Where in the world are the women of the tech industry?

While some women see the advantage of such meetings, others are outraged. Women, such as Yuli Ziv, founder of Style Coalition, encourage other women to participate in tech events and force their male counterparts to accept them.

The real problem is that this could exclude women from the world of business even more and may be counter-productive toward gender equality. It creates the idea that women need extra help to do the same job that a man can do on his own.

Solutions Decoded: Education

For Ryan Holmes, the CEO of HootSuite, the solution is education. If public schools can improve their computer science programs and encourage girls to participate, the industry will not be overrun with men who fell in love with videogames from an early age. Yes, they’ll still be there, but they’ll have to compete with smart, driven women who know Java just as well as they do.

One tactic used in the UK is to teach graduate-age women coding. This is the strategy of Code First: Girls, which is meant to provide women with the basics of computer coding. The idea is that if women know how to code, it will encourage them to turn their ideas into start-up companies.

“A big barrier to learning these skills tend to be created by the assumption that coding is for ‘a certain type of person,’ it is ‘not for you,’ it is ‘not a creative skill’ – that coding is ‘not for girls,’” Kathryn Parsons, co-founder of Decoded, told Wired.co.uk. “It is my belief that coding is the hybrid skill-set of the future, so it is imperative that women opt-in.”

The idea is a good one. The program provides women with free part-time courses offered on university campuses. Even if women don’t necessarily use the skills learned in the course to start their own tech company, coding is still a highly attractive and marketable skill.

That’s not to say that women are completely absent from the world of tech start-ups. Sarah Wood is the founder of Unruly Media. She is responsible for some of the best commercial advertisements in the past few years, including Evian’s Roller Babies and “The Old Spice Guy.”

Clara Shih is another tech start-up whiz who developed the first business application on Facebook, called Hearsay Social, which helps companies to manage their social media. In addition, Shih is the author of a New York Times best-selling book called The Facebook Era.

Women like Shih and Wood remind the male-dominated world of tech start-ups that women are players in the industry. They have a lot to offer the tech world and they’re only going to become more present.

Tom DiNardo has a B.A. in History from McGill University. Tom is passionate about reading, writing, and experiencing all that life has to offer. He is currently living and working in Montreal, Quebec.

Photo courtesy of Independent Fashion Bloggers & CNN.com