Is Technology a male thing?

Posted by & filed under Business and Entrepreneurship.

I read this post at Techcrunch this morning and I didn’t fail to recognize that this is actually a global phenomenon and I couldn’t help asking myself: is entrepreneurship and technology a male thing?

I see this at play when I attend hackfests, tech meetups and Barcamps. The population of males in relation to females is staggering. In the Techcrunch post is this quote:

…women [stink] as entrepreneurs a lot of the time because they are nurturing and not risk-taking enough by nature. She also said when men roll the dice and take risks, that society doesn’t punish them at all, and it’s in their nature to take stupid risks.

Interesting enough, I’ve worked with women entrepreneurs and my opinion is that they have a higher tendency to be successful as entrepreneurs:

1. They are more trust inspiring.
2. They are more concerned about customer satisfaction and expectations.
3. They are masters at collaboration (good teamplayers) and know how to use the expertise of others.
4. There are probably a whole lot more.

The question then is, why aren’t there as many female entrepreneurs. I want to think this is more of a societal case than it is, natural.

  • damiet

    Tim i think the society has in some way showed us that technology, engineering, etc are male stuff. Nigeria especially is a male dominating society where women are just coming up, and women are venturing into the less masculine profession like the secretariat, administrative, human & public relations etc. But with time women will get there. Remember—-what a man can do ……………..

  • bukolajebs

    Hi Tim,
    I feel your points, especially the fact that they have a higher tendency to be successful as entrepreneurs and technology but from experience I think the system (particularly in Nigeria) is seemingly designed such that there responsibility curve goes higher once they change status. However, some are really keeping up with the tide despite the system's challenges.