Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

by Brad Smith

In short, the students taking the AP computer science class are more male, more white, more affluent, and more urban than the country as a whole. This part of the problem has multiple causes. But the tech sector needs to accept its share of responsibility. It has not always been an easy place for women or minorities to build a career. Science and technology have long had prominent female pioneers, including Marie Curie, who remains the only person to twice win the same Nobel Prize, and Bertha Benz, the first person to show the world the automobile’s potential.31 But while men were prepared to acknowledge the contributions of these women as individuals, the world of technology remained stubbornly slow in recognizing and creating opportunities for women more broadly. At most tech companies, women still represent less than 30 percent of the workforce, and an even lower percentage of technical roles. Similarly, African Americans, Hispanics, and Latinos typically account for less than half of what one would expect based on their representation in the American population.