Nadejda Marques

This book is the result of seven years in Silicon Valley and over 100 focused interviews with women in a range of professions. Through the narratives of women whose lived experience spans decades and scores of institutions, it seeks to understand the history of sexism and current gender dynamics in the Valley. It presents stories of survival, resistance, courage and insistence of women who refuse to accept today what has always been a given: that Silicon Valley is run by and for men, with little understanding or concern for the impact of this unquestioned sexism on women. This book also presents an alternative path which might be taken identifying approaches and ideas that can lead us to a different, better, more egalitarian, and also more profitable future. As such, the book is both a study and a guide. It seeks to inform and question, but also to prepare and arm women--and men--to engage and succeed in Silicon Valley.

This book is motivated by the idea that the cost of inaction can be much greater than the cost of action. Inaction can lead to serious negative consequences—for individuals, the economy, and society. The consequences of a failure to reduce extreme poverty, for example, typically include malnutrition, preventable morbidity, premature mortality, incomplete basic education, and other human and social development costs. In this volume, the authors seek to clarify exactly what is meant by “cost of inaction.” They develop a methodology to account for the consequences and estimate the costs of a failure to respond to the needs of children and their families. Their conceptual framework emphasizes the need to select appropriate actions against which inaction is evaluated. The authors present the results of applying the cost of inaction (COI) approach to six case studies from Rwanda and Angola. The case studies highlight important differences between the COI approach and benefit-cost analysis as it is traditionally implemented.