5. Women in Hardware

As stressed in the previous chapters, there has been an increase of startups because of the lower barriers that technology has allowed. Although there has been an increase of people starting startups, the number of women pursuing entrepreneurship has remained constant. Because of this, it has prompted us to take a closer look at the statistics and what this may mean for our future.

Women have long been underrepresented in different science fields, including hardware industries. Despite the dynamic shift towards hardware, there is still an obvious gender gap towards innovation. One of the key forces that drive our world towards more innovation is the science, technology, engineer, and math (STEM) workforce. That being said, it is important to encourage women to participate in this technologized movement.

Women in STEM

Even in our high-tech world, there are still little women to be seen in these fields. The root of this problem can be seen in our education system; STEM subjects are presented in a mundane way to young girls. Because of this, by eighth grade, girls are half as interested as boys in STEM careers.

In the workforce today, there are only 24% of women working in the STEM fields. Although there has been a gradual increase of women pursuing further education, the number pursuing careers in the mathematics and science fields have stayed the same. By encouraging more women to pursue these careers, it can allow more diversity into these fields. Ultimately, in the ideal diverse environment, there will be more possible innovations to enter markets. In turn, this will boost up the economy.

To further confirm the statistics, Y-Combinator has given a few statistics about the gender gap. Y-Combinator is a prominent startup accelerator that is known for helping many successful startups. However, internally, there are some gender inequalities within this company; only 25% of the startups it funds have a female founder. Because of the attention this accelerator has gotten about gender inequality, there have been some companies that are working towards diminishing this gap.

Action

Microsoft and Google have shown action towards the underrepresentation in women in these fields. Microsoft has sponsored an annual Women in Hardware event that promotes women to participate in subjects like the math and engineering fields in hopes of seeing more women starting hardware startups. The event is organized like a mini hackathon and it gives an opportunity for the women to collaborate with each other and create an environment to create new innovations. Like Microsoft, Google has also been working towards closing the gap. Google has done this by donating $1 million dollars to organizations that will promote women to start their own startups. Through actions from companies like these, it allows us to hope for more women-led hardware startups in the future.

Trends

With the combination of the lower barriers to start a hardware startup and the recent attention to the gender inequality in the workforce particularly the science fields, we project that there will be a growth in women in the next couple of years. This is a bold projection; however, there are some statistics that have led us to come to this conclusion.

First off, many companies are working towards creating a new and diverse environment in their workplaces. A more diverse workplace allows for more innovative solutions because of the different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences the workers have. According to the demographics, the majority of the hardware startups are male. By creating a more diverse culture within the hardware startups, we can develop a more diverse and innovative products. Statistics predict that there will be an increase of 77,232,000 in the number of women in the workforce, which is about 6.2%. Although there has been a progressive increase of women in the workforce, we believe that there will be a steady increase in particularly women in hardware startups. There are more support organizations encouraging women than before to participate in hardware related careers. Because of this, it will only increase the amount of women who pursue careers or even startups in hardware.

In addition to the diversity, there is a great opportunity to increase the amount of women in the workforce. With the development of hardware startups taking place, many women-led hardware startups have equal chance to take some market share. With the growth of women in these fields, our economy will be able to reach stability and become more competitive with other markets.

Another trend to note is that it is difficult to have many women leaders in the Asia-Pacific Region. In the 2015 Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard, there were only 2 countries in the region that placed in the top ten. These countries were Japan and Australia. It could be noted that the countries in the Asia-Pacific Region have a more conservative view towards innovation. Because of this, there needs to be a stronger push towards innovation which will allow not only women to prosper, but the world economy as well.

While, there are still some women that have been able to achieve a great number of things despite the low number of women in the field. These women have shown hardwork and dedication through their executive leadership, ability to start their own startup, activism.

Executive Leadership

While there are several women who have held executive leadership positions, we have selected some women who have shown not only excellence in executive leadership, but had this leadership in engineer-focused fields. One notable woman who have shown excellence is Jean Wang. Jean Wang is the hardware engineer and founder of Google Glass. Another woman who has also shown impeccable skills in the engineer fields is Gywnne Shotwell. She is the president and COO of SpaceX. These two women have accomplished a number of things in science heavy fields.

Startup Ability

Some women have also displayed innovativeness through the STEM related startups that they’ve started during the hardware startup popularity. Maker’s Row is a startup that serves as a platform for entrepreneurs to have easy contact access to American entrepreneurs. This startup was started by a woman named Tanya Menendez; she is the co-founder and CMO of this startup. Like Menendez, Limor Fried created an educational electronics platform. She is the founder of AdaFruit. The companies that they started were meant to spark more innovativeness in more individuals.

Activism

Lastly, there have been organizations that have aimed towards educating the general public more about hardware. Despite the recent technology advances, there are still many people who are skeptical about the direction that technology is taking us. Because of this, there are organizations that can educate the public about what things like hardware is. One organization that stands out particularly is the OSHWA organization; the founder and president is a woman named Alice Gibbs. There are many women who have started activism organizations in hopes of making technology clearer to the general public.