Rarity
is overrated: How we're helping to bring more women into tech
By: Courtney
VanLonkhuyzen March 17, 2014
As a woman
working in a tech company, I notice the lack of other women. Recently, I was
both stunned and excited to realize I had two all-female meetings in one day — at
Motorola, of all places.
While that
was wonderful, it was enough of a surprise that I was moved to mark the
occasion with a celebratory email to my talented female peers. How many men
would be surprised by an all-male meeting in a tech workplace? I suspect none.
Having women well-represented in
tech is something worth working to change, especially now, during Women's
History Month. That's why the Motorola Mobility Foundation is proud to partner
with 1871, Google Inc. and the Lefkofsky Family Foundation to help launch FEMtech, an
incubator designed to facilitate opportunities and foster growth for
women-owned tech startups in Chicago.
Related:
To achieve
meaningful change we must make strides within Motorola and help the broader
community do the same. Internally, our engineering organization recently
launched a women's affinity group with a mission to empower women, and it is
quickly gaining members from across our company. Externally, our foundation,
driven by employee volunteers we call the Team4Good, is advancing several
objectives, including bolstering STEAM (science, tech, education, arts and
math) education, fostering tech entrepreneurship, increasing community
outreach, and improving tech accessibility.
FEMtech is
the intersection of our diversity, inclusion and philanthropic priorities, and
reflects our desire to help anchor the growing tech community in Chicago. And
what better place to support this change than from Motorola's new home in
Chicago's Merchandise Mart — the epicenter of Chicago's startup and tech
community, and the home of 1871 and FEMtech.
To increase
women's opportunities, we must focus on all stages of development by improving
STEAM education, increasing mentoring from male and female professionals,
improving access to funding for women-led ventures and providing access to a
variety of career paths, leadership roles and advancement opportunities.
FEMtech will achieve these goals by identifying, developing, mentoring and
supporting largely untapped talent to create opportunities and growth for
women.
BY THE NUMBERS
According to
a Kauffman Foundation study, only about 3 percent of tech companies are started
by women; and, when combined with the University of North Carolina's findings
that female entrepreneurs start their ventures with about one-eighth of the
funding compared with their male counterparts, a core part of the problem seems
to be lack of access to opportunity rather than lack of female talent. What excites
us most about FEMtech is that it will provide women with an environment that
fosters the necessary skills and maximizes their unique strengths to secure
success in the “last three feet” for their emerging businesses.
There is
more to be gained here than just improving the number of women in the tech
industry, though. Startups that went public, were acquired or turned profitable
had twice as many women in senior roles than unsuccessful ventures (Dow Jones
VentureSource, 2012). And companies with the highest representation of women in
their management teams have a 34 percent higher return on investment than those
with few or no women (National Center for Women and Information Technology).
Investing in Illinois, tech, 1871 and women is good business. Like 1871 itself,
FEMtech will create a positive impact that ultimately extends to both men and
women, and will help spur our company, our state and our economy to success.
It is hard
to imagine 1871 making an even bigger impact, but it has done just that with the
launch of FEMtech. Well done.
Courtney VanLonkhuyzen is executive director of
the Motorola Mobility Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of Motorola Mobility LLC and Lead Procurement Counsel for
Motorola Mobility LLC. She is a member of Crain's 40 Under 40 Class of
2013.