Feminine Mystique
to Feminine Critique

How far have we actually come?

by Peggy Aycinena

Today in high tech, there are numerous women serving in a variety of high-profile leadership roles. This article is about six of those women – their education, personal experiences, and attitudes about the past, present and future for women in technology and society in general.

Nothing in this article is breaking news, but everything here is noteworthy. The success of these women is a reflection not only of their own intelligence, hard work, and creativity, but also a reflection of how far we have come with regards to educational and career opportunities for women over the last several generations.

I have a close woman friend who is 62. Forty years ago, in her last year of college as an honors student at a large public university in the mid-West, she decided to go to medical school. The medical school at the university told her not to bother to apply. She would be denied admission because she was a woman. She applied to the law school instead and was accepted. When she enrolled, she was the first woman ever to attend.

Clearly things are radically different today compared to 40 years ago. The idea that any university in the U.S. – public or private – would deny admission to a student based on gender is beyond fathoming. The change however, has not happened overnight. It has taken several generations of milestones, large and small, and an evolution in attitudes.

Progress has been made and more progress is coming in creating the environment within which women work here in the U.S. The six women quoted in this article have all benefited from that progress – and more importantly, have helped to drive that progress. As such, we owe a great deal to them.

* Joan Barlett, Founder and President of Actis Design

* Nancy Eastman, Director and President of Altium USA

* Limor Fix, Associate Director of Intel's Pittsburgh Research Lab

* Kathryn Kranen, President and CEO of Jasper Design Automation

* Diana Raggett, President and CEO of Javelin Design Automation

* Alisa Yaffa, Co-founder, Chairman of the Board, and Vice President of Synplicity, Inc.

I have spoken by phone with each of these women individually over the last few weeks. I am very grateful for the time they allowed for these conversations, and for the candor and openness with which they responded to my questions.

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Q: Did you come into your current role by way of a technical background or by way of a business background?

Joan Bartlett – "Technical. I have a BSEE and worked as an engineer for most of my career, as well as in engineering management."

Nancy Eastman – "I have a degree in math and a Masters in computer science."

Limor Fix – "My PhD is from the Technion in Israel. I did my Postdoc at Cornell in New York. Intel hired me when I was at Cornell and moved me to Israel, and then to Philadelphia."

Kathryn Kranen – "I was a chip designer for 2 years and then I moved into roles in Application Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and then CEO. I wouldn't trade my undergraduate degree or experience as a chip designer for anything. I worked at Rockwell, where I was one of the first engineers there to use this stuff you call EDA. I was the first engineer to simulate in that division. Everybody was amazed that this new graduate could make a board that worked the first time. I was a very junior engineer, but I was hand picked to go into this premium ASIC group on the telecomm side. That was such a powerhouse group because of the volume of their chips. There I got to learn from some great, great people who knew a lot about system design and ASICs. Although that work didn't fit my personality, it did a lot for me. I can understand things down to the very basic gate functionality on a chip."

Diana Raggett – "I have a combination of both. I have a BSEE from Berkeley, and then I went into sales – half the time in semiconductors and half the time in EDA for 30 years."

Alisa Yaffa – "I have a technical background, with a double major in mathematics and computer science from U.C. Berkeley. I did hardware and software development, and from there I went on to more customer-oriented work as a Field Applications Engineer and technical instructor. I also started out on an MBA, studying finance, accounting, and marketing – but I didn't complete the degree. Ultimately, however, I was always an entrepreneur and so I started Synplicity in 1994 with my husband. We bootstrapped the company and eventually went public, as you know, in 2000. I'm not aware of other companies where woman have been involved in starting the organization through bootstrapping rather than through venture capital."

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Q: If you came in as a technologist, how did you end up pursuing that type of education? Was your family very encouraging?

Joan Bartlett– "There wasn't a lot of strong support there; it wasn't one way or the other. I was good at math in school and so my education went in that direction."

Nancy Eastman – "It was an expectation in my family that I would go to college. My one sister was a dental hygienist and my other sister was a programmer. My mother was a homemaker and my father was a business manager – he was highly successful in leadership in a large company. I went to school knowing that I loved math, but I didn't realize that engineering was an option. I had a minor in physics, but there was no guidance in regards to a career in engineering. Had I had more encouragement, I think I would have been very happy as an engineer."

"As a junior in college, I discovered that I was going to need to do something with my math degree. I went into teacher training, but I quickly realized that was a very bad career decision and did something else. I know it now, but at that time it was not really a conscious choice towards technology. I see my education and my choice of career, no so much as guided, as it was opportunistic."

Limor Fix – "Absolutely true. There were several aspects. In Israel, once you finish the high school, you have to go to the Army. As a woman in the army, you are usually making coffee. But another alternative is to go first to get your degree in some needed topic. Of course, technology studies are very encouraged. If you have a degree and then go into the Army, you can work in your area. The Army approached me in high school and said, 'If you go and learn something at the Technion, we will postpone your army service and once you graduate, you can then do your Army service.'"

"My father said, 'Look, if you go to the Army and finish, you may be 20 years old. You may get married then and have children and never have the opportunity to go to school. Now that you're only 18 and don't have a child, go do that degree before it's too late.'"

Kathryn Kranen – "My father was an engineer, very reserved and my mom was a CPA. There were 3 girls in my family. Two of us got engineering degrees and one of us got a CPA. When I was in high school and deciding what I wanted to do, I knew I loved math and science and also wanted to make a lot of money. It didn't take long for every person I met to say, 'Mark my word, Young Lady, you're going into sales.' And I would say, 'No way!'"

"Eventually, Mike Schuh said the same thing to me at Daisy. I first switched to sales in 1990 at Quickturn – Phil Kaufmann hired me and took a great risk on me. What a learning opportunity! From then on, almost every new tool I hooked onto or job change I made was attached to asking why wouldn't everybody want this new tool? Once I believed in a tool, I believed it was good for the customers and I wouldn't take No for an answer. Whatever my customers' objections were, I would knock off the objections one by one because I thought they'd be crazy not to buy the tool and they couldn't easily dissuade me. I was one of those sales people who had a small number of deals in the pipeline because a large larger number of my sales would close. Until I believed it wasn't right for a customer, I wouldn't give up. That's the way I sold brand new missionary things."

Diana Raggett – "My family was neutral. They felt education was important. My background is that I'm Chinese American. My father was in the Foreign Service. When we were little, every few years we moved. I grew in up Taiwan and Thailand, and than 2 years before college came here to the U.S."

"I knew education was important. Even when I was 3 years old, I knew about Berkeley and MIT. There was an early sense that some schools were admired and those were the ones that caught my eye. [I choose my major] because I saw that electrical engineering and computers were definitely coming, and these things weren't something you could pick up over a weekend. When I found out that EECS was the most difficult major to get into as a foreign student at Berkeley, I decided that was it."

Alisa Yaffa – "Absolutely! I always loved mathematics, and even before first grade, my father would give me math workbooks. I was always one year ahead in mathematics because of those workbooks. My parents did not distinguish between me and my two brothers – there were no distinctions made in our family. It's interesting that the other two distinguished women in EDA – Penny Herscher and Kathryn Kranen – also have technical backgrounds. They worked their way up in EDA before they became CEOs, but were not initially involved in their own enterprises. I left that corporate track at an earlier age to start Synplicity, rather than working my way up through the corporate ladder."

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Q: As a woman in high-tech, are there days that are more difficult than others – particularly serving in a leadership role as you do? Or are there actually no perceptible 'issues' that arise from being a woman in high-tech?

Joan Bartlett – "I think that there are some days that are more difficult than others. I've been in this business for well over 20 years, so those tough days are fewer and farther between [now compared to when I started]. For me, it's a non-issue. But for some men, their cultural background sometimes makes them not as comfortable with my being a woman and it's hard not to sense that."

Nancy Eastman – "On a day to day basis, I have not found roadblocks. Certainly there's a bias, but you know what? There's also bias against you if you work for a small company, which I do. I've also been biased against when somebody asks, 'Are you an engineer?' – and all of a sudden you feel you've been demoted. Maybe there's an old boys network, but I have just plowed through and kept going."

"One of the things that has certainly helped me is being athletic. There are very strong parallels between sports and business – cooperation and everybody pulling together. Those things absolutely hold true for women. From a personal standpoint, I really enjoy running. Mentally, it makes me sharper and gives me a lot of energy. It's really about being healthy, and that's true for women and men. Good health and exercise are a great boost in a career."

Limor Fix – "If you look at the end results, there is still an issue. There aren't as many women in the organization at Intel in high-level positions. When I came to this lab, it was all men. It's obviously still not a solved problem. I think there are more women in technology in Israel than in the U.S. Overall, the Israeli social structure is less chauvinistic then the American one. I don't know what the roots of that are. In computer science in Israel, already 25 years ago we were 50/50 in [Bachelors degrees] in Computer Science."

Kathryn Kranen – "No. I've been in this male dominated profession for a long time. I got a call from a Mercury News reporter some years ago to be interviewed because I was the second highest paid woman in Silicon Valley at the time. I was quoted in that article as saying that I've never expected to be treated like a woman, and I shouldn't have to be. But, the gender gap in pay was obvious between the highest paid women in the Valley at that time and the highest paid men – Penny Herscher told me afterwards that I did people a disservice with my answer. To say that we're all the same is not giving women the encouragement they need, especially in light of the gender/pay gap."

"There's also something I learned from my parents, however. I'm actually deaf in one ear, but my mother and father decided to not even tell my teachers when I was growing up. My mom told me they didn't want me to be treated differently, or to feel differently about myself. Similarly, women have a kind of handicap in industry."

Diana Raggett – "The issues are really the ones that we perceive. Either we become pre-occupied with these issues and we adopt them, or we don't see them as issues at all. Just about everything can be overcome. When I think of women in EDA – yes, there's a gender thing, but I think that's less important than the idea of balance. There are some women who are more masculine than they are feminine. Being a women and having typically feminine qualities is to be compassionate, to see the world as a large network, and to collaborate rather than see a hierarchical structure. Those are advantages that women may have. But that doesn't necessarily mean those qualities are limited to women."

Alisa Yaffa – "That's an interesting question. There are some perceptions of differences between people of different genders and cultures, including perceptions of women in leadership roles. As a woman, it's always good to be conscious of that. But other than that fact, I don't believe there are any issues."

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Q: Do you feel that young women today are encouraged/discouraged/neutral as far as entering the business and/or technology of high-tech?

Joan Bartlett – "It's a more neutral thing today than it was in the past. We're probably on a continuum from being discouraged to it not being an issue at all. I know there are organizations that encourage women today, so I think it's somewhere in the middle of the continuum right now."

Nancy Eastman – "That's very difficult for me to judge. I have worked with young women. I have also done some coaching in sports, and from that external point of view I think women are encouraged today. I have several nieces in their 20's and I see them much more directed than their boyfriends at a similar age. This change has happened over my lifetime – there's been an absolute and enormous change. When I was in high school, the women's movement was going on and I have benefited tremendously from that. I've realized that we have control over our own directions and doings."

"My personal experience has actually been very positive. I think I was part of a quota when I was hired by GE as a programmer. All the engineers were male, so GE was bringing women in, often on the programming side by hiring people such as myself who came out of math. At least that way, GE could find women who could participate as technologists. There were maybe 10 or 12 of us in my group and more than half of us were women."

"Then I went onto Calma. Calma also had a strong presence of women doing the same thing side by side. Again, they were programmers. Next, I got into electronics and that's where I found that electrical engineering was more male dominated. However, even though the industry tended to be male dominated, I've been very fortunate in having very good role models who have been very supportive of my progress."

"Still when you stop and look at it, the industry is incredibly male dominated – the upper levels of management are incredibly male dominated."

Limor Fix – "How can you answer this? There is school, there is family, and there is overall society that looks at what each of us is doing. In the family, women and daughters are encouraged to do everything – certainly in Israel. My 20-year-old daughter and her friends debated what they would study. The family organization today is pushing daughters [to succeed] in the same way they push their sons."

"However, in high schools, in the workplace, in the universities there are still problems, which must be coming from somewhere. I don't think there's any special encouragement for girls in high school to go into technical school subjects. Not in Israel, anyway. There may even be some discouraging going on. Again, in the workplace – it's not explicit. Nobody's allowed to talk about it, but it's certainly there."

Diana Raggett – "I think it's pretty neutral. I don't see discouragement. If anything, it's getting more encouraging. Both men and women can talk to boys and girls about what it's like now. But from a U.S. perspective, I see very little being done today to interest any of our children in science and technology and the role that technology plays in our life. There are pockets and institutions who are aware of these things and doing a lot, but as a society and a nation – even as a group in the Valley – in terms of the national consciousness, very little is being done."

"JFK really unified the scientific agenda for U.S. with the plan to put men on the moon. That galvanized people and became a vehicle to pull [scientific education and awareness] up. Right now, we talk about jobs going overseas – a lot are going to China and India and the work force there includes both men and women – but we don’t look at what we should be doing about it. We need to include both men and women [in this effort]. We can't afford to have the system of the old ways."

Alisa Yaffa – "I hear of statistics that women are encouraged more in high school and college, but we don't really see it – at least at Synplicity. There are still very few women coming out of universities with advanced technical degrees who are applying for jobs in EDA. There just aren't a lot of women with the advanced technical background needed. We don't, for instance, see a lot of women with graduate degrees – but we hire many, if not the majority, of our developers with Masters or PhDs."

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Q: Do you think the advancement of women in 'non-traditional' fields is actually something that should be seen within the context of the advancement of diversity in general within 'non-traditional' fields?

Joan Bartlett – "This is both a women's issue and a diversity issue. I'm an optimistic person and I would like to think it should be seen within the general diversity [discussion]. But that may be the rosiest picture that can be put on it. We all run into women who don't share that same [positive] vision, however. I don't think electrical engineering is that much different from the world at large. However, certainly the EDA industry is a gentile, nice industry to work in."

Nancy Eastman – "Absolutely. We need racial diversity. We need age diversity. We need gender diversity. As a society, it's so critical for us to be blind to differences – that should be our goal. Are we there yet? Absolutely not. But that's the goal."

"Are there difficulties for women? Well, somebody of color could make similar [observations]. Is there prejudice? The answer today is yes and no. I think society says we need to be blind to differences, but people do honestly feel at times that they're being prejudiced against. That's very real. If you're a Muslim and you go into work in a headdress, you may feel prejudiced against."

"When people do feel themselves being prejudiced against – that's very real. We have made progress, however, so the question is how real is that prejudice? Individuals may make too much of it, but to them it's very real."

"If somebody in the workplace disparages me, I can blow it off completely and say that it's because I'm not an engineer, or it's because I'm from a smaller company. Likewise, I could say it's because I'm a woman. So, it's partially in the way that I choose to take it."

"If you're not feeling appreciated, the cool thing is having the opportunity to go and try to find a better setting for yourself. Go somewhere else where you will be treated fairly."

Diana Raggett – "The advancement of women is happening as diversity advances. I don't think the focus is to make it happen faster for women than other groups. [In fact], when I have seen [that focus], it's not necessarily been a good thing."

"There's such a big debate – should we relax requirements for under-represented minorities? I believe from personal experience that you want to encourage diversity, but we shouldn't really have lower expectations. Frankly, I grew up in British schools which were chauvinistic and old boys clubs, but it never occurred to me that being a girl was a disadvantage. It never occurred to me until I came to the U.S. where the environment sometimes made me doubt myself for the first time."

Alisa Yaffa – "It's definitely an issue of diversity in general. There certainly is a good representation in EDA from Asia and India, but not a good representation of African Americans or Latin Americans – or Caucasian women. You just don't see it – either on the technical side, or on the business side. But it's also very important to look at the issue of women in EDA – it's an important aspect of diversity in the industry."

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Q: Are you ever surprised by the reaction of customers/vendors/etc. with regards to your being a woman in your role? Are there moments when you forget that you're different, only to find that the person you're addressing has that uppermost in their mind?

Joan Bartlett – "Yes and yes. [Certainly today that reaction] is not as common as it was 15 or 20 years ago. On the rare occasion that I can see that someone is reacting to a woman who is President of a company, there's nowhere to go to get an answer [as to how to deal with that]. I'm just surprised. Usually, I don't even think about the fact of being the only woman."

"I do know that everyone self-selects the people they are with socially, and certainly within the work environment as well. You seek out the people who you are comfortable with and who respect you."

Nancy Eastman – "I was a programmer until the early 90's. [Early in my career], I went to a Windows developers conference held at Moscone Center, and that was probably the first time I realized how male dominated the industry was. The line to the men's room was 'years' long, but there was no line for the women's room at all. I even stood there and counted – there were 400 people in the men's line and 2 in the women's line."

"However in general, this has not really been an issue for me. Natural selection weeds out who you associate with at work. You associate less with those who treat you as being different."

Limor Fix – "I never think about it. I'm always concentrating on the job. I never think that he said that, or he said this, or he said some other thing. However, I do get surprised from time to time. I was a line manager at Intel and there was a discussion about promoting a first-line manager that I was part of. While I was concentrating on her personal skills and so on, someone else said that she was a woman and had 2 small babies. I would never have taken these parameters into account. I was very upset and jumped on the people that made those comments."

Kathryn Kranen – "Have I been treated differently? Absolutely, and although in some ways it's been negative, in many ways it's been positive as well. I say, just be yourself and don't try to overuse the fact that you're a woman. Get to know people as individuals, not as members of a group."

Diana Raggett – "I forget that I'm different. I tend to see all of us as human beings – I don't focus on the differences. Once in a while, I am surprised to see people or customers surprised, but it passes – especially in high tech. The work is not predominately physical. It's brainwork, so it's much easier for women to integrate. It's not about heavy lifting."

Alisa Yaffa – "Yes, people are often surprised when I tell them who I am. They are sometimes surprised at that. It's like I mentioned before, people are not used to seeing women in such leadership roles. Women need to be aware of that and sensitive to the gender and cultural differences."

"When I was in Japan many years ago as the CEO of Synplicity, I was visiting with a Senior Vice President at Sony. In Japan, they're not used to seeing women in this role – although they're more used to seeing a woman as a CEO of an American company, than a woman as CEO of a Japanese company. I think in that meeting I was trying overly hard to do what was expected of me. I was trying to use my best Japanese language skills (of which I know a little), I was being very slow in explaining things so the gentleman could understand me, and I was trying to show respect for his culture and expectations even though I was a woman. It worked very well. Women can be very attuned to these cultural differences. Woman or man – you have to take these things into consideration in doing business."

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Q: Does the 'raunchy' atmosphere that sometimes emerges in an engineering setting ever prove to be overwhelmingly embarrassing as a woman among many men?

Joan Bartlett – "It hasn't been for me. I've talked to other women colleagues and some women are more bothered by it than others. In order to survive and go on, you just have to find a way to deal with it."

Nancy Eastman – "I don't see that today. But back when I first started at GE, our group worked near the manufacturing bay. It was very nasty back then. It was very uncomfortable for women working near that environment."

Limor Fix – "At Intel, it's not that way. At Intel there's a very, very strong culture of what's allowed and what's in line, and what's not. Measures are taken very seriously to stop anything that's inappropriate."

Diana Raggett – "There are two kinds of environments. One that's [inclusive] and then there's the other type – an old network designed to include only a few individuals, while others are excluded. And the excluded ones can be guys as well. They may have the right gender, but somehow they're not right for inclusion. If those who exclude are the leaders in a company, you just have to deal with it and move on."

Alisa Yaffa – "No. Remember, if you're going to be a woman in technology, you're generally going to do a math/science program at a university and you're already going to be with men all the time. It's a non-issue by the time you get into your career."

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Q: Would you encourage your daughter/niece/etc. to pursue a career like yours, or would you suggest that the price is too high?

Joan Bartlett – "I would be fine if she wanted to be an engineer. I honestly think that's the world we live in today."

Nancy Eastman – "Absolutely. I would encourage them to pursue a career in high-tech."

Limor Fix – "I certainly do. In high school my daughter took physics, computer science, and mathematics. Even if she had good marks, she may not have liked it, but I wanted her to consider it – to give science and math a try."

Kathryn Kranen – "I would encourage her to do whatever she wants. I would encourage my son as well. I encourage them to do whatever they love – my daughter has a great chance to be an artist. I say start by understanding how things work, and from there you can rule the world. You'll never be mystified by the way things work. That's the springboard for being a better manger and better in sales."

"I just spoke to my son's class at school. I asked them, 'What is our community?' The 7-years-olds knew what silicon was and what Silicon Valley is. I told them our community is important because of electronic design automation. I think that kind of awareness is important."

"I am also involved in teaching a class to school kids in Mountain View about entrepreneurial skills. Recently I went in and presented a mock board meeting. The students always ask me what they need to do to be good. I tell them math is the ticket to ride – you can always throw it away later if you want to. Look at all the many professions that are high paying and very responsible with opportunities for leadership that you can't get access to without an education that has a basis in lots of math. I try to push that message, especially for girls."

Diana Raggett – "Absolutely. I have a daughter and I encourage her to explore all of her interests from art to science and writing. The beauty of our society is that it's all about choice. I'm not going to push her into the sciences unless she enjoys it, however. For me, I think it's a great thing for any young woman or man. From a business point of view, it's important in a high-tech company to have a balance of skills. It's important for a company to work as a team, so it's not just about communication skills or just about technical skills. Companies need a balance of skills and people with a variety of backgrounds."

Alisa Yaffa – "Well, I consider myself to be a self-made entrepreneur and businessperson. My technical background was the door that opened opportunities for me. Being an entrepreneur has very great rewards both personally and financially, although of course there are risks as well. If my daughter is going to be an entrepreneur in a technical business, I would say to her, 'Do your homework. There's no easy way about it. You need a technical degree. Along with that, I would be very encouraging."

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Q: How do women who have aspirations in high-tech decide how to balance those aspirations with the difficulties of bearing and raising children?

Joan Bartlett – "Like anyone who is successful with a career, women in high tech have to face those same issues. The underlying idea is that it's a balance. We do have child-rearing responsibilities, so it's a balance that every individual has to find within that. Hopefully, our society is changing so that the time that women get to spend with their families and the time they're expected to spend on the job can be balanced – those two things can become a little more normal than the expectations may been in the past."

"However, my career did influence when I decided to have my own child. I did wait until my mid-30's. Before that, I was doing a lot of my climbing up the corporate ladder. I know a lot of women have delayed having children because of this. I certainly couldn't have been putting in the hours on my career that I needed to in my 20s, and also have raised a child."

Nancy Eastman – "This is a hard thing – we all need to find a balance here. While women are involved in their careers, there's still something about society that puts the demand on them for the raising the children and day-to-day family operations. It all still falls heavily on the woman. The amount of work done in the home by full-time working women still exceeds that of men. I don't have the statistics to back that up, but the statement's out there. There's more stress on women to make this balance work – and this balance is part of another choice that women need to make in the course of their careers."

Limor Fix – "You must have a very supportive spouse and other family members like parents, sisters. etc. I was very, very lucky in this sense. My daughter was born while I was doing my Masters and my son was born during my PhD. I had two babysitters, and my mother was nearby. Also, I had a very helpful husband. When I said we needed to leave for 2 years to go to Cornell, he sold part of his business to an employee and we went."

"When I came to Cornell, there were men there doing their Postdocs while their wives were running the house, and everybody was positive about that. But when my husband came, you could feel it in their questions: 'Are you a failure? How come you are able to join your wife?' The husband has to have a very strong personality, to be very sure of himself just to counter the bad feedback he is getting from the environment in that situation."

Diana Raggett – "I think it's no more difficult for women than it is difficult for men. I think it's about balance. Any challenging role, whether it's leading a large company or a start-up, is demanding – it can be like having an another child. So I believe it's very helpful to be in a personal partnership or relationship if you have a career and you have children, so that you can take turns with the other person. As one builds a career, the other one keeps the home going. Later the other one can build the career."

"We need to measure our successes by what we've had to give up to achieve them. I meet a lot of men who are now balancing their careers because they realize they don't want to miss out on the whole family aspect in life. Perhaps for their first child perhaps they weren't there, but for their last child now they know they want to be there. That's no more the case for women than for men. It is tough when we have families and career and we all know people who have lost their marriages through the demands of the job. It can be very difficult."

Alisa Yaffa – "It's very hard. I understand and appreciate that it's very hard for women, whether or not they're in high tech. If I were working my way up the corporate ladder, then I would have had children earlier. But, there's really no good time to have children – it’s more of a continuous growth in time and obligations. When I co-founded Synplicity, it was like hitting a cliff in time commitment and responsibility. So in that way, Synplicity was like my first child. Now I have two others. Does Synplicity talk back to me like a child does a parent? All the time! Even in my dreams!"

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Q: Do many women who might pursue 'non-traditional' roles in high-tech get channeled into HR or PR/MarCom because of their gender?

Joan Bartlett – "I agree that women are channeled into the support role, not only into HR and PR and MarCom, but out of the straight engineering design role – the main product development group which is where you actually need to go to reach the highest places in the company."

"It may be too much of a generalization – and I'm not sure if it's from the nature/nurture thing – but that may be because the communication skills and figuring out how to get along may be stronger in women. In any case, when companies find a woman with a technical background and good communications skills, those are very valuable."

"I don't blame women or companies for that, but I do think women jump our of product development too quickly. I think you've got to have some product development under your belt to have a career with longer legs. I've seen young women coming out of school and after just one year – POW – they're suddenly in marketing. If that's what they want to do, fine. But if it's the company that's pushing them in that direction the women need to resist."

Nancy Eastman – "Whether they get channeled, or it's a personal selection is not always clear. The question is how women do get into certain career paths. Why do they choose one over another? I think you should consider it to be like a funnel."

"During school, obviously a bunch of girls pop out of the funnel because they don't have an interest in science or math. Many others are lost because they don't survive the educational aspects; it's difficult subject material. That's similar to many guys as well. Some are just not mathematically oriented."

"Some women make the decision to leave the funnel in relation to bearing children. Their decision is based on the demands of a high-tech career and the lack of flexibility. There are more options for you in PR and HR, but it's still the first filter in the funnel that's the huge one – the education. How many women actually enter into technical training or have the technical orientation for that career?"

"I've seen women who've had the technical education, but have not stayed with technology. They made it through the education, but today are not actively pursuing technical careers. A lot of them were derailed through the child rearing years."

"I've also seen a lot of women after an acquisition getting out. They ask themselves: 'Why am I doing this?' Then they take a different pathway. Maybe guys are less likely to pose that question to themselves. Once they're on a career path, they stay there."

"The ideas of success are defined so differently by different people. For a man, usually success still means the career. For a woman, however – particularly as they get older – they are able to work to different definitions of success. I believe for guys, it's still a little bit more about making money and getting higher up in the organization. If you're a high achieving women, maybe you're more aware that there are lots of ways that people are successful. So it often comes down to choices and definitions of success. What drives you? Are you driven by the money? Are you driven by the technology?"

"In my own career as a programmer, I got to the point when I hit 40 that I didn't want to be programming any more. I felt my incremental contributions were not as great as some of the sharper kids coming out of school. I felt it was time to make a change out of the pure technology role and move into other parts of the organization."

Limor Fix – "I have seen this phenomenon and I understand this completely. The HR group at Intel in Israel is 99 percent women. In any interaction I had with the group – I was a trainer in many HR management courses – if they decided to give more courses, they would ask me to deliver it. My interactions were always more fun, more easy. It was more enjoyable to interact with them and the 'soft' material, rather than sitting in a technical meeting where you had to confront the 'tough' material. There were a few talented technical manager people who moved to HR and the soft-type work content. I see the temptation here. It is easier for a woman to be in a women-dominated environment."

Kathryn Kranen – "I respect those careers very much. There are some women in the EDA PR agencies who contribute a great deal to the industry."

Diana Raggett – "I think two things happen. Women may be encouraged by their company to make the change, because they are people who have good communication skills. However, if someone has the desire to expand out of their technical role, there's no reason they can't leverage those communication skills into a leadership role."

Alisa Yaffa – "Companies who have technical women who are qualified for their jobs do not encourage them to jump ship off to HR or MarCom. They encourage their women technologists to climb their technical career track. I don't see technical women encouraged to go into HR or MarCom. When I was considering becoming an FAE, I was doing software development at the time. My managers encouraged me away from that move because they said I should have a few more years under my belt in the technology. They told me that if I did go into some more customer-oriented or outward-oriented position, I wouldn't come back – and that was true. I don't think technical women are encouraged to go into non-technical fields. There are just such few qualified women who can do development work."

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Q: Would you encourage a woman to pursue a career in high-tech sales as that's where the money really is – and would you discuss the fact that her 'feminine qualities' (however those are defined) may work to her benefit/detriment in that role?

Joan Bartlett – "It's an individual thing. If they've got the knack for sales, it's both an art and a science – some people are good at that and some aren't. And some people are in the business for the money, that's what they like about it. However, I can roll my eyes as much as the next person about a man or a woman using their looks and charm to get along."

Nancy Eastman – "I would say to any woman – be in command. Selling is a skill and knowing how to deal with difficult people requires knowing how to approach things in many different ways. If you can't deal with that, whether you're a woman or man, you probably shouldn't be in sales. Women who are in high-tech sales, like anybody in sales, tend to be more forward and more successful at being in control of the situation. That may go hand in hand with the personality of the individual. It's not restricted by gender."

Limor Fix – "Whether women should use the fact that they're a woman to help themselves progress in their career? I'm against it. I myself like to wear dresses, but I never do it at work. I like to be soft, but I never am at work because you have to remember it goes in both directions. If you want to be treated equal, you have to be equal. My philosophy is to try to make people forget that I'm a woman. Not matter what however, if there's a big conference and you give a presentation and the other 29 people there are men, everybody will remember you and your name and your topic because you're different."

Kathryn Kranen – "I found Sales to be the most technical part of my career. Imagine me as a brand new sales person covering the West Coast. I'd go into meetings and they'd draw the design of their new chips on their white boards for me and explain how it was going to be better than the competition. I got to see how companies compete with each other and I also had to understand the high level requirements of the designs. What a treat to be a fly on the wall in those leading edge companies all over the world and to see their ideas."

"But it's also tricky to be on the outside and try to figure out what's going on, on the chess board inside the customer company. You've got to do all that while still leading the customer to the promised land in a way that the customer will eagerly follow. The key in sales is not in following your customer, but in leading the customer to success in deployment."

"When I was a major account rep, I would go to methodology workshops with multiple divisions at AT&T, and really, really drive people towards the new pioneering tools and methodologies. My boss at the time was Taylor Scanlon and someone told him that it was hard to imagine my being taken seriously in sales. He said, 'You may think that, but not only will she knock on the door of the crotchety CEO at the customer, but she'll get 60 extra seconds to talk to him because of the chivalrous behavior that men will allow her!'"

"Perhaps there's a curiosity factor there in some cases, but there's also sometime more gentile behavior from the men you're selling to. They won't throw you out or be rude. In fact, they might listen better because they're entranced. People all knew me because I was different. At a meeting of 20 guys, they would all remember who I was. "

"I no doubt use my positive feminine wiles to do sales. You might say I'm flirtatious because I'm a cheery, witty, humorous person. I also know there are a few bad exceptions to women in sales – they look like they're out there as an escort service, but I set the dress code for the women in my company. Sometimes I go into the office and I'll ask the women if I'm dressed appropriately."

"Really, however, I'm dressing for myself. I'm excited that I dropped the weight after the babies were born, so I dress for myself and if the men want to be impressed, then okay, I certainly don’t do that to stimulate guys. I like to dress up because it gives me confidence. I do like to dress in fashionable, body-conscious clothes."

"Once at a meeting, I was sitting at a large table with a dozen men and in my perky way was talking about women in industry. So I asked the man sitting next to me, 'What do you think is more appropriate for a woman to wear – a skirt or pants? The guy couldn't remember what I was wearing because I was sitting down, so he didn’t know how to answer and he turned bright red. Some men there said pants, some said skirts. But, I like to wear skirts, it's more independent."

Diana Raggett – "Two things happen, and it depends on the woman. Some will use their feminine wiles and some customers will respond, and then the sales person uses it even more. But I also see some women who don't do this. I also see companies who want a woman to use her feminine wiles to make a sale, but the woman refuses. A customer, or anyone, who wants to be seduced or charmed, will choose to see that in a person's behavior. Personally – having been in sales – in the end, you really want to help your customers solve their problem. Focusing on using wiles and charms to make a sale gets in the way of solving the problem for the customer."

Alisa Yaffa – "Absolutely – why not? However, regarding the second part of your question, I don't think this comes into play for a woman who is well qualified to do her job. She wouldn't have to put up with disrespect, and would act in the professional manner that is expected of her."

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Q: Do you think the EDA industry deserves high/moderate/low marks as far as promoting women in the industry?

Joan Bartlett – "I think it's been doing well. I'm not familiar with other industries. My longest stint at a technical company was Tektronix for 12 years. That was a great example of a pretty unbiased workplace. They promoted people based on their abilities. It was a very good company and I thought they promoted women well. They're not an EDA company, however, but they are an EDA user and a test company."

"I think high-tech in general has done well. Again, it's not necessarily glowing, but there are some measurable, quantifiable improvements and that's one reason that I like high tech and electronics. You can actually tell if someone is doing well or not doing well strictly by the quality of their work."

Nancy Eastman – "Clearly, there aren't enough women. But is it the industry or is it the funnel? In my experience, there have been women in the companies I've worked for who have been promoted – myself and other women that I see in management positions today. Again, you can't ignore the fact that there are too few, but is it women getting out of the pipeline, or is it prejudice that's causing this?"

Limor Fix – "No I don't think so. It gets low marks from me. There are things happening in the field, however, that could influence things. For example, at Intel if there is an organization in which a woman is a manger, then in her organization, women are better off. If I look at our CAD organization, there was one woman. In fact, my manager was a woman and that helped me. She was a role model for me. She made me understand that it's possible to succeed. When I became a manager in my own organization, I had a very successful woman manager working under me. But I don't think if you look at the EDA industry that it's happening as much."

"To break this glass ceiling, my advice to women is to be unique in the sense of being more educated. Get a good education. When I had a PhD and a Postdoc, this was a big plus for me. Then I created a research group and I was able to bring the organization to me in a sense."

"You have to fight [gender] disadvantages with some weapons. Better education is of course very important. Another item which I usually find with women is their personality and personal relations skills. They are not usually arrogant and they are better team players. Again, this is something that women should recognize as a skill that helps them in this competition to which they come with some disadvantages."

"In my house when I grew up, my mother wasn't working at all. It was expected of her to do exactly what my father needed when he came from work. The food was supposed to be on the table. This was what I had seen and I've made some progress away from that. But things move slowly. My daughter now has a better chance than I had because she saw something different in the house where she grew up. But change doesn’t happen in just 5 years or so – it probably takes more like a generation."

Kathryn Kranen – "For me it's about initiative and attitude and the whole thing of not seeing obstacles – of not perceiving obstacles or boundaries. If you think about things organizationally, I'm the one who was always saying, 'Hey guys, let's do it!' – being positive and maybe even stepping all over somebody to get my point across."

"It's about taking initiative because you know it's a good idea and the right choice. It moves the company forward, and it gets you recognition, and it means you'll be thought of as an obvious candidate for promotion. You need to take the initiative and not perceive boundaries. I think if you've done a good job of explaining the capabilities of a product, the customer will want it. You need to do things because you believe in them – this is values-based leadership and not just leadership for personal gain."

"I have heard other Marie Pistilli award winners say that you need a plan, a 5-year plan with milestones to measure your progress. But I've never had the slightest awareness of this kind of goal thing. I want to do my best in that moment. And I know that if I'm not happy in that moment, I want to change things around me. It's so much more important to have personal ambition than to just be competitive. This is the problem in our industry – it you cut out the personal ambition, you just have cut-throat climbing over each other."

"Create a vision and ignore all the obstacles and the recognition will follow. It's not hard to see that. Yes, you need to have courage and to be smart, but you want to be proud of your own accomplishments even more than you want to have the recognition and approval. You need to realize your own personal potential and make the world recognize you and reward you as a result."

Diana Raggett – "EDA has been moderate for women – it's probably improving and going towards higher marks. Again it's because technology brings change at a rapid pace. People in high tech are open to a lot of new ideas and capable of creative thinking. Just looking back, we're so much more enlightened as a work force today than we were 19 years ago, or even 10 years ago."

"I find much better communication today between people in the workplace who have similar values. There is some amazing work being done today across technology – particularly as we are facing many energy and economic growth challenges. I believe there are good role models of both genders who are penetrating the social fabric today and leading this work."

Alisa Yaffa – "Although there aren't a lot of women in EDA, it is an industry that I believe is gender and race neutral. We hire the best person for the job, period. So, getting a degree or, better yet, an advanced degree in engineering, science, or math is very important in EDA – especially to work in a developer's role. If you study marketing, you may be able to get a job at an EDA company, but someone with a technical background will advance farther and faster."

"It in the end, it's perseverance that dictates success in any field. That's especially true if you want to be an entrepreneur – you have to go out and get what you want. That's how people get ahead in life."

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Editor's Notes:

* Many of the issues discussed here will be addressed at the Workshop for Women in Design Automation on the afternoon of Monday, June 13th, at DAC 2005 in Anaheim. Please register for the workshop and plan to attend. The career-development discussions that are part of the workshop are useful for everyone – men and women.