Andrew - As one of the female attendees, thanks for writing about this. I've spent a long career as a consultant and entrepreneur in technical/mathematical/financial fields, and have generally not seen any increase over time in the limited female percentage. Startup Weekend, or at least the one I attended in D.C., is I think a pretty comfortable environment for females (proving my rough rule of thumb that the smarter the group, the less that gender matters). But I think that to make any real inroads into the male/female disparity, the changes and encouragement need to start at high school age or earlier.
Paula
· 2 years ago
I'll write a more serious response later, but I just want to point out that I'm glad I got my hair done a couple of weeks before Startup Weekend. Who knew all of the photos from the weekend would end up featuring my hair only: the 2 WashPo photos and now this one...
Deb Lavoy
· 2 years ago
I believe that there are 3 key reasons for this. One is risk aversion - in general, women are more risk adverse than men. 2. Gender Politics. For the same reason that women have a hard time being welcomed into the upper ranks of large companies, men do not always welcome partnerships with women. 3. Many women are mothers, and very few mothers want to work 60 and 70 hour weeks.
All Comments
As one of the female attendees, thanks for writing about this. I've spent a long career as a consultant and entrepreneur in technical/mathematical/financial fields, and have generally not seen any increase over time in the limited female percentage. Startup Weekend, or at least the one I attended in D.C., is I think a pretty comfortable environment for females (proving my rough rule of thumb that the smarter the group, the less that gender matters). But I think that to make any real inroads into the male/female disparity, the changes and encouragement need to start at high school age or earlier.