What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women – Breakfast for me is served with a side of rage today. Quotes that resonated:
- “Researchers interviewed 350 female entrepreneurs, and most cited “lack of available advisers†at the top of their list.”
- “…venture capitalists talk about the need to get 10-year-old girls into science in order to bring up the numbers of women they will fund, but don’t fund the ones already in the industry”
- “But the problem for women in the workforce is that there are many more mentees than mentors. Also, the tech industry is changing so fast that women even five or 10 years older may have very little of practical use to share with younger workers.”
- “Wadhwa often talks about the importance of “pattern recognition†among VCs. The male bankers simply have an idea of what a successful startup founder looks like, and young women like Carey and Mosenthal simply don’t fit.”
That said, there was a silver lining from this article: I signed up for Glassbreakers. I’m not sure they’ll approve someone from Australia yet, but I figured it’s worth a shot. It’s a great initiative. I’ve met less than a handful of women here that I thought would be suitable mentors for me, but I didn’t want to ask them for fear they’re already swamped with requests. It would be nice to think the next generation won’t have that problem to the same degree.