Women in Mobile/Wireless (Connected) Tech Advisory Council

Join us:

PLEASE NOTE: Membership in MTAM is required to participate in Advisory Councils. Membership information is available at this link.

Why MTAM has formed a 'Women in Mobile/Wireless Tech' Advisory Council:

As part of MTAM's efforts to be on the forefront of addressing issues of importance within the mobile/wireless community, and to ensure that Michigan is leading the way in national and international initiatives driving growth in the use of these technologies, MTAM has activated this statewide 'Women in Mobile/Wireless Tech' Advisory Council to address needs of women who have interest in, work in, work with, teach or aspire to work with mobile/wireless technologies within any industry. We seek to ensure that we are doing our part to increase the interest of women in working with these technologies, to enable them to get access to the training they need to be effective in their careers, to give women the tools and resources they need to be successful, and to aid the industry overall in filling the large number of job openings, now and in the future, that will be the result of the exceptional growth in the use of these technologies.

Our Mission:

The 'Women in Mobile/Wireless Tech' Council will support women through access to educational forums, networking, mentoring, technical training, resources, scholarships, and more. Our primary focus is professional women currently working with, or interested in working with, these technologies in any industry.

We seek to be inclusive of women working in or with all areas of mobile/wireless technologies - in every industry, including, but not limited to:

mobile app development
testers
scrum masters
collaborators
business analysts
quality assurance
project managers
research & development
mobile device manufacturing
sales
installation
training / educators (K-12, post-secondary, commercial)
marketing/advertising
graphic designers
those working in UX/UI (user experience/user interface)
mobile/wireless end-users
recruitment
and much more!

What is the State of Women in Tech?

In spite of the fact that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million computer science-related jobs available in the U.S. (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), we're still finding that women are at a significant disadvantage in all areas of tech, and though it's not as easy to document (yet), even more-so in mobile/wireless tech.

As of 2013, women made up only 26% of the computing workforce; 3% of those were black, 5% were Asian, and 2% were Hispanic (National Center for Women & Information Technology)
Professional women earn 73 cents to the dollar vs. men overall, though women who work in computer and math occupations earn 84 cents to the dollar vs. men. (Narrow the Gapp)
In the mid-1980s, 37% of computer science majors were women; in 2012, 18%
57% of bachelor's degrees are earned by women; only 12% of those are computer science degrees
Google's workforce is only 30% female - but only 17% of the tech jobs are women (Google); Yahoo is 37% female (Yahoo); Facebook is 31% female - with only 15% of the tech jobs being women (Facebook), and LinkedIN is 39% female (LinkedIN); Twitter has a 50/50 split of male vs. female employees - until you look at the tech jobs - only 10% of those are filled by women (Twitter)
Only 7% of venture capital funding goes to women-owned businesses (Harvard Business School)
Only 4.2% of investing VCs are women (Fortune)
56% of women in technology leave their employers mid-career (NCWIT); 24% take a non-tech job in a different firm, 22% become self-employed in tech, 20% leave the workforce for a period of time, and 10% go to work for a startup company. This turnover is double the rate for men.
Startups with women executives succeed more often (Dow Jones)
20% of software developers are women (U.S. Dept of Labor)
When interviewing, women ask for $7,000 less in salary than men; but when negotiating for a colleague, they ask for as much as men (University of TX)
Women in science, engineering and technology are 45% more likely than men to leave the industry within the year after having a child (Center for Talent Innovation)

While the statistics and headlines don't paint a positive picture, there is in fact, progress being made. Today both conscious and unconscious bias are now being openly acknowledged and discussed, and some global firms in the mobile/wireless industry are working on addressing the issue.

Vodaphone Group instituted a mandatory minimum maternity leave policy that is quite progressive; across its 30 global companies, women will get 16 weeks paid maternity leave, as well as full pay for a 30-hour work week for the first six months after they return to work.
HTC appointed a woman CEO in 2015
During a panel at SXSW 2015, a Google executive (female) called out Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt for more frequently interrupting United States' CTO, Megan Smith, than he did the other male panel member (Slate)
Despite the outcome of her case, Ellen Pao's gender discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins has dramatically increased attention to this issue across the tech community