminate against anyone based on their gender, race, sexual orientation or political views, and this law has been in effect since the 1970s.
If Kara Swisher wants more women in tech, they need to pursue degrees in the fields of their choice and must be able to enroll in colleges in similar numbers to men, so those tech companies have an evenly split talent pool from which to offer positions. Otherwise, critics like Ms. Swisher are openly advocating that tech companies discriminate against men so that the percentage of women within these companies are close to the mean for both sexes. If these companies did this, they would be open to multiple lawsuits from men who are rejected simply because of their gender. I doubt many of the senior executives of these companies would want that type of negative publicity or payouts that will affect their bottom line, not to mention anger from shareholders who would see their stock prices drop due to the negative attention.
Recently, a software engineer, Susan Fowler, wrote a blog post about how there was a toxic work environment at her previous employer, Uber. She stated she was propositioned for sex from a supervisor, ignored by Human Resources and that the company was more supportive of those senior executive managers she complained about. As a result, she quit and pursued other offers other tech companies made. It was widely read and made a huge impression on the Board of Uber, which removed founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, along with a few other Board members. Former Attorney General Eric Holder became a consultant who reviewed the work environment and made recommendations to how it operates. Democratic fundraiser and founder of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, became an advisor to the company as well, and also made suggestions as to how it needs to function to support its female employees. These were drastic measures to save the reputation of the company, and a new CEO was chosen as well.
The combination of these two large problems does play a part in the lack of women in tech. Will the situation improve? I cannot say for sure. What can be done? Well, part of the issue is the type of majors women choose. Many enroll in the humanities, along with the social services, in addition to the legal and medical fields. I think that women make up close to 50% of medical school students and that they are the majority of law school students. Because of this, law firms and health insurance organizations hire a lot of women, and those fields are represented well. Fields that women do not choose or lack a large representation include the computer sciences, engineering (all classifications) and business schools.
If critics of the lack of women in glamorous fields like tech want to see better representation, they need to put a plan in place for universities to recruit harder and intensively women so they can see what their careers will be like. Schools cannot force women to pursue fields that they are not interested in. What more can they do? Perhaps go into high schools and introduce successful women who have thrived? Sheryl Sandberg comes to mind, but the book she wrote ("Lean In") focused more on the selective type of partners women need to choose to succeed in those fields, which places an emphasis that a women's career should be first and foremost than the marriage she enters into. I tend to not support her ideas. She wants to place men as a second priority, and the women I know want a work-life balance that has rewards for both a woman and her family. Tech companies do make an effort to support this idea, but everyone's life is different, and women have a choice as to what they value and prioritize. Nothing can be forced, it needs to be what women want to do with their lives.
In regards to the toxic environment that Susan Fowler described, perhaps now is the time for tech companies to be aggressive in how they treat their employees. With the recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and other prominent men in the entertainment, media, and political fields, now is time to make serious changes to the workplace. I would recommend that companies force their HR departments to have a written record of complaints and that those women who file grievances can be interviewed and find positive solutions to make the workplace better. Companies must also show those who complained that people who made them uncomfortable were dealt with. New male and female employees must attend sexual harassment workshops and prove written documentation that men (especially) understand what is acceptable behavior and what type of negative behavior will be held against them, and that all who file complaints will be heard and taken seriously.
Hopefully, these measures will be looked into, and whatever percentage of women seek success in these fields, they can be assured that they will be valued and every opportunity for upward mobility will be afforded to them.
I agree that in all industries, selection of candidates must be based on merit rather than based on race or gender-the affirmative action from the 1970s made a difference in allowing those with little opportunity for higher education to pursue their chosen careers-a similar approach at the high school level to encourage those with ability regardless of race and gender to enter these tech fields will improve the situation and lead to the greater diversity in the tech workplace. A key question is whether there is any bias when advancement in careers is considered. There should be a more transparent process based on ability, achievement and temperament.
ReplyDeleteThe kinds of solutions you propose have been tried in one form or another in a wide array of organizations and institutions as well as firms. There are investigative panels, tribunals comprised of staff, managers and where applicable unions. Addressing prejudice, bias and discrimination are important, but are decidedly tricky to prove as well as tackle; mediation has provided some solutions, but nothing that has been attempted so far has really brought gains to women who are excluded or discriminated against. The problems and solutions are both long term and need more creative solutions. On a more positive note, as more women do continue to enter the workforce, the problem will ease, no matter how gradually they do so. However programmes such as STEM are important in that they do facilitate entry. More countries should adopt the STEM approach. Tech is the way of the future and increasingly women will enter the workforce. I worked in a think tank over two decades ago where there were several women who were mathematicians and computer scientists so it would be quite wrong to assume that women are not attracted to these disciplines.
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