Is it my turn to rant?

(Cross posted to our Globe and Mail blog)

Okay, so there's something that's been on my mind for the last few days (and it's been on the minds of more than a few of my friends as well, it seems), so let's talk a bit about technology and discrimination.

Recently Dave and I went up to U of T to talk to some incoming grad students about what we're working on. We were joined by a bunch of other cool Toronto companies including friends of our at Radiant Core and Ideé. Afterwards we stepped out, and Dave and I had a drink with Greg Wilson (the prof at U of T kind enough to organize everything) and Jane Zhang from Parnership Platform.

I don't know what exactly started it (I'm pretty certain it's something I said), but we quickly found ourselves talking about how women are discriminated against in technology, both in the workforce and in school. Greg's written a great post here with some of his thoughts on the topic.

Full disclosure: My mother's a computer scientist. She grew up in Sri Lanka, worked hard to go to England to study (at a time when the climate in the UK wasn't particularly friendly to women or minorities), and finished at the top of her class. I grew up always knowing my mother to be a strong, smart, career-woman ... there was never the thought in my home that women were any less good at math, science, or anything than men.

Extended disclosure: Leila Boujnane, the CEO of Ideé, is both a close friend and on our board. She's written a post with her thoughts here. Andrea LaFayette is also on our board, and we are phenomenally happy to have her here. Two incredibly smart, strong women who didn't let anything get in their way... and have done very well in technology. Not to mention Ann... a key member of our team here at Ambient... what I'm getting at is: I've been lucky enough to work with a bunch of super talented people, and many of them women, so I haven't perhaps seen the bias as much as I've heard people talk about it.

In chatting with an old friend from school, the big "problem" she's seen as a computer programmer in the real world is that guys tend to be geekier than women... and often less interesting to talk to, as a result.

I'm not talking entirely out of the side of my mouth... I mean, I am a minority, right? So what about racial discrimination in technology? Well, a pretty significant number of the people (teachers, profs, employers, advisors, investors) who've helped me over the years have been middle-age white guys...

I actually went to a South-Asian technology event a few years ago and nearly left in disgust when a hugely successful South-Asian CEO started in on a "you can be successful too" pep talk. Here's a man who built a massively successful technology company, got a tier-1 Silicon Valley VC to invest in them before it was widely done, and built a phenomenal team to get them there. What I wanted to learn from him is what he did to get there, what he learned. I didn't need or want the pep-talk.

Given the number of minorities working in technology, here, in Boston, in Silicon Valley, I'm still firm in my belief that technology's a meritocracy. Do fewer women decide to get into computer science? Absolutely. Why? I'm not sure. My kid sister grew up in a household with an electrical engineer father, and computer scientist mother. I went the tech route, and she went the med-school route. Did anyone pressure here into it? Quite the opposite, I'd argue :-). It was just her choice.

I'm not saying that discrimination doesn't exist... I'm saying that it's not nearly as large a factor in technology as some might suggest, and moreover we don't get that far by complaining about the obstacles that are in our way... we get a LOT further by pushing hard. In her post, Leila mentions that in every 100 people, there're 99 who will hold out their hand and help you... and 1 who'll get in your way. As she says, "Seek the 99, ignore the one."

I think we need success stories to tell... of the woman, of the immigrant, of whatever minority, succeeding. We need more Meg Whitman's, Carly Fiorina's (yes, despite faults, I'm a fan), Selina Lo's, Vinod Khosla's, etc... and the only way we get stories like that is to have people that push hard and reach out to those with arms outstretched.

If you're interested, Dr. Telly Whitney, the President/CEO of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology will be in Toronto and speaking at IBM's CASCON conference in October. I'm looking forward to hearing what she thinks :)