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>> How do you all think we're doing on this diversity challenge, Chella phonetic?
>> Laughter So, when you look at it from a representation of women in the industry.
Inaudible Remark
>> That's right. So, in my personal opinion I think we've been at this--
>> That would be Microsoft?
>> Yes, and yeah--
Laughter
>> From the Microsoft prospective and I have--you know, I've been working on women's issues all of my life. And I actually thought that we would be in a slightly better position better today than we--you know when I go back to the 80's and you know we were setting up women's conferences and so when I look at the Fortune 500 and we often talk about the numbers and suddenly the numbers are way better than they used to be. But I think what--what I think we need to do is slightly adjust and I've--you know, and we're suddenly doing this at Microsoft as well, the way we approach the whole issue if that's what we call it. We're still approaching it with old tools and I don't think we've made as much advancement with the old tools which may not be as relevant and let me give you an example of exactly what I'm talking about. As the new generation comes into the workforce, I don't think they have as many gaps as some would imagine in terms of skill gaps. So you'll hear and you'll read article. I just read one in the New York Times the other day which said, "Well women don't ask for things, they need to ask for things," or "Women aren't ambitious, they need to be a little more ambitious," and the--I think the insinuation there really is, if only they would fix a few of those things, the problem would get fixed. And my perspective is, we have to stop trying to fix the women, we need to fix the system. Because the women don't need fixing and by the way, there are lots of women who are not ambitious and there are lots of men who are not ambitious. There're lots of women who don't speak up. There're lots of men who don't speak up. This is not unique to just the female gender. What it does in my opinion also is have us focus on the wrong set of issues which is trying to fix the skill gap and I don't think that skill gap or the soft skill--the gap, you know the lack of ambition or whatever is really that relevant. It is the systemic barriers that we need to apply ourselves and that's certainly worth well looking at, at Microsoft as well is. So, you know, it's been good to have conferences where, you know, you sort of focus on having your voice heard at the table and so on but we need to focus on the systemic aspect and so stop fixing the women, fix the system.
Applause
>> I think one thing I'd like to see change is I'd like to see more women in sharing programs in colleges. The numbers actually here are really disheartening so I think we heard about--don't quote me on this, I might get it a little bit wrong--but I think we're at about 18 percent now--
>> Yeah.
>> Across the nation in the US.
>> Yes, we are.
>> And in 1985, it was about 35 percent, so not only has it not moved, it's gone drastically in the wrong direction. So, you know, if you think about sort of where the biggest pool is and where you can drop from, it's getting smaller.
>> So, do you think that's an international phenomenon as well?
>> I know it's a US number.
>> Yeah.
>> I don't know what's happening as much abroad.
>> Actually, it is.
>> Yeah.
>> It is. It doesn't look that different in Germany for example. Where I just think the--that the questions what can we do about it to your point in terms of can we, you know, reach out more to the people who are in the school at the moment to kind of make them aware of what opportunities lie ahead for them and how to capture them, how to go after them. I like your point about, you know, let's not fix the women. What we've seen work is also this--it's much less about the conversation just amongst the women, it's much more the dialogue in the organization and sort of opening the eyes to all the different skill sets that are on the table and the kind of increasing importance of some of those sort of more relationship skills and I think there's still a long way to go but I don't think it can be a quick fix. It's much more a matter of how can we, on the one side, raise the awareness for the dialogue within the current organization and current generation while at the same time, reaching out to the younger generation and sort of talking about what kind of what it takes and you know how could they be capitalized on some of the opportunities and encourage more females to go into more technologies and tech roles and studies.
>> So let me ask the question of the panel here then. You know, we talk a lot about in many forums where, you know, I speak about the lack of enrolment in computer science and the fact that it is in fact shrinking worldwide. But from a technology perspective, do you really need a computer science background today to be in the technology industry. I mean, I often sit back and assess my own team and say how many have a business degree, how many have a liberal arts degree and it's not the same as similar code, right? I mean once--I don't even know how many in the audience know what a similar code was.
Laughter
>> But you had what you--
>> We do.
Laughter
>> Well, it's a little bit different there but I just--it's just that what I--I'm not asserting the position but I'm just wondering if we're letting the lack of enrolment of women in technology in computer science be a reason when it may not have to be but I'm just wondering what do you think about that?
>> Actually that's a really--that's a really good question. Personally, I don't have a computer science degree either and came to technology through the backdoor but as things are sort of getting much more consumerized in technology--
>> Yeah.
>> You know, what are actually the skill sets that people will need in the future and is it really the hard coding development things or is it more type of assembly putting--
>> The integration.
>> Things together.
>> Yeah.
>> Kind of skill.
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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
