Until a few years ago, I lived in Silicon Valley and still read the local papers. An article in yesterday’s SF Mercury News details the follow-up study by UC Davis on the lack of gender diversity in the executive ranks of high tech companies.

“But most frustrating of all, said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, is that California companies have shown little improvement over the past three years that Davis’ Graduate School of Management has conducted the study.”The numbers are abysmal,” said Biggart, the management school’s dean. “What has absolutely dumbfounded me is we look just like the Industrial Belt. We don’t look any different to me. That is the big shock.”

I’m not quite why it’s a shock. California may be progressive, but it’s still populated by people and people haven’t changed all that much—they’re still more comfortable with people like themselves; the number of women with tech degrees hasn’t changed much—just because you’re an avid user doesn’t mean you want to work under the hood; and social programs that off-load, or at least ease, the life concerns of women (and men, for that matter) haven’t improved—for the most part, safe child and elder-care are still luxuries beyond the means of most workers.

But the really interesting reading is found in the comments that run the gamut from total agreement to complete dissent. If the topic interests you, take the time to read them, not just the article.

As for me, I think that people still prefer their own comfort zone (whatever that might be) and probably always will—the goal is to expand it, since eliminating it is highly unlikely; to be an executive today means having graduated at least ten years ago and been offered the mentoring, grooming, opportunities and promotions all during those ten-plus years, which was/is unlikely given my first point; and the social arrangements in this country are abysmal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Thinking Out Loud. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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