Venture capitalists who see women as emotionally immature are less likely to fund them

Evidence

This devaluation of women’s accomplishments was systematic, reflecting the idea that women in the tech scene are overlooked or excluded because they are less worthy than men. One informant, an investor, said some very questionable things about women in an interview. (He looked horrified when he realized what he had said on the record, and I promised to keep his identity secret.) In his words: “The basic conclusion we came to is like, women are just emotional and it reminds me—don’t take this the wrong way—of a seven-year-old kid, or an eight-year-old kid who’s struggling with emotions, doesn’t know what’s happening, they can’t verbalize it, it happens to all of us, even men. And men can shut down, get angry, but we can logically do something. And women can’t express it to the guy logically.” Clearly, if a venture capitalist thinks that women are less logical and emotionally mature than men, this will make him less likely to fund women-run companies. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 705

Categorization

• QUESTION: How widespread were such investor beliefs in the period, and how did they correlate with actual funding outcomes?
• XREF: connects to: Women own 40 percent of US businesses but almost none of venture-backed tech — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 691; Gender bias against women is paternalistic proprietorship, not competitor elimination — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1192; Espousing meritocracy while reinforcing sexist talk perpetuates low women’s participation in tech — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 693 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Gender inequality is structurally embedded in Silicon Valley’s self-image and status system #expands (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 648
• Espousing meritocracy while reinforcing sexist talk perpetuates low women’s participation in tech #corroborates (0.82) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 693
• Gender bias against women is paternalistic proprietorship, not competitor elimination #qualifies (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1192
• Venture capitalists openly substitute profiling for genuine evaluation of startup founders #corroborates (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 668