Brotopia: Bloomberg’s Emily Chang on Understanding Gender Inequality in Silicon Valley — and How to Solve It

Bloomberg Technology anchor Emily Chang’s new book, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley, went on sale today and with it a raft of attention. Emily, who first joined Bloomberg in 2010, has managed to balance a career, motherhood and writing a book that has already sparked debate about gender equality in Silicon Valley.

In today’s Fully Charged daily newsletter from Bloomberg Technology, Chang explains what drove her to write the book and why it’s a story that must be told. Below is an excerpt:

“When I decided to write a book about women and Silicon Valley, everyone thought I was crazy. Heck, even I thought I was crazy. Talking about sexism is a minefield, and I had an incredibly rewarding job, two sons and was pregnant with my third. After I started, my oldest asked me sometimes why I had to take time out on weekends. I told him, and told myself time and again when things got really hard, that I needed to write this book because it matters. The exclusion of women from the most powerful industry matters, not just to job seekers but to all of us.

I wrote ‘Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley’ to show how and why women have been left out of the greatest wealth creation in history and offer some solutions. We can’t solve Silicon Valley’s gender inequity if we don’t understand it. And the more I reported, the more I realized I could have kept writing forever. By the end I had 500 pages, which was cut down to 300, because, there are these things called smartphones competing for our attention every second. There are many more women who’ve survived in this industry, and who’s stories didn’t make it into this book. They are all an inspiration.

Brotopia hits shelves Feb. 6 and, at the very least, I hope it starts a conversation about how Silicon Valley can act on the momentum of the #metoo movement. Someday, I hope that seeing women as engineers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and CEOs will be normal. Just like women running for office and directing Hollywood movies will be normal. I hope to see this in the second half of my lifetime and that for my sons it will last forever.”

For more about the book, read an excerpt in this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek or watch Emily discuss the book on Bloomberg Television here.

Sign up here for Bloomberg Technology’s Fully Charged newsletter for a daily inside look at the world of tech from Bloomberg journalists around the world.

Additional interviews/reviews:

Financial Times: The antisocial network: how Silicon Valley became a male domain

Good Morning America: Author Slams Silicon Valley ‘Boys’ Club’ in New Expose

New York Times: How Silicon Valley Came to Be a Land of ‘Bros’

Recode: Why Silicon Valley has a bro culture problem – and how to fix it

TechCrunch: In ‘Brotopia,’ sex parties are the least of Silicon Valley’s Problems