Enhancing the Role of Women in Technology, Entertainment and Entrepreneurship

How can government and large companies help bring more women into technology, entrepreneurship and leadership? How can they help educating new generations of women in skills in high demand now and in the future?
 
LOS ANGELES - Oct. 27, 2014 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, Tuesday 21, 2014. SeaLight Enterprises organized and hosted an all-star panel at renown conference Digital Hollywood. The Breakfast Panel, entitled “The Challenge of the Industry and Government - Enhancing the Role of Women in Technology, Entertainment and Entrepreneurship” was intended to bring government, entertainment, technology and entrepreneurship together to create real solutions to support today's women and future generations. It’s estimated that at least 80% of the jobs in the future will have some technical component, however STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) related higher education is not often selected by women. Government, nonprofits and successful companies have the best platforms and most of the resources to make the much needed changes.

Moderator, SeaLight Enterprises Founder and Principal, Josie Roman set the stage sharing research. “A company has 75% more chances of succeeding if they have a woman in the top executive team. Additionally women-led tech companies achieve 35% higher return on investment, and have 30% higher IPO valuations. According to MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, women make 75% of all purchasing decisions, including those of male products, so ignoring women‘s opinion when targeting children or men is not a smart business approach.

Today less than 25% of STEM jobs are held by women. More women go to college than men but only 18% are taking STEM majors. Today we have around 5% women CEO in Fortune 500 and 1000 Companies. “Despite some national conservative media portrays these figures as the biggest accomplishment by women in human history, this data is embarrassing,” Said Roman. “The world’s average for female top executives is 8%. South Korea has the highest proportion of female CEOs in the world, with 30%, followed by China, with 19%. In the European Union the figure is 9%.”

Madeline Di Nonno, Chief Executive Officer of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (GDIGM), had a very successful career in entertainment at companies like Hallmark Channel and ABC Television Networks. “I decided to take a substantial pay cut to make a difference.“ Madeline said that the GDIGM’s research show women representation in children’s TV as 25%, one in four characters, and women in computing is only about 7% of children‘s TV caracthers. That is exactly the percentage of women currently taking Computing in college. “Children’s programming also shows high sexuality and even partial nudity.“ As example of the influence TV programming has in people’s minds and views, Geena Davis portrayed a character as the head of state for 16 episodes in a TV show. Before and after surveys showed that, just by hearing about this TV show, over 60% more people said they would be willing to vote for a female head of state. “Media could solve this problem overnight,” Madeline said.

Moderator Josie Roman, told the audience some statistics. “Out of 189 countries, United States ranks 78 in women in government (17.8% in the lower house, 20.0% in the upper house). As a matter of example: Rwanda has 56%, Andorra and Cuba are close at 50%, Sweden has 45%, Senegal and Finland are around 43%, South Africa is at 42%, and Nicaragua and Iceland are both at 40%.” The case of Rwanda is particularly remarkable as women leadership was essential in ending the genocide that took 20% of the country’s population just over 10 years ago and they have turned the country in one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

LA City Council Candidate Carolyn Ramsay, has been working as Chief of Staff to LA City Council Member Tom LaBonge since 2006 and is currently running to replace him. “We have only one woman at LA City Council out of 15 seats.” Ramsay is working on a City-wide plan to motivate girls to take STEM and leadership careers. Carolyn spoke on her involvement in saving the Landmark of the Hollywood Sign through the Los Angeles office of the Trust for Public Land, by raising $24 million to buy the area where a development was going to take place. LA City Council elections are in March 2015.

Mayor of Culver City Meghan Sahli-Wells was elected to City Council in 2012. After traveling the world for 6 years doing sociological research, and living in Paris 9 years, she returned to Culver City, making the decision to enter public service after getting involved with her community. “Culver city is small town and I made the commitment to make it the safest to raise children in the USA. We have invested in beautifying areas so that people would want to walk them. If there’s people walking, that is a safe space.” Meghan believes in solutions based on policy. “The average age for people in minimum wage is 35 and mostly women. If we raise the minimum wage, we can help women tremendously. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has the plan to raise the wage. In California every city can do that.”

When Laura Zahn Rosenthal ran and won the race for City Council in April 2010, she had 10 male opponents. She had however very strong ties to the community as she has had many affiliations with community organizations such as Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, working for many years as an education activist and school district volunteer, focusing on environmental and marine education. Additionally she has been a Member of the Malibu Business Roundtable since 2004. As a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology practicing Clinical Psychologist for 30 years, Laura commented on the data Madeline Di Nonno brought to the table and the goal of the GDIGM with the See Jane Project to create more women role models. “It makes all the sense. If you see something often, it looks familiar, it’s more likely to be considered common and, of course, less intimidating.”

Head of MSN Global Marketing at Microsoft, Amanda Morgan McAllister, has spent the past 20 years in various roles at Microsoft Corporation. Her experience spans Engineering, Research, Sales, and Marketing, giving her a 360o view of the tech sector. She spoke on her career path and the importance of mentoring. “I mentor many people both men and women, mostly inside Microsoft and I encourage everyone to mentor because you not only teach but also learn. Women need to be more pro-active looking for mentors”.

In 4th grade 66% girls report they like science & math’s, but by college only 18% of engineering majors are female. Research shows that girls confidence drops from 72% to 55% between middle school and high school. There are documentaries, like “Straightlaced: How Gender’s Has Got Us All Tied Up“ (2009), where interviews to over 50 teens from the Generation Z show a growing younger generation complaining about the genre stereotypes enforced and almost imposed by our culture. Many questions yet need to be answered but the conversation is on.

For more information and for panelists’ bios please visit: http://www.digitalhollywood.com/BreakfastWednesday.html
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Tags:Government, Entrepreneurship, Women, Policy, Technology
Industry:Entertainment, Technology
Location:Los Angeles - California - United States
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