JL on Female Founders
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JL on Female Founders
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Re: JL on Female Founders
#2I'd have to think that making a start up succeed is so hard that any gender barrier, whether perceived or real, would seem minor in comparison.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#3From what I gather it's not so much that female founders are turned away from doing startups as they just never turn towards it to begin with... anybody out there with thoughts on why?
I have often wondered this. If one assumes the prototypical founder is a hacker, and the stereotypical hacker was a nerd in school... then we come back to: why aren't more nerds female? Are little girls discouraged from tinkering and making things in favor of other activities? I'm asking seriously, as I am a guy without sisters, or really any close female relatives, so I have no idea how girls are raised.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#4actually if you think about it, women would actually have a leg up when it comes to getting funding etc. Since there are so few of them, they have a much higher chance of actually getting to talk about their idea in front of VCs who want to see what they have to offer.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#5I think that natural selection might explain it.
What characrerises reproductively successful men? Or, to put it another way, what qualities do women seek in a mate? Women tend to prefer dominant men of high status with lots of money, and there is little reason to believe that their ancestors differed. For much of human history male status came from being a skilled hunter and warrior and from the ability to influence others through muscle or wit. This history has left men more disposed than women to strive for status and engage in the risky, competitive and sometimes aggressive behaviour often required to do a successful startup. Women with a taste for winners would likely be in a position to pass their preference on to more children than would women with a penchant for failures.
Women would not ordinarily enhance their reproductive success through direct competition and risk-taking. Indeed, it would promise little reproductive payoff and could be a very dicey strategy because a bad outcome would imperil a woman's future reproduction and the well-being of existing children. Instead, women, to a far greater extent than men, have enhanced reproductive success by looking after their children as they grow up, resulting in stronger bonds between mother and child than between father and child.
This explanation also hints at the fact that women would make good CEO's of large corporations where security is more important than risk taking.
Note: this isn't in in any way meant as a degradation of women - merely a possible explanation of the cause.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#6I think that natural selection might explain it. What characrerises reproductively successful men? Or, to put it another way, what qualities do women seek in a mate? Women tend to prefer dominant men of high status with lots of money, and there is little reason to believe that their ancestors differed. For much of human history male status came from being a skilled hunter and warrior and from the ability to influence…
From a Darwinian perspective, you are of course right.
I think that potential pregnancy is a factor. The hours traditionally worked by startup founders could be detrimental to health, and the inability to take prolonged breaks from work at CEO level is probably a deal-breaker.
(Some of the best salespeople I know are female, particularly in consultative selling.)
RE-EDIT: Sarcastic thanks for the downvotes. And sincere thanks to whoever upvoted. I feel better!
Re: JL on Female Founders
#7I think that natural selection might explain it. What characrerises reproductively successful men? Or, to put it another way, what qualities do women seek in a mate? Women tend to prefer dominant men of high status with lots of money, and there is little reason to believe that their ancestors differed. For much of human history male status came from being a skilled hunter and warrior and from the ability to influence…
All of this would certainly be valid if women and men were separate species. It would also certainly be valid if females of the human race had specialized into something reminiscent of a queen bee or ant. I don't know if that is or is not the case, but I know where I'll put the burden of proof.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#8So, geeks are mostly male right now. It makes sense that geek startups will be mostly male, as well.
It's very difficult for women to break into any field that is male dominated. The fact is, just being different causes a woman to be treated differently in a male-dominated environment. That makes it hard and un-fun. This is exacerbated by the fact that some guys really are jerks, and enjoy exerting the power that comes with picking on someone in the minority -- women, in this case.
If something is more difficult, there are fewer people who are willing to do it, regardless of gender, race or creed. So when women break into a male dominated profession, it first it starts out at a trickle; just those who are very brave.
I really hope that this changes pretty soon. Women have a lot of things to bring to the table that men don't -- namely, they're (on the average) familiar with a lot of markets that men aren't (on the average) as familiar with. There's a lot of money to be made there, and a lot of cool new stuff to be invented.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#9I think that natural selection might explain it. What characrerises reproductively successful men? Or, to put it another way, what qualities do women seek in a mate? Women tend to prefer dominant men of high status with lots of money, and there is little reason to believe that their ancestors differed. For much of human history male status came from being a skilled hunter and warrior and from the ability to influence…
From a Darwinian perspective, you are of course right. I think that potential pregnancy is a factor. The hours traditionally worked by startup founders could be detrimental to health, and the inability to take prolonged breaks from work at CEO level is probably a deal-breaker. (Some of the best salespeople I know are female, particularly in consultative selling.) RE-EDIT: Sarcastic thanks for the downvotes. And since…
I think that most intelligent women are capable of not getting pregnant while developing their startup.
Re: JL on Female Founders
#10From what I gather it's not so much that female founders are turned away from doing startups as they just never turn towards it to begin with... anybody out there with thoughts on why? I have often wondered this. If one assumes the prototypical founder is a hacker, and the stereotypical hacker was a nerd in school... then we come back to: why aren't more nerds female? Are little girls discouraged from tinkering and m…
I don't think there's a single culprit. Now, I'm not a sociologist, and I'm simplifying here, but it seems to me that it starts in childhood with the selection of toys and judgments on character that parents and family members apply. Boys get Legos, girls get dolls. This gets reinforced in grade school where perhaps girls are rewarded more for excelling in "creative" activities while boys are subtly steered in a different direction. In high school, science and history books are almost devoid of women. Meanwhile television and movies continue to portray stereotypical views of women. By the time college and career roll around, you've got both subtle and explicit forms of discrimination to contend with -- not to mention a complete lack of role models at the CEO and founder level in Silicon Valley. So the cycle continues.