Gender & Diversity in Tech

The tech industry, like many (though not all) STEM disciplines, suffers from a serious gender gap – and by some estimations, it’s getting worse not better. I’m passionate about uncovering barriers to women’s full inclusion in tech, and in discovering ways to dissolve those barriers. Here are some of my writings on the subject of gender, technology, and diversity writ large.

So What’s the Problem, Anyway?

• Getting Real About the Gender Ratio in Tech: What the Numbers Reveal (AKA The Tech Industry’s Woman Problem: Statistics Show It’s Worse Than You Think)
• Why Pinterest is Seriously Valuable (and What it’s Teaching Men in Power) (this one is also up on Medium, with some insightful comments from readers)
• Once and For All: Tech is Not a Meritocracy
  
• Women in Tech and Empathy Work (my most popular post of all time, discussing how women are streamed into “empathy” roles within tech companies)
• Twitter Has 12 Corporate Directors, but Only One Is a Woman
• The Odds That a Panel Would “Randomly” Be All Men Are Astronomical

And What Can We Do About It?

• Supporting Women in Tech: This is How You Do It
• What Men (and Everyone, Really) Can Do to Support Gender Equality in Tech
• Why making your hiring practices more inclusive is not a double standard
• Diversity Messes With Your Culture… and That’s a Good Thing – Culture fit matters only insofar as it translates as “values fit.” If “culture fit” is code for “looks like us and talks like us,” it’s a problem for you and your business.
• 8 Signs You May Have a Potential Girl Coder on Your Hands (and what to do about it)
• The “Yes, And” of Women Investors
• How Women Can Help Square Beat the Competition
• Impact Versus Intent, or Why It Doesn’t Matter Whether Pax Dickinson is Sexist
• Four Fabulous (and Realistic) Female Characters for HBO’s Silicon Valley

Who Else is Writing About This Stuff?

Well, lots of people. But here are a few of the writers who consistently expand my thinking:

• Kronda Adair (Twitter) – here’s a great piece she wrote for MVC called “Dear Marginalized People Coming Into Tech.”
• Lukas Blakk (Twitter)
• Angie Byron (Twitter)
• Tim Chevalier (Twitter)
• Cheryl Contee (Twitter)
• Lauren Chief Elk (Twitter)
• Ashe Dryden (Twitter)
• Kathryn Finney (Twitter), founder of Digital Undivided
• Cindy Gallop (Twitter)
• CV Harquail (Twitter)
• Leigh Honeywell (Twitter), (co)founder of several women’s hackspaces
• Eun-Song Kim (Twitter)
• Kate Losse (Twitter)
• Natalia Oberti Noguera (Twitter), founder of Pipeline Fellowship