In the weeks since the now-infamous Google memo first stirred global controversy, too little light has been shed on the underlying issue – the large and undeniable gender gap in computer science, engineering and the technology business in general.
Let's begin with the proposition that this gap is a bad thing. At least three times as many men as women work as computer scientists in the US. That suggests an enormous supply of ideas, ingenuity and creativity is going to waste. And the US is already short more than half a million computer-science graduates – a deficit that will only worsen as the industry expands.