Communications of the ACM
Awards Encourages Women to Break Tech Glass Ceiling
Only 20 percent of entry level engineers are women. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is trying to change that with its Women In Visions Awards.
Credit: ABC7News.com
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology recently held its annual Women In Vision Awards honoring women who are challenging the male-dominated technology field. Only 20 percent of entry-level engineers in the industry are women, and only 5 percent of its chief technology officers (CTOs) are women. The meeting drew some of the industry's leading women technologists, including Tufts University professor Karen Panetta and Pixel Qi CEO Mary Lou Jepsen, one of three women to win the honor of being a visionary in the technological field. "For my whole career I've been the only woman in the room and the only one that even knows what an electrical engineer does," Panetta says.
The lack of work-life balance is keeping many women from pursuing senior level positions, according to company executives. "That's something that really is up to a company to kind of crack the code on how to make that work for these senior women and not have them opt out into a management track," says Net App CTO Brian Pawlowski. Major cultural shifts are needed within tech companies, according to many executives.
From ABC7News.com
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