New York Woman in Tech Industry Report Gender Bias
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a gender bias case filed against tech giant, EMC Corp. The Workplace Prof Blog provides a nice summary of the article.
The tech sales business is described by Kelly Harman as a "testosterone ladden environment, like playing for a football team .... a bunch of white guys running around selling technology." Harman is the former chairwoman of Woman in Technology, a professional association. She says that some companies are now pushing for a more balanced work force.
The 2000 census reported that woman make up 25% of the tech work force. Some companies, like IBM, report positive changes and a real increase in female employees - now up to 40% at IBM. However, other tech companies report lower numbers - EMC at 13.5% and CA, the software vendor, at 29%.
The EMC suit and the WSJ story on it show that the tech industry overall is still a tough place for a woman. Double standards and macho cultures still exist in some tech companies.
