Where is Math Barbie?

Published October 05, 2008 @ 09:24PM PT

One of the areas that really opened my eyes to the existing gender gap in the world is through my experiences in the online technology field. While statistically speaking there are more men in the technology field - the question becomes, is that right?

Here are a few stats from Women Who Tech:

2% of open source developers are women
28% of the proprietary software workforce is comprised of women
28% of students earning a BS in Computer Science are women
Women make up only 16.5 percent of those seeking PHDs in the tech industry
Women made up just 25% of those with professional positions in the IT industry in 2006

Whether it's the instinct for men to be asked to always "fix" things to women being underrepresented on panels and speaker series - a hot topic these days is how women and men can create more gender equality in the tech field.

I did my part as a new media maven by participating in a live podcast discussion last night on a panel titled: Gender Gap and Technology/New Media.

Rather than complain about the existing issues between men and women in the tech, myself and a few other geek chic ladies - Leslie Poston, Shireen Mitchell, Leslie Bradshaw, Meg Fowler - got together to try and create our own solutions.

We covered:

The education gender gap
Confidence issues for women in the tech field
Communication between women and men in tech
Perception and objectivity of women in social media and tech

Listen in to hear the two thoughtful discussions about the subject or stay tuned for the solutions to be posted here on the blog.

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Comments (2)

I am so excited about the Strong Women in Tech campaign and other solutions we came up with. I can't wait to see everyone on the planning Ning: strongtechwomen.ning.com

Posted by Leslie Poston on 10/08/2008 @ 08:57PM PT
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Indeed...Barbie would make an ideal example to little girls and boys that women can be for more than just show and tell.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 08/01/2009 @ 02:25PM PT
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Author

Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.