For many people, it's taken as a given that we need more women in technology. Diversity is an inherently valuable thing for these people, and they don't feel the need to justify why it's good. It just is. For others (including myself, at one point), this is slightly less clear. Why all the focus on women in tech? Sure, if women were actively discriminated against, that would be unfair. But barring that, why do we put so much effort into getting more women interested in tech?
It turns out there are lots of reasons, which is why I was happy to answer this on Quora (and have it reprinted on Forbes). Reason #1, at the very least, is something we should all be able to get behind.
More women in technology would be good for technology and innovation, for the women who are currently there, and for the world.
#1: Because we need more people in tech, period. Okay, everyone should be able to get behind this one. With engineering specifically, we have a serious lack of qualified engineers (in the U.S at least, and many other countries). Out in Silicon Valley, companies are struggling to hire software engineers — even top companies like Google and Facebook. This is hurting the U.S.’s ability to grow companies. If as many women went into engineering as men, this would be a HUGE win for the US and for the world.