Yael Kidron is the director of Character Education at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Views are her own.
The tech industry has shown consistent underrepresentation of women—especially women of color.[1] Both in tech and other industries, men are three times more likely than women to be in senior leadership positions.[2] Women have less access to chief executives in their companies and are more likely to be denied a promotion than men.[3] Not only these gaps create income inequality; it can lead to future unemployment gaps due to differential access to management positions.[4]
How should society help women succeed in tech? Who is responsible and how early should we start? These are some of the questions that we will discuss this month in an event hosted by The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. In this event, open to the public, we will hear from Pratima Rao Gluckman, who has interviewed 19 women leaders working in high-tech companies, as well as two of the women featured in her book Nevertheless, She Persisted: True Stories of Women Leaders in Tech.
Time: Friday, January 25, noon to 1:00 p.m.
Place: Santa Clara University, Benson Memorial Center, Williman Room
Light lunch will be served.
RSVP at this link for accurate lunch count, or copy and paste the following link to your browser: https://www.scu.edu/events/#!view/event/event_id/80445
Description: Panelists will share how they have forged a path in high-tech and the relationships that have helped them build the attitudes and skills needed to reach senior positions. We will ask the questions: What is the role of parents and teachers in teens’ future academic and career aspirations concerning technology and engineering? What are the values and traits that enable young women to persist? And, what are effective ways to help women get on the leadership track in tech?
The Big Idea
Gender gaps originate in childhood experiences. Children interactions with toys and exposure to the popular media and stories shape their worldviews, including the occupations that men and women typically have. For example, in the Draw-a-Scientist Test, researchers ask students to imagine and draw a scientist. About 95 percent of boys and 58 percent of girls draw a male scientist, and this gap was greater in high school than in elementary school.[5] High school students’ perceptions of “gender-appropriate” social behaviors and occupations are detrimental to their skill development and educational attainment. Surveys show that one in two girls refrain from speaking their mind or disagreeing with others because they want to be liked, and one in three girls are afraid to take on leadership roles for fear of being perceived as bossy.[6] By the time they reach college, women are substantially less likely than men to enroll in technology and engineering degrees.[7] In fact, the proportion of women with bachelor’s degrees in computer sciences has declined from 25 percent in 2004 to 18 percent in 2014.[8]
What Can Schools Do?
Schools can offer parents tools and tips for fostering the love of learning about technology. School-family partnerships can take many forms including family science nights, teacher-parent conference, and information about after-school and summer programs. The Korn Ferry Institute interviewed 57 women CEOs about critical incidents in their lives that enabled them to persist in their professional careers. The researchers found that “Many specifically gave credit to fathers who believed in their ability, pushed them to speak up about what they knew and thought, and looked past traditional notions of gender.”[9]
Schools can foster interest in technology and leadership development through the curriculum, schools events, and clubs.[10] Professional learning days for teachers should include evidence-based practices for promoting a classroom climate free of gender bias. Teaching students about female role models promotes interest in math, science and technology.[11] Students should have multiple exposures to role models through books, blogs, podcasts, conferences, and guest speaking engagements. Collaboration with community-based organizations and other providers of STEM programs for girls may curb current trends, and increase the number of women motivated to persist in the tech workforce.
Sources
[1] United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2016). Diversity in High Tech. Washington DC: Author.
[2] Korn Ferry Institute. (2017). Women in the C-Suite. San Francisco, CA: Author.
[3] McKinsey & Company. (2018). Women in the workplace. New York, NY: Author.
[4] World Economic Forum. (2018). The Global Gender Gap Report 2018. Cologny/Geneva Switzerland: Author.
[5] Miller, D. I., Nolla, K. M., Eagly, A. H., & Uttal, D. H. (2018). The development of children’s gender‐science stereotypes: A meta‐analysis of 5 decades of US Draw‐a‐scientist studies. Child Development, 89(6), 1943–1955.
[6] Hinkelman, L. (2017). The Girls’ Index: New insights into the complex world of today’s girls. Columbus, OH: Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc.
[7] The White House Council on Women and Girls. (2014). Women and girls of color: Addressing challenges and expanding opportunities. Washington DC: The White House.
[8] National Science Foundation. (2017). Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. Washington DC: Author.
[9] Korn Ferry Institute. (2017). Women CEOs Speak. San Francisco, CA: Author.
[10] Mosatche, H. S., Matloff-Nieves, S., Kekelis, L., & Lawner, E. K. (2013). Effective STEM programs for adolescent girls. Wellesley, MA: National Institute on Out-of-School Time.
[11] Halpern, D., Aronson, J., Reimer, N., Simpkins, S., Star, J., and Wentzel, K. (2007). Encouraging Girls in Math and Science (NCER 2007-2003). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ncer.ed.gov