Innovating Women : The Changing Face of Technology

"[A]​ ​solid contribution to the growing popular literature on the subject."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

From one of Time Magazine's "Forty Most Influential Minds in Technology" comes an essential collection of candid, first-hand accounts of women in technology.

Women in technology are on the rise in both power and numbers, and now it's more important than ever to not lose that momentum, to "lean in" and close the gender gap. Although they make up half of the population, only 14% of engineers in the United States are women. They take the seeds of technological advancement and build something life-changing, potentially life-saving. The future of technology depends on the full and active participation of women and men working together, and it is vital that women are both educated and encouraged to go into the tech sectors.

Hailed by Foreign Policy Magazine as a "Top 100 Global Thinker," professor, researcher, and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, alongside award-winning journalist Farai Chideya, set out to collect anecdotes and essays from global leaders, sharing how their experiences in innovative industries frame the future of entrepreneurship. With interviews and essays from hundreds of women in STEM fields, including Anousheh Ansari the first female private sector space explorer, former Google[X] VP and current CTO of the USA Megan Smith, Ory Okolloh of the Omidyar Network, venture capitalist Heidi Roizen and CEO of Nanobiosym Dr. Anita Goel, MD, PhD, Innovating Women offers perspectives on the challenges that women face, the strategies that they employ in the workplace, and how an organization can succeed or fail in its attempts to support the career advancement of women.

"As someone whose family has been dedicated to advancing women’s careers for one and a half centuries (in 1868 my great-grandmother started the first school in Europe to provide higher education for girls and ran it with her daughter―my grandmother―for seventy years), I am excited by Vivek's compelling book which shines a light on the remarkable achievements of brilliant and pioneering women in today's world." ―Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author and futurist, Director of Engineering at Google

"Women are increasingly integral to entrepreneurship and innovation―the lynchpins of individual economic independence and dynamic economic growth. Through sharing their stories, experiences, and advice, the women in this book at once inspire and instruct anyone interested in learning how to uplift women innovators and entrepreneurs. In examining the challenges woman face in entrepreneurship, the authors call on us to promote a dynamic, and fair, innovation environment." ―Wendy Guillies, acting president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

"When I first met Vivek he had just produced his seminal research on the dearth of women in Silicon Valley that his wife's keen observation at TechCrunch had spurred. The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur, published in November 2009, served as critical validation for much of what we intuitively knew and had already implemented at Astia. The reality that Vivek uncovered is profound and serves as critical myth busting: that women high growth entrepreneurs are more like their male counterparts than different. Armed with this understanding, Astia is about fixing the ecosystem, rather than fixing the women. Our goal during our 15 years has been to change the way our ecosystem looks at and evaluates high potential organizations. We stand with the contributors of Innovating Women when we say, we want more recognition of and investment in a super potential and high performing group of entrepreneurs―women entrepreneurs. We see women leaders as integral participants in inclusive, high performing entrepreneurial teams―without them, success is more difficult. Innovating Women brings voice to this and many other entrepreneurial truths. It is a must read for the innovation economy—an economy in desperate need of innovation" ―Sharon Vosmek, CEO, Astia