Closing the high-tech gender gap | Sangeeta N. Bhatia via MIT Technology Review

I’ve actually been busy under here — running a bioengineering lab at MIT, starting companies, teaching, consulting, being a mom. But I’ve been so focused on keeping all the balls in the air that, until recently, I hadn’t noticed that women typically aren’t the ones starting technology companies.

To be fair, I had recognized that:

• Girls choose engineering less often and drop out of engineering disproportionately (the so-called “leaky pipeline”).
• The percentage of women computer science majors peaked 30 years ago.
• The higher I climb, the fewer other women there are at the table with me.

I’ve also seen progress in gender equity in higher education. I just didn’t realize until recently that the technology industry is light years behind.

Read more by  Sangeeta N. Bhatia on MIT Technology Review

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large