A review of Brotopia: Breaking up the boys’ club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang
While it is well known the tech world is dominated by men and riddled with systemic gender discrimination, few outsiders are aware of how deep the rabbit hole goes.
American journalist and bestselling author Emily Chang unravels the toxic work culture that thrives on rampant sex parties, hot tub client meetings and drug-fuelled networking events that occur inside Silicon Valley.
Brotopia exposes the aggressive, misogynistic, work-at-all-costs environment that has shut women out of the greatest wealth creation in the history of the world.
The broader repercussions of this bro culture reach further than the employees themselves. A biased workplace will inevitably lead to the creation of biased technologies that women will interact with daily.
Chang reveals just how hard it is to crack the Silicon ceiling and provides a platform for the many women in Silicon Valley who are now trying to speak up and fight back. This book is well-researched, well-considered and very relevant in our increasingly digitised and socially-conscious society.
Brotopia should be a mandatory read for anyone working in tech; however, many of the themes are also relevant to other male-dominated fields such as advertising and finance.
This review will be featured in the next issue of Applied magazine.