Cool Fashion Site - Polyvore

If you can dream of it, you can probably make it happen on the web today if it isn't already happening on the web today! Today I cam across a site called Polyvore, a fabulous site that helps you put sets of clothes together from many popular brands today. I love the interactive nature of the site that allows you to arrange images of the items with a tool so its not just a shopping site but designer site as the images are worthy of fashion magazine content. Alternatively ask the community for advice on what would work well with a favorite pair of boots or t-shirt to complete an outfit.

Earlier in the year I had drafted a plan for what kind of service I thought would be great that possibly only a woman could invent but as it turns out the CEO is female but the three co-founders are male. All the co-founders come from computer science backgrounds, with two of them having experience from Yahoo! Their new CEO comes from Google Inc. with extensive experience in business. It is still essential for startups to be enabled that their founders are tech-savvy and code-abled, so it remains essential that women stay engaged with computer science. It will be interesting to see where this site goes in the future. However as the average female user of the site is 22 year fold female, I'm not sure I'm going to find the best options for myself here but who knows, maybe I'll be inspired.

What was "Good Work" for women in the thirties?

Here's a little historical find. This film was made prior to 1931 by the Women's bureau of the department of labor in the US. It was around the time of scientific management processes and it was believed if people were appropriately assessed that they could be placed in positions better to their liking.

This film was shown to young girls in high school to encourage them to enter the workforce, that is until they got married. So 80 years ago this was progress, yes, yes we have made terrific progress but every so often I pause with sadness for the women of that generation and generations before that - they were talented and skilled but not given the support we get today.

However the take home line from the film is still appropriate today. "Waste is prevented when women like their jobs and do good work."

Do it - Make Appealing Apps for iPad for Women

And so it seems that there's a technology adoption at work that is following a very common curve. While initially men were significantly the early adopters of the iPad that the trend is turning in the US to women starting to pick up grown in adopting the ipad.

Yahoo! has reported that initially the ratio of adoption of the iPad was a 2:1 ratio of male to female adopters. This number has now become a 3:2 ratio. Frequently female are the later adopters but are also the most loyal, and steadily creative adopters.

Initially digital photography was the domain of men, while the women still tried to maintain the family photo albums, then eventually the tools became less 'geeky' and women could return to being the primary photo story-tellers in the family. Blogging - was initially seen as a mail past-time because the bloggers that got the most attention were written by men, but in the background it was women that were generating the mass movement of blogging personal stories. Could the iPad be another of these trends? Could the iPad be the form factor that is used when waiting in the pick-up lane at a school? or when visiting ailing parents at care-centers?

What could iPad provide you with to just make it an emotionally satisfying and useful moment?

What is gender equality? 50/50 or do we settle for less?

A survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center that asked for opinions on rights between the genders. One question in the survey was do men deserve jobs more when jobs are scarce. If people truly believed in equality the response would have 100% but that is not the case. In the survey, a question was asked about whether respondents believed in equality between genders, and also a question about who deserved jobs more in times when jobs are scarce. At first glance I was much relieved that in European countries and US that progress has been made, however on second review I realized that, wait a minute, the numbers are still not 100% and that continues to mean lack of support for equality. I always find it surprising how I initially look at numbers related to equality and am often grateful when the numbers are no single digits, or when a number has nudged up a few percent, and that anything above 19% seems 'almost there in terms of equality'. For example at work (engineering software company) I am use to being in a room with myself being the only female or a couple of others in a room of 10-20 people. So when we get to 5-6 women in the room it feels almost balanced.

When my family was visiting England a year ago, the taxi driver was asking my husband about women in politics, and my husband started to tell the driver that in the US things were pretty good for females in politics, he was talking merrily and one would almost think equality had been achieved, he seemed surprised when I said I didn't think it was the case. By comparison to his youth there are a lot of females in government but in fact there are only 17 female senators out of 100 today. Does this pass for 'equality'?

74 congress-women out of 448 - compared to previous decades this is significant but its not equality. How do we stay the course until the number is 224, or at least 224 plus/minus 10.

Government is one place where every senator and congress-person has a single vote so representation is important and makes a difference. What's the best I can hope for in my lifetime? 25% female representation?

Getting Investment Dollars to Female-owned Startups

Here's another story on the challenges women have in getting investment dollars for their startups. The numbers for 2007 state that only 3% of startups that receive funding are headed up by women. This is seriously sad.

Astia is a non-profit organization that tries to introduce women who are looking for funding to potential investors, and also advisers and coaches that can help them in their quest to get their companies moving. Astia has a good track record of supporting women but Sharon Vosmerk wants to figure out a way to scale that support. Earlier this month the organization held a summit to review this question: are there different characteristics between women who start companies and men, with the belief that it was older women starting up companies looking for better work/life balance. However what they found were the characteristics were the same. They did find a difference though that showed women look for relationships more (such as seeking out mentors, morale supporters, finance partners) whereas men need less encouragement to get started.

I love the fact the article closes on - if female start ups received the same funding that male startups currently receive they would add 6 million jobs to the market place in less than 5 years. See - this is why it matters that women get the support they need.

Science and Housework - What's the Connection?

So what should be considered when trying to figure out how to increase the number of females in top science positions at universities? Try, housework! This study focused only on scientists and studied scientist that were in a partner relationship. They found out what percent of each household activity the male partner did and the female partner did. And what do you know, female scientists (in a partnership relationship) are more likely to spend around another 10 hours a week doing household activities, making a total of 20 hours of household chores a week!

Recently my husband and I were discussing multi-tasking, and I made the general statement that I thought women were better at it than men. However we had been talking about a lab experiment type of situation, and he claimed that he didn't know of any gender research that proved that point. Afterwards I reflected on my generalization - did I really "think" we're better multi-taskers, I certainly "feel" it, and if so what variables are at play. I realized that unfortunately the variables that make me believe that we are explanations like I feel compelled to get 101 things done before I do something of personal enrichment like reading the newspaper, or responding to email at the weekend. I have laundry to put away, kids hair to brush, birthday presents to buy, shoes to polish, homework to do with kids, ride shares to schedule, put away toys, sort out old books from kids book shelves, and on, and on. Seriously, am I multi-tasking or am I prioritizing differently? So if it were an experiment and one task were to read an article on the internet for personal enjoyment, and the other was to complete some household tasks to keep the family running - I would probably score 100% on the household chores but run out of time for the article, whereas my husband would probably score 100% on the reading task (oh, and then some because why not check out another article related to one you're reading about, and maybe wikipedia also has something to say about it....) and he'd score significantly lower on the household tasks, though some of the tasks would definitely be somewhat completed but probably not in a sustainable manner. So I'm not entirely sure if it is multi-tasking I should be comparing the genders on but sustainable household management behaviors.

(However I still declare that let's just take the task of being able to walk up the stairs, notice items on the lower steps that need picking up and putting in a room upstairs, before sitting in front of the office computer a multi-tasking event - and I know which gender does that one WAY better than the other).

What We Could Learn From a Day with Hilary?

Seriously, what does a day in the life of Hilary Clinton look like? What skills does she have to employ to accomplish her goals? How did she learn to become a master of negotiation? How does she know when to keep a hard line and when to keep doors open?

This week in Newsweek there is an article on Hilary, which talks about how she has created a strong working relationship with Obama, once her rival for the presidency and now her President and boss. I would love to get an itemized list of her behaviors and verbal skills for one day to see how she demonstrates mastery of political skills. I can only imagine she's outstanding most of the time, but is this a skill she knows she is working day after day, or does it come naturally now. Does she smile inside when she's hit a home run, talking someone into a position where she can move towards a goal she's come to accomplish. Does she walk into meetings having deliberately prepared moves, statements, positions, and carefully plays her hand? Does she leave the room sometimes having got what she wanted but is emotionally drained at the effort it required?

I can only imagine that she is focused, and driven, and action oriented. In fact there's a quote from an NSC official in the article that belittles her in a way I doubt a man in the role would be referred to, "She has no real strategic vision, but she'll get done what she has to do. She's the good little Methodist girl. In the end she'll have her list of the nine or 10 things she has to do and check them off one by one", I like Clinton's come back to that comment, "At the end of the day, have you solved the problem or haven't you? Have you crossed it off the list or haven't you?". Isn't results driven one of the skills one wants to see in Secretary of State?

Maybe the role of Secretary of State requires a diverse perspective these days - the last 4 who have held these positions have been from a minority: 3 women, and 2 African-American (of course Condeleezza Rice gets to clock up a count on both fronts). Progress, moving an agenda forward and managing diplomacy requires skills to check the ego at the door and to keep focused. I really must read more about these individuals.

Men Don't Braid, and Other Things

Why do we do it? I was getting started with reading the book Hit the Ground Running, a woman's guide for success in the first hundred days on the job (by Liz Cornish) (great book btw, more on that in later post). However it always makes me mutter when I read the facts on how women spend their hours compared to men. The book references an article published on Forbes.com on the difference in the amount of relax time men and women get. Oh yes, women have a little less relaxation time, like 39 minutes, and urg I believe its the truth based on my experience, and oh yes even less time if you have a husband and kids - like 75 minutes less relaxation.
While divvying up the schedule today I think one only needs to look at activities our kids do to know how we lose time - too many activities my kids do (girls) require them to have neat and tidy hair when it comes to picture day, events, meets, etc. I hate the fact my husband can shrug his shoulders with palms up and plead, '... but I don't do braids' - he wins every time. I'm not the only woman I know who has carefully arranged their schedule to accommodate braids, pigtails, and buns - yes it's probably a dumb thing to prioritize, but society still expects it of little girls at events.

So my own little protest these days is to not make our bed in the morning (sorry, if you thought I was going to say send my daughters to events with a comb and a father, just haven't managed to do that yet to my daughters). I grew up in a home with a fabulous stay-at-home mum, but that did lead to being able to always have a bed made perfectly with puffed pillows. I maintained this standard all through college, through single-woman-hood, through early married life, then through having two kids - but finally after remodel last year, when the kids now have their own rooms and aren't interested in made beds, and neither is my husband - who am I doing it for? So I have learned to walk past unmade beds, to relax as I spy ruffled sheets, and duvet covers on the floor, and get on with my morning. And I've learned not to have a day disrupted by the unmade bed. Before an unmade bed day would usually be a crappy day. It would be a sign of a rushed, distracted morning. Once in a while I lapse into making it before heading out, usually on a day I'm predicting as being crappy and I've decided that's okay, its therapy, but the basic need to live the 'made-bed' life has started to move away from me.


I hope one day to see the world as my husband sees it, and not fidget when odd socks are in view, towels not on rails, open news papers on counters, and shoes in the middle of the floor - I aspire for that view, at least Monday to Friday.

Please Sponsor Women Start-Ups

Last week Claire Cain Miller posted an article in the NYT that identifies a lot of facts that continue to demonstrate the challenges of women in the start up world. How come women own 40% of all small businesses but only gain 8% of venture backed tech start-ups. And also among venture capitalists only 14% are seriously managed by women.

Claire's article also linked to an interesting piece of research that women run venture backed start ups usually have 40% less capital than men. This maps to another article I blogged about a while ago that points out that women are more likely to under-sell their business opportunity, preferring to have a conservative outlook, whereas men are more likely to over-sell their business opportunity. And given we all respond to marketing and positioning its easy to see why you'd give your money to the opportunity that is going to make the most. Always remember with these posts that I am not making any point whatsoever that men are out there deliberately overselling, or men are deliberately not giving venture capital dollars to women - there are a lot of influences at work. However it is sad to read in Claire's article that still out there in the world of SVC capital funding world there are some chauvinistic bias that comes into play - I truly hope that is in the minority of cases, but under funding due to unintended bias is probably more the serious downer on women and accessing funds.

Wake Up Business - You Might Be Missing the Opportunity

So another article came out today that highlights the opportunities of designing technologies for women, this time older women. 39% of female Smartphone users over 55 years old have downloaded an app, with games being the most popular. This is based on a survey population from the UK. This article on Women in Technology (UK) referenced a survey hosted by a company called Lady Geek - what a find. Here's a company whose values absolutely align with my own. Their goal is to help businesses sell technology to women - yes, yes let's do it, AND make sure its not just a sell strategy, that they're actually going to provide us with some substance. They point out that more than a third of the female population is over 55, and companies should be serving them (and taking advantage of this business opportunity). I will be monitoring their posts more in future.

Yes, Women will Embrace Technology Enablement Longer (Once it's relevant!)

Sometimes it drives me nuts that we (women) have to wait for the craze to clear to be recognized as the true long-term commited user of technology. Remember the digital photo craze? Ooooh, it was all about the digital camera and mega pixels, and the pc, and the technology, and the geeky software. It was a matter of time and iterations of the software before the hobby was returned to the real user, there was a slow realization that the memory keepers of family and society were the women, and it was lucrative to put the story telling technologies back into the hands of the women.

Well, I'm pleased to find this research (USC Annenberg, School for the Digital Future) but the results aren't surprising to me that after the social networking craze has been around for a while its possible that men are tiring of the connections. In 2005, 77% of men under 40 years old (in their study) said their online community was very important, this number has now dropped to 39%. They also find that in 2007 69% men felt as strongly about their online communities to their offline communities but in 2010 this number has dropped to 38%, meanwhile the percent of women feeling that way has risen from 35% in 2007 to 67% in 2010. In the study internet communities don't just mean facebook and myspace but also hobbies, politics or other communities. Michael Gilbert, senior fellow at USC comments that while women are often slower to adopt new technologies they often catch up and then surpass men in terms of enthusiasm.

Look forward to reading the report on this research, and commenting further.

Barbie becomes a Geek (and with Style!)

How did I let this one get by me? In February Barbie announced a new career for their glam girl - Computer Engineer. Apparently they had put up a poll on their website (barbie.com -- only click here if you can tolerate 'pink') and the first choice was Anchor woman, but then the votes started to pour in from adults that it should be Computer Engineer. There was a viral campaign created by some female computer engineers, who decided rather than rebelling against the girlie-ness of Barbie, to embrace it with an attitude of 'go where the impressionable girls may be'.

Gotta love the description of the binary print fabric for her top that spells Barbie, and trendy geek glasses and a blue-tooth ear piece. Also worth mentioning that in the WSJ article, they reference that in the early 1990's that one Barbie doll, uttered the phrase, 'Math class is tough', which was duly removed from her canned phrases after significant complaint.

So will Computer Engineer Barbie take off and improve those numbers of females in computer science? Time will tell.

Just a quick useful post on a topic that I often find overwhelming - Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Here are 3 practical tips on making your website more discoverable.

1. Find a niche - pick your keyword wisely

2. Use your keywords towards the top of your page, right away

3. Link your keyword phrases towards the top of your page and throughout your pages, but do it evenly

Check out the site on mediaverso.com to unpack the tips and use them on your website. I need to figure out what they mean for blogs that are using standard template layouts. Obviously I'm a fan on making content discoverable, but there must be a way of achieving it artfully without creating a repetitive site that labors the key word points.

A Moment Off the Treadmill

Just how often do we step off the treadmill to walk at our own pace? Well this week, I left the family vacation 2 nights early - there was a dollhouse to be made for my daughter's birthday, clothes and books to be purchased for another daughter's school trip, a play room that needed reorganizing, and summer camps to be booked. But, oh my goodness, how indulgently delightful it was to wake at 7:45 am this morning, and be in a silent house and no expectations of questions, voices, demands to be made. I made a cup of tea, and then watched a chick-flick in bed. I love my family tremendously and will do whatever I can to make the world a wonderful place for them, but the wonderful treat of being home alone for a day was priceless. It is strange to be walking at the pace I am choosing and not responding to the random pace assigned me by the treadmill. So no links in this posting, just encouragement to find a way to enjoy your own pace, at least once in a while.

Uplifting Words from Katie Couric

So have you heard the one about the Fairy-God mother who appeared before a retired couple who were 62 years old, and said she'd grant them each a wish. The wife replied with a wish for tickets for a world tour on the Queen Mary with her darling husband. "Granted" said the Fairy-God mother. The husband then said, "Thanks my dear for the trip, but this is a wish of a lifetime, so I'm going to wish for a wife that is 30 years younger than myself". The Fairy-God mother replied, "I'm deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish". After the wish was granted, the husband found himself to be 92 years old!

This was how Katie Couric started her presentation at the Women's Conference in California in 2009. She did a wonderful speech that covered the start and challenges of her career, and how she just constantly took a positive attitude, worked hard, and kept moving forwards and asking to try again. She also covered the personal challenges she faced when her husband had cancer and they had at the time a 1 year old and 5 year old child. She does a wonderful uplifting job to say, do the best job you can. Thank you Women's Conference of California for making the presentations of the event available to the public.

12 Rules to Success

Here's an interesting find, and a great list of strong, demanding, and very true statements to review on days when you're feeling wishy-washy and can't lock 'n load to move forwards, or sitting on a problem that you wish would go away before anyone discovers it. Ever have a day like that?
Kelly Harman, founder of Zephyr Strategy, created this list in 1999. She was frustrated one day when an employee informed her a project was behind because someone that worked for her hadn't delivered on time. Kelly couldn't help being annoyed that the employee wasn't taking full responsibility for the project she was accountable for. This lead to Kelly thinking about what she'd learned over the years in terms of working with various bosses. She was able to distill many years of experience into the 12 rules. Having been both a boss and an employee many of the items resonate on the list.

The 12 Rules Don't just read the bullet points, check out the site to really understand what the bullets mean.

1. Disagree with me.
2. Question my decisions.
3. Don't come to me with problems.
4. Tell me you want my job.
5. Tell me you don't want your job.
6. Tell me when you don't know something.
7. Make bad decisions.
8. Act like you own the company.
9. Don't expect me to pay for everything.
10. Confess.
11. Take responsibility when it isn't your fault.
12. Quit your job.

Young Women Becoming Entrepreneurs

Interesting article from Chicagobusiness.com that comments on a possible growth in female entrepreneurs in recent times. As young people are seeing other people lose their jobs in larger companies they are possibly deciding to take their own fortune into their own hands by starting their own businesses.

One young woman decided to create and sell jewellery when she was laid off. She had made jewellery since she was 10, and thought it would probably be something she'd do later in life, but when she got laid off she decided now was the time to be responsible for her own chance. She created a website using the 'Work-at-home' website (another great resource). Now her business is starting to take off.

The article mentions that young women today are better at networking than previous generations, and this may be assisting in the trend that is being watched there is greater growth in the number of women under the age of 35 starting up companies to men.

Prof. Renko, at UIC, commented that she's seeing more women in her class for technology entrepreneurship. They seem more interested today in making this switch.

It will be interesting to see if this trend that is barely showing up today actually holds true to become a more substantial shift.

Just for fun - Women Can Be

I had every intention of diligently posting to this blog a couple of times a week, but then work, re-organizations, kids, and family got in the way. Yes, I face the challenges in the same way as the women I blog about, and desperately seek a way to watch the which way the bubbles are going to make sure I resurface rather than continue to be dragged down in the water.

So here's an fun clip found on Youtube to lighten the spirit and to remind me that Women Can Be...