THE LADDER DIARIES: BLING ON THE TECH

If there's one place where women need to leave a deep pump-print, it's in that left-brained world of science and technology. Spexy Lady is hardly one to talk. She's embarassed to say she's barely figured out her Blackberry, and how to upload iTunes. But being somewhat trainable, SL is jumping on the band wagon to get more women on the tech track to the top.

What's needed, says the WSJ's April 2011 report on Women in the Economy, is more bling to the tech thing. Make it chic to be a geek. Cool to be a C-suite techy. Glamorize technology with ad campaigns showcasing women in technology. Imagine television and movies with tech heroines who fight cyber crime or scientifically save the day in their Chanel suits and stilettos. Or better yet, maybe science should clone Google's gorgeous Marissa Mayer (left).

But it all starts in the classroom, and if WSJ's task force has anything to say about it, educational institutions would wise up by offering more science, technology and math classes appealing and empowering to women. Follow that act by opening doors to juicy tech internships. Once hooked, these women can flow into the hiring pipeline, where few now exist, to garner those coveted interviews for spots once open only to their male counterparts.

Certainly there are other industries where women are under-represented, but in the burgeoning technology and science fields, where fortune and fame are built, women are but a whisper. Once in the door, women need mentors, coaching up the ladder, and a "pay it forward" philosophy once "they've arrived."

Perfect world? Perhaps. But not out of the realm of reality if word gets out, "Being a Geek is Chic." Marissa got the memo on that one.