Fewer than 140 characters in Twitter – chances are they’re all male

Someone with some media and PR nous really needs to brief Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo on the use of, er, Twitter.

After New York Times writer Claire Cain Miller published an article noted that the high-profile social media company, which recently announced plans for its initial public offering, still has no women on its board, Costolo made one of the most brainless of social media gaffes.

Rather than either remain silent or – more appropriately – using Twitter to respond in a considered way, he instead insulted Vivek Wadhwa, the former entrepreneur and well-known academic. Wadhwa has published and been interviewed widely on the topics of technology, immigration and entrepreneurship. He’s also a fellow at Stanford’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, and is working on a book on women and the technology industry.

Wadhwa was quoted in Miller’s original piece. “This is the elite arrogance of the Silicon Valley mafia, the Twitter mafia. It’s the same male chauvinistic thinking,” he said. “The fact that they went to the IPO without a single woman on the board, how dare they?”

That kind of robust observation is typical of Wadhwa, who says what he thinks. Costolo took to Twitter to respond to a query about the article by noting, “Vivek Wadhwa is the Carrot Top of academic sources.”

Carrot Top is the stage name for American comedian Scott Thompson, known for portraying a stupid, puerile, frat-boy style of humour.

You could, I suppose, argue that Costolo too was simply saying what he thinks. But in doing so, he neither responds to the central criticism of the article, nor demonstrates that a chief executive – especially in advance of an IPO – can have a bit more self control than to let rip in a public forum.

Even if you think the latter point is a non-issue – after all, Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary has made a career out of provocative statements and insults – the point is that the reply was evasive, rude and extraordinary for a pre-IPO company that is currently so closely scrutinised. (Incidentally, Ryanair has two women on its board.)

Costolo’s timing couldn’t have been poorer either.

Misogyny
The misogyny sometimes seen in Silicon Valley has been a prominent topic in recent weeks, after two companies that pitched to investors at a conference run by TechCrunch managed to highlight the worst aspects of what is sometimes called "brogrammer" culture – a very male-oriented, chauvinistic guy mindset.

One company wanted investors for an app called TitStare, which lets users take pictures of themselves staring at – well, yes. Another company founder got on stage and simulated masturbation. TechCrunch now intends to screen company presentations before they can be this offensively stupid.

But back to the original point of the New York Times article. Costolo eventually responded that he has been searching for a woman for the board (of a service that reportedly has more women users than men), but didn't want to just "tick a box".

Is it really that hard to find even a single woman for a board in Silicon Valley? Yes, technology is a male-oriented industry, still. But there are many women in technology-oriented leadership roles. Miller came up with a list of 25 in a blog post.

Perhaps it would be easier to find women board candidates if these guys got out a bit more, beyond the usual, male-oriented, closed Valley circles?

It’s not just the Valley, though. Ireland cannot boast of gender diversity on its boards, either. Ireland comes in at the bottom of European board diversity statistics, ahead only of Bulgaria. Women represent just 9 per cent of board seats on publicly-listed Irish companies, compared to an (already abysmal) EU average of 15.8 per cent.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is looking for 30 per cent by 2015 –- not likely to be met in this country unless companies try a lot harder. An Institute of Directors in Ireland report, Women on Boards in Ireland, published this year, notes than women directors surveyed for the report felt there were three reasons so few women sit on Irish boards.

First, the State has many interlocking directorships, a narrow circle of male appointees that can be hard to break. Second, there’s a lack of openness and transparency to board appointments, and third, women are outside predominantly male networks that have the attention of chairpersons and nomination committees.

Similar points have been to the fore of the discussion this past week on the dearth of women on boards in the Valley, too.

But guys: the candidates are there, in the Valley, across the US, and in Ireland. Irish technology companies, for example, might wish to have a look at the list of 38 leading Irish women in the tech sector, published this week by NUI Galway's John Breslin on the Technology Voice website.

Please, Twitter and other companies: don’t just tick a box. But try opening your eyes a bit wider, to see all the diverse talent that is out there.