Transcript: TechCrunch Disrupt “Women In Tech” Panel [From The Archives]

LEILA: I think there’s a twin issue—so I agree with you that you don’t have to have a CS degree to start a company. I don’t have one; I feel really ill-equipped, that said, to have started my company. But I think there is a larger sort of cultural issue, which is that women often want a more balanced life than men do. Carol Bartz said this great thing in the Her Code Report which was published last year which was that women want to wake up in the morning, cook breakfast for the kids, do yoga on the way to work, run a company all day and come back and have a good life. I have to say I have found it to be true of so many women that I have tried to hire that they want more work/life balance. And the reality is if you want to found a company, work/life balance isn’t going to be there for 2 years. Maybe that’s controversial but—

RACHEL: I know lots of dudes who carve time out for their family and I know lots of women, myself included, who just can’t do the yoga thing. I’m not flexible enough.

SARAH: Ok, be fair though, how old are you girls?

RACHEL: I’m 37.

LAUREN: I’m 23.

SARAH: Ok, let’s see how you feel in 10 years about work/life balance. When you are 23 you are balls out, you are working all the time, you are killing yourself—

LAUREN: I mean, I don’t think you really know me. I mean obviously—

SARAH: I don’t, I just met you on stage. [joking] Ok, you’re not balls out! You’re not working hard! Is that what you’re saying? Sorry, I was just trying to compliment you.

LAUREN: I love what I do. I’m so blessed. If I could change my life right now I would go back to school and get a computer science degree. And I think that the way to get more women into tech is to have more women who are computer science majors. Which is why I love what Sarah Chipps is doing.

SARAH: Ok, the point is, we’re talking about two different things. We’re talking about women in tech and we’re talking about women starting companies, which we’re conflating. Those are two totally different things. There are women who are coders, who are in management, who are executives in companies, there are women like me who write about tech and up until this morning worked at a start-up, so you could say I was a woman in tech. And then there are people who are starting companies and there are women entrepreneurs. And I do agree with you that the women in tech issue is not a work/life balance thing. I think what Carol is talking about is being the CEO of a publicly traded company. And, you know, there are lots of different versions of entrepreneurship. But if you’re doing the Mark Zuckerberg or Michael Arrington level of entrepreneurship, you can’t have kids.

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.