Women in venture capital

Women in venture capital hold 11% of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies compared to 16% across S&P 100 firms, according to a report by law firm Fenwick & West. Silicon Valley firms' board of directors are composed of 15.7% women compared with 20.9% in the S&P 100.

VC firms are even less diverse than the tech companies in which they invest. Babson College’s Diana Report, a research initiative working to increase the number of women entrepreneurs, found that the number of women partners in VC firms decreased from 10% in 1999 to 6% in 2014. The report also found that 97% of VC-funded businesses had men chief executives, and businesses with all-men teams are more than four times more likely to receive VC funding as teams with one or more women.[1]

Seventy seven to seventy nine percent of VC firms in the US have never had a woman represent them on the board of one of their portfolio companies. And more than three-quarters don’t have any women working as venture capitalists at all, according to testimony from Harvard Business School Professor Paul Gompers in Pao v. Kleiner Perkins. Gompers said he found that women fared better in firms that are larger, older, and have more than one woman working as a venture capitalist. He also testified that on average, women perform as well as the men in these types of firms.” [2]

In March 2015 a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by Ellen Pao against her employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers alleged pervasive sexism[3] that hinders promotion of women in technology (tech) and venture capital (VC). The case verdict was judged in favor of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers on all counts in Pao v. Kleiner Perkins.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/13/ellen-pao-gender-lawsuit-silicon-valleym
  2. ↑ .http://www.wired.com/2015/03/gender-problem-venture-capital-really-really-bad/
  3. ↑ "Lawyer in Silicon Valley lawsuit says firm judged men and women differently Attorney for Ellen Pao, who is suing a Silicon Valley venture capital firm for gender discrimination, makes claims during trial’s closing arguments". The Guardian. Associated Press. March 24, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.