The female tech CEO: rising trend or exception to the rule? (video)

This week, IBM named its first-ever female CEO, Virginia Rometty.

In an industry that historically lacks gender balance, this move struck the VentureBeat staffers, including publisher Alicia Saribalis, as momentous.

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But in reflecting on the events of the day, we also pondered whether the female tech CEO presiding over an established company (examples also include Meg Whitman and the gone-but-not-forgotten Carol Bartz) was an anomaly attributable to the extraordinary moxie and hard work of a few individuals, or a rising trend whose day had finally come. Are we, the technology industry, starting to see women more fairly, or are these women ahead-of-their-time enigmas?

Outside the tech sphere, we also noted the New York Times’ appointment of its first-ever female executive editor, Jill Abramson.

In the end, we all agreed that while diverse teams produce better results, we’ll all be glad when ladies who lead are no longer headline-making news, but rather the norm.