The“Women in Tech” movement is full of victim blaming bullshit

People seem to be endlessly debating the problem of women in tech, the lack of women in tech, and asking “Why?”. As of now, the solution out there seems to be an almost endless amount of events for women. I want it to be clear- I love these events. But I have come to the conclusion that they aren’t going to solve anything.

It is time to focus the work on holding the men in charge accountable- not just trying to do things to “help women”.

Getting women to pitch more and better isn’t going to change the dynamic of investors being mainly men who like to invest in people like themselves. We are setting up an entire generation of motivated women to put themselves “out there” only to be shot down.

The problem is not women- we are “Leaning In” and showing up. We always have been. We were getting more computer science degrees 30 years ago than we are getting today. And have been entering the industry, and then we have been leaving for good reasons. We aren’t getting funded or we aren’t getting promoted- we’re being harassed, abused or embarrassed in the work place. It is our problem, but it is not our fault.

Trying to force women back into a toxic environment isn’t going to work if the dynamics of the industry remain the same. And women are smart for leaving- because they aren’t giving up, they are moving to other industries that treat them better. This is more of a problem for the tech industry than it is for the women themselves.

It is time for the next wave, and it has to be focused on men. We need gender diversity workshops, sensitivity training, sexual harassment workshops for CEOs, VCs and Angels.

Conference and panel organizers who “can’t find” diverse panel members should be fired. Point blank.

VC’s who “can’t find” women entrepreneurs are not good at deal flow and their investors should pull out. Point Blank.

If you think that I am wrong, then take a look at Dave McClure because he doesn’t seem to have a problem finding women to fund. 500 Startups funds more women than any other general VC.

I met Dave 3 years ago when he came to Israel and I was part of an accelerator. I was one of the only women there (like usual) and the guy who ran the accelerator asked “Who has the balls to pitch?” So, you know- gauntlet thrown… mission accepted. I immediately put my hand up. There were two volunteers to pitch. Me and guy from a startup that went on to be huge (and then implode).

My pitch was OK, I remember that I got solid feedback and Dave didn’t shred me so I felt that was a win.

The other guy pitched and it was going well until the entrepreneur hit a sticking point, he mentioned that his users were mainly women. Dave then asked him if he had a woman on his team- and this team was the epitome of tech Bromance- geeky programmers and a douchey CEO so NO. There were no women on that team.

Dave said “Get One” and then “Next”

The guys didn’t take his advice, and it didn’t stop their rise to the top. They kept doing well until their very well funded startup couldn’t attract or keep enough users.

Would it have gone differently for them if they had brought on a woman early on? Who knows? It’s not the point of this post but it is entirely possible. The point is that Dave McClure noticed and said something.

In 2013 he was already looking for women on teams, seeking out diversity and talking openly about it. He was telling entrepreneurs to find women and bring them in- not for the good of women, but for the good of their own companies. And then, he put his money where his mouth is and he funded women and diverse teams.

All the data that we have shows that he is right about this. Diverse teams do better- that includes race and gender. Investors need to put their money in teams that will do better. All investors should be actively seeking out and funding diverse teams because that is what’s best for their portfolios- not because it will help women in tech. They should do this even if it feels uncomfortable or forced, because they need to do things differently than they are used to and that is always hard. They need to fix themselves and not expect women to do all the heavy lifting.

As “women in tech” we need to do better at owning this narrative and communicating that ignoring or under-funding women and diverse teams represents a failure of VCs. It should be bad signaling to their investors. That creating toxic environments that women leave is the sign of a company that won’t be competitive in the future.

And if we are not being treated right, then we can’t blame ourselves anymore. We’re not going to get the change we need by working on “getting better” at what we do. We are good enough as we are and it is time that we get the recognition and respect that we deserve. Point Blank.

*if you or someone you love is in debt, check out Civilize and maybe we can help. As always, you can find me here or on twitter @sarahnadav