Union workers striking against Verizon this week claim, amongst many things, that the operator's new contract allows it to move jobs far from home and require workers to work away from home for up to two months at a time -- a challenge for any parent and a stark contrast to the promotions on its job site about how great the company is for women developing their careers. It's a timely reminder that the challenges women in tech face can be markedly different depending on their status. (See Verizon Workers Go on Strike.)

Andrew Bosworth, Facebook 's vice president of advertising and pages, attributes a lot of his success to his days as a child spent in 4-H, a non-profit program traditionally known for providing agricultural experience. The group now provides hundreds of classes and is rebranding itself to focus on STEM. Given how early kids' interest in STEM tends to drop off, Bosworth thinks this will be helpful in sparking more excitement in these industries, but -- he says -- the conversation also needs to change. "It's staggering that we've managed to make it so unexciting and so unappealing," Bosworth told CNN Money of STEM. "You can't tell a 12-year-old, 'Hey, this is really important to your future job growth,' and have them get super pumped about it." Rather, he says, you need to show them how fun it can be with hands-on experiences and social interaction.

TaskRabbit has appointed its COO Stacy Brown-Philpot to the post of CEO, making her one of the few black women to lead a Silicon Valley company. She replaces another woman, Leah Busque, the marketplace's leader for the past eight years, who will become executive chairwoman. Brown-Philpot spent 12 years at Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), sits on HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ)'s board, is the director of Black Girls Code and founded the Black Googler Network.

— Sarah Thomas, , Director, Women in Comms