Recent studies highlight the fact that women are still in the minority in executive positions as well as in securing financing for businesses.
Silicon Valley is a big ole boys network, even though some of the males are in fact not yet of legal age to drink in the US.
The recent Facebook IPO in May 2012, was filed with an entirely male Board of Directors, which is not unusual for the top public companies headquartered in Silicon Valley.
In the recent US Davis Graduate School of Management study found that women hold less than 10% of board sets and top executive positions across 400 of California’s largest companies, representing a total $3 trillion in market value. At the current 0.2% rate of improvement annually, it is projected that women won’t achieve parity with men for at least a century.
Women are increasingly aware of these facts, and it is spurring them to collaborate and to help each other succeed as entrepreneurs.
Researchers from the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business confirm that investors are more likely to put money into new companies with male CEOs.
In the recent report “Skirting the Issues: Evidence of Gender Bias in IPO Prospectus Evaluations,” there are indications of a gender-based financial gap for companies seeking venture capital. Interestingly almost half of all privately-controlled businesses are owned or lead by females, an unwillingness still exists in private equity companies to invest in IPOs led by women.
This inequity has inspired women to start funds to help back women owned companies.
