March 25, 1990

THE LATEST issue of “Global Electronics,” newsletter published by Pacific Studies Center in Mountain View, is devoted to the 1988 employment statistics in Silicon Valley. As usual, the white males won, hands down.

Here’s the basic gender breakdown for high-tech employment (the racial mix is equally appalling, but I’ll save that for another time): Men comprise 78.6 percent of officials and managers; 72.3 percent of “professionals” (this includes engineers), 76.8 percent of technicians, and only 20.6 percent of office and clerical workers.

Lenny Siegel, editor of Global Electronics, says the EEOC numbers are a little mushy because of the way firms report their statistics. “But the patterns are so overwhelming that even though the numbers might not be exact, the stratification of the work force is undeniable,” he says.

There are reasons outside of blatant sexism for high-tech work segregation, both by race and gender. Women don’t get “tracked” into science and engineering in their early years, so there are less of them who do study such subjects, if and when they go to college.

There are plenty other jobs in high-tech besides the research labs, however. Ask any MBA or marketing student. But “lack of qualified candidates” is the standard buzz-answer you get when you ask company presidents why they don’t promote women into high-level jobs.

Though times may have changed slightly since the book on corporate gamesmanship for women, “Games Mother Never Taught You,” was published in 1977, its observations still hold. Author Betty Lehan Harragan says “ardent feminists are quite convinced (the word “qualified’) is a contemporary euphemism for penis, and in a high proportion of cases they are absolutely right.”

Career counselors don’t even question whether there are inherent “deficiencies” in a woman’s abilities, and counsel either a return to school for endless specialized degrees, or poke and prod her personality. Can she lead others? Can she make decisions? Is she willing to sacrifice her home for her job? Has she analyzed her patterns of success, her assertiveness, her reasons for working?

Have you ever heard an employer ask a man similar questions during a job interview?
And despite what appears to be an enlightened view of women in technology — “empowerment of the individual” and all that — look at the speaker lineup at most industry events and conferences. The recent TED2 (Technology, Entertainment & Design) conference in Monterey had one woman on the program — Nancye Green, president of the American Institute of Graphic Artists.

Joy Mountford, manager of Apple’s renowned Human Interface Group, was unaccountably sitting in the audience, as were a number of other women highly qualified to speak at such an august gathering.

Then there’s the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards’ aptly named “1990 Chairmen’s Committee,” which submits nominations for “the innovative use of information technology.” Out of 52 members, the committee has not one single woman.

And The Computer Bowl, an annual high-profile computer trivia contest sponsored by the Computer Museum in Boston, doesn’t have a single woman on either team.

Are there no women “qualified” to recognize innovation, or even to answer trivia questions? Not Esther Dyson, veteran industry analyst? Not Heidi Roizen, president of the Software Publishers Association and T/Maker Corp.? Not Kristina Hooper, director of Apple Computer’s multimedia lab? Not Adele Goldberg, president of ParcPlace Systems, pioneer of object-oriented programming at Xerox PARC? Not Janelle Bedke, co-founder of Software Publishing Corp.? Not venture capitalist Ann Winblad? Not Therese Myers, co-founder of Quarterdeck Systems? Not Judy Estrin, co-founder of Bridge Communications? Not Sandy Lerner, co-founder of just-gone-public cisco Systems?

Aaack.

Unless they’ve founded a company themselves, as did most of the above, high-tech executive suites are noticeably bereft of women. More than one observer found it interesting that Microsoft Corp., for example, had two female vice presidents when it went public in 1986. Where are they now? One is a middle manager; the other left the company.

An employee of Tandem Computers sums it up. Most women in Tandem, she says, are put in “support” positions — because, of course, that’s what women do best.

“Management just doesn’t open up for women,” she says. “What’s most appalling is how they explain it — that women can’t manage because of this, that, or the other. Those very same reasons are true about men, but somehow it doesn’t devastate their careers. They just get promoted up.”