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Article: Anita Borg, Expert on Women and Tech

Article Group List / Entrepreneurship / Anita Borg, Expert on Women and Tech

Anita Borg, Expert on Women and Tech

We speak with Dr. Anita Borg - scientist, equal rights advocateabout the future of technology - and how female professionals can be a large part of it.

Q: What do you consider your primary accomplishments thus far?

A: The creation of Systers is definitely something I'm proud of.  Systers started out as a result of women talking at an operating systems conference.  We realized there was a great deal of information to share - so we started [making] a list of people.  [We realized that] women involved in technology and computing need a community in order to share their ideas.  Women in Silicon Alley can network and bounce ideas off one another.  [But elsewhere] there's a crying need for connection. 

Systers has now evolved its own etiquette and its own method of sharing information.  All told, there are over 2,500 systers in 38 countries.  And there is probably a core of 1000 women who come back again and again. 

Q:You're President and Founding Director of the Institute for Women and Technology. Part of the mission of this organization is to gear women toward technology; and part of it is to gear technology toward women.  This seems like a cyclical strategy. Can you elaborate?

A: What's unique about the Institute is its connection between these two ideas.  There's been a considerable amount of work done on young women and girls who are thinking about their careers.  These studies, such as the one on high school girls in Vancouver, show that girls want to do something good for the world.  Unfortunately, they also show that girls don't think engineering and technology are fields where you can "do good." ~ Q: In 1994, You and Dr. Telle Whitney of the Actel Corporation founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.  What kind of influence did Grace Hopper, who was a computer science and mathematics visionary, have on you?

A: I saw Grace Hopper speak once when I was in grad school - that was probably 1974 or 1975.  I was a bead-wearing, motorcycle-riding hippie then.  Getting me to hear any speaker was a feat.  But once I was there, I thought she was amazing. Her enthusiasm for the field was abundant.  She loved leaning about it; and she loved getting young people to learn about it.  It was her enthusiasm that struck me.  It was a different kind of enthusiasm than I'd seen from my professors - it didn't have any of that elitist flair you sometimes find at universities. She was an inspiration to me. 

Q: Do you think that other women consider you an inspiration?

A: Absolutely.  I hear it every day.  And I take this responsibility very seriously.  I do a great many speaking engagements - at colleges especially.  I accept committee assignments that give attention to the issues I think are important.  I also take my science credentials very seriously.  The Institute for Women and Technology addresses technology that women believe will have a positive impact on other women. 

My credentials, reputation, and visibility also allow me to [be more] bold.  I don't shy away from some very difficult issues that would be hard for a junior person to bring up.  There are some mine fields that I am willing to step into that I wouldn't expect a junior woman to do.  For example, there has been a tendency to shy away from talking about the differences that women might bring to technology.  People like to say - and feel comfortable saying - technology is gender-neutral.  But that's not entirely true.  I agree that technology is gender neutral only in the sense that anybody can do it.  Technology is available to anyone.  But some would say that because technology is gender neutral, it doesn't make any difference who does it.  Here I disagree.  An individual person's background and interests always influence the outcome. ~ [The shortage of women in technology] is definitely a complex problem.  We bring different things to what we do - and these differences make what we do better.  To have diverse input is critical to the success of our discipline.  Professionals in science and technology cannot stay in a vacuum.  I mean, they could, but the result would be a failure to explore many new and productive avenues. 

Q: You were recently appointed by President Clinton to be part of the Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology.  Tell me more about that.

A: President Clinton was responsible for appointing only one person to this committee and that was me.  The committee is charged with making recommendations to the government on the under-representation of different groups in science and technology. 

Q: What sort of activism is available to the concerned woman who is not a technology expert.

A: These women can support efforts to improve our educational system, as well as and science and engineering, generally.  Personally, I think that all students should be required to take math and science and some sort of engineering training all the way through high school - and no one can back out of it.  That requirement would have a dramatic impact on women and minorities.  As it stands now, the social structure doesn't encourage women to keep up with those disciplines.  One way around this [societal failing] is to simply require women to participate. 

Our nation needs an educated population in a way that it never has before.  Anything that the average person can do to encourage their political representatives is positive.  Being a critical consumer is also important.  If we, as female consumers, say that technology - as it stands now - is too complicated and should be different, manufacturers will listen. But it's important that women say this without prefacing their statements in a self-deprecating way.  They should never say, "I'm not very good at this, but?" One's proficiency doesn't necessarily matter.  Everyone's opinion should be strong and valid.  ~ Finally, as the demographics of our country change - and as people go through a number of careers during their lives - we have to approach technology differently.  People shouldn't be barred from a technological field just because they didn't start learning it the first time around [in their professional development].  If you decide to change your career at age 40, there should be other ways to embrace technology without going back to college with a bunch of 20-somethings.  I read somewhere that if women and minorities had pursued careers in information technology at the same time [and in the same way] that white males had some 15 years ago, there would be no industry shortage now.  That, to me, is a real wake-up call.