aliza sherman rants and raves

So where ARE those darn women at tech industry events?

I've been commenting pretty vocally about the issue of lack of diversity - and lack of women - on the podium of tech industry events for over a decade. The recent groundswell in blog posts about this issue is...sad but necessary. Still.

Here is the content to two of my comments and the posts that compelled me to speak up yet again.

Women Snubbed in Top Ten Speakers List, Industry in General

by Geoff Livingston

My comment...

I am once again floored that this is the same discussion we had in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999… and let’s not even talk about how bad it has been since 2000.

As always, we’ve come a long way and haven’t even taken a baby step at the same time.

In the 1990s, I attracted a lot of media attention because I started the first woman owned Internet company in Manhattan. But could I get a top speaking gig at a tech (or business) forum? You’ve got to be kidding! I was relegated mostly to the women’s conferences, the women’s business schools and women’s universities, the women’s organizations, the women’s tracks.

Today, I’ve been rejected over and over at conferences when I want to speak about topics OTHER than women’s issues online. I’ve been invited to speak at non-gender specific tech events but am asked to speak about reaching women. Yes, this is what I used to do in the 90s, but today I’m less focused on women’s tech issues and more focused on deep analysis of Internet strategy and the integration of new tools and transformational ways technology has affected the way we communicate and market over the last decade.

When Newsweek listed me as one of their 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet in 1995, I was 1 of 5 women on the list. When I called the magazine pissed off that they didn’t include more women, they said they “couldn’t find them.” Bullshit, I told them, all they had to do was ask any one of the 5 women on their list, and we’d lead them to amazing women to add.

When I founded Webgrrls in 1995 and had women-only Webgrrls events, I was criticized for “ghettoizing” women. “Do we really need events for, by and with women only? Yes, I argued, because every other forum in technology that is not gender-specific is by default all or predominantly male. I wonder today if I didn’t contribute to treating women as an “afterthought.”

I absolutely love the New Media Boys Club with good human beings like CC Chapman and Chris Brogan. But I’m still pretty annoyed that even I am hard-pressed to find women who are being celebrated in that same way. I wonder if it is partly our own fault as women: constantly apologizing for our achievements, tip-toeing around self-promotion, cringing when another woman puts herself out there boldly (”who does she think she is? Bitch!”)

I don’t have strong answers or ideas for changing something that is so entrenched but do think that continuing the dialogue openly between all of us (yes, guys, you are part of the problem AND the solution), we can make genuine change.

I’d like to think that the New Media Boys Club is made up of a new wave of males who are so secure with their own identities and place in this industry that they always reach out to others consciously - both women and men - who deserve to be in the spotlight as well. I know CC Chapman has referred to me in his podcast and recommended me as a speaker, a seemingly easy thing to do but it takes thinking about it first, broadening one’s network, then being a true and generous connector.

This isn’t a call for “affirmative action”-type guidelines. This is a call for a greater awareness of the imbalances and a conscious generosity in spreading the “wealth” and opportunities around.

Where are the Women in Tech and Social Media?
BY FC Expert Blogger Allyson Kapin

My comment...

Allyson, ditto what Mayra said. Thank you for continuing the ongoing conversation that I helped to start...oh, about 13 years ago when I started Cybergrrl, Inc. and Webgrrls International. I'm one of the women in tech who has been regularly rejected by Web 2.0 Summit since I made my "comeback" after 7 years hiatus from the Internet industry.(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2002/01/16/maney.htm) I've actually been accused (mostly by other women) of being TOO aggressive in my pursuit of a place at the panel table and podium. But there are several things I try to do - and I encourage other speakers - women AND MEN - to do:

1. When you are invited to speak at an event, examine the balance of diversity. If you see a lacking, provide the organizer with some personal contacts to help them fill out the program - with a pointed statement about how you'd like to see more diversity at the events where you speak.

2. If you are accepted as a speaker after submitting your proposal, do the same assessing and making referrals to quality, qualified, diverse speakers.

3. If your panel idea is accepted for an event, assess the diversity on your panel and without using tokenism, expand the gender and color to expand the voices in the conversation.

4. Keep the conversation going. The more everyone talks about this, the more we can all impact the diversity of our industry and industry events.

This is not a "fringe" and "just a feminist" issue. This is about making sure we properly reflect the diverse landscape of the world around us and not allow the high-tech, high-growth industries to be the domain of one color and one gender.

What do YOU think about the continuing saga of the representation of women in tech event?

Cartier Women's Initiative Awards - home

Cartier Women's Initiative Awards - home.

<a title="Cartier Women's Initiative Awards - Africa" href="http://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/site/finalists/finalists-2008/africa-2008">Cartier Women's Initiative Awards - Africa</a>.

Interested in entering a business plan competition? First application deadline is 13 February for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards.

According to the site:

The Cartier Women's Initiative Awards are an international business plan competition for women created in 2006 by Cartier in partnership with the Women's Forum, McKinsey & Company and INSEAD business school. Five female entrepreneurs, one from each continent, are awarded annually with coaching support for a full year, a US$ 20 000 grant and an exclusive Trophy.

Last year's awardees included a local laboratory for African cosmetics and essential oils in Senegal, a biotech company working to improve detection and treatment of ovarian cancer in the U.S., and a program for providing cochlear implants to children and adults in Panama.

Find out more about the competition.

Independent Street : Women Business Owners -- Afraid of Web Marketing?

Independent Street : Women Business Owners -- Afraid of Web Marketing?.

A survey released today from Microsoft Live Small Business, finds that 61% of female respondents who were small-business owners say they do no online marketing, and nearly 40% say they don’t have a Web site. These women attended Microsoft’s Vision to Venture conference held recently in five U.S. cities.

...That nearly two-thirds engaged in no online marketing might give pause: Are women uncomfortable navigating the fast-changing world of online marketing? Or do women simply not have time because they are so busy struggling to balance a busy life?

This Microsoft Live Small Business survey is SCARY in terms of what it says about women business owners.

But I also find it a bit scary that the concept that women are struggling to balance a busy life is reason why they are not engaging in online marketing. They can HIRE someone to build their web site, perform online marketing tasks, even create and keep up with their social networks.

Women business owners saying they don't have a web site in this day and age is akin to them saying they don't have a business card. If they can find the time or money to get a business card created, they can do the same to have a small Web presence.

I hate to say that my contacts with women business owners who don't have a Web site have very little to do with their busy-ness. It has to do with an underlying fear that some women - some - still have about the Internet in general that creates a feeling of being overwhelmed even by the thought of a Web site because they are still just getting a feel for email.

Yes, people out there still are loathe to use email much less get a Web site so it is not just women.

What I want to know of the sample of 600 from this survey is: Where are these women based? And how big are their businesses?

I'd venture to guess that they are in less urban areas and/or are very small businesses, more likely a Company of One. I met these business owners all the time in Wyoming and now meet them all the time in Alaska.

What do you think?

Independent Street : The Benefits of a 'Feminine' Leadership Style

Independent Street : The Benefits of a 'Feminine' Leadership Style.
by Simona Covel

A feminine leadership style –- one that emphasizes on sensitivity to employees and openness — can give women an advantage as business owners.

Or so says Sung-Joo Kim, chairman and chief executive of luxury-goods company MCM Worldwide...

Women are more sensitive, she says, and that’s advantage, because they understand employees’ needs.

I think it is a pipedream to think that sensitivity will fly in any major multinational corporation, particularly in "high-powered" industries like my own - technology - but for small and maybe even midsized companies, I think it can be a benefit.

As a woman business owner who has spent years interviewing women business owners for Entrepreneur magazine and other publications, web sites and blogs, I know that some women WANT to bring something to the business table that is different, that is more "feminine," but that many get beaten down and the only way to "fight back" is to "cowboy up" as they say in Wyoming. To be more "masculine" in manner, attitude and approach.

Hey, it sucks. But while we've come a long way baby, the reality is that fundamentally we really haven't come a very long way.

What do you think?

Forbes.com to Roll Out Exec Women's Net

Forbes.com to Roll Out Exec Women's Net.

Besides enabling corporate ladder climing women to establish profiles and meet other professionals, the network will also feature original Forbes-produced content, including features from the company's ForbesLife Executive Woman magazine.

Hmmm...wonder if women business owners can join. Wonder if it is free. Wonder if it is worth wondering about.

Facts on Asian American Women and Entrepreneurship

from a press release from the NWBC

In recognition of Asian Pacific Heritage Month (May), the National Women's Business Council has updated its fact sheet, Asian American Women and Entrepreneurship. As of 2004, there are an estimated 419,793 majority-owned, privately-held firms owned by Asian and Pacific Islander women in the U.S., employing nearly 544,000 people and generating $69.7 billion in sales. Firms owned by Asian and Pacific Islander women now represent 6 percent of all privately-held, majority-owned women-owned firms in the U.S.

You'll find the Fact Sheet on the NWBC Web site under Research and Publications/Key Facts (http://www.nwbc.gov/ResearchPublications/keyFacts.html). There also is a link from the home page (www.nwbc.gov/) under What's New.