Wireless VentureChicks

Environment: The Wireless Ventures 2006 conference in San Jose, hosted by Dow Jones/VentureWire.

Caveats: I counted based on the conference pre-registration list, so of course am missing the late registrants. (Someday, we'll learn if the ratio for late registrants is any different from the general ratio of attendees.)

Count:
Women:  24
Men: 226

Women at Wireless Ventures 2006: 9.60%

This is fewer than what showed up at the NVCA Annual Meeting. I don't know if this is happenstance, because there are fewer women in wireless relative to other areas of investment, or because this conference is more pricey than the annual meeting and therefore attracts more senior male folks. (That being said, my money is on the second option.)

Tags: christine herron christine.net space jockeys women venture capital vc wireless ventures

Comments

[Christine]

It's a little odd to be in an overly male room, but it's like a jury-rigged fix. After a while, you get used to closing your car trunk with a bungee cord, and you forget about the broken latch. The counts are the reminder that the "latch" is actually not working the way it should or could.

Now, if you aren't someone who adjusts to the odd situation, then I can see it being a turnoff.

[Tali Aben]

At least there's no line to the ladies room :-) The numbers are actually worse for semiconductor investor-related events. You can count the women on 1 hand, and you don't use up all the fingers.

[Guy]

Charlie - there's definitely a "catch 22" here. I guess a predominantly male crowd could be a turnoff for the women who do turn out. My wife is an Electrical Engineer who visits complience fests and technology conventions on a regular basis. She says she would have gone to industry events much more often, but being surrounded by so many men (and feeling so many eyes staring at her, being one of the few women there) is not a pleasent experience, and sometimes she prefers that others go instead. Now, I know she might be saying that to reassure me... but it does make a lot of sense. Add to that mothers' tendency to refrain from 'optional' events that require extensive travel - the same conferences that men try to find reasons to attend - and Christine's stats are an obvious conclusion.

[Charlie]

I was at the NY Tech Meetup last night and I leaned over to the woman sitting ahead of me, an entreprenuer whom I had spoken to before, and said, "So... you think this is 90% men here or what..."

I think part of what's going on is that there are more men on the hardcore tech side, but "technology" isn't just about that anymore.. its about UI, design... how human beings actually interact with the innovation... and those are areas that are actually very well populated by women. I just think there's something about the way that these "tech" conferences are marketed that they don't seem like they're interested in having design people as part of the conversation.