Allison Esposito says that the tech ladies surrounding the “technical” gender divide in technology are rooted in more than cultural obstacles revolving around the fact that most of the brightest minds are still male. She also believes there’s something about the overall “male-centric” culture that makes it difficult for women to get into the inner circle of the technical world. The result is that many women in technical fields find themselves in “a constant state of frustration and disappointment.”
Esposito sees those factors for what they really are: cultural issues revolving around the basic problem of a shortage of support for female entry (or hope of a future entry) into the field. This challenge often called the “Pipeline Problem,” is central to the reason that Esposito founded her business Tech Ladies–to address this problem. With Tech Ladies (a job search website that seeks out jobs specifically for female job seekers), Esposito is trying to help women get into the business and “bridge the gap” between those who have had success and those who haven’t.
Esposito herself was raised in the technical field, but she was not a technician. “I did not like being around people who talked about all the latest technologies and gadgets that were coming out. I also did not like talking about cars and airplanes when we used to drive them.” She says that she felt like she had to put on some sort of cover story to explain why she was interested in working at home, or why she wanted to try to be “a little bit different” than everyone else.
There are a number of reasons why the “diversity” in the technical work force has become such an issue, including the fact that more technological advances are geared toward men and boys. It’s been noted, for instance, that women are now much less likely than ever before to be engineers and computer programmers, even though that group makes up half of all college graduates with degrees in computer science. This is despite the fact that women in general are now twice as likely as men to be working in the computing field.
So how can these women bridge the gap? By using technology. Women in Tech Ladies are trying to make that bridge larger. It’s part of a broader plan to get more women into the industry, because the larger the pool of qualified candidates, the higher the odds of getting hired. Because women are “naturally” better communicators, the site tries to fill that need by connecting women with other women who are equally as interested in technology.
The site offers a variety of different job options, including jobs as programmers (for free) and full-time staff positions. Other jobs can be found on a subscription basis (if you can afford to pay monthly access). There are also specialized jobs for specific skill sets (computer software, for example, or web-development services, or programming for specific industries, like the video game industry).
Once an applicant applies for a job, she is required to fill out a profile and submit that profile to the site, which then sends it out to the sites of all the companies that the site caters to. A matching woman is then sent to that company. If you’re the right match, you’ll usually get an email response within minutes, letting you know whether the company is hiring. and what kind of training they’re offering.
So, what’s to stop a woman from becoming a tech ladies and finding herself stuck in a rut? Well, not much–the site isn’t designed to be exclusionary, after all–but there are a few things to keep in mind: make sure you’re careful when listing your skills and experience, choose only jobs that you’re qualified for, keep your profile updated (it’s easy to put off the updating button), and stick with the sites that allow you to subscribe for jobs at a later date.