At some point, "accommodating women" turns into "telling women what they want". If they aren't even applying, isn't this at the very least perilously close to the latter? Regardless of what you are going for, you have to at least show up.
Consider what is really being asked for here; startups are now "supposed" to go seek women out who aren't even indicating they are searching for a job and hire them? That's not a sensible demand; translated into real action that borders on harassment.
Is headhunting someone based on their gender (or race, or religion) really something companies should be pursuing, rather then simply looking for merit?
Because there are fewer women then men in the technology space, they're a scarce resource. Startups who want diverse teams need to compete for them.
Also, parts of the YC universe have a bit of a reputation for being uncomfortable with women. Reaching out sends a clear signal that you're not like that -- you're the kind of company that wants women to work there enough that you're willing to take the initiative.
You're asking for startups to compete for a scarce resource (women) in an already scarce subset of engineers (good ones).
That's a pretty tall order for startups. And an almost impossible one if you expect them to take time out of (likely) much more pressing matters to expressly reach out (in some as yet undefined "woman-friendly" way) to females just to that they'll apply.
I said parts of the YC universe have a reputation of being uncomfortable with women. It's an overwhelmingly-male environments and a lot of the guys who hang out in that world are more comfortable with men than with women. If you're trying to recruit women, you want to actively signal that you're not like that.
Thanks for the response. I was hoping you'd actually have an example. I'm not surprised that y-combinator seems to get the wallflowers when it comes to interacting with the opposite sex.
I'm personally comfortable hiring women just to bring different perspective to problems. I'd be champing at the bit if I were in the "social" space.
Consider what is really being asked for here; startups are now "supposed" to go seek women out who aren't even indicating they are searching for a job and hire them? That's not a sensible demand; translated into real action that borders on harassment.