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Twitter CEO Spars With Tech Entrepreneur Over Lack of Women on Board After a New York Times story critiqued Twitter for having zero women on its board, the social network's CEO aired his opinions -- leading to a social media-infused grudge match.

By Lyneka Little

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Patrick Fraser
Dick Costolo

Dick Costolo, the CEO of Twitter, and Singularity University's Vivek Wadhwa faced off over the weekend after the social network came under fire for failing to have any women on its board of directors.

The debate ignited on Twitter after a New York Times article titled "Curtain Is Rising on Tech Premiere With (As Usual) a Mostly Male Cast" was circulated quoting Wadhwa taking issue with the lack of women on the microblogging website's board of directors.

In the Times piece, Wadhwa says, "This is the elite arrogance of the Silicon Valley mafia, the Twitter mafia. It's the same male chauvinistic thinking. The fact that they went to the I.P.O. without a single woman on the board, how dare they?"

Related: 4 Ways to Cultivate Greater Diversity in Your Business

In response, Costolo wrote on Twitter:

This led to an online debate about hiring women and checking diversity boxes. Wadhwa weighed in on a conversation between Costolo and Anil Dash by writing:

"No Dick, it isn't about checking a box and you didn't do enough. You have a social responsibility. You have to lead -- not make excuses."

Costolo responded in kind: "@wadhwa you're not seeing my point. you give people an easy out by just checking a box. The issues are much bigger than checking any 1 box."

Related: Young Women Entrepreneurs Speak Out About Starting Up Today

The two continued to go back and forth writing:


What do you think about the ongoing debate about the dearth of women in tech? Let us hear your two cents on the issue by leaving a comment below.

Is a freelance writer in New York. She's written about personal finance and small business for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, MainStreet.com, Walletpop.com, People magazine. She also works as a freelance producer covering money at ABCNews.com. Little attended Howard University where she studied journalism. She loves drinking wine and tweeting, preferably at the same time. Follow Little on Twitter @Lyneka.

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