Reading Vivek Wadhwa’s post on how to encourage more minority women to join the tech industry, I immediately began to think of my own experiences as a minority (Hispanic) female in tech. Thankfully, I don’t have anything but good things to say about being a minority female in tech, but there are a few reasons I can think of personally that have pushed me away from it. I don’t think these experiences are unique to me and are more telling of why you don’t see many women like Raissa B. Nebie and Kimberly Dillion starting companies in Silicon Valley. While these are just a few reasons that affected me in my choice for a career, there are many more that affect minority women (and even more that affect disadvantaged minority women). Many of these reasons are cultural, take years to overcome and involve much more than just education.
- Minority women are taught to be risk averse. When I was growing up, I was told I had two options for my future career path: Doctor or Lawyer. My mother gave me these options because they were safe and respectable. Her grandchildren would be well taken care of if her daughter got a second degree and began a career making six figures. One friend told me she had to be a doctor because it was her parent’s dream and a way that she could guarantee providing for them when they got older and could no longer work. Growing up in a family that is financially insecure (as many minority women are), children are pushed to have a lifestyle with a steady income. The first careers that come to mind are not start-ups when financial security is the end goal.
- Failing is not an option for minority women. Many great entrepreneurs fail a few times before they succeed. In the valley, starting a company that fails is a rite of passage. The price of failure for minority women is high and not looked at positively. If the startup I work for failed tomorrow, you can bet my mother would tell me either a. You should have stayed at Google. and/or b. You better start applying for law school. Minority women don’t have the same safety nets that their white male counterparts do.
- Minority women by and large are not exposed to engineering and computer science. Many of my friends and co-workers who are engineers have parents who are engineers or went to high schools with a strong computer science curriculum. They grew up learning to code. My experience was vastly different. My high school “computer science” course was really focused on typing and learning how to operate a computer. I really had no clue what computer science was in high school and engineering always made me think of buildings and architecture. I ended up taking a few computer science courses at Stanford, but only in my junior and senior year when the fear of the unknown subsided. Many of the women I know in tech were only exposed to computer science in college which puts them far behind those who grew up working on projects of their own. Coming from families that are unaware of engineering as a career removes the exposure to tech that is so frequently apparent in engineering grads of today.
For years, the question of why minority women were not represented in an industry (whether law, medicine or business) has been asked. Many of the problems in those industries were institutional, but many of the problems in tech result from cultural opposition to the failure and risk that thrives in the tech industry.
phobic
“Minority women don’t have the same safety nets that their white male counterparts do.”
What safety nets to white males have that minority woman don’t? :)
Apr 12, 2011 @ 7:29 pm
Branden Hall
I find this post absolutely fascinating! I’m a white man, my wife is black, and we’re both programmers. We started on the same day at a consulting shop back in the dot-com days, quickly became friends, and the rest, as they say, is history.
She was the first black female developer I’d ever met – and I soon found out her sister was a developer as well! It turns out that they didn’t have a typical upbringing, which now I believe allowed them to avoid your three points.
For one, their father was one of the first black CPAs in the US. As such, they grew up very much in the upper middle class and very financially secure. Secondly, my wife’s sister is deaf, and as such she’s always relied on technology for communication. Consequently both she and my wife were early adopters of email and then other internet technologies.
Apr 13, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
Cristina Cordova
Thanks for the comment Branden! I hope to see more black and Hispanic female developers (I still have yet to meet one) as my career progresses!
Apr 13, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
Cristina Cordova
Thanks for the comment! :) I’m mostly speaking of financial safety nets. Black and Hispanic women are more likely to come from underprivileged backgrounds and are not financially able to take the same risks with their careers as white men can.
Apr 13, 2011 @ 9:25 pm
Pemo Theodore
Thanks for this feedback Cristina. I have been video interviewing venture capitalists, angel investors & women founders on the shortfall in funding for women. You can view Vivek’s video interview that I did with him @Data2.0 Conference http://www.ezebis.com/venture/vivek-wadhwa-venture-industry-success-focus-women/ Many of the conversations people insist as he does that women have to help each other up. It is really only through community & support that we can level the playing field.
Apr 13, 2011 @ 9:43 pm
Cristina Cordova
Thanks for the link, I’ll take a look. I completely agree on women helping women – Theresia Gouw Ranzetta from Accel has invested in many female founders! Unfortunately, VCs are by and large men and it’s hard to find a woman with the right experience who can fund you.
Apr 13, 2011 @ 9:47 pm
Risky Business? | Erik Pukinskis, Snowed In
[...] Cordova recently posted a great essay about Why More Minority Women Aren’t In Tech. One of the things she highlights is risk: Minority women are taught to be risk averse … [...]
Apr 14, 2011 @ 1:17 am
tiffany
“Minority women don’t have the same safety nets that their white male counterparts do.”
* Middle class or upper-middle class familial wealth and personal net worth. Granted, we’re talking negative net worth versus $0 net worth at college graduation. But that’s real. It’s the difference between “gotta get a job” and “can take career risks.”
* A partner to pick up the slack at home. This definitely affects black women.
And don’t underestimate interpersonal safety nets. Minority women are usually The Only One. That makes it particularly hard to interact with people who insist on treating you like a unicorn.
Apr 14, 2011 @ 2:32 pm
Cristina Cordova
Thanks for the comment Tiffany – I think these are very apparent cultural disadvantages that do not affect most of those who succeed in the Valley at the moment.
Apr 14, 2011 @ 4:36 pm