- Mona CoreFor women excelled in the Tech industry, we are defamed, denigrated (bitch, slut, whore, doesn't know anything,
etc ), ousted; and in my case, beheading (see pic) to kill me.
We not only NOT given the credits we deserved by male managers, but were taken credits that belong to women/me by male coworkers and male managers.
It is NOT because women suddenly decided to stay home and have babies after we worked so hard and went through hell to get our STEM degree, which is what the Tech industry/males used as a pretext to justify the ousting of women. These are Tech leaders and are billionaires, they are extremely smart and knew the truth, yet they still used such repugnant specious pretext to prey on the weakest group in the Tech industry, and systematically ousting of women.
At least with the Islamic Extremists, people are aware they hated educated women, but how many people know the Tech industry hated educated women too?
Here is my story and my EEOC case: http://eeoccase.blogspot.com/ - Lisa Guinn · SplunkA "kiss on the cheek" is NOT "the slightest sexist overture." It is a very inappropriate and overt sexist overture, entirely unprofessional in this setting. WTF! Would the VC have done that to another man? Hell no! But Carey shouldn't feel like shit - although maybe she should take a self-defense class. http://
www.impactbayarea.org/ would be my suggestion.
I am old now, so I don't get this crap any more. But I found that a high heel carefully aimed at his instep, along witha "oh!you surprised me!"was anice put off, if you were in a situation where calling him a "MF-ing scum bag " seemed too risky.
Good luck Carey and Mosenthal - I hope that your revenge is to be wildly successful!Koorelahutaja Come on girls this is like victim talk here... Kiss him back, loudly, make it slightly wet, if needed? Answer with some tiny little tongue action over the left lobe? Now the last one would be for clearslimey types, butomg even heads of state routinely kiss!Different in differentcultures but why do I hear such fear of bodily contact here? Not natural either.
- Dave Whittle · CEO & Founder at CoolHotNotWe need another article on the rampant
agism mentioned in the article. Both problems are equally serious in that they distort our cultural norms away from experience, empathy, and wisdom and in favor of, well, their opposites.- Christina Cary · Global Content Editor at Famous Tech Company Inc.Yes! Here's an appalling quote from Eileen Carey herself: "Also, the tech industry is changing so fast that women even five or 10 years
older may have very little of practical use to share with younger workers."
Just a few paragraphs above her ignorant, ageist comment was this: "... women who stay in the game beyond their late 30s may be less subject to sexual harassment than their younger counterparts, but they are sidelined by virulent ageism in the industry that especially—but not solely—afflicts women."
- Susan Larson · Member, Board of Directors at CARE HousingWell done. But missing some key insights into why this problem is so ingrained. Those of us who worked in Silicon Valley in the 70s, 80s and 90s know. No one cared about the problem until Silicon valley was "the place to be", until there were billions of dollars up for grabs, until
ego kicked in. That's how culture like thisdevelopes . Not over the lifespan of twitter or tinder, but over the lifespan of IBM and HP- Dave Whittle · CEO & Founder at CoolHotNotI worked at IBM from '84 through '96, and I didn't see or hear of anything that would be considered to even hint of sexism. At Marketing Education, women went along on the Pub Crawls and every other social event, and they even had a module on "LSD - liquor, sex, and drugs" - and everyone knew that sexist behavior or speech was one of the few things that could get you fired at IBM. Now, I don't drink or womanize, so maybe I didn't see it - but none of my female colleagues ever mentioned anything about sexism at IBM. If it existed, it was so well hidden as to be a non-issue.
Does your experience with IBM differ, Susan?
- Alex Moschopoulos (
amportfolio )As a male, I wish Glassbreakers luck. There needs to be more done to push the tech sector to think beyond "white male 20something hipsters". It's not just women who lose in this "culture fit" requirement, but minorities, older people, and anyone who isn't willing to chug craft beers after work with the "bros".
I still think entrepreneurs who seriously want to disrupt the SV status quo should try other cities. Chicago is always welcome for tech entrepreneurs. - James Anderson · Top Commenter · UCLAAt dinner at the first team meeting retreat of a startup (social media for healthcare - totally funded up front) the CEO (male and former president of a national association for healthcare professionals) was at our end of the table (20 people - 4 women) turned to conversation to 50 shades of Gray. It was guy talk - crude and inappropriate and totally typical.
One of the Directors (female) sat down next to the CEO and he lightly hit her in the shoulder and said, "Oh come even X knows most women really just want to be dominated in bed" When she replied "No you just have a skewed sample population" we all ( guys) laughed but later the CEO apparently pulled her aside and said "don't ever F***ing embarrass me in front of the guys again"
A month later prior to a national conference on a Goolge chat call I heard the VP suggest they "send in the blonds first" even though our director of community engagement (blond smart young woman) was on the call.
When I stood up for her one of the other guys dmed me and said let it go - "she is just eye candy"- Aaron Kulkis · Top Commenter · AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQWait a seconds ...if GUYS talk about 50 Shades fo Gray, it's inappropriate and crude.
Uh.. do you have the slightest idea WHAT the book 50 Shades of Gray is about..and that it was written BY A FEMALE, and has been the best-selling book among women since Gone with the Wind?
The whole freaking book is nothing less than literal (and literary) female porn... and yet when men discuss it, it's "crude and inappropriate"
Don't bang your FACE on your double-standards, you misandric sexist moron.
By the way, Try DOING an actual survey of women (make up a name and ask women on AIM or any other internet chat network).... your view of women is EXTREMELY skewed...either that, or you're projecting YOUR preferences onto women, and found some man-hating woman who agrees with you (and if she's the CEO of any company worth mentioning, then, yes, she probably DOES disdain men). - Jamie Miller · Top Commenter · Sheridan, WyomingAaron Kulkis certainly is getting his vitriol warmed up! If the women keep posting in the current vein, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him busting a gut and spewing gall and venom all over this thread. It'll be kind of fun to see.
Personally, if I want to see useful information and thoughts about choosing where to put my money, I'd prefer to listen to the women.
- Edie Okamoto · Follow · Alameda, CaliforniaThis is a great and long over due article. I remember many times when there were "five females for several thousand men." Stand your ground - not the Florida way - but, essentially you have to show that you can make money for the investors and "take the heat." As always being part of a great team is a must. One danger of being so focused on the male / female issue is to miss the point that businesses need to meet a need for their customers and make money for the investors. This can be true for both men and women. Bottom line thinking and respect for colleagues and vendors goes a long way - regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. The real jerks usually eventually grow up or old, or they "disappear" from the industry after they burned too many bridges. What goes around, comes around. Women do have to quit acting like victims (Karate or Tai Chi works wonders when it hits the right spot at the right time - remember Mr. .... ? LOL) and women have to support each other more. American women are often very competitive in a girly way that gets in the way of business. Pleasing the men - instead of moving the team forward is a bad habit that women need to even become conscious about and ideally start supporting each other. The industry has a long way to go, true. It can be done - also true. It is difficult to be viewed as an attractive barbie doll and be taken seriously, both at the same time. Think of a guy that acts like Fabio - probably wouldn't work either. FYI - men at times are jerks to each other as well. They have to deal with it as well. They tend to get over it easier and they are more shocked if a woman seeks advice and shows up with excellent attorneys. You can't keep a good woman down. #Glassbreakers I love the name! Count me in.
- Lara Jones · Follow · Top Commenter · Owner at Self-EmployedFrom the article, these cofounders are doing what you advise already. I don't want to tell people "You can't keep a good woman down" because then what about the many women who did all these things and still can't get funding because they're women and the VCs don't want to fund them? And there are many, as the article indicated.
- Edie Okamoto · Follow · Alameda, CaliforniaLara Jones you are quite right. In my personal experience I found that if a man pulls together an ACE team he gets funding more easily than if a woman pulls together an ACE team. The right idea and the TEAM can and if it is great will get funding. Not as easily, not as readily and I am completely in favor of discussing the topic. It is important for both women and men to become aware of the issues. That said, I have seen many a woman succeed and those who did, had to get through the issues of sexism and they had to deal with people of a low EQ. Older people, men, women, young people, ethnic people can succeed - it is harder and I entirely agree - MUCH HARDER - for everyone who is not a white young highly educated male with a formidable built in Family and/or University network, highly degreed with a fabulous IQ and EQ, in the US or not Asian with the same credentials in Asia. Or not European with the same credentials in Europe. It can be done and it is being done. Feeling sorry that it is so hard will not address the issues. Recognizing and working through the issues and what role we ourselves play in creating and maintaining them, that is what eventually gets the job done. I am not trying to "blame the victim." I am encouraging women to stop buying into the victim role. I was blessed in many ways and I also have been called the b word, the c word, the dragon lady, etc. The entitled - and that is true for both men and women, can get incredibly rude when they realize that you don't agree to be their "slave." Being a woman who can stand her man is not popular with men nor with women. And that said, when a man is the boss, he runs into a lot of issues as well. Jealousy and greed affects everyone who is successful. The key is not to allow these baser emotions of the uninvited to deter you from your own goals. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Edison tried 1000 times as the rumor goes before he invited the light bulb. There are investors who are genuinely merit based. You need to be able to showcase that you can do it better than the next person. The idea and the team is what counts and knowing what the market is and how you are going to surpass your competition... if you are awesome they will listen - no matter who you are. After that, make sure you have top notch attorneys and accountants.
- Aaron Kulkis · Top Commenter · AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQLara Jones Yout talk as if you think that millions of good men aren't kept down.
News flash... for every hurdle women face in the business worlk, men play even more viscious hardball with each other.
Women get treated with kid-gloves, and then like the authorette and the whiners she interviewed, complain that they aren't given butler-delivered, gold-leaf-embossed invitations to be CEO of a Fortune 50 corporation 2 years after graduating from college with some degree that's only marginally related to the core of the industry they're in.
If you can't write an assembler, or a CPU-simulator for any CPU (real, historical, or proposed), given a block diagram and a concise list of its instruction set, op-codes, and addressing modes, VERY VERY VERY few people who DO know computers are goin to take you seriously.
- Stephanie Allen · Top Commenter · West Chester University of PennsylvaniaDuring my contract stint with Unisys last year, the level of sexual harassment, gender hostility and misogyny I experienced was what I expect from prisoners in Supermax, not college-educated IT "professionals".
For example: The (married) executive I worked for inquired about my sex life; described his genitalia; announced, in a room full of people with me as only woman in the room, that one of his female coworkers was an idiot who owed her career to the casting couch; openly stated that he gave me less challenging projects than my male counterpart because I was a woman (even though I have a graduate degree) and he was taking it easy on me because I couldn't handle anything difficult. Another executive said he didn't want any male employees giving him CPR in case of an emergency or sticking their fingers in his mouth if he was having a seizure, but that I was welcome to give him CPR and put my fingers in his mouth anytime.
The highlight of my day occurred when my boss and other executives would invite me to attend meetings with clients because "we could use some pretty in the room." Awesome. Funny, I never heard them invite a man to a meeting because "we could use some handsome in the room."
Making matters worse, when I brought my 13 page detailed complaint to an HR rep, her response was: "He didn't touch you....You didn't walk away....So it's not really sexual harassment." Since the bulk of my complaints were against executive-level staff, I had zero recourse. Thank goodness I wasn't sexually assaulted in the office - she probably would have asked what I did to provoke the attack.
No woman deserves to work in an environment where she is marginalized, ridiculed, objectified and her complaints dismissed with the mantra "boys will be boys."
STEM organizations like Unisys need to take a hard, honest look at their work environs and start holding their employees accountable for their deleterious attitudes and antagonistic treatment of women.- Edie Okamoto · Follow · Alameda, CaliforniaWow. what an amazingly horrible experience. Thank you for sharing this shocking experience. Only if women at large start speaking up and out, will be be able to send the message that insults and harassment is not seen as a compliment. Boys should grow up to be gentlemen, not ill-mannered oafs.
- Jud Valeski · University of Colorado BoulderIf you're a female entrepreneur, checkout MergeLane; http://www.mergelane.com/ . It's an accelerator for women building companies. I'm a mentor in the resource-full program.
- Edie Okamoto · Follow · Alameda, CaliforniaWhat is your advice to young women who are surprised by the sexism they encounter at work? How should they prepare? My advice is keep the conversation forthright and frank. When I had married men approach me, would advise them to bring flowers to the wife, talk with her more and take her out to a romantic dinner. This often would help their obviously failing relationship. I let them also know that this would be a much better solution for them, their wives and by far more professional. As an alternative I offered to call the wives to ask them for her opinion. Not only did the conversation abruptly stop and turn highly professional, I often received thank you letters.. :) I am curious what the universities have to say these days.
- Aaron Kulkis · Top Commenter · AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQEdie Okamoto
And 99.9999% of men don't face irrational obstacles at work, too?
Get real
You women act like "EVERY SINGLE MAN ON THE PLANET IS A CEO, SO WHY ISN'T EVERY SINGLE WOMAN A CEO, TOO?"
Get real. Controlling for education and experience, women earn 105% of what a man would earn in the same position,
Stop whining. - Edie Okamoto · Follow · Alameda, CaliforniaAaron Kulkis - I don't reacall whining, sir. In fact I pointed out several times that everyone deals with challenging situations and success comes from a good team, great ideas and perseverance. It is challenging to deal with people who have issues, low EQ and who are jerks. It seems from your comments that you personally have a lot of experience in that arena and perhaps a bit of built up resentment. Hope your life gets better.
- Terrence Yang · Top Commenter · Los Angeles, CaliforniaCongrats to Eileen Carey, Ari Horie and Vivek Wadhwa on making the @Newsweek cover story! Great read.
- Jamie Miller · Top Commenter · Sheridan, WyomingAaron Kulkis once again demonstrates his gift for eloquence. Look at his amazing affinity for affected alliterations: "slimy," "supplication" and "swamp" in one sentence! You don't often see the equal to this.
OK, Aaron, We heard you. Now please go away and play with your little toys, and quit bothering the adults.
- Johanna Heermann Wise · Follow · President and Founder at Refresh Your Career: Connect•Work•ThriveTo address these and other diversity issues, I've organized the February 10th, 2015 Workforce Diversity Summit at Microsoft in Mountain View, CA: http://chambermv.org/
workforce-diversity-summit/ agenda - Jovanka Ciares · Author, Speaker, Wellness Expert at Jovanka CiaresWe must continue to stand our ground, be assertive and strong. The only wait to beat this is to face it and to have large mainstream media outlets shame the motherf*&^rs until they get it.
- Jean Z. Poh · Follow · Creative Director at Jean & Alex, Inc.The last thing female entrepreneurs and investors need is an an article about gender discrimination written by someone who isn't logical enough to build a clear argument. In short, she doesn't understand the difference between cause and correlation--just because A and B happen together (i.e. are correlated) does not mean that A caused B (aka cum hoc ergo propter hoc). The fact that there are fewer female founders and female-lead companies being funded does not mean that the gender discrimination is the cause.
Here are some facts that she uses to support her argument that Silicon Valley is anti-women along with my comments (in parens) as to why they are inane:
1) A two-female team start-up failed to raise as much money as other male-lead start-ups
(To prove gender discrimination, she would have to show two companies with the same biz model/product/merits where the male team got funded and the women did not. A single case where a two-woman team didn't get funded is not proof that it was due to discrimination. Maybe their biz model didn't make sense, there was not market for it, wasn't scalable, was poorly executed, there is an infinite list of things that could have gone wrong or fallen short that resulted in their not being able to raise funding.)
2) SV is an old boys club that engages in locker-room talk
(Women talk shit about men all the time, does that mean they wouldn't invest in a company or buy a product that otherwise made sense simply because it was started by guys? Does it matter what guys say to each other behind closed doors? She could argue that what they say is indicative of their level of respect for women etc. but last time I checked, Margaret Thatcher schooled Parliament and other world leaders because she was capable of it. What men said about her behind closed doors and their view of women may have made her task more difficult, but it did not stop her because she was a badass and she didn't let it.)
3) There are not enough female advisors out there
(So go get male advisors. If you don't feel comfortable enough about your company, product, or self to ask someone with relevant experience for help regardless of THEIR gender, you have no right to blame gender discrimination for your inability to garner support.)
4) Women are not good at bragging and therefore not good at "making the ask" for funding
(If this is true, and I don't think it is because I've seen plenty of women brazenly ask for things in other contexts, is it the fault of men that we haven't learned this skill and honed it? That's like saying a guy who never read a recipe or tried to bake a cake failed at being a baker because women were discriminating against him for being a dude.)
5) VC community is 97% male and as a result they do not understand products that serve a female market
(Yeah, VC is largely male lead. There is a movement to change that and that is awesome. However, you don't have to be a woman in order to see why a product that serves the female market would be a good investment. If all the factors were present: untapped demand in the market, solid business model, sharp team, marketing strategy, execution, and scalability; I doubt any investor would say, "nope I don't get it because its for women." Furthermore, if you intend to be a good sales person, marketing person, fundraiser, etc., it is your job to be able to make the person you are speaking to understand and relate to your product regardless of the relevance it has on their life. You better make it relevant! If you can't sell, time spent working on your pitch is much more useful than time spent playing victim.)
6) Sexual harassment
(Yes, that sucks. Sue the f*ckers to teach them a lesson, use the damages to bootstrap your start-up, then get funded, and then make a sh!t ton of money to reinforce that lesson.)
7) "White, upper-middle-class young men have applied the new technologies to make things that reflect their desires and culture and foisted them on the world...The anonymity of the internet has proved relatively more menacing to women."
(Two words: fashion magazines. Written for women, by women, and a hell of a lot more menacing on women's psyches and self esteem than most things that guys are putting out there. Except, men aren't creating discriminatory content to suppress women, they are doing it because they are creating stuff that appeals to them. Men are not worrying about what women think of them, they are creating stuff they want and there is a market for.)
I am not arguing that gender discrimination does not exist, it does, it sucks, and everyone should be more supportive of each other in general. My point is simply the following: Every new idea, company, or product that faced challenges during inception and along the way (the world used to be flat remember?). However, the ideas, companies, and products that succeeded and became prolific were the ones pushed through by founders, inventors, and thinkers that saw obstacles and found ways to push through them or pivot around them. Adapt, don't complain. Spend less time playing victim and more time finding alternative solutions to your challenges. And please, if you're going to point the finger and blame someone else for all the injustices that are impeding your progress, please first learn know how to make a coherent, logical argument based on facts and know the difference between correlation and causation so that people can get behind you and support you on the merits of your argument.
JZP- Sumi Allen · The Ohio State University#5 has been more true since the dot com bust OLD money > NEW money.
The glorified P*$$*ng contest between couples and the need for prenup in the US doesn't help at all.
I've worked in a boy's club which included ex-military. Yes that was LOTS of fun, we got to hear so much about the personal krap and unfortunately it contributes to stereotypes and discrimination. And yes it does suck...
The other issue is that most girls, even the talent- want to be "taken care of" as status quo. THe others, women and everyone else copied the undesirable trait that guys have- ie. "boys club" (women knife each other with chauvinism).
What do you do? Let them determine what you can or can't do? I didn't. Yes I've suffered heavy setbacks. Not harassment, but serious impositions. Regardless,
I think the best mentor I had were not parents/culture- but sports and coaches.
Not Sandberg. Not Martha Stewart.
On the other hand- we ARE going to have to put QUALIFIED women up there.
Yes these QUALIFIED women do exist despite setbacks courtesy of the economy. And unfortunately I do think that minds haven't been opened to this. By both men AND women. Women are some of the worst most judgmental hypocrites.
We have get past that regardless.
Why? We have to market to Asia.
Who controls the finances in Asia?
The housewives.
Old Money will have to get with it.
- Cynthia Francis · COO at L.Thank you for this article. TRUTH. Suggestion for younger female entrepreneurs: do your homework, as there are VCs and investors out there who are looking for great deals and are not concerned one way or another as to your gender. And speak your truth - the only situations that still sting are those where I did not speak up or call them out, despite the potential consequences (like not getting the funding, the job, the raise).
- Aaron Kulkis · Top Commenter · AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQThe other vital thing -- LEARN YOUR STUFF, and stop expecting men to pick up your work whenever it gets hard. I've known female developers who literally would "work" in the following manner:
1. take her own assignned work from one male-coworker to another, each adding on a little more
2. Repeat (1) above until her assigned code was finished
3. Put her name in the comments at the top
4. Under her name, submit the men's combined work to the source code control system
5. Repeat 1 through 4 until management gets wise and kicks her dumb ass out the door.
No man could EVER get away with that sort of nonsense for more than a week, yet I've seen some women play this game for 2+ YEARS before supervisors figured out what was going on. - Alyson Murray · Top Commenter · Cedar Cliff High SchoolAaron Kulkis, I was going to type up a nice long post letting you know what an ignorant asshat you are, but then I realized that you clearly have serious, deep-seated issues with women and that the compassionate thing to do would be to recommend that you get some therapy immediately. Jesus Christ, what did Mommy DO to you?
- Chris Riddell · Top Commenter · Washington, District of ColumbiaAlyson Murray I'm not a tech guy myself, and I don't know shit about coding or engineering so I don't know personally, but heard it enough to believe that its a common complaint among male techies and engineers that the few women in their offices usually don't know what they're doing like the men do and end up gumming up the works but no one wants to do or say anything (like pointing out that she sucks or firing her) for fear of being publicly shamed as sexist. Its possible that the literally 20 different men I've probably heard this from were all lying to me, but somehow, by shear virtue of the numbers, I doubt it.
- Mona CoreChris RiddellYes, all those males were lying to you, just as my ex-coworkers in the Patent and Trademark Office were lying to get me terminated, and now the failed attempt beheading (see pic).
I was working 24/7 as evidenced by my computer log time, while these coworkers working 24/7 to defame me.
The Tech industry is still in the 1800s, or like the Middle East.
Here is my story and my EEOC case: eeoccase.blogspot.com
- Brenda Avadian · Follow · Publisher at North Star BooksWe need to establish our boundaries. If we allow these behaviors to persist because WE CHOOSE to play in a toxic playground, we really have little reason to complain. If we want to play, then we must observe and come prepared with creative (diplomatic) deflections when the "balls of innuendo" come hurling our way. [Wisdom from years consulting for Corp. America.]
- Steve Rienhart · Follow · Client Relations Account Manager at Enterprise Strategy GroupGreat article, great platform- thank you #Glassbreakers !
- Lorraine BauerWhen I saw this article, I was glad to see the issue being raised…not so much to highlight the sexist behaviors of some of the men who appear to represent the industry, but rather to point to the numbers. The numbers don’t lie, and there is definitely a problem. I can’t say I personally identify with the “story” behind this article, as well as the stories in the comments. While I empathize with all of these women, and know their stories are real, I don’t think all men within the industry should be characterized to possess the behaviors described here.
Unfortunately though, since the late 80s and 90s, the leadership within the industry has produced some incredibly sexist CEOs that have publicly boasted their exploits with women, and created cultures that ultimately became somewhat misogynistic. I personally attended a sales meeting with a new company where they showed pictures and boasted of how business was won using women to entice decision makers. I was appalled, but also noticed that the relatively few women in the audience didn’t seem to react. It was all part of the adrenalin that was used to create momentum. So even the “good guys” who didn’t blatantly exploit or demean women, went along for the ride.
It has gotten progressively worse, and women, as has been pointed out, have dropped out or accepted a “spot” where they do not threaten men. Look at the management team of most tech firms. Women in leadership roles are either in HR, Marketing or Support, while the vast majority of all other leadership roles are reserved for men. The numbers are the problem, not the stories, the emotions or the ideology. Making a case against the “old boy network” doesn’t work either, and with the increased diversity in our society, this is an even more difficult task than ever.
I have been tied to this industry all my life through my father, who was with IBM. I personally entered the industry in the 1970s. Sure IBM was a male dominated company, but that was simply because there weren’t as many women in the 50s and 60s entering the workforce. The culture however was “white shirts” and ethical behavior to establish credibility and trust with clients. As more women and other minorities were qualified and desirous to enter the workforce, the government supported this with affirmative action programs for hiring minorities. I don’t think anyone in IBM from that time would say that there was an ultimate deterioration of the workforce. On the contrary, and if someone didn’t perform, they were managed out. More importantly however, the culture adapted in a very impersonal way, and for the benefit of all. There was no choice, and no one wasted any energy thinking about it, because the leaders in the company were committed.
Leaders and investors in the industry today should look at the numbers and make the choice. Commit to diversity, and give dignity and honor back to an industry that lead many others in performance, ethics and all around great people.
As for women, everyone needs to recognize that women haven’t played a role in the workforce for very long, in the grand scheme of things. Women are not whiners.. Women struggle every day to balance a rich heritage of being in the background and battling the hidden energy of this history. We need to thank the women who set the example for others, as well as the many pioneering women who take the arrows that give way to progress. - Phyllis FriedsamIn the South, the first rule that mothers teach their sons is that they are to respect their mothers, their sisters,their female relatives, and any female in their presence. That is RULE NO. 1...PERIOD! This is very basic...we give them life at every level and there is no circumstance in which they will ever show any disrespect. Women are to be honored because we are amazing, highly intuitive, smart, all-encompassing creatures. A REAL man...I dare say, an intelligent man, understands this and fully embraces how fortunate he is to even be in our vicinity and that his life is being enhanced by knowing us. If a man took my hand under a table and reached for his unzipped pants...I would have smiled gently, stood up from the table, SLAMMED my lovely evening bag onto the tabletop as LOUDLY as possible, stated quietly, "It appears we need a new beginning to our discussion.", ...I would have stood without a word,until he apologized and we could resume the meeting properly. If no apology....then I just ask for his mother's phone number...if no phone number....then I leave!!!!....while he scratches his head!!
- Heavena H Hawkeye · Follow · 2,703 followerswow. What people won't do. For sales and attention Womend are not the only that uses silicone. .. women are always TARGETED by these perverted people we are humans not sex toys PUT A ARTICLE UP ON SILICONE MEN AND PUT THE ARROW BY HIS PENIS
- Sean-Paul Bobadilla · Kimball, MinnesotaI always believed that women on the team inspired better behavior in the men in the team. I say the more the better. Maybe that's a sexist attitude in itself. I don't particularly care if it is.
I remember Bill Clintons campaign to get more women into IT. For a while it worked. I noticed a definite increase of women in my department. But that changed after they stopped the campaign and it went back to normal. Sad.
My theory is that IT has a reputation of being male dominated and has all the problems associated with the old male dominated workplaces, but that's based on work situations in the 80's and 90's. I think women would be more comfortable in IT than they expect. I think the lack of women in IT is due to attrition more than discomfort in the workplace. Women probably leave at the same rate as men, but no new women replace them.
Maybe I'm being blind to a real, serious, problem. But I think sexism in IT today is blown out of proportion.
IT professionals also still have a reputation for being socially awkward loners, but we both know that's not true.
It's incredibly difficult to break into IT these days without experience. Getting hired is really hard fresh out of the gate. I don't think that women find it any harder than men. I think individual women feel that it's because of their gender when it's not.
As for being fiercely misogynistic. Citing message boards and tweets. I think the message boards they are looking at are 4chan and the like, which are not really tech message boards and are dominated by teens who find that there is no limit to how misogynistic and racist they can be and get away with it.
As for comparing it to the 80's and 90's wallstreet. Saying that wallstreet has been tamed by high profile lawsuits and strict gender diversity training. IT has had the same scrutiny and lawsuits that they say tamed wallstreet and I've never been at a place, big or small that didn't have mandatory sexual harassment training. I don't know why they think that those things haven't tamed IT as well.
As for finding fewer women than men in startups, in my experience startups have more women per capita than larger more established shops.
I think the the IT industry needs an image consultant and another campaign to get more women into IT. Something more sustained, like the anti smoking campaign or the war on drugs.
I think that eventually there will be parity between men and women in the IT workplace but we'll need to work for it. Articles like Newsweek's are unhelpful to say the least.
I find the whole article suspect. I'd like to know where they go their information.- Blue Nite PhotographyI blame Hollywood for the lack of woman since gender ratios used to be more even.
The vast majority of portrayals are written by non techies and portray anything technical as a man's job; women need not apply.
Meanwhile business as a whole is portrayed much more gender balanced so the mad men days ended.
- John G Moore Jr · Top CommenterWomen (White and Asian) are lucky, at least their problem is on the radar and firms are at least "acting" like they give a damn. For Blacks in technology it is exponentially worse. Great article though. Good information and good storytelling about how all of this really doers matter.
- Matt Clark · Follow · NorthwesternVCs are dying to fund female entrepreneurs who convince them they will build a successful business, but it takes a lot more than just "asking for money" to fundraise. Watch Sheryl Sandberg explain why there are so few women leaders: http://www.ted.com/talks/
sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have _too_few_women_leaders?lan guage=en#t-866987 - Sumi Allen · The Ohio State UniversityI'm not going to use the word"underpriveledged"; but it's been a man's world since "new money" dwindled with the dot com sector.
The ladies in the limelight are not entirely representative of who I've seen with heavy handed talent. I'm referring to the "grunt" workers who score 98% on the series 7 and know more than 2 languages, multilinguals with software engineering degrees with MBAs that got at least a 4.0 throughout school and good salaries... the economy now is lacking so many don't have the same opportunity to prove themselves. Like a Level 3 CFA that works in a shoddy call center.
These are not the same "breed" as the trust fund brat/models/socialites. I know one who worked swap meets on the weekends to help her immigrant family pay the mortgage while she consistently brought home straight A's.
These are the same caliber of women who started Theranos and Nine Dragons (China).
It's not just women, but most start ups in the Silly Valley Yay Area are gimmicks with little innovative quality and lousy marketing.
The trouble is that you need talent to mix with money and for what it's worth- The Silly Valley Yay Area is full of gold diggers and bottle necked connections.
So it's challenging in the first place for most entrepreneurs to get funding just to get a track record that equity is going to evaluate in the same way it would be tricky for investors to even hear about the unknown from Podunk Indiana who may already have a demand market - with not even a community business loan due to the illiquidity of the banks so he or she could establish any track record.
The accessibility to financiers BEFORE gender plays a part in everyone's opinion.
For some of us, it actually costs money or our savings just to get to the overpriced Silly Valley Yay Area.
Women are going to be an asset, especially in light of trade with Asia because women of the household handle the finances in the Eastern Hemisphere (which is why ads in Asia are feminized).
I know you're trying to market, but marketing is bringing the product to the market- aka. marketing to where the "money" aka. VALUE is at with ANY pragmatism before we make it a gender issue.
Otherwise, this is cliche and it's sensationalism which is bringing potential nowhere.
- Christi Muoneke · Seattle, WashingtonFortunately, the start up cultures in Seattle, Portland and other areas outside Silicon Valley don't have quite the same "master of the universe" toxicity. Who raised these boys, wolves? #NoHomeTraining
- Melanie Archer · Oakland, CaliforniaI've worked in the Bay Area tech industry for eighteen years. I've experienced all the awful behaviors described in this article, except the sexual harassment. I'm disappointed by Newsweek's choice of cover image, but I guess there's no visually concise way to depict women's reality of not being hired, not being promoted, bullied at work, or denied funding.
Terrific writing from Nina Burleigh! - Kirsten Hamilton · FollowOne company I worked at - a guy blocked my way into my cubicle and asked me what the password was for me to get by...same guy later said to our workgroup that to guess my weight he'd have to know my breast size. At another company I worked at on the peninsula I was excluded from the 'book club', where my male counterparts were included.
- Mark Plus · Top Commenter · East Central High SchoolI don't see the problem with Silicon Valley's "sexism." Women don't find most of these guys dateable any way, even when they have become wealthy. So why would you want to work with them?
- Rey
Yoch · Top CommenterOH, IDK, they're the only people in the business? the guys have the investment money for their project?? they want to work in the tech industry, too? maybe they don't want to date their bosses??
OH wait. your name is mark. you are a male, therefore you must obviously lack empathy for people harassed out of an entire industry. maybe siri can find you some viagra and prostitutes so you can distract yourself instead of making inane comments on something you completely don't understand. - Daniel Taylor · Top Commenter · LeedsBecause it's the only way to work in science, in technology, in web development - all the places the business opportunities in tech are.
When men like this are 96% of the senior management, women *don't have the option* to just "not work with them". They have to endure their bullshit - or not work at all.
And that's the problem.
- Jenny CurtisWhen Muhammad Yunus placed (eventually) hundreds of millions of dollars in circulation in microlending, he lent only to groups of women ("money entering a household through a woman brings more benefits to the family as a whole"). In its way, microlending involves risk, though lesser, and of different varieties. What is it about high tech and massive financial stakes that suggest that lending to risk-embracing (and if the harassment behaviors described in Newsweek are normative, initially, I don't know what IS), self-absorbed, and antisocial anti-heroes is a good idea? We don't have data (because we won't lend to the ladies) that tells us the true cost of this behavior. It would be interesting to see how female-driven VC collectives and recipient firms perform on various dimensions. Yunus' behavior was highly logical, so why assume the dominant culture is the best?
- Claire Briggs · Perth, Western Australia"culture in which women don’t easily brag' .... so true I missed out on a $15K pay raise --- I work in IT education and emphasised the "team" not myself. We all brainstorm and put forward ideas and work as a team - we are a small campus - so of course I wont brag about results on an individual basis.
- Justine Lassoff · Top Commenter · Los Angeles, CaliforniaThank you Nina for writing this article - and for the many people out there, men included, who are supportive of fair treatment for all women entrepreneurs. Here in LA I co-founded Tuesdaynights, an organization for seasoned women execs and entrepreneurs with the goal to encourage collaboration and networking. http://
www.tuesdaynights.org/ - Elizabeth Kang · Search Analyst at @WalmartLabsThis is not a "Silicon Valley" issue. It's a male issue. There just happen to be more males in Silicon Valley. When more women start joining the ranks, the issue will lessen. And it's already happening.
- Bryan Dale · Top Commenter · Lawyer at SelfSilicon a valley is the most successful place in America. The surest way to kill it is to impose gender based hiring practices like in other place and industries. Start hiring and promoting based on gender rather than ability and before long you will have nothing left but mediocrity and a bunch of unqualified female employees and executives.
- Derek Kerton · Top Commenter · Principal at The Kerton Group" Every [lousy] startup pitch begins with a problem, followed by a solution and an estimation of how many people will pay for it. " Fixed that for ya.
I would start every pitch ever with:
- We're X
- We do Y
- And we're awesome/better/years ahead at it because Z
- then say whatever you want
- and end with an ask. - E Thomas Shinzon · Top Commentera trillion word article that is long on propaganda and very short on actual evidence.
- Nick Segal · Assistant Webmaster at Florida State UniversityThe webpage keeps fucking reloading!!! How am I suposed to read this??
- Pavel Krioukov · Barmedarbeider at Peppes Pizza Hammerfestand the solution is to whine more about it.
- Aaron Kulkis · Top Commenter · AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQWOMEN control over 75% of the wealth in this country..... and yet
the TL;DR is this: authorette's bitch can be summarized as: "Waaaaaaaaa, Men won't THROW STARTUP MONEY AT US WYMMINS just becase we have vagains like they pay for expensive dinner dates, drinks in bars, tropical vacations, and nice places to live in!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! My vagina gets me everythiin else in life for free!!! Why won't my vagina automatically get me Vulture Capitalist Money, too!!?!?!?!?ONE?!?!?!ELEVENTY?!?!?! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
If your main selling point is that you lack a penis, then the problem is that you CAN'T handle the equality that you PRETEND to want, because you're still complaining about Silicon Valley not sex-based quotas.
There's nothing more offensive than someone who uses their weakness and inability as a cudgel. - Luardo Luis Eduardo · Top Commenter · Berlin, GermanyThey have a point. What I don't like is that they make to sound the Tech Industry as a Sexist industry, which is not. There is sexual harresmtn and it must end, not only at work, but in every sector of life.
Also the article made the accusation that there are not so many famous female CEOs... why is that so relevant? The answer could be found if you ask a bunch of guys if they want to be millionaire and bunch of women the same question and maybe we can compare rather is been a successful business person with millions in bank the dream of women or not.
Friday, January 30, 2015
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