Recently I participated on a technology panel who’s topic was The State of the Industry: Women in IT.  The discussions began with statistics of women in the IT workforce, struggles to retain women in executive IT positions, and keys to success, Eventually the conversation moved to the hottest discussion which was, does gender really matter.
 
My personal opinion is yes it does, but not just for the obvious reasons. Gender matters because diversity matters. Diversity of opinions, of styles, of thoughts, and of experiences. Ensuring that women hold positions of authority contributes to this important balance of skills and approaches.
 
One of my colleagues mentioned that in preparing for the panel she had the gender discussion with numerous women CIO’s and the opinions seemed to fall into two camps. Once CIO said she didn’t think that gender mattered. She felt that her success was a result of the school she attended, the skills she possessed and her strong work ethic. She went on to elaborate that her gender didn’t matter any more than her hair color or her height. When asked if she’s like to attend a women’s round table on technology, she said that she would no sooner go to a women in technology event than she would go to a short people in technology event. She just didn’t see the value. Interestingly enough when told that the lunch speaker was an author of a book dealing with how to organize your clothing closet and dress for success, she admitted that she wished she could attend to hear that speaker.
 
The second train of thought was reflected by a CIO who felt adamantly that gender mattered. Not only did she think it mattered, she credited the breaking down the secrets of the black box and integrating technology with business as largely facilitated by women in roles of influence.
 
The topic of gender in technology has been on my mind for a number of years. As the CEO of a recruiting firm, I can attest to the fact that a majority of my clients are wrestling with the challenge of retaining women in executive positions in technology. I can also attest to the fact that the skill sets that employers value the most in their technology executives has changed in ways that I would think favor women. Most organizations are no longer placing the greatest value on the technically depth of the person they choose to head up their security or IT risk organizations. They are looking for executives who have strong business acumen, who can influence manage, who can communicate effectively at all levels, who have strong collaborative styles and who can multi task many demanding people and deliverables. In my opinion women naturally excel at many of these skills.   So why is this happening? Is it that not enough women are graduating college with technical degrees? Is the culture of most organizations still an old boy’s network at the top? Are companies not recognizing the talented women within their organizations and providing succession plans to include them? Is it that at some point the work life balance situation is just not worth the stress of the highest powered position? I can’t say I know the answers to these questions, but I’m guessing that it’s a combination of all of these things. What I do know is that my experiences have led me to the conclusion that gender does matter.
 

I’m a Jersey girl, who grew up on Wall Street and have spent most of my career as the only women in the room. I think my gender has always mattered. Sometimes in my favor and sometimes against me.  Over five years ago I responded to the outcry from executive women in the fields of Information Security, Privacy and Risk Management to create The Executive Women’s Forum (EWF), an organization for the most senior women in the industry to get together, share ideas and develop trust based relationships. What I found was that the two camps that I spoke of earlier still existed. Some women said they wouldn’t participate in women only events as a rule, some came reluctantly at first and were won over by the experience and some thought it was the best organization they had ever gotten involved with. Most importantly what I can tell you is that based on the feedback compiled both from questionnaires and in person conversations, most women who attend come away with a better understanding of their strengths and the knowledge that the challenges they face are shared by their peers. Whether it’s the EWF or WITTI or the Society of Women Engineers, women feel empowered and rejuvenated in their careers after spending quality time together. They recognize the value of strengthening their network and creating a community with people that they respect and can relate to.
 
Contrary to some thinking these women’s professional gatherings do not focus on bashing their male counterparts. The events tend to be rich in content and the women are refreshingly open and honest in their exchange of professional and personal life experiences. The reality is these experiences are different for women than they are for men. I recognize that men also have work life balance issues, must deal with office politics, and  face many of the same perils that women face. I’m just saying that gender sometimes adds another level of complication.  It’s important to recognize these differences and provide a forum where women can walk away with more creative solutions and a better understanding of themselves and their profession.
 
I believe that having diversity of gender in our executive roles is key to providing diversity of thought. Given our global economy and the challenges we face, diversity of thought, processes and approaches can be a key component of a companies overall success. The problem is these executive women thought leaders just don’t appear out of nowhere. The challenge of attracting and retaining executive women in technology needs to be addressed long before they are executives. We need to recognize the future thought leaders in our companies and our communities. The earlier we recognize their potential, refine their talents and mentor their progress the better enabled we will be to build stronger, more competitive and more profitable corporations.