Brotopia

by Emily Chang

  My deepest thanks go to my writing coach and collaborator in chief, Ethan Watters, who truly embraced the importance of this project and cheered me on every step of the way. Ethan spent many months helping me (an anxious first-time author) navigate the thickets of these very thorny issues, gently guiding, debating, and listening. There is nothing more fulfilling than trudging through difficult writing territory and seeing the ideas crystallize on the other side, and Ethan was there for almost every minute.

  There would be no Brotopia without my perceptive editor at Portfolio, Stephanie Frerich, who believed in this book from the very beginning. Earlier in her career, Stephanie left publishing for two years to work at a tech company. She’s known someone needed to write a book about the difficult issues facing women in technology ever since. I’m so grateful for the dedication she brought to this process. It would never have happened had my agent Pilar Queen not pitched Stephanie the idea in the first place. Pilar was my rock throughout this long journey, a sure and steady hand who was always there to listen, encourage, and remind me to believe in myself.

  Of course I’d like to thank the entire team at Portfolio for this opportunity including Adrian Zackheim, Will Weisser, Margot Stamas, Tara Gilbride, Linda Cowen, and Olivia Peluso—who deserves all the credit for the meticulous citations. Judith Coyne brilliantly helped me cut down a five-hundred-page manuscript in what seemed like record time.

  Dana Ledyard brought her unparalleled passion for this topic, as a working mom who also spent three years as a managing director at Girls Who Code, to help me hatch the ideas you see brought to life here. Natalie Bonifede, another GWC alum, helped orchestrate the incredible dinner with women engineers at my home in the wake of Susan Fowler’s explosive blog post, as well as the meet-up with the young female coders, two high points of this entire journey. Hearing these women, young and old, speak of their challenges and their ambitions was motivation to see this through. And special thanks to Natalie Jones, who made sure that not a fact (hopefully) in this manuscript was out of place!

  Brad Stone was my chief confidant who not only encouraged me to write this book (with fair warning of how much of my soul it would consume, of course), and helped me shape the original proposal, but also fielded many of my most panicked moments. He listened and commiserated whenever I hit roadblocks, and inspired me to push forward. Roy Bahat has been a friend, a thoughtful adviser, and one of my biggest—and most brutally honest—advocates along the way.

  I especially want to thank the many folks at Bloomberg who have helped build our two television shows into what they are today: Bloomberg Technology and Bloomberg Studio 1.0. My longtime producer Candy Cheng has always pushed me to be my best and reach for the out of reach. Our managing editor, Danielle Culbertson, was understanding as I juggled the demands of this book with anchoring a daily show. And a huge thanks to Kevin Sheekey, Jason Kelly, Laura Batchelor, Bridgette Webb, Emily Haas-Godsil, Erin Dresch, Jackie Lopez, Cory Johnson, Erin Black, Mallory Abelhouzen, Jose Valenzuela, Ashely Bahnken, Angela Martin, Jenna Blanchietti, and Meaganne McCandess. My utmost thanks go to the head of Bloomberg Television, Al Mayers, who gave me permission to pursue this passion project alongside my day-to-day responsibilities, and Mike Bloomberg for making everything, literally, possible.

  This book, and our show, would not be what they are without the incredibly talented team of Bloomberg Technology reporters and editors who are always so generous with their time and their leads, including Olivia Zaleski, Sarah McBride, Sarah Frier, Tom Giles, Ellen Huet, Mark Milian, Dina Bass, Eric Newcomer, Lizette Chapman, Mark Bergen, Max Chafkin, Mark Gurman, Jim Aley, Alistair Barr, Ian King, Alex Webb, and Ashlee Vance.

  The idea for this book was conceived over dinner with Sarabeth Berman and Evan Osnos, who championed the topic, and my ability to tackle it, from the start. Writing a book takes time that you would otherwise spend with people you love. I’m so grateful to the many friends who not only forgave me for being preoccupied but offered me such generous support along the way, taking time to hash out ideas over cocktails and at the playground, particularly Darah Roslyn, Marshall Roslyn, Nairi Hourdajian, Nellie Thornton, Alistair Thornton, and Renu Mathias.

  I couldn’t have done this without the brave souls who came forward across Silicon Valley to share their stories, advice, and support, but a few of them went above and beyond, including Aileen Lee, Niniane Wang, Christina Lee, Ruzwana Bashir, Eric Feng, Selina Tobaccowala, Om Malik, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Dick Costolo, Maha Ibrahim, David Kirkpatrick, Katrina Lake, Jennifer Hyman, Chris Messina, Esther Crawford, Gina Bianchini, Laurie Green, Nick Bilton, Julia Blystone, Anne Kornblut, Liz Bourgeois, Anda Gansca, Adam Lashinsky, Leena Rao, Ana Medina, Tracy Chou, Laura Holmes, Leah Busque, and Minnie Ingersoll. There are several people who served as sources whom I have not listed here for their own good. Thanks to all of you; you know who you are.

  I’d also like to thank all the writers at the Grotto in San Francisco who shared words of encouragement and commiseration in passing, especially Po Bronson, whose veteran expertise I was lucky enough to benefit from during this process. When it came to the cover art, I was fortunate to have the discerning eyes of two incredibly talented designers, Bruno Bergher and Caroline Morchio.

  I have an amazing team of representatives, including Scott Wachs and Henry Reisch at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and my attorney, Nick Dashman, who have always pushed me to aim big. Who knows what is next, but I certainly never thought I’d come this far.

  I’d like to give a huge shout-out to the other amazing women and moms in my life: Alison Fisher, Carrie Sponheimer, Joanna Agena, Heather Childs, Allison Lyneham, Colleen Gargan, Jo Ling Kent, Fannie Chen, Coble Armstrong, Sara Trucksess, and friends from Hawaii to Bernal Heights.

  None of this would have been possible without my “village.” First and foremost, I want to thank my mother, Sandy Chang, who has always given me so much love that it’s a true miracle she has anything left over for her grandkids. Mom, I love you back for all of that and more. Your drive and dedication to your own work inspires me, and your unwavering support of my life and career pushes me forward every day. My father, Laban Chang, was the artist and the writer in our family. My senior thesis was one of the last things he read before he passed away, and I still remember his incisive comments in the margins. I wish he could have been here to see this, and I hope it lives up to his very high standards. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my infinitely wise sister, Sara Chang Scheuerlein, with whom I share a bond that can never be replicated. She and her husband, Eric Scheuerlein, and their children are our second family.

  I’d also like to thank my grandmothers, Emilie, my namesake, who is truly the warmest person I know and has watched my show every day since its inception, literally, and Mildred, who taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. My world has always been full of strong women—and incredible extended families from Honolulu to Philadelphia—and for that I am deeply grateful.

  We wouldn’t have survived the last two years without my acquired family, including Jill and Mark Stull and Whitney and Peter Chiu, who not only pitched in more than their fair share of child care but offered moral support every step of the way. I also want to thank Gabriella Garcia for keeping the village up and running, day in and day out.

  Most important, I want to thank my three beautiful little boys, who always gave me the biggest smiles no matter how late I got home or how many weekends I had to take time away to write. They are my air and my heart. I mean it when I say that I believe their lives will be enriched by living in a more inclusive future. On the hardest and most exhausting days, the thought that maybe this book might make their world a better place made it all worthwhile.

  Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Jonathan Stull, who lived it all and never once complained. “Superdad” doesn’t quite do him justice, but you get the point. Jonathan not only held down the fort over many months but was alway
s my biggest cheerleader, my compass, and my sanity. He picked me up when I was down. He listened when I needed to talk it out. And what makes me most proud is that he truly embraced the importance of these issues and tries to address and improve them every day at his own company. He is my partner and my love for life.

  NOTES

  This book is the product of more than two hundred interviews across the technology industry. Some interviews were conducted in the course of my reporting for Bloomberg, but the vast majority are original interviews that were conducted for the purposes of this book. These include interviews with Sheryl Sandberg, Marissa Mayer, Susan Fowler, Niniane Wang, Ellen Pao, Katrina Lake, Reid Hoffman, Evan Williams, Dick Costolo, Max Levchin, Stewart Butterfield, John Doerr, and so many more. I also spoke on background to many sources who helped inform and shape what became Brotopia.

  INTRODUCTION: NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE: TECH’S ORIGINAL SIN

  Lena Söderberg started out: Lenna Sjööblom, “Swedish Accent,” Playboy, Nov. 1972, 138.

  swept up in “America Fever”: Ibid., 135.

  ARPA (today known as DARPA): “Information Sciences Institute,” USC Viterbi Engineer, Fall 2012, https://issuu.com/uscedu/docs/81696.

  The original data set: “Volume 3: Miscellaneous,” Signal and Image Processing Institute Image Database, USC Viterbi, accessed Sept. 13, 2017, http://sipi.usc.edu/database/database.php?volume=misc.

  She has served as a test subject: Corinne Iozzio, “The Playboy Centerfold That Helped Create the JPEG,” Atlantic, Feb. 9, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/02/lena-image-processing-playboy/461970.

  New research featuring her picture: Ibid.

  Playboy, notoriously vigilant: Team Playboy.com, “How Lenna, Miss November 1972, Became the First Lady of the Internet,” Playboy, Aug. 9, 2013, http://www.playboy.com/articles/playmate-first-lady-of-the-internet.

  In a 2013 article: Ibid.

  Engineers joke that if you want: Iozzio, “Playboy Centerfold That Helped Create the JPEG.”

  The paper was published: Deanna Needell and Rachel Ward, “Stable Image Reconstruction Using Total Variation Minimization,” SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences 6, no. 2 (Dec. 2013): 1035–1058, https://doi.org/10.1137/120868281.

  ban Lena’s image: David Munson, “A Note on Lena,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing 5, no. 1 (Jan. 1996), https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~chuck/lennapg/editor.html.

  history of electronic imaging: David Zax, “A Playboy Model and Nanoscale Printing,” MIT Technology Review, Aug. 17, 2012, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/428928/a-playboy-model-and-nanoscale-printing.

  “When you use a picture”: Iozzio, “Playboy Centerfold That Helped Create the JPEG.”

  women were charging into the field: Libby Nelson, “In the 1970s, Women Were Making Big Gains in Computer Science. Then They Fell Behind,” Vox, Oct. 21, 2014, https://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/10/21/7028161/computer-science-gender-women-majors.

  more women than men: Nolan Feeney, “Women Are Now More Likely to Have College Degree Than Men,” Time, Oct. 7, 2015, http://time.com/4064665/women-college-degree.

  Today women earn just 22 percent: “New Data: Are Women Making Gains in Computing and Engineering?,” Change the Equation, Nov. 22, 2016, http://changetheequation.org/blog/new-data-are-women-making-gains-computing-and-engineering.

  women hold a mere quarter: Catherine Ashcraft, Brad McLain, and Elizabeth Eger, “Women in Tech: The Facts,” National Center for Women and Information Technology, 2016, https://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/resources/womenintech_facts_fullreport_05132016.pdf.

  women at Google accounted: “Diversity,” Google, last modified Sept. 18, 2017, https://diversity.google.com.

  women make up 35 percent: Maxine Williams, “Facebook Diversity Update: Building a More Diverse, Inclusive Workforce,” Facebook Newsroom, Aug. 2, 2017, https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/08/facebook-diversity-update-building-a-more-diverse-inclusive-workforce.

  The statistics are downright depressing: Ashcraft, McLain, and Eger, “Women in Tech.”

  women are leaving jobs: Ibid.

  In the larger American workforce: Mark DeWolf, “12 Stats About Working Women,” U.S. Department of Labor Blog, March 1, 2017, https://blog.dol.gov/2017/03/01/12-stats-about-working-women.

  40 percent of businesses: “The 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses,” American Express OPEN, 2016, http://www.womenable.com/content/userfiles/2016_State_of_Women-Owned_Businesses_Executive_Report.pdf.

  But women-led companies: Valentina Zarya, “Venture Capital’s Funding Gender Gap Is Actually Getting Worse,” Fortune, March 13, 2017, http://fortune.com/2017/03/13/female-founders-venture-capital.

  Women accounted for only: Gené Teare and Ned Desmond, “The First Comprehensive Study on Women in Venture Capital and Their Impact on Female Founders,” TechCrunch, April 19, 2016, https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/19/the-first-comprehensive-study-on-women-in-venture-capital.

  Of nearly seven thousand: Candida G. Brush et al., “Diana Report: Women Entrepreneurs 2014: Bridging the Gender Gap in Venture Capital,” Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Babson College, Sept. 2014, http://www.babson.edu/Academics/centers/blank-center/global-research/diana/Documents/diana-project-executive-summary-2014.pdf.

  All this despite research: “Catalyst Study Reveals Financial Performance Is Higher for Companies with More Women at the Top,” Catalyst, Jan. 15, 2004, http://www.catalyst.org/media/catalyst-study-reveals-financial-performance-higher-companies-more-women-top.

  Apple’s first version: Arielle Duhaime-Ross, “Apple Promised an Expansive Health App, So Why Can’t I Track Menstruation?,” Verge, Sept. 25, 2014, https://www.theverge.com/2014/9/25/6844021/apple-promised-an-expansive-health-app-so-why-cant-i-track.

  As late as 2016, if you: Adam S. Miner et al., “Smartphone-Based Conversational Agents and Responses to Questions about Mental Health, Interpersonal Violence, and Physical Health,” JAMA Intern Med (2016): 619–625, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.0400. This oversight has subsequently been remedied.

  online harassment and cyber hate: “Gender Distinctions in Cyber Bullying,” soc101group2, Wikispaces, Providence College, accessed Nov. 20, 2017, http://soc101group2.providence.wikispaces.net/Gender+Distinctions+in+Cyber+Bullying; Maeve Duggan, “Part 1: Experiencing Online Harassment,” Pew Research Center, Oct. 22, 2014, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302393.

  “by the pussy”: “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women,” New York Times, Oct. 8, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html.

  “I know that so many women”: Sheryl Sandberg, “#metoo. These two simple words . . .” Facebook post, Oct. 16, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10159365581865177.

  “Travis can spend eight”: Chris Sacca, “Lowercase Capital Founder Chris Sacca: Studio 1.0,” interview by author, Bloomberg, June 12, 2015, video, 27:43, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-06-13/lowercase-capital-founder-chris-sacca-studio-1-0-06-12-.

  Women account for almost half: Dan Primack, “Wall Street Outpaces Silicon Valley on Gender Equality,” Axios, Aug. 8, 2017, https://www.axios.com/wall-street-outpaces-silicon-valley-on-gender-equality-2470698125.html.

  “It’s bad for shareholder value”: Megan Smith, “Former U.S. CTO on Silicon Valley’s Diversity Battle,” interview by author, Bloomberg, Aug. 7, 2017, video, 7:09, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-08-07/ex-u-s-cto-on-silicon-valley-s-diversity-battle-video.

  “We have a long way to go: Satya Nadella, “Satya Nadella: Bloomberg Studio 1.0 (Full Show),” interview by author, Bloomberg, Sept. 29, 2017, video, 23:40, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-09-29/satya-nadella-bloomberg-studio-1-0-full-show-video.

  CHAPTER 1: FROM NERD TO BRO: HOW TECH BYPASSED WOMEN

  In his history of the internet: Walter Isaacson, The Innovators (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2014), 88.

  Hopper had an uncanny ability: Ibid., 90.

  She also took a collaborative approach: Ibid., 117.

  many different machines could understand: Ibid., 93.

  machines should be able to work well together: Ibid., 117.

  women to study math: Ibid., 88.

  A woman, Margaret Hamilton: Robert McMillan, “Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—and Invented Software Itself,” Wired, Oct. 13, 2015, https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo.

  the term “programmer”: Rose Eveleth, “Computer Programming Used to Be Women’s Work,” Smithsonian, Oct. 7, 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/computer-programming-used-to-be-womens-work-718061.

  “a girl ‘senior systems analyst’”: Lois Mandel, “The Computer Girls,” Cosmopolitan, April 1967.

  But just as Cosmo: Ibid.

  “What has sixteen legs”: “What Has Sixteen Legs, Eight Waggly Tongues and Costs You at Least $40,000 a Year?,” Optical Scanning Corporation, 1968, https://ccs.soic.indiana.edu/files/2017/01/sixteenlegs-datamation1968.jpg.

  personality types that made a great programmer: Nathan Ensmenger, The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010).

  “For many in this period”: Nathan Ensmenger, “Letting the ‘Computer Boys’ Take Over: Technology and the Politics of Organizational Transformation,” IRSH 48 (2003): 153–80, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859003001305.

  Ensmenger estimates that by 1962: Ensmenger, Computer Boys Take Over, 64.

  college fraternities and Elks lodges: Brenda D. Frink, “Researcher Reveals How ‘Computer Geeks’ Replaced ‘Computer Girls,’” Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University, June 1, 2011, http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-“computer-geeks”-replaced-“computergirls”.