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LinkedIn INKED IN with Facebook Lean In push for more women in tech

Sandberg wants to beef up female CompSci and engineering students

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has buddied up with social-network-for-suits LinkedIn to push for more women in technology as the number of female engineering students continues to shrink.

"Careers in computer science and engineering are great for women (and men) – the work is high-impact, flexible, well-paid, and exciting. Yet female participation in these fields is plummeting; women comprised 35 per cent of CS [Computer Science] majors in 1985, but make up only 18 per cent today," Sandberg said.

"Women are missing out on great jobs and the world is missing out on their great ideas."

The billionaire and Lean In author – who has arguably patronised women from ordinary backgrounds with her "be more like me" take on the world of work – has once again pushed for publicity of her Lean In Circles mentoring initiative, which kicked off in 2013.

Vulture Weekend can't help but wonder if this moniker could be a playful nod at her former employer Google, or even an in-joke about Dave Eggers' novel The Circle.

LinkedIn's boss Jeff Weiner told Associated Press that his company had partnered with Facebook and the Anita Borg Institute to tackle the dwindling numbers of women signing up to study engineering and computer science.

"To limit the perspective of the people building our product and services, if that's too narrow, it's going to lead to suboptimal outcomes," he told the news wire. ®

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