Today is International Women’s Day, which has been observed annually for over 100 years to build awareness about issues of gender inequality. This year people are marking the day by striking, marching and sharing social media stories of inspiring women and their achievements. State Street commissioned a bronze statue that was installed on Wall Street, calling on companies to improve female representation on boards. They note that less than 1 in 4 companies in the Russell 3000 Index have female board representation. The statistics are even worse when you look at venture capital. According to Crunchbase, less than 7% of venture capitalists are women, and just 10% of venture capital goes to female-founded companies. In Corporate America, 4% of CEOs in the S&P are women.
But don’t despair. Incredible societal change can occur in the coming decades, with the rapid shift in marriage equality being one recent example. Whether you’re a millennial, a VC, or anyone in between, here are a few suggestions on how YOU can promote gender equality in the workplace.
- If you want to enable more female CEOs of public companies, create more flexible work environments. Women want to have fulfilling careers, but may temporarily leave the workforce or take a step back to start a family. Create a more flexible environment to help women keep their careers accelerating during their child-rearing years. According to Pew, a flexible schedule is extremely important to 70% of working mothers.
- If you are an accredited investor, invest in women-founded companies. Crowdfunding makes it easier for individuals to support women founders with small amounts of money. Those that have larger budgets can join angel networks such as Golden Seeds and Astia Angels which specifically invest in women-founded companies. Venture capital firms can both hire more women and invest in more women-founded companies.
- If you are on a public company board, create a measurable goal to increase female board membership at your company this year. As you search for candidates, broaden your search for potential candidates beyond the list of the “hot” companies and female execs getting all the media coverage.
- If you are a female founder, speak publicly or write about your role and your career. Women need more examples of successful female entrepreneurs to show them that it’s possible to “make it.”
- If you’re in the business media, broaden your criteria for what makes a start-up newsworthy. Several major media outlets use the amount of VC raised as criteria for coverage. If that criteria was broadened to look at other metros such as growth, size or profitability, more woman-led companies would get coverage. With small amounts of VC going to women, this perpetuates a cycle for women-founded companies getting limited visibility. There are plenty of examples of successful companies that have not raised venture capital.
