In a recent interview published in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg discussed, among other things, the role of gender in the modern workplace.  The interview was conducted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of All Things Digital.

Women and Work

MR. MOSSBERG: There are a lot of industries and there are a lot of different governments and social structures that have a gender imbalance, but what about tech?

MS. SANDBERG: The industry numbers range from 11% to 21%, but basically every industry has the same problem. People think it is tech or finance; it is not. Every industry is overwhelmingly led by men.

MR. MOSSBERG: But you work in the tech industry, so what have you observed about it?

MS. SANDBERG: Every industry has the same problem. The tech industry has one particular challenge, which is more women going into STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] fields and particularly computer science. If we got women at the same percentage as men into computer science, you would halve or potentially close the gap in the computer scientists needed right now in our country.

MS. SWISHER: You have gotten a lot of attention for it, the goal would be to bring attention to it, but how do you solve it?

What happens after leaning in?

MS. SANDBERG: The specific thing that I want to do is to make it OK to talk about gender in the workplace and educate people on how gender holds us back.

For more on this important topic, don’t miss the free PLUS Webinar, “Lean In: Engaging Women to Pursue Their Ambitions,” Thursday, August 15 at 11 a.m. ET.