www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/03/it.women/index.html
Women struggle to find niche in male-oriented tech culture Boys club Some women say they didn't know what they were getting into when they entered the world of IT In this story: 112 Boys will be boys in Silicon Valley 113 Engineering's PR problem 114 Empowering youths for a high-tech future 115 RELATED STORIES, SITES icon From CNN Correspondent Sharon Collins SILICON VALLEY, California (CNN) -- The number of females in computer science is dropping, and some women blame it on a pervasive boys club culture in the tech industry. Anita Borg, head of the Institute for Women and Technology. In the field's formative years and through the 1970s and early 1980s, women entered computing in large numbers. Nearly 40 percent of computer science and computer engineering degrees in 1984 went to women. QUICKVOTE Should the tech industry do more to recruit and keep women in IT? Yes No 116 View Results vote MESSAGE BOARD 117 Does it matter that there's a disproportionate number of men in IT? RESOURCES IT women sites on the Web ALSO 118 Download this federal study of the IT gender gap CNNdotCOM TOOLS graphic 119 This week: Web access for the disabled VIDEO CNN's Kelly Flynn spotlights the women of Silicon Valley and their experiences working in the 'boys club' 120 Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Today, that number has decreased to 28 percent, according to the American Association of University Women. But Borg said in some places, that number is well below 20 percent. Boys will be boys in Silicon Valley Even in a technological Mecca like Silicon Valley, women may find themselves turned off by a work environment geared toward men. Monika Khushf, an engineering director at Intuit, a California company that provides business software and services, discovered that Silicon Valley may very well be the valley of the boys. Monika found herself in a culture that was very different from anything else she'd experienced. It was my first realization that I was with a bunch of people I had nothing in common with," she said. The infamous Silicon Valley lifestyle may also play a roll in driving women away. In her film, Khushf documents male programmers sleeping on couches and settling in to the office for the evening -- sometimes all night -- to eat pizza and play video games. She said in her decade and a half in Silicon Valley, she's watched female colleagues leave one-by-one. Captured in "Valley of the Boys," these images reveal a work environment to which some women believe they're unsuited Khushf noted that many male engineers believe office games and toys are a natural result of the creativity behind programming. I mean, you don't see lawyers running around with Nerf guns," Khushf said. With the best stock options and salaries, engineering is at the top of the technological hierarchy. But Borg believes that engineering has a public relations problem, especially as portrayed in the media. When the Information Technology Association of America and CIO Magazine asked students to draw their impressions of IT workers, the results were less-than-flattering images of male geeks. Empowering youths for a high-tech future "Being a high-tech geek these days, it's like being a celebrity," said Rachel Muir, founder of Girlstart. She founded Girlstart, a program in Austin, Texas, that aims to make young women more computer savvy. The program targets girls ages 11 through 15 -- the critical period when girls lose interest in math and science. Muir is convinced that girls are getting the wrong message about technology, even at home. Most parents want to encourage their daughters to pursue math and science, and nine times out of 10, the computer is in a son's room, Muir said. Carpenter believes the involvement of female engineers in creating products even benefits the consumer. I think if a woman had been involved, there's not a way it would have been so convoluted," she said. But the impact of not having many women involved in engineering may go well beyond your VCR. January 20, 1999 RELATED SITES: 125 Intuit 126 Institute for Women and Technology 127 Girlstart Note: Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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