Girls In Tech

Grace Hopper celebration of Women in Computing  will take place in Portland this year November 9-12, 2011. The conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Keynote speakers line up would be Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and the honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

4 days of conference with special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.

Check out daily schedule here.  Registration is now closed, as it’s a sold out conference. So, follow me @MsSonicFlare for conference updates this week.

Tags: 24notion, Computing, executive leaders, facebook, girls in technology, gitpdx, grace hopper, ivo, Ivo Lukas, mssonicflare, technology, women in computing, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, GIT Mentorship, Portland | No Comments »

For 13 years, OSCON, the O’Reilly Open Source Convention, has put open source to work building the future. OSCON’s program encompasses 20 tracks to explore all things open source. New tracks have been added to OSCON this year, including Citizen Science, Geek Lifestyle, Open Data, Programming, and Emerging Languages, while Healthcare returns for its second year.

For those of you who couldn’t make it to Portland. Don’t worry! O’Reilly’s OSCON video live stream starts today and continues all week. also, Check out daily schedule

Don’t forget this Thursday: Girls in Tech will be at OSCON 2011 as we kick off the inaugural GIT Mentorship Pilot Programs globally (everyone is welcome-men and women). Learn more about the mentorship programs(for k-12, colleges/universities, working professionals), get involved and participate,  and how you could help spread the word. If you are attending Oscon 2011,  join us on Thursday on July 28th 1-2pm in room #D134. More info about the session. See you there!

More info at oscon.com/live

Follow me @MsSonicFlare

Tags: 24notion, girls in tech, gitpdx, Ivo Lukas, mentorship programs, oregon, OSCON, oscon data, oscon java, OSCON2011, Portland, women in technology, women leadership
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Girls In Tech, Portland | No Comments »

Follow me @cmparadise

In my role as a volunteer social media manager for women’s professional organizations in the Bay Area it is my job to stay on top of the news; and the news lately regarding women, executive positions and a challenging job market has become alarming.  From articles in the Wall Street Journal to U.S. News to Bloomberg there are reports that a pervasive wrong is occurring and that is the inspiration for this blog post.

From a timeline perspective this began with an article from the Wall Street Journal ‘Women Executives Twice as Likely to Leave Their Jobs as Men’ in October of 2010.  “About 7.2 percent of women executives in the survey left their jobs, compared to 3.8 percent of men. Both the voluntary rates (4.3 percent versus 2.8 percent for men) and the involuntary rates (2.9 versus 0.9 percent) were higher for women executives.”  The article states that women were more likely to be dismissed from their job and the research suggests that this is due to the lack of opportunities and professional support needed to advance successfully.

This research is supported by the recent article from Women on Business ’29 Fortune 500 companies Have No Women on Boards’ which highlights that only 2.6% of women hold board chairmanships.  That article was actually a reactionary piece written about the Bloomberg Businessweek article ‘Boys Only Boards’.  According to the author Joel Stonington “There are 29 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 that are all male in decision-making roles, with no women on the board of directors or among the top five highest-paid officers, according to Bloomberg Rankings. They range from America’s largest maker of uniforms, Cintas (CTAS), to the company that produces Animal Planet and the Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Communications (DISCA).  There are 47 companies, or 9.4 percent of the S&P 500, that have no women on the board of directors, according to Bloomberg Rankings.”  Yes you read that right….29 companies without women in the top five highest-paid officer roles.

If you are wondering how Bloomberg Rankings got from 47 companies to 29….if there was one (1) woman present (let me repeat…one)  in an executive position the company was removed from the rankings.  Not to dismiss the women who hold these positions but this is not even close to gender equality.  Personally, I would like to see a list of companies without 25% of their executive positions held by women. I know I would be adjusting my spending habits accordingly.

It is not only the executive ranks that are facing this challenge.  In the Wall Street Journal article ‘Tech Executives See Paths for Women, Especially Geeks’  the author states that “Women held 25% of computing-related occupations in 2009, down from 30% in 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of computer information systems degrees obtained annually by women has held at 18% since the 2007-08 school year, down from 28% in 2001-02.”.  And even more frightening women are not aiming for the top.  In a McKinsey & Co survey conducted in 2010 16% of women versus 26% of men are aiming for top management positions.

A Poor Way To Do Business

“It’s totally insensitive,” says Terry Savage, a financial journalist and longtime corporate board member. (She requested that Businessweek.com not cite the boards on which she sits, as she did not want to be seen as speaking for those companies.) “I find it simply astounding that a company that has at least half its ultimate users and customers as women, especially uniform making or media, I find it astounding that they don’t have a woman on the board.”  Could it be said any better?  Let’s try….

Marketing statistics about women from she-conomy.com :

• Wealthy boomer women are the marquee players in our country’s culture and commerce. They are educated, have a high income, and make 95 percent of the purchase decisions for their households. – Karen Vogel, The Women’s Congress and co-founder and president of New Generation Event Solutions
• Once the college bills are out of the way and children launch their own households, the discretionary spending power of 50-plus women soars. They spend 2.5 times what the average person spends. Women are the primary buyers for computers, cars, banking, financial services and a lot of other big-ticket categories. – Marti Barletta, Primetime Women
• High-net-worth women account for 39% of the country’s top wealth earners; 2.5 million of them have combined assets of $4.2 trillion. More than 1.3 million women professionals and executives earn in excess of $100,000 annually. 43% of Americans with more than $500,000 in assets are female – MassMutual Financial Group–2007
• The number of wealthy women investors in the U.S. is growing at a faster rate than that of men. In a two-year period, the number of wealthy women in the U.S. grew 68%, while the number of men grew only 36%. – The Spectrem Group
• Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care:
  • 91% of New Homes
  • 66% PCs
  • 92% Vacations
  • 80% Healthcare
  • 65% New Cars
  • 89% Bank Accounts
  • 93% Food
  • 93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals
  • American women spend about $5 trillion annually…
    Over half the U.S. GDP

With statistics like the above….how can companies not seek women in droves for executive positions?

The Growing Talent Pool & What You Can Do

With all of the above it is astonishing the low number of women in executive management.  Even more so when there are numerous ‘women to watch’, ‘women to follow’, and top business women listings.  A few of my favorites:

• Advertising Age – Women to Watch
• FORTUNE – 50 Most Powerful Women in Business

And being that I am from the Bay Area:

• San Francisco Business Times – 150 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business

Clearly the talent exists and the challenge lies in perceptions as opposed to the reality of the talent pool available.

So what can we do? I believe the responsibility begins with each and every one of us.  One of the factors cited for poor ability to advance into executive management is the lack of opportunities and support systems.  Women should not rely on their companies to provide this type of support but instead look to external organizations and networks to create this.  Organizations like Girls-in-Tech, along with many more around the country are there to assist and provide these opportunities.

Steps to Take:

1. Investigate opportunities for professional growth, mentorship, and networking within your company.  If you don’t find any…consider speaking to your HR department about partnering with organizations that provide these opportunities for women.
2. Research organizations within your area that can help you and become an active member.  The least you can do is show up to events….the most you can do is volunteer.  These are all great ways to provide youself with new opportunities.
3. Invest in yourself and other women leaders.  Many companies offer yearly benefits to offset the cost of continued education…use them.  Consider mentoring other emerging women leaders within your area.
4. Seek out female talent.  With online networking platforms like LinkedIn and Viadeo this has never been more easy!

Tags: lack of women executives, lack of women on boards, Leadership, women, women executives, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Girls In Tech, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

Late last month May 23-25, 2011, NCWIT kicked off its Summit on Women and IT in New York City. NCWIT mission is a national community of change-leader organizations working to significantly increase the meaningful participation of girls and women in IT. The yearly summit brings in together leaders, change agents, and stakeholders to focus on research-driven practices and ideas that can strengthen the computing workforce and promote technology innovation by increasing the participation of girls and women.  The NCWIT Summit on Women and IT convenes prominent leaders from corporations, K-12 and higher education, non-profits, startups, and government organizations. Topics to be addressed during the summit include:

• How an increasingly diverse U.S. population impacts the future of IT
• How to develop diversity in open source
• Ways to better inform and educate girls about IT career choices
• How diversity impacts innovation and how stereotype threat affects underrepresented groups in particular environments
• What organizations can do to promote a diverse work environment, retain talent and avoid high attrition

The Department of Labor estimates that the U.S. workforce will add 1.4 million technology jobs by 2018, yet universities will produce fewer than half of the technology-trained candidates needed to fill these jobs. Research shows that the number of women in IT is dwindling; in 2009, only 25% of U.S IT professionals were women, compared to 36% in 1991.

check out NCWIT’s Alliances

Check out NCWIT BLOG |   Photos from the NCWITSummit |   Schedule of the prominent speakers/panelist |  Don’t forget to read all of the coverage #NCWITSUMMIT @NCWIT, And last but not least, like their Facebook page |   Fun digital photo booth on the last night hosted at MTV HQ for Symons Innovator Award |   Press Release for media

Follow me @MsSonicFlare

Tags: 24notion, Computing, diversity, education, girls in technology, innovation, IT, Ivo Lukas, NCWIT, ncwitsummit, New York, tech, technology, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Girls In Tech | No Comments »

How powerful is a tweet?

Last December at Vator Splash NY Competition where JumpThru founder Deborah Jackson served as a judge for the event, she met the executive director of Iridescent, a non-profit that provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education for underserved and underrepresented youth. On the spot, she helped Iridescent connect with like-minded organizations such as Girl Develop It and Women 2.0. She also introduced the non-profit to Heart & Soul Charitable Fund that is now going to fund Iridescent.

Deborah thought she had done her part in making connections for Iridescent. Little did she think that one of her tweets would have an impact as powerful as a personal introduction.

Fast forward to this week, when she received a thank you email from the executive director of Iridescent. The executive director wrote that, thanks to Deborah’s tweet about Girl Approved founder Heidi Dangelmaier, Iridescent learned about Girl Approved, an organization focused on girl empowerment through innovative product development. In fact, the executive director reached out to Heidi who agreed to be one of the keynote speakers at Technovation Challenge Pitch Night on May 9th at AOL Ventures in NYC.

Here is more detail on Technovation Challenge Pitch Night:

“The Technovation Challenge program was founded in 2009 by Anuranjita Tewary, who wanted to offer young women the experience of participating in a “start-up company” and understand what it takes to be a high-tech entrepreneur. The pilot program was run in the spring of 2010, with 45 girls and 25 mentors from all over Silicon Valley. The Technovation Challenge has now expanded to New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mountain View and Berkeley, CA, supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). View our current programs here“

Girls in Tech was highly involved with the first Technovation Challenge, from inception to Pitch Night, in the Bay Area in December 2009.

So, a tweet, as Deborah found out, can be quite powerful. Particularly when sharing connections and promoting collaboration among an increasingly interconnected community of “tweeps” passionate about female entrepreneurship, technology, and education.

Keep on tweeting!

This post of was originally posted on JumpThru’s tumblr blog.

Tags: entrepreneurship, Girl_Approved, Girl_Develop_It, iridescent, JumpThru, networking, New York City, social media, social networking, Technovation_Challenge, tweet, twitter, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech, New York | No Comments »

Want to get a start in journalism?  Wish you could launch your own website based on your latest big idea and get $12,00o funding to get it started?  Check out New Women’s Media Entreprenuers (NMWE).

NMWE is a unique initiative addressing opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism by spotlighting their ingenuity and entrepreneurial abilities. Pilot projects will show what can be done. Research will tell what more then to do.  Additionally, an awards program and summit will showcase women’s creative ideas.

So, where does the $12,000 in funding come in?

J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation are seeking to fund four women-led projects that will rock the world of journalism.

We will fund individuals who have original ideas to create new websites, mobile news services or other entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community or a community of interest.

The McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs program will give one-time funding of $12,000 to women who have the vision, skills and experience to launch a new venture. These can be solo ideas or team projects spearheaded by women.

The deadline for applications is Monday, April 4 (which we realize is tomorrow, but wanted to pass this on for anyone out there who already has an idea percolating!) For more information, please visit www.newmediawomen.org .

Tags: journalism, new media, NWME, Women Entrepreneurs, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

I received the following email this morning from a good (male) friend of mine.  I thought it was so cool (and so cool that he sent it) that I’d post it up here as a little-known-but-great-fact.

How’s it going?

This made me think of you (in a “Mad Men” era Girls in Tech sort of way):

Today is the 65^th anniversary of the unveiling of the ENIAC (short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, it was the first general-purpose, electronic computer.)

The first test problem run was computations for the hydrogen bomb done for scientists at Los Alamos, not artillery tables.  Subsequent use was to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory.  The ENIAC could be programmed to perform complex sequences of operations, which could include loops, branches, and subroutines. The task of taking a problem and mapping it onto the machine was complex, and usually took weeks. After the program was figured out on paper, the process of getting the program “into” the ENIAC by manipulating its switches and cables took additional days. This was followed by a period of verification and debugging, aided by the ability to “single step” the machine.

The six women who did most of the programming of ENIAC were inducted in 1997 into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.  As they were called by each other in 1946, they were Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas and Ruth Lichterman.  Jennifer S. Light’s essay, “When Computers Were Women” documents and describes the role of the women of ENIAC as well as outlines the historical omission or downplay of women’s roles in computer science history.  More… http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/ENIAC

Tags: anniversary, ENIAC, women in technology
Posted in Girls In Tech | 1 Comment »

Today’s Tech & Video Game industries, while still heavily male dominated, are seeing a growing female presence each year. In recognition of this, companies have now started assembling scholarship programs for women entering these fields. Just last year, Sony established the G.I.R.L. (Gamers In Real Life) Scholarship program, to positively impact the way females are depicted in video games and create and influence content to be appealing to women. The program also tries to raise awareness of the female gaming audience to the media in an effort to encourage the gaming industry to positively promote women throughout all facets of games, game production and into game management. Winners receive $10,000 towards tuition, as well as an internship at Sony Online Entertainment.

Other scholarships for girls include Vanguard’s Women in Technology scholarship program, Microsoft’s Graduate Women’s Scholarship program, and various scholarships from womengamers.com to name a few. There are now more technology and gaming scholarships for girls than ever before, with the number increasing each year. Interested in one of these scholarships or know other girls who might be? Check out the links provided below for these scholarships and others.

Microsoft Graduate Women’s Scholarship Program:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/awards/fellows-women.aspx

WomenGamers.com Scholarships:
http://www.womengamers.com/scholarships/

ESA’s Computer & Video Game scholarship program:
http://www.theesa.com/foundation/scholarship.asp

International Game Developers Association conference scholarships:
http://www.igda.org/scholarships/

Vanguard Women in Technology scholarship program:
http://www.sms.scholarshipamerica.org/vanguardwomenintechnology/

Tags: Alexandra Mokh, gaming, girls in tech, GIT, microsoft, scholarship, school, sony, tech, technology, video games, women, women in tech, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

Women in Technology are taking over the Silicon Valley for their Biggest Event of the Year

Join Girls In Tech as we help celebrate the world’s leading professional organization for executive women in technology.  We are in for a conference that will truly inspire “Collaboration, Strategy and Growth” through hands on speaking engagements and panel discussions.

Top technology leaders from Clean Tech, Mobile, Search, Cloud, Social Media, and Business teach WITI Summit attendees how to capture and target more customers, build stronger relationships with existing customers and take advantage of the applications and tools to build a stronger web presence, increase revenue and streamline costs for their companies.

WITI represents the ideal market for business Networking – CIO’s, executive women and men as well as leaders in technology from around the world converge at WITI’s Annual Women and Technology Summit to discuss and collaborate on innovative solutions to common business challenges, and explore new business opportunities.

Join us September 12-14 for this incredible event.

REGISTER NOW and use the code GITsum10 to receive a free annual membership and 20% off tickets!

Tags: conference, girls in tech, laurel kaufman, Los Angeles, netowrking, summit, technology, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

WITI (Women In Technology International) and Girls in Tech is thrilled to share with you an opportunity to attend the 2010 Annual WITI Foundation Executive Auction and VIP Closing Reception on Tuesday, September 14th during WITI ‘s Annual Women and Technology Summit in San Jose, CA.

The Annual fundraising event is one of WITI’s most celebrated festivities, a fun setting where attendees competitively bid on auction items and one-to-one meetings with Tech’s leading executives from the industry’s most prolific corporations including GEICO, Symantec, eBay, Genentech, McKesson and Charles Schwab.

Executive Auction attendees enjoy food, drink and networking with colleagues and new contacts to propel their careers skyward. At the same time, they will be able to bid on auction packages to benefit the WITI Foundation such as an executive lunch or dinner meeting with Mr. Randy Spratt of McKesson at a Bay Area restaurant of the winner’s choice; plus an iPod Nano, American Express gift card and tickets to the September 16 San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

All proceeds from the Annual Executive Auction and VIP Reception assist the WITI Foundation in our efforts to continue to celebrate the remarkable women who innovate the world around us and to nurture young girls to seek careers in Science and Tech.

Take the opportunity to bid on meetings with:
Raji Arasu, Vice President, Technology, eBay Inc.
Janice Chaffin, Group President, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec
Laura Ipsen, SVP/GM Smart Grid, Co-Chair EcoBoard, Cisco
Todd Pierce, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Genentech, Inc.
Tama Ruiz, Vice President of Information Systems, GEICO
Randy Spratt, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer, McKesson Corporation
Hugh Westermeyer, Senior Vice President, Technology, The Charles Schwab Corporation

To learn more about our Executive Auction please visit:
http://www.witi.com/center/conferences/2010/summit/auction.php

To learn more about our 2010 Summit Growth Café – San Jose, CA from Sept. 12th – 14th 2010:
http://www.witi.com/center/conferences/2010/summit/

To register to attend our Executive Auction or the entire Summit please visit:
http://www.witi.com/regforms/conference_registration_form.php?id=2490

Tags: auction, girls in tech, GIT, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, tecnology, vip party, WITI, women in technology
Posted in All Chapters, All Chapters, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley | No Comments »