Even as the frenzy of dot.com start-ups begins to open doors to female executives, a new study suggests that many women in high-tech fields believe gender bias continues to hurt their careers, and almost half plan to leave their companies in the near future for better opportunities.
The high dissatisfaction rate among women in the workforce comes as something of a surprise in the field of high technology, which has touted itself as having a more open culture than traditional corporate America.
“Women felt their male colleagues had a better chance of getting promoted than they did,” said Tracey Wilen, the researcher who prepared the on-line survey of about 600 women for the non-profit group Women in Technology International, which promotes the advancement of women in technology careers.
“They’re not paid the same,” added Wilen. “They’re not given challenging jobs. You have a lot of women feeling they’re not being used to their fullest potential.”
In general, women said they liked their work but were dissatisfied with their company’s management. A qualified man would very likely be promoted, 81 percent of the women surveyed said. But only 27 percent said a qualified woman was very likely to be promoted. Nearly half–primarily middle managers in information technology and engineering positions–said they intended to leave their current jobs within the next two years for a better position or a better salary, although it wasn’t clear that they planned to leave specifically because of bias. Job-switching is very common among men in tech fields, too.
In addition, women said they are lured to high-tech firms by promises of telecommuting, flex time and remote offices–policies that suggest management supports a work-life balance. But once there, they discover that the route to the top is strictly traditional. Long hours, face-time with top executives and factors other than job performance determine who gets ahead. Women who avail themselves of family-friendly policies are no longer regarded as “players,” women surveyed said.
The study, collected in an on-line survey at the non-profit organization’s Web site between August 1998 and May 1999, aimed at examining why high-tech firms have difficulty retaining women in their workforce. More than 600 women responded to the survey–24 percent in engineering, 23 percent in information systems and 20 percent in marketing and sales. Only half of the respondents were managers.
Of the respondents, 22 percent were age 20 to 29, 44 percent were age 30 to 39 and 26 percent were age 40 to 49.There are indications that women are making gains in the executive suite. Jeffrey Christian, the executive recruiter who handled Hewlett-Packard Co.’s search for a chief executive, culminating in the appointment of Carly Fiorina, believes that Fiorina is less the exception than many believe. The appointment of women to executive-level positions has increased by roughly 50 percent in the last year because of the surge in new Internet-related companies, he said.
“There have never been as many CEO jobs open as there are now. We’re turning away CEO assignments,” Christian said.
At Net Effect Systems, a Los Angeles start-up that aims to help e-commerce sites complete sales with live help, the top three posts–chief executive, vice president of finance and vice president of engineering–are held by women who were recruited to run a company founded by men.
“In e-commerce, marketing tends to be as much of an advantage as a technology background, and women traditionally have been represented more in marketing than in technology,” said Julie Schoenfeld, president and chief executive of Net Effect.
Laurie McCartney, founder and chief executive of eStyle Inc., an Internet company that targets women for on-line shopping, says she has found it easy to recruit women for a women-oriented company.
“The women here feel very aligned with the goal of the company, which is making lives easier for women,” said McCartney, a former Disney executive. “It’s part of the work culture.”
McCartney conceded, however, that “with start-ups, you just have to put in a ton of time,” and finding a balance between work and one’s personal life appears to remain a key concern for women.
“I’ve talked to a few top executives recently who are women who are looking for a way to do both — to be a parent and to have a full-time job that means 40 hours a week instead of 70,” said John Ware, managing director for the Menlo Park, Calif., office of Spencer Stuart, executive search consultants. “Demand is so high right now that some of these executives may be able to find that.”
