Boulder <3s Women in Tech

Boulder Startup Week: May 15, 2013Jenny Slade, NCWIT

@ncwit | @bldrstartupweek | #BSW13

Women Make Boulder Awesome

Why Women Matter to Technology

Women Correlate with Success

Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies

showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior

positions as unsuccessful companies.

Dow Jones VentureSource, 2011.

Women Help Companies GrowTech companies with women have been shown to use 40 percent less capital and be more likely to survive the transition from startup to established company.

Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," 2010.

Women Improve InnovationThe presence of women in a group is more likely to increase the collective intelligence (problem-solving ability, creativity) of the group than the presence of individuals with higher intelligence.

“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone.

Women Enhance Teams

Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2009.

Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups.

Women Are 50% of the Population. Why Handicap Your Hiring by 50%?

"We simply cannot afford to alienate large chunks of the workforce. It is a

widely understood truth that the single biggest challenge is attracting the right people … to literally handicap yourself

by 50 percent is insanity.” - Dan Shapiro, Google

Women Are 50% of the Market

Women in Tech, By the Numbers

Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2012; Dow Jones VentureSource, 2012.

Percent of U.S. technology jobs held by women26

Percent of women executives at U.S. venture-backed startups11

Percent of U.S. professional occupations held by women

57

Percent of U.S. software developers who are women20

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

Why So Few Women in Tech?

Pipeline AttritionAttraction

Society’s Biased About Gender and Technology

What Do You See In This Picture?

What Is Unconscious Bias?

We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us

make sense of the world. But our shortcuts

sometimes make us misinterpret things.

That’s unconscious bias.

Example: White male engineering students

score lower when told in advance that Asians

typically score higher on math tests

Source: Aronson, et al., 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1998

Unconscious Bias = Stereotype Threat

Unconscious Bias = Tokenism

African Americans

Xkcd.org with modification by Cohoon, 2012

Unconscious Bias = Micro-inequities

» Slights: “You’re the receptionist, right?”

» Exclusion: “Oops, I forgot to cc her on that email.”

» Recognition: “No, I’m pretty sure it was Tom’s idea, not Jane’s, to use a link algorithm.”

» Isolation: “Dude, let’s grab a beer!”

Unconscious Bias in Performance Appraisal

Identical resumes. Gendered names.

Reviewers (of both genders) strongly favor John in skills, hireability, and salary.

Howard vs. Heidi

Howard vs. Heidi

Howard vs. Heidi

“Blind” orchestra auditions, with musicians behind a curtain, increased the number of female musicians hired by 25% to 46% percent.

Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review, 90(4), 715-741.

Unconscious Bias in Hiring

Unconscious Bias Is…Unconscious.

Women and Men at Startups See Things Differently …

Case Study: How Etsy Grew Its Female Engineering Team by 500%

Take action from the top

Don’t just say you care about diversity

Show why your company is a great place to work

Invest in early talent

Put more than 1 woman on a team (don’t isolate them)

Integrate your workspaces

Invite diversity. Use diverse networks, not just your status quo networks, to recruit.

Include a woman, and a pile sort, in your job interviews.

Remove biased language from job descriptions.

Audit your physical space for gender-neutral vibes.

If you’re a man, be a male advocate.

5 Things You Can Do Today

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1) Invite Diversity

2) Include a Woman, and a Pile Sort, in Job Interviews

Pile sort: www.ncwit.org/interviewstrategies

3) Remove Biased Language from Job Descriptions

“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD: http://ww2.ncwit.org/pdf/A.Kay_JobPostings_EAmtg12.pdf; http://vimeo.com/46501265

CONFIDENT OBJECTIVE DECISIVE ANALYTICAL AUTONOMOUS DOMINANT

4) Audit Your Physical Space for Gendered Vibes

(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045-1060; http://www.ncwit.org/physicalspaceuw

5) If You’re a Man, Be a Male Advocate

What’s Good for the Goose …

NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology

Our coalition includes more than 250 universities, corporations, and non-profits.

We Can Help.

Get Going with Free, Research-backed Resources and Programs

We Plug You In.

Panel

» Ingrid Alongi: Co-founder and CEO, Quick Left

» Jim Franklin: CEO, SendGrid

» Greg Greenstreet: VP of Engineering, Gnip

» Leslie Osborne: VP of Product + Operations, Standing Cloud

» Krista Marks: Engineer, Founder of Nimbee, Kerpoof