What’s Holding Back Women in Tech? 

Padmasree Warrior, U.S. chief executive of electric auto startup NextEV Inc., said she asks her recruiting team daily for a list of diverse candidates. Now her team tells her who the candidates are without her needing to ask, she said.

Facebook Inc. and Pinterest Inc. have tried out an approach known as the Rooney Rule, which requires that at least one woman or underrepresented minority be interviewed for open jobs. The Rooney rule was born in the National Football League as a way to ensure that teams interviewed minority candidates for head-coaching jobs.

Cisco is ensuring that job candidates encounter at least one interviewer of their same gender or ethnicity, a practice that has resulted in a roughly 50% increase in the odds a woman will be hired for a given position, said Ruba Borno, a Cisco vice president and chief of staff to Chief Executive Chuck Robbins.

I saw an interesting study that was done on — they used a VR experience where, at the end of it, the women who experienced it rated lower on self-criticism. It’s fascinating, because I remember being a young woman and being very insecure and hearing people say, “Well, you need to find some self-esteem.” And having absolutely no idea how to do that. If I could have put on a device and found some self-esteem I would have paid for that. [laughs] It’s tremendously powerful. We should be pushing the limits and exploring what it can do for people. That requires diversity.
VentureBeat: Women say virtual reality industry needs to start with awareness of diversity

CUNY, Cornell Tech launch women-in-tech initiative – Crain’s New York Business 

The introductory class, which Cornell Tech helped design, teaches computer science not as an abstract discipline but as a subject that can apply to broader issues and concerns.

“If you teach computer science in a different way, you get different results,” said Ann Kirschner, special adviser to the CUNY chancellor, who has been working on the initiative on behalf of the school. “Imagine teaching robotics not for the sake of robotics but to help with disabled-access issues. Imagine teaching data analytics to track the path of refugees moving from Syria to Europe.”

Is your startup diverse enough? A 5-step plan to get on track 

Workplaces don’t become inclusive unless companies invest in diversity — and that starts at the top, from the start. Every minute counts. Make a commitment to diversity and inclusion at your startup now. It will pay dividends down the road.

62MillionGirls is a new campaign fronted by First Lady Michelle Obama, asking you to pledge for the cause of girls’ education worldwide. Singers like Janelle Monae, Kelly Rowland, Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, Lea Michele, Jadagrace, Zendaya, Chloe + Halle have contributed to a song to support the campaign, available on iTunes. 

Let Girls Learn is a U.S. government-wide initiative launched by the President and First Lady that seeks to help the more than 62 million girls around the world who are not in school– half of whom are adolescent – go to school and stay in school. These girls have diminished economic opportunities and are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, early and forced marriage, and other forms of violence. Yet, when a girl receives a quality education, she is more likely to earn a decent living, raise a healthy, educated family, and improve the quality of life for herself, her family, and her community.

A key part of Let Girls Learn is to encourage and support community-led solutions to reduce barriers that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education.

62 Million Girls 

Change.org petition

Executive Update: The End of All-Male Panels | UN Global Compact 

Yesterday, I took the pledge to end all-male panels on behalf of UN Global Compact headquarters in New York during my opening remarks at the Women’s Empowerment Principles Annual Event at the UN. This is the moment to stop making excuses and start challenging the status quo. There is no shortage of qualified women, and we need the voices of women at important events across the world.

When women take the stage and offer their opinions, they become visible as leaders. Their voices are heard. Through ensuring representation, we can change the expectation of what a panel typically looks like.

This action was inspired by the Male Champions of Change work led by Elizabeth Broderick, co-chair of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Groupand Former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner. It is estimated less than 15% of panelists in Australia are women. So Ms. Broderick stepped up and called for change.

To state the obvious, one reason men get quoted more often than women is that men are much, much more likely to be in positions of authority. And people in positions of power and authority are much more likely to be quoted in the media.
Vox: The #ManPanel problem – Why Are Female Experts Still So Widely Ignored?

If you’re a woman aged 18+ in the UK, please take the What Women Want 2.0 Survey. Ada’s List is a proud partner. 

Launched on International Women’s Day and running throughout the spring and summer of 2016, our goal is to reach over one million responses to the question “What do you want?”  

The results will form the largest ever showcase of women’s needs, wants and attitudes and will be used by our partners to make change happen.

Details and link to the survey here. The original survey was done in 1996 so this is the 20th anniversary of the survey, and a good time to look back on what’s changed and see what needs to for the future.