What Sheryl Sandberg’s exit reveals about the advancement of women in technology

But many of them have had trouble steering older tech companies. Of these women, only Mrs. Katz, Mrs. Hood, and Mrs. Porat remained in office.

“The slow pace of progress for women leaders in Silicon Valley is worse than disappointing,” said Nicole Wong, vice president of technology in the Obama administration and former CEO of Twitter. “It makes the commitments technology leaders made on racial and gender diversity in 2014 appear effective.”

In 2017, stories Sexual harassment by powerful men in Silicon Valley I became part of the #MeToo movement. That year, a group of female investors created All Raise.

In 2018, California passed a law requiring publicly traded companies to have at least one director, resulting in dozens of women joining corporate boards. (A California judge struck down the law last month; The state said it would appeal the ruling.) Another new law, passed last year, Law No more silenceprovides legal protection for people who speak out about discrimination or harassment they have experienced at work.

Women in tech continued to speak out about unfair treatment. In 2020, Mrs. Brugger arrives $22.5 million settlement With Pinterest because of discrimination and revenge. discrimination Lawsuit by Emily Kramera former marketing executive at the financial startup Carta, is making his way through the courts.

There were some signs of progress. Over the past five years, Katrina Lake of Stitch Fix, Julie Wainwright of The RealReal, Jennifer Hyman of Rent the Runway, and Whitney Wolf Heard of Bumble have publicized the companies they founded. Following in Ms. Sandberg’s footsteps, COOs are now more and more common in technology. They include Ms. Choi of Coinbase, Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX, and Jen Wong of Reddit.

At META, Ms. Sandberg has recruited and promoted women, such as Marne Levine, chief business officer, and Laurie Guler, chief human resources and recruitment officer. Percentage of women in META management with manager titles or higher a plus To 35 percent in 2021 from 30 percent in 2018, according to company data.

Meta has also developed women who now lead other tech companies, including Ms Simo, who previously oversaw the main Facebook app. Become the CEO of Instacart last year.