Addressing the Lack of Women Leading Emerging Tech
Female technology executives increasingly are banding together to solve what they say is a problem in their own midst: a dearth of women in top positions at emerging tech firms.
Only about 11% of U.S. firms with venture-capital backing in 2009 had current or former female CEOs or female founders, according to data from Dow Jones VentureSource. The prestigious startup incubator Y Combinator has had just 7 female founders among the 102 firms it has funded.
The “where-are-all-the-women” meme is a familiar one, and not confined to the technology world. But in start-up land, where the good idea is supposed to trump social status and everything else, the lack of women in positions of authority stands out.