5 Things I Learned Running a Global Network for Women in Tech

By Anjali Ramachandran, co-founder of Ada’s List

When I was invited to be a co-founder of a community for women in technology, about four years ago, my first concern was that there was no need for another community for women in tech. I thought there were plenty already, doing excellent work.

How wrong I was.

The need for a place like Ada’s List is real. That has been, and sadly continues to be, reiterated by the existence of the gender pay gap, the lack of women in leadership roles across most technology verticals, and sexual harassment cases just this year that have thrown men like Travis Kalanick, Dave McClure and Justin Caldbeck (previously in leadership roles at Uber, 500 Startups and Binary Capital, respectively) under the bus.

It’s not even restricted to Silicon Valley, where all the men I just mentioned are based. The UK has no shortage of sexism-related incidents, and it would be naive to imagine that the rest of the world is clear either.

Ada’s List is a global network for women and non-binary people, committed to changing the technology industry for the better. It is an email-based community where members can talk off the record about professional issues, share jobs, announce conference panels and calls for proposals, find…