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Women's advocates mourn Fiorina's loss

Ed Frauenheim CNET News

Published: 10 Feb 2005 14:00 GMT

"Carly Fiorina, we're sad to see you go."

Despite an abundance of criticism surrounding her vision and leadership, that's what a number of woman advocates said Wednesday, after HP ousted its chief executive.

Fiorina's six-year reign at computer giant HP signalled that a woman could ascend to the top of a leading technology company, observers said, even as women overall have been dropping out of computer careers.

"She's been a great role model for women in the field," said Melinda O'Neill, director of marketing at software company Decision Design. "It's disappointing that they let her go."

HP said Fiorina's firing stemmed from disagreements over how to execute the company's strategy. During her tenure, Fiorina spearheaded HP's megamerger with rival Compaq. But the company has produced uneven results and has come under pressure to change its business tack.

"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement. Her severance package is worth $21.1m.

Many analysts have criticised Fiorina's leadership, arguing, for example, that she lacked a consistent vision. Nonetheless, a number of proponents for women in the technology and business worlds suggested that she has played an important role in opening doors for women.

Fiorina was one of the most prominent female business executives overall and arguably the leading one in the tech world, though others include eBay's Meg Whitman, Lucent Technologies' Patricia Russo and Xerox's Anne Mulcahy.

The technology profession has long been largely male, and it has grown even more guy-centric in recent decades. Explanations put forth for this state of affairs range from biological differences between men and women -- echoing a theory recently suggested by Harvard's president about women in science -- to social factors, including the computing field's reputation as the province of male geeks.