I regularly promote speaking opportunities for women,and in Washington DC, one of the ongoing options is the ignite events at ignite-dc.com. Although I usually just promote and attend, those I know who grace the stage including some amazing ones;

 A few weeks ago AlwaysOn posted "The Lack of Women in Tech," it's an interesting read and includes a few articles that discuss some of the issues in the tech field about these challenges. Challenges that I have been fully aware of as a techie who speaks across the country about this issue. The article is a good read and has some resources you should check out.
 

During SXSW there were so many discussions that I had with so many great people. One discussion included @SheilaS @womenwhotech @jillfoster @lizstrauss and a few others. We brieifly discussed some of the challenges for some women which included "the fear of failing". Through some of my own lessons and working wth clients in social media I can share why we should all take another look at failure as a road to success. 

In the beginning of web design the title of "Web Master" was given to any one who was considered to be managing and producing the content on any site. These titles changed as teams were built around web sites. 

As one of the original web designers everyone using the term master assumed the designer was a man. I didn't agree with this stereotype. The alternative choices were "Web Mistress" which I also didn't agree with because a mistress was a word I considered to be below the master concept. Mistress was in my mind considered a fling, non committed & other ideas that flew through my head at the time. I chose "Web Goddess" instead. 

I'm sure most of you have heard about the video “HP Computers are Racist” by now, Desi and Wanda have spoken to Mashable about how they discovered the flaw at work and put the video out in a humorous manner to get other people's reaction and insight on the flaw they discovered.

Yesterday's Washington's Times Article "Girls Encouraged to Enter Tech Field" includes a quote from me about this issue. Getting girls in technology and keeping women in the field is a topic that I am passionate about as I see more young women discouraged to see tech careers as viable options and not just the industry where the boys go to play with their shiny new tech toys.