When Sheryl Sandberg said this week that she was resigning as chief operating officer of Meta, she also reflected on her legacy as a woman in tech. “I’m especially proud that this is a company where many, many exceptional women and people from diverse backgrounds have risen through our ranks and become leaders — both in our company and in leadership roles elsewhere,” she wrote in an announcement posted on her Facebook and Instagram pages.
Yet even as Sandberg lauded the progress of women at Meta, the broader reality for female leaders at the top of the tech industry has been far more disappointing. And with her exit this fall, Silicon Valley is losing one of its most visible and outspoken female executives, leaving few — some would say zero — similar peers in her wake. Sandberg, 52, was part of a cohort of women at major tech companies who made keynote speeches, rose to the level of founders like Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg, and had a seat at the table at high-powered business gatherings like the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. But over the years, many of these women — including Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Ginni Rometty of IBM — have departed, often with their reputations in tatters. More broadly, women have not made notable gains in recent years in the highest echelons of Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta and other tech giants where the corridors of power continue to be dominated by men. The industry’s record on female leadership trails that of other industries, even as tech exerts more influence in the global economy and in people’s lives. “The CEO is the face of the company,” and in the tech industry, “somehow collectively the world seems to want the face to be a white man,” said Jenny Lefcourt, a founder of All Raise, a nonprofit focused on advancing gender and racial equality, and an investor at Freestyle Capital.
Continue reading: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/news/what-sheryl-sandbergs-exit-reveals-about-womens-progress-in-tech/77115/1
Yet even as Sandberg lauded the progress of women at Meta, the broader reality for female leaders at the top of the tech industry has been far more disappointing. And with her exit this fall, Silicon Valley is losing one of its most visible and outspoken female executives, leaving few — some would say zero — similar peers in her wake. Sandberg, 52, was part of a cohort of women at major tech companies who made keynote speeches, rose to the level of founders like Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg, and had a seat at the table at high-powered business gatherings like the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. But over the years, many of these women — including Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Ginni Rometty of IBM — have departed, often with their reputations in tatters. More broadly, women have not made notable gains in recent years in the highest echelons of Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta and other tech giants where the corridors of power continue to be dominated by men. The industry’s record on female leadership trails that of other industries, even as tech exerts more influence in the global economy and in people’s lives. “The CEO is the face of the company,” and in the tech industry, “somehow collectively the world seems to want the face to be a white man,” said Jenny Lefcourt, a founder of All Raise, a nonprofit focused on advancing gender and racial equality, and an investor at Freestyle Capital.
Continue reading: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/news/what-sheryl-sandbergs-exit-reveals-about-womens-progress-in-tech/77115/1
