I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time. I'm not an early-adopter; not because I'm conservative. Just cynical. What have I got to say that would be interesting to someone else?

When sharing this with Michael Stein – a friend and blogger he said,"You don't feel that way at a dinner party." He was either saying that I have no compunction to ramble on at a dinner party or that a blog was like dinner party conversation. When looking at it that way, I decided I do have something to add to the blogosphere - as a woman CEO of a technology company.

I recently received a newsletter from some old friends and colleagues in Slovenia (I spent a few years there during the Bosnian conflict in the mid-90s). These friends are good feminists, active since the mid70's and a real credit to the feminist cause. I often refer to the Black Women's Health movement of the 60s when I talk about the energy of ex-Yugoslav women. But things move pretty slowly over there in terms of social movement so getting a newsletter from them tends to make me feel like we're still back in the 90s. A central topic, for example, was equal pay - it struck me as "old news" not because it is not an issue here but because it manifests itself differently here.

Without taking the time (and care) to prevaricate and qualify the hell out of that sentence I'll say that of course it exists everywhere and in every form ... but as a CEO of a technology company - I see it from a particular angle.

Last year when we (as a company) were out looking for venture capital (I've aged a decade since then) I found myself in a lot of networking circles, mingling with other CEOs (mostly from technology companies) and venture capitalists, and folks that serve those two populations (lawyers primarily).

Those events were incredibly male experiences - profoundly so. In a room of perhaps 100 people 90 would be men in suits, 10 would be women and half the women would be organizers. No kidding.

That shouldn't surprise anyone - CEOs (male dominated), technology (male dominated), venture (male dominated). We aren't talking about 60% or 70% here - we're talking 90-95% ... easily.

In the entire national capital region there is exactly one female partner in a venture capital firm. One.

Does it matter? I don't know. I've been treated very well, encouraged by many of them, supported beyond what I ever expected to be supported. But I'm not sure if folks take me as seriously as they take a male counterpart - I suspect they do not. But they are also a bit intrigued as well, which helps to counteract that impulse. Maybe. I can say that I don't enjoy some of the advantages they might naturally enjoy, my gender becomes something I have to overcome, prove is not a liability, to be up to par ... men start down the road a piece. I can catch up but the idea is that I have to. Or maybe I'm just feeling the exhaustion of ginning up this company.

All of this supposition exists within a context of course; I'm white, middle-class and educated - institutionally as well as with the belief that I can have the life I make for myself - a distinctly white, middle-class, American expectation.

What can, if anything, be done about this? The same old thing I suppose. More women in leadership, care taken to encourage women in business in general and in technology in particular. Why does it matter? Aside from opportunity and balance - two noble results, the marketplace needs a variety of providers and perspectives just like any industry - it changes the "face" of business, technology ... venture.

Am I wrong about that? Business is a powerful thing - more women in power is a good thing - at least I think so.

There are lots of Organizations out there - and women making a difference around women in business, women in technology ... I can plug them here:

Women in Technology International
http://www.witi.com

The National Center for Women and Information Technology
http://www.ncwit.org

Women in Technology
http://www.womenintech.com

Springboard Enterprises
http://www.springboardenterprises.org/

Washington Technology Council
http://www.dctechcouncil.org/