Forbes Woman Of The Year: Women In Tech

From Forbes Magazine: Forbes Woman Of The Year: Women In Tech
It’s been an incredible year for women. At the highest echelons, a flurry of executive change-ups ushered in new female faces to global leadership positions across industries. Women now oversee some of the world’s biggest companies, banks, media outlets and economies. And at the lowest levels, female protesters have come out en masse to demand their rights.

In 2011, through quiet determination and willful force, women have pushed for progress. One group of notable women has succeeded in breaking barriers, securing a powerful voice on the frontlines of business and innovation. Women in technology have made important strides this year, shifting from a minor anomaly to a force to be reckoned with.

This is a different time,” Ursula Burns, chairman and chief of Xerox, told me at a recent women’s event. With the new regime of female tech leaders, Burns says technology is becoming a significant pipeline for women–thanks to the field’s constant evolution. “We got here by doing great work while not backing off the things that are important.”

IBM, one of the world’s biggest and most influential tech companies, with a market cap of upwards of $200 billion, this year made history by appointing 30-year veteran Virginia “Ginni” Rometty as its next CEO. A computer scientist and electrical engineer by training, Rometty was tapped as Big Blue’s first female leader the same year that it celebrated its 100th year anniversary. She will lead it into its next 100 years, while showing young women the now unlimited possibilities available to them.

Meg Whitman too, with a constantly evolving career, continues to prove the staying power of women in tech. After leading eBay for 10 years and an unsuccessful attempt at the California governor seat, the “technology visionary” has come back stronger than ever as the newest chief of Hewlett-Packard.

This year’s list of the world’s most powerful women highlighted a new breed of female techies. After exploding the network’s growth to 800 million active users, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was named the world’s fifth most powerful woman in 2011, shooting up from No. 66 the year before. Billionaire HTC Chairman and Cofounder Cher Wang, who landed at No. 20 for the first time, oversees the manufacturing of one out of every five smartphones in the world. Also debuting to the list this year were Google‘s Susan Wojcicki and Marissa Mayer, perfecting online advertising and search, and Twitter’s Katie Jacobs Stanton, who took the Tweet international.

While women in tech have pushed ahead, there’s still a long way to go to catch up in the ratios. Of the 10 fastest-growing jobs projected by the U.S. Department of Labor, nine require math or science training. Engineering and computer-related fields are expected to see the most growth, but women currently hold less than 25% of these positions and earn just 20% of these bachelor’s degrees. Meanwhile, three of the top 10 best-paying jobs for women are in tech (computer software engineers, computer programmers and computer and information systems managers) and feature some of the narrowest gender wage gaps among professional jobs.

The imperative is clear: Increased attention and creativity is necessary to attract more girls to tech. And we’re on the right path. From computer engineer Barbie to new science and math Girls Scouts badges, girls are beginning to get technical support.

Some thanks are also due to those already established in tech who are pulling women up. “People made the choice that we be here,” said Burns. ”If Ginni or Sheryl or I had to fundamentally change who we were, it wouldn’t have happened. There’s something to be said for the men–in companies and on boards–who’ve known that we [women] can do what we do without becoming them.”