Ruchi Sanghvi’s entrance into Facebook’s offices in 2005 was something akin to the elephant in the boy’s room. She was the site’s first female engineer and of the group of co-workers she was trying to participate in shared a camaraderie that was male-selective. Take for instance that her team created a “brogramming page.” The environment has changed for the better; however, there is more work to be done.
Sanghvi said increasing the number of women in tech requires HR initiatives in tandem with robust, female precedents in engineering, computer science and other technical fields. This should be of utmost priority, given women rule social media, spending 30% more time on social media sites than men according to Comscore, Neilsen, Media Metrix and Quantcast.
-JM
