CHAPTER 8
WALK THE TALK
Like kids on a road trip, women can’t seem to stop asking: “Are we there yet?” Inevitably, the answer is no.
While the rest of the nation nurses saplings, Silicon Valley points to sequoias. But even there, not everyone’s a believer. “On the West Coast we have the mythology of the meritocracy,” says Sharon Vosmek, the CEO of Astia, a nonprofit that provides seed capital for female entrepreneurs. “The stronger the notion of meritocracy, the more difficult it is for women. If everyone’s telling me it’s a meritocracy and I’m feeling it’s harder for me than the guy next to me, I’ll internalize that. I’ll think it’s about me. Meritocracy is absolutely our goal, but we haven’t yet achieved it.”
Vosmek, whose background is in ...
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