[I know I said I wasn't going to blog, but I couldn't resist]

I've recently aggregated an amazing blog called Misbehaving, contributed to by Caterina Fake, Halley Suitt, Danah Boyd, hilde corneliussen, Meg Hourihan, Liz Lawley, Fiona Romeo, Gina Trapini, and Jill Walker, amongst other fabulous and strong women in and around technology...

Given discussions going on all over the blogosphere, I'm not surprised at the article they highlight on Women Leaving Tech Jobs in Droves... Personally, I'm lucky enough to be working for a small, tightly knit company of people who appreciate diversity and human needs, but from what I hear, the Valley is full of this:

"Women don't feel valued by IT. They are forced into being a certain type of person, i.e. a white male model: linear, analytical, 24/7, in-your-face, your-job-is-your life," says Barbara Annis, author of Same Words, Different Language. "Women don't see a future for themselves [in IT] as they are."

In the end, it comes down to what we value, but the issue is way broader than the Tech world. In order to live, we need to make money. In order to make money, we have to make sacrifices. What is sacrificed? Well, it's quite often the parts of our lives that are emotional, familial, etc. And quite often, those parts are relegated to the feminine realm and psyche.

But what I do see is changing is that, even the success-driven 24/7 men are starting to be aware that they are missing something, too. In one of Munjal's early posts that convinced me I came to work at a great place, he discussed the struggle of working hard to achieve success vs. missing his son.

There is a great deal of pressure on everyone to be the next Google or Yahoo! or Microsoft...etc. Those who are 'weak' won't make it. Yet, the presence of women in these up and coming companies is very important to that success as well. I know I have a personal stake in that claim, but Tom Peters says the same thing and I don't think many people could argue with his success. His list of why women are important in the workplace can be found at Jory des Jardin's blog.

Although at the same time, I don't want to paint 'women' with a monolithic brush (which, for any identity group on the periphery is an issue), I do think it is still as important of an issue today as it ever was...even moreso because now it's implicit, which makes it tougher. You can't change what you can't pinpoint.

I'm excited though, it seems that there are a vivacious group of women bloggers and women in technology attending the Web 1.0 party tonight and the Web 2.1 day on Friday! Maybe we can start a discussion there...