The Industry of Technology and the Absence of Women

As has been previously discussed on this blog, the gender gap is of immense importance to the economy and to all women. In the area of science and research, the presence of women is severely lacking. Unfortunately, this is an issue in many different career fields, including that of computer technology and large companies. To find proof of this, you need to look no further than the capital of technology: Silicon Valley, California.

According to this article on women and power positions, only 11.5 percent of top executives at the largest publicly traded Silicon Valley companies are women. Some companies, such as Tesla motors, do not have a single woman on their team of board members. While there are a few companies that do have female members in high-ranking positions such as Yahoo and Facebook, the majority have very few or none at all.

There are several reasons why there are so few women in positions of power in tech companies, one being that there are a lot more qualified males applying. Only 18 percent of computer-science undergraduates are women, according to the Anita Borg Institute, a group that pushes for more women in technology. Another reason is that companies will look for referrals for existing executives and since most executives in the industry are men, it stands that they typically refer other men. It can be difficult for women to really get there name out there. Many men acquire their positions with help from connections. Although it may not be explicitly stated, there still can exist a gender bias for employee consideration that must be mentioned as well.

So what can be done to remedy this gender imbalance? Well for starters, we need to get young girls involved and interested in technology at an early age. We need to let our girls know that technology is for everyone and they are just as capable of creating great things as boys are. Women make up over half the population, if we can get some equal representation in companies that are on the cusp of innovation, imagine the growth and new technologies that could be discovered.