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If you read Reid's posting, once he gets out of the intro he suggests gender-neutral rules. And the intro is about the actual recent news. And the title appears

If you read Reid's posting, once he gets out of the intro he suggests gender-neutral rules. And the intro is about the actual recent news. And the title appears to be a reference to a famous speech on human rights from 1995.

jacquesm 9y ago
Unacceptable workplace behavior is as old as time, tech is no exception though it is in some sense worse than others but I've seen the exact same thing in finance, automotive, industry and entertainment. The fact that a couple of visible-in-tech people have their 'seen the light' moment is great but they only have that because a few women have been brave enough to stand up and make it stick. But if you want something to change for the better in the longer term and not just a couple of somewhat visible males to score easy points by taking this up because it happens to be the story of the day then it simply starts with each of us, men and women alike to not accept this kind of bull-shit in any circumstance and in any sector. Because what you see in tech is an outgrowth of something that is strongly present in our societies as a whole and ignoring that fact. The title seems to single out women entrepreneurs as if that's somehow the class that has the biggest problem but it really isn't that simple, in fact those women that have made it to the level of independent business owner are generally going to be very well placed to push back compared to those women who are in regular employment. Sexism is a societal problem, not a tech problem and as long as we're trying to frame this as a tech problem affecting a few women entrepreneurs we are very much missing the bigger picture with possibly disastrous consequences.
- greglindahl 9y ago
  My point was that you were misrepresenting what Reid Hoffman said. Is this an answer to my point? I guess your 4th and 5th paragraphs finally get there, but I don't read Reid's statement as saying what you think it does. Why don't you directly discuss the issues instead of trying to complain about your reading of Reid Hoffman's words supposedly framing the problem incorrectly?
- rectang 9y ago
  > Sexism is a societal problem, not a tech problem While I agree that it's a societal problem, I think such issues primarily manifest in pockets of monoculture and insularity. Tech teams often have wildly skewed gender disparity ratios, making them particularly susceptible.

jacquesm 9y ago

Unacceptable workplace behavior is as old as time, tech is no exception though it is in some sense worse than others but I've seen the exact same thing in finance, automotive, industry and entertainment. The fact that a couple of visible-in-tech people have their 'seen the light' moment is great but they only have that because a few women have been brave enough to stand up and make it stick. But if you want something to change for the better in the longer term and not just a couple of somewhat visible males to score easy points by taking this up because it happens to be the story of the day then it simply starts with each of us, men and women alike to not accept this kind of bull-shit in any circumstance and in any sector. Because what you see in tech is an outgrowth of something that is strongly present in our societies as a whole and ignoring that fact. The title seems to single out women entrepreneurs as if that's somehow the class that has the biggest problem but it really isn't that simple, in fact those women that have made it to the level of independent business owner are generally going to be very well placed to push back compared to those women who are in regular employment. Sexism is a societal problem, not a tech problem and as long as we're trying to frame this as a tech problem affecting a few women entrepreneurs we are very much missing the bigger picture with possibly disastrous consequences.

greglindahl 9y ago
My point was that you were misrepresenting what Reid Hoffman said. Is this an answer to my point? I guess your 4th and 5th paragraphs finally get there, but I don't read Reid's statement as saying what you think it does. Why don't you directly discuss the issues instead of trying to complain about your reading of Reid Hoffman's words supposedly framing the problem incorrectly?
rectang 9y ago
> Sexism is a societal problem, not a tech problem While I agree that it's a societal problem, I think such issues primarily manifest in pockets of monoculture and insularity. Tech teams often have wildly skewed gender disparity ratios, making them particularly susceptible.