Tag Archives: Women and Technology

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Women Gamers Celebrated and Encouraged

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Games are playing an increasingly large role in the tech industry. An estimated 59% of Americans play computer games according to the Entertainment Software Association  — and we’re talking about an industry creating tens of billions in revenue, with some estimates reaching $100 billion overall.

Interesting fact: Did you know that recent studies show that almost half (48%) of the users of games are women?  Or that women over the age of 18 also represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (36 percent) than boys age 18 or younger (17 percent)?

This particularly noteworthy, because this is a sector where women have appeared to be relatively absent – at least in terms of women characters being represented. Lara Croft’s character in Tomb Raider is one exception.  The lack of female protagonists stirred controversy at last June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big industry gathering.

While the “dudebros” perception is that only guys make and play video games, this is clearly not the case in games. And game developers, like all companies, would be wise to really take a look at their consumer base and act accordingly.

Women also have made some of the most influential and important games, going back to the early days of Atari.

This is in evidence at the Oakland, CA Museum of Art and Digital Development (MADE), where they are trying to help change perceptions of reality by increasing awareness regarding women’s contribution to games. An interactive exhibit at the Museum is celebrating six important and pioneering women in games development and displaying work from their careers.

I’m sure some of these honorees will be more than familiar to gamers out there:

  • Roberta Williams, who co-founded Sierra Entertainment and pioneered graphic adventure games like Kings Quest 1
  • Carol Shaw, an early Atari and Activision designer, whose credits include River Raid
  • Rieko Kodama, a Sega designer, credited with the high-profile Phantasy Star series
  • Yoko Shimomura, a video game music composer, whose work includes Street Fighter II
  • Danielle Bunten Berry, who is famous for Seven Cities of Gold
  • Amy Henning, a video game director whose work includes the Legacy of Kain series

 

MADE’s appreciation of women in games comes at a perfect time, when there is positive change occurring:

The number of women in game development has nearly doubled since 2009, according to a report from International Game Developers Association (IGDA). (Women now make up 22% of the workforce in game development.) And the IGDA with the support of Intel announced earlier this year it is working to double the number again and bring more women and other diverse talent to the tech and games industries. Also in Europe, Women in Games Jobs (WIGJ) announced it plans to help double the number of women working in the industry in the UK and Europe over the next ten years.

In another sign of the times, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed will reportedly get a female protagonist, and EA Sports has just announced it will include 12 female teams in “FIFA 16″. Read more here.

Meanwhile another symbol of the change also occurred last weekend across the San Francisco Bay from the MADE exhibit, where another inspiring event was taking place to promote interest of girls in games.  The brand-new San Francisco chapter of national nonprofit ChickTech held a pop-up educational event with as many as twenty young women from local high schools participating in a session on game programming around Unity 5 game development tool.

ChickTech: High School is an arm of the ChickTech nonprofit that revolves around creating events that will get high schoolers interested and excited about technology.  ChickTech’s mission is to reach the girls who would make great engineers, but because of stereotypes and a lack of opportunity, may not realize it until they are already doing something else.

It definitely will be interesting to watch what happens at this year’s E3 Expo 2015 taking place June 16-19 in LA and whether we will see women in games continue to make strides!

AVG

Wear Red for Pay Equity

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Today, April 14, is National Equal Pay Day, which is designed to highlight the issue of gender/pay gap.

Why does National Equal Pay Day fall in the month of April? Because that’s how far into the year it is estimated that a woman must work to earn what a man earned in the previous year! Pay-equity.org is urging supporters to wear red today to symbolize how far behind women and minorities are in their pay.

We have a long way to go, inside and out of tech on this issue. As has been reported by the Government’s Department of Labor, overall women who work full-time still make 78 cents for every dollar a male counterpart makes. You can see details here. This despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1963! (Ironically, at the height of the Mad Men era.)

AAUW (American Association of University Women), one of the champions in the fight to end wage discrimination, notes that for some inexplicable reason, there is a 7% difference in the earnings of males and females just one year after they graduate college. AAUW also reports that in 2013, the disparity is even greater for Hispanics, African Americans, American Indian and Native Hawaiian women.

Furthermore AAUW reports, “working mothers are often penalized for having children, while fatherhood generally tends to boost a man’s career.” In fact, the latter was the basis of my recent talk “Boardroom or Baby” at SXSW Interactive, which was designed to begin to tackle this issue.

The good (and sometimes painful) news is that pay rates and gender discrimination have been in the news a lot lately!

Earlier this year we applauded the Academy Award winning actress Patricia Arquette for her conscious-raising remarks at the Oscar bash. (See my earlier blog.)

And pay equity is a priority for the newly minted U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – who weighed in on the topic at the Women in Tech Conference in Silicon Valley and said in her keynote, “She’s right — it is time to have wage equality once and for all.”

President Obama clearly supports fair pay. I’m just guessing, but I think as the smart son of a single working mother he saw first-hand how wage discrimination worked. In his tenure he has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and established the National Equal Pay Task Force. You can read more here about two new executive actions to help combat pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws.

Then, there are the many recent lawsuits in the tech world that demonstrate how far we have to go in terms of pay and discrimination. (I won’t go into them here.)

Needless to say, it’s enough to make anyone see red. I think any fair-minded person, no matter what their gender or identity would agree.
So what can you do besides wear red today? You can get a free equal payday kit here with a lot of suggestions. And you can educate yourself. There’s an illuminating fact sheet supplied by AAUW.

Finally… as a woman, or a minority, or really as any employee, you should feel free to ask for a wage increase if you think you are due one! It’s amazing when you review the statistics of people who just don’t ask for a wage increase.

So, while I wouldn’t say National Equal Pay Day is really cause for celebration, we can use it to raise awareness. And you can wear red… I am.

AVG

TechHire: A New Initiative to Pay Dividends in Diversity in Tech

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Companies and organizations from Starbucks to the Federal Government are desperate for tech workers, so there is no reason not to recruit the best talent whatever it resides.

It was also encouraging to see that these concerns are ongoing at our country’s highest levels. On March 9, President Obama announced the TechHire Initiative before the National League of Cities. It’s a new program that includes a grass-roots campaign to achieve greater diversity in the tech world.

In his remarks to city leaders, the President stated, “When these jobs go unfilled, it’s a missed opportunity for the workers, but it’s also a missed opportunity for your city, your community, your county, your state, and our nation.  And here’s something else:  If we’re not producing enough tech workers, over time that’s going to threaten our leadership and global innovation, which is the bread and butter of the 21st century economy.” You can learn more here.

It was no coincidence that President Obama unveiled the campaign at the National League of Cities convention, which is made up of mayors and community leaders from around the U.S., as TechHire involves local communities, local leaders in a number of ways.

For example, on a training and teaching basis, it includes universities and community colleges but also nontraditional approaches like “coding bootcamps,” and online courses.

The President announced that 20 cities and regions across the country, from Louisville to Portland, will work together to recruit and place applicants in some the 120,000 vacant positions and to develop more fast track tech training opportunities.

In other words, it’s addressing the current employee shortage and the pipeline issue simultaneously – a great approach, in my opinion.

The President also announced $100 million in new Federal investments to train and connect more workers to good jobs in technology and other in-demand fields. The initiative will provide training and employment support to those in need including individuals with child care responsibilities, disabilities, limited English or disconnected youth.

Here are just a few examples of the initiative in action:

  • In St. Louis, 150 employers will partner with local non-profit Launchcode, to train women and underrepresented minorities for tech jobs.
  • In New York City, the Tech Talent Pipeline has announced new commitments to prepare college students in the City University of New York system for and connect them to paid internship opportunities at local tech companies.
  • A $100 million competition has been launched to connect Americans with disabilities and disconnected youth to jobs in technology and other in-demand fields.

 

I know many of my readers are small business owners and managers.  I think we can all agree that tech and innovation are major parts of any business proposition these days.

I’m excited about this new initiative because it addresses a real need for employers. It is inclusive and engages local communities, where real work and progress can be made—and tracked!  People can get involved and learn more at #TechHire on social media and follow @WhiteHouseOSTP on Twitter.

AVG

Judith Bitterli answers your questions on Women in Tech

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  • Why are there fewer women studying technology but more women using it?

  • Do you think more women would be in tech if there wasn’t so much misogyny in the media?

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Judith Bitterli Answers Your Questions on Women in Tech

 

  • Do women in tech jobs earn as much as their male counterparts?

  • Women in tech are facing time management issues. What can they do to solve this problem?

Video

Judith Bitterli Answers Your Questions on Women in Tech

 

  • Should young girls be discouraged that tech is a male dominated field?

  • What do companies like AVG do to encourage young women to start a career in tech?

Video

Judith Bitterli Answers Your Questions on Women in Tech

 

  • Do you think suppliers and consumers can work together to encourage more women to have a career in tech?

  • Is there an effort to feature women who are excelling as an example for others?

Video

Judith Bitterli Answers Your Questions on Women in Tech

 

Thank you for all your questions, if there’s something you’d like to ask me, please let me know by getting in touch via Twitter @JudyatAVG.

 

AVG

Let’s ‘Make It Happen’ for Women in Tech

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The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911. The day is actually celebrated worldwide, and not just on one day, but from late February through March and beyond.

This year, thousands of events are occurring to mark and encourage the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organizations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women’s groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day. The activities span the realm of possibilities for women, including women in tech.

Make it happen

There were more than 340 events scheduled to take place in the United Kingdom alone to celebrate International Women’s Day. For example, an event on March 6, focused on women’s work in creative and technology industries was scheduled in London’s tech hub.  And in a variation of Girls Who Code, in Luxembourg they were holding “Mums and Girls Code”– a fun introductory workshop in coding for mothers and their daughters.

Here in the USA, 186+ events were scheduled for International Women’s Day.  You can see a complete list here. The list of events is inspiring, promoting awareness, culture, and learning for women and girls across the nation. Many of the IWD events are also online, including webinars, for people who don’t have time to visit a particular event.

Later this March, I’m personally very excited to be speaking at SXSW Interactive on the subject of furthering women’s roles in technology.   My session at 3:30 p.m. March 14 (JW Marriott Room 407), “Boardroom or Baby: The Choices Women Have in Tech” will address closing the gaps in opportunities for women in technology and achieving work/life balance. If you can’t join in person, you can join the conversation at @judyatavg  #techwomen #SXSW.

Video

Boardroom or Baby?

 

It’s actually very encouraging to see that there are many conversations on the topic of women in technology scheduled for SXSW Interactive 2015: Among them:  “End To Brogramming” with Re/code and Elle.com, which takes place from 5-6 p.m. on March 13;  “Geek Girls Are Chic!” on March 15 by Girls Who Code and IBM, and “#OurTimeToLead: Why Tech Needs More Women” by the Anita Borg Institute on March 17. You can see the SXSW schedule here.

We’ve all done the math. But women in tech (or the lack of such) is not just a pipeline issue, it’s a retention issue and a culture issue as well. It’s encouraging to see major tech companies are recognizing this. It is for everyone’s own good: we need a smart tech workforce and can’t dismiss half the population, and on the consumer side, women represent significant adopters when it comes to technology.

So progress is happening. Good moves are being made. Though more must happen. I think International Women’s Day is a great day to see how far we have come, and serve a fantastic spark to light and then pass the torch to following generations to empower all women, our sisters and daughters.
Speak_IA

AVG

Is momentum gathering for women in tech?

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Many of you who didn’t see the Oscars will have no doubt heard about Best Actress winner Patricia Arquette’s acceptance speech. In a rousing call to arms she demanded equal pay for women.

She said, in part, “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” (For those who missed it, you can see a clip here.)

Her brief acceptance speech galvanized the Hollywood audience. Although I believe she had the right intentions, her after-Oscar remarks also earned criticism in some camps, specifically African Americans and members of the LBGT communities, who faulted her choice of words for being insensitive, and for not calling out “all” women specifically.

But the essence of the remarks resonated this week at the first-ever, sold-out “Lead On Conference for Women,” held in Silicon Valley.  It certainly resonated with keynote speaker Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and presumptive candidate for the U.S. presidency.

Said Clinton in her keynote, “She’s right — it is time to have wage equality once and for all.”

The one-day Lead On Conference had more than 100 speakers, including tech industry luminaries such as Kara Swisher of Re/Code, who interviewed Hillary, and others who have made their mark elsewhere, such as Jill Abramson, best known as the first female executive editor of the New York Times. The agenda was full of many more extraordinary women – and a few men sprinkled in as well :).

Hillary Clinton Lead On

Image courtesy of recode

 

But the killer keynote came from Clinton, giving her first public speech this year.

Clinton is no stranger when it comes to Silicon Valley and is a strong supporter of Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender gap in tech.

In her keynote, among other points, she voiced concern about the dearth of women in tech and the lack of a pipeline. She focused on the numbers, which do not lie: including the fact that currently, women receive only 18 percent of computer science degrees — which is, amazingly, less than half of those awarded in the 1980s, when women earned 38 percent of those degrees. “We’re going backwards in a field that is supposed to be all about moving forward,” Clinton said.

As for pay parity, both inside and outside of tech, it’s a big issue.  According to the most recent surveys by the BLS, women made 82 percent of the median weekly earnings of male full-time wage and salary workers.

For the tech industry, we see pay gaps and opportunity all around us. In fact, in a recent study last November, Glassdoor found that of 25 tech companies surveyed, “At most of these companies, men report earning a higher base salary than women for the same role.” (You can see a chart breaking compensation down by company and job title.)

It’s encouraging to be seeing momentum building for pay parity and a major political player who gets the importance of tech, and, moreover, the importance of women in tech. Bravo to both Clinton, and to Arquette.

Although we have a long way to go…there are baby steps happening!

As for myself, I am looking forward to continuing this conversation as a speaker at the 2015 SXSW Interactive program with a Core Conversation on “Boardroom or Baby” on March 14th.

For a preview take a look at the accompanying blog post. And, if you are going to be in Austin – join me there!

Title image courtesy of Chicago Tribune

AVG

Newsweek’s Cover Art Controversy

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It’s interesting to parse the controversy stirred up by the cover of Newsweek magazine’s February 6, 2015 issue.  But it’s the art illustrating the story “What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women,” not the article itself that is causing all the stir.

The cover is a drawing of a faceless woman in a mini-skirt and heels, with her hemline being lifted up – and, some would say poked –with a cursor.

Reaction to the illustration was immediate (at least in Silicon Valley) and has been on-going. Divided opinions have been aired on blogs, social media and the Today show.

The article itself illustrates some well-documented facts about how working women fare in the tech world in Silicon Valley. Chief among them: the enormous gender gap in tech jobs and how difficult it is for women-led businesses to find funding from VCs, underscored by a dearth of women VC partners.  This thesis is supported by the recent findings of research by Babson College, among others, that I’ve also written about previously.

In a very informal polling of some of my Silicon Valley women friends, four out of five thought the cover accurately characterized the article.

For some, the woman without facial features – besides red lipstick – proved a compelling example of misogyny. For another camp, the cover illustration perpetuated a stereotype and the gender problem in tech.

The cover’s designer, Edel Rodriguez, defended himself and talked about what he was trying to achieve in an interview on the industry website, GigaOM.

“The subject of the article is how women are treated in Silicon Valley. It details the sexual harassment, jokes and treatment that women put up with in the industry. The image represents this harassment. A woman should have the right to dress however she pleases without this happening to them. These men have grown up around technology and video games their entire lives. They see women as objects that they can mistreat. The image conveys the exact moment when the harassment is symbolically taking place.” The full article/interview with Rodriguez can be found here.

Many agree on one thing: the cover art has fulfilled its mission of drawing attention and getting people to read the piece on an important topic!

My thoughts: First, I was happy that Newsweek focused on this important topic and ran a cover story on the challenges of women in tech.  Second: Art is always a matter of personal preference. But in this case, I’m in the camp of don’t blame the art. It’s art imitating real life.

But I do want to say that from my experience there are many companies in Silicon Valley who don’t participate in the harassment depicted in the article and there are many people who advocate for women. As proven with this article, there’s growing momentum in the tech world to address the gender gap. And that’s very good news.

As anyone who has followed my blog posts knows, I am a strong advocate of advancing this discussion.  It’s the basis for a conversation I look forward to leading during my session “Boardroom or Baby” at SXSW 2015.
Speak_IA

AVG

SXSW 2015: The Challenges Facing Women in Tech

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Recent events have shown that the technology industry is starting to address the gender gap, but what can women do to get ahead in one of the most competitive business environments?

This year at SXSW 2015, Judith Bitterli will be giving expert advice to women looking to forge a career in technology.

Whether a building career roadmap, mentoring advice or hard lessons learned, Judith will share her experiences and answer questions.

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The Challenges Facing Women in Tech?

 

If you are planning to attend SXSW this year, we’d love for you to come by and share your views.

See Judith Bitterli at SXSW 2015

AVG

A Time to Celebrate Diversity  

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Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day in the U.S., a day to remember the great Civil Rights champion. I think it’s also a day for us in the tech industry to celebrate diversity and reflect on it.

There was a significant development in tech diversity earlier this month.  Intel CEO Brian Krzanich pledged in his CES keynote address to invest $300 million over the next five years to improve the diversity of the company’s workforce. The investment will be used to attract more women and minorities for engineering and computer science positions, actively support and retain those new employees, and fund programs to support more positive diversity within the larger technology and gaming industries.

And, at least in my mind, equally importantly, as part of its effort, Intel is attempting to achieve “full representation” of women and under-represented minorities within the company by 2020, including in senior leadership positions.

“It’s not good enough to say we value diversity and then under-represent women and minorities,” Krzanich stated in his address. “Intel wants to lead by example.”

This was really refreshing and good news to hear from one of technology’s leading companies, and I applaud it.

The move follows a breakthrough last year when top tech companies released their workforce make-ups for the first time.  Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple, Instagram were among the companies to report.

The numbers show that women represent no more than 30 percent of the workforce in many of the top companies. (Full disclosure: This is true for AVG as well.) Another snapshot provided in the latest (ISC)2 workforce study, published in spring 2013, shows that as a whole, the information security sector trails significantly with only 10% of its professionals female.

That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the overall representation of minorities. This chart from the Guardian newspaper created by Information is Beautiful provides a view of gender and racial diversity make-up of the tech and social media industry.

Guardian Technology Diversity

 

Since last year’s report, a number of companies have begun to step up and invest in diversity, as we’ve previously written. In June, Google announced a program to get more women into tech with a $50 million fund to encourage girls to take up computer science in college and other grants and programs.  Its “Made with Code” campaign is in partnership with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization that runs summer coding schools for girls, and The Clinton Foundation, whose No Ceilings project aims to promote full participation by girls and women in all aspects of society.  You can read about it here.

More recently, the Hour of Code, while not aimed specifically at women and minorities, was another excellent step in promoting overall interest in computer science during Computer Science Education Week. They reported more than 10 million girls tried computer since in that one week – more than the total of the last 70 years! You can learn more at code.org.

While there is more work to be done to move diversity forward, these are good starts for our industry.

I am looking forward to contributing to the effort to help close the diversity gap in the tech industry and encourage women in technology careers as a speaker at the 2015 SXSW Interactive program with a Core Conversation on “Boardroom or Baby? The Choices Women have in Tech” on March 14th.  If you’re planning to attend the conference in Austin, Texas, please put 3:30-4:30 p.m. on your calendar to join the conversation. I’m sure it will be lively!

See Judith Bitterli at SXSW 2015

 

Title image courtesy of the bbc

AVG

Three resolutions that will change tech in 2015

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As we come to the end of 2014, it is time to reflect on the developments of the last 12 months and also look ahead at what improvements we can make in the year to come.

Personally, there were three major issues in technology that caught my eye in 2014 and they form the basis for my New Year’s Resolutions for 2015.

 

Cybersecurity and privacy

2014 was a watershed year for cybersecurity and privacy issues. With security breaches impacting many of our most trusted brands, retailers and banks (Sony, Target, Home Depot, JP Morgan Chase to name a few).

The good news is people are now more aware of online privacy. The bad news is that these attacks look to remain an issue for the foreseeable future.

In 2015, each of us has a responsibility to be the best digital citizens we can be, and do our part to protect ourselves, our privacy, our data and devices online. I’m getting involved through AVG’s Smart User Mission which aims to educate the next generation of connected people as they come online around the globe.

Photo Courtesy of Barbara Kinney, Clinton Global Initiative

 

As businesses, we have an ongoing responsibility to our customers to ensure their data is protected. That means upping our game in the increasingly changing and challenging cyber security environment.

 

Diversity in the tech industry

This important issue finally gained a much-deserved attention in 2014. Over the past year, we’ve seen Silicon Valley’s first major reporting on diversity in the workforce, after some high profile prodding by civil rights champion Rev. Jesse Jackson. Among others, a book released by Stanford scholar Vivek Wadhwa on Innovating Women and Babson College’s report on VC funding for women entrepreneurs drew further attention to the disparity issues women face in tech.

While the diversity numbers are not pretty, the good news is tackling the diversity issue in technology has gained momentum and has resulted in some positive actions; among them the Diversity 2.0 Summit and The National Venture Capital Association has taken steps to increase opportunities for women and minorities.

I am looking forward to doing my part, and I am delighted to have been selected as a speaker at the 2015 SXSW Interactive program with a Core Conversation on “Boardroom or Baby” on March 14th.

Video

SXSW Talk – Boardroom or baby?

We’ve made good progress but, without doubt, there is much more to be done. I believe that in 2015 we should all make an effort to support diversity in technology. It can only bring benefits to everyone involved.

 

 

Boomers and technology

It’s hard to believe, but the last of the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964) turned 50 this month. Last fall, the PBS series The Boomer List chronicled an amazing list of 50 people who represent the iconic generation and the impact they have had culture and our lives from arts and entertainment to science and technology, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (below).

Though Boomers helped invent the digital age – and we get little credit for it – we are often viewed as neophytes and often marketed to by tech companies as novices (if, in fact, at all).

Image courtesy of technmarketing.com

 

My final resolution for 2015 is to do what I can to change the way that the technology talks to the older generations. I’ll start by sharing new AVG research along with my thoughts on the tech industry’s need to adapt to new and different needs of this audience during my talk on “The Fear Factor” at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show’s Lifelong Tech Summit on January 6 in Las Vegas. If you are attending CES, please come check it out.

 

Here’s to a very happy, healthy, fulfilling and safe 2015 for us all. Look forward to seeing you in the New Year!