Beehive Startups Utah Women in Tech – Part 1: The Problem

In Part 1 of Beehive Startups’ Women in Utah Tech series, a handful of women working in Utah’s technology sector helped identify the reasons so few women work in the executive levels of tech companies.

The limited number of women choosing careers in technology makes it difficult for those who do choose a tech career to find mentors and a network of fellow women for support. Also, as the minority, women find themselves second-guessing nearly everything they do in the workplace when they know sometimes all eyes are on them.

Additionally, our Utah school system seems to be discouraging young girls from pursuing an education in technology. In a place where many girls still want to grow up to be mothers, they should be made aware that over 60% of them will eventually work outside the home, and that a career in technology offers more flexibility than most other options.

The tech culture is still in large-part targeted to men, and some women are faced with not only subtle discrimination, but outright sexism when it comes to the objectification of women in the name of selling a product. Women also often struggle to get funding from men who tend to gravitate to the ideas of other men.

Finally, parts of our Utah culture tend to discourage women from entering the workplace, and while the culture is slowly changing, it is not changing quick enough for the women hoping to build a strong community in technology.

You can read more about this topic at Beehive Startups.