Tech may be fueling S.F.’s growing gender pay gap [View all]

[YoungDemCA]

...gender segregation in one of San Francisco’s fastest-growing and most lucrative industries may have helped fuel a growing pay gap in the city. Since the end of the recession, the pay disparity between fully employed men and women, those with advanced degrees and even those holding tech jobs, has grown wider, according to census data.

“Not seeing many people that look like you, having that added element of discomfort, makes it difficult to enter the industry,” Vogt said. “I’m sure the impostor syndrome has a lot to do with it,” she added, “the feeling that everyone else knows so much more than I do, which isn’t necessarily true.”

A handful of programs and nonprofits are trying to diversify tech — and in turn possibly shrink the pay gap — but the lack of women in the industry has complex roots. Factors include a shortage of female engineers, a higher-than-average exit rate for women within the sector, possible bias that impacts hiring and promotions, a lack of female executives and board members, and uncomfortable work environments for women at some companies.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Tech-may-be-fueling-S-F-s-growing-gender-pay-6841471.php