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Mentions why several women need to be part of the conversation and how incredible diversity of thought is.

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Half the world's population is still offline. Here's why that matters

The internet is now fundamental to technological advance, and without far greater online access around the world, hundreds of millions of people are going to miss out on wealth-generating...

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Why everyone benefits from closing the gender gap

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The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

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Shows why in other settings women tend to have lower happiness levels

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NBER Working Paper No. 14969
Issued in May 2009
NBER Program(s):Economic Fluctuations and Growth, Law and Economics, Labor Studies, Public Economics

By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women's happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women's declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging -- one with higher subjective well-being for men.
Acknowledgments
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX

Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w14969

Published: Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2009. " The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 190-225, August. citation courtesy of

Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded* these:

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The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness

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NBER Working Paper No. 14969 Issued in May 2009 NBER Program(s):Economic Fluctuations and Growth, Law and Economics, Labor Studies, Public Economics By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women's happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men.

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Story of a company that has successfully implemented their strategies and how that is changed their workforce.

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One company that has come a long way, and can show us all how to make change-in a short amount of time-is Redfin, a real estate technology company based in Seattle. When Bridget Frey joined the team in 2011, she was one of just a handful of female engineers. She was later promoted to chief technology officer, and within a matter of years, women represented one in three of Redfin's hundreds of engineers. "The idea that diversity takes time or it's a tough nut to crack has been belied by our own experience," Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman told me.

To get women in the door, Frey took the lead on rebuilding the infrastructure to better attract and serve female engineers, and Kelman would then close the deal. For a while, he personally spoke to every single female candidate. "Bridget, before she focused on how much code she was going to ship, she focused on building a system of fairness," Kelman says, explaining how she began by broadening their recruiting efforts. Redfin sought out women with nontraditional backgrounds for engineering jobs, and even pulled some candidates from their marketing team, teaching them the necessary technical skills in-house. They collected data on whether these unlikely recruits could perform just as well as a typical Stanford-educated computer science graduate. "Lo and behold, they are getting promoted at the same rate as people coming out of those four-year programs. I realized, clearly you can teach people how to code," Frey said. Redfin executives didn't complain about the "pipeline" of talent; they created their own.

And there was a business payoff too. Redfin had been trying to automate tour scheduling for their real estate agents for many years, to no avail. The goal was to allow potential home buyers to book a tour with a Redfin agent in just a few clicks. But adoption was low. "Our agents are 60 percent female, and many of them don't have a college education . . . and we kept ignoring their problems," Kelman explains. Once the engineering team hired more women, the more gender-diverse group took a completely different approach and decided to visit and speak to agents on the ground before they developed more software. When they reworked the product, adoption tripled, increasing traffic to Redfin agents. "There was more empathy, there was more diversity, and when we solved that problem, we generated an extra 30 million dollars in revenue over 18 months," Kelman says.

Redfin has also focused on keeping all employees engaged in an ongoing conversation about why such efforts are important. Often building a more diverse team means more voices, more disagreements, and more potential conflict. "It's a good thing to have conflict to move things forward, but you have to teach people how to deal with it," Frey says. You also have to be open to making mistakes, and remember that the best practices to create inclusive workplaces are still evolving. "Talking about diversity is about feeling uncomfortable," Frey adds. "Male allies need to participate in some of the discussions. And you need to accept that sometimes it's going to feel awkward." To avoid a James Damore-type scandal, it's essential to keep workers educated about the purpose of various initiatives, to have the data to justify them, and to talk openly about how it's going along the way.

Sometimes, that data would be more easily ignored. In 2015, Salesforce undertook a companywide audit to determine if male and female employees in similar jobs were being paid equally. After a painstaking, yearlong review, the company boosted the salaries of 6% of its workforce, spending a total of $3 million to eliminate unexplained differences in pay. Salesforce repeated the audit the following year after acquiring several companies, and examined not just gender but also race, and found the gap had crept back. Salesforce spent another $3 million to level up salaries and close it. A year and another assessment later, it cost an additional $2.7 million to get back to parity.

"It's a huge amount of work to pay attention globally," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told me, reiterating his vow to reexamine the pay gap every year. "Every CEO needs to be focused on equality . . . Every CEO needs to realize they can make these changes. They can evolve. They can go forward. They can inspire others."
Excerpted from BROTOPIA: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang with permission of Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Emily Chang, 2019.

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How Redfin is breaking up the boys' club of Silicon Valley

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One company that has come a long way, and can show us all how to make change-in a short amount of time-is Redfin, a real estate technology company based in Seattle. When Bridget Frey joined the team in 2011, she was one of just a handful of female engineers.

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How this issue has impacted the technology field. It has pushed more women away.

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#EqualPay. #MeToo. #HeforShe. These were the headline-grabbing hashtags in 2019, highlighting the issues women face towards achieving parity with men.

In the tech industry, gender pay gap is always a hot topic, dominating the discussion and debate. A study conducted by global tech jobs-rating firm Glassdoor, released in the first quarter of 2019, revealed that the gender pay gap remains real in the US and around the world. Even after statistically comparing workers with similar job titles and employers, with comparable education, experience and locations, there was still a significant difference between male and female pay in all eight countries examined. Although, on a positive note, in comparison with the 2016 study, the had gap narrowed in four (US, UK, France and Australia) of the five countries studied.

In November 2019, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its annual Global Gender Gap Report 2020 that revealed very sobering findings. It showed that women overall may have to wait 250 years to achieve economic (relating to pay, advancement, etc.) parity. The report surveyed 153 countries in four categories: politics, economics, education and health. In Western Europe, the number is much lower at 54 years. The same report in 2018 stated that unless more women were encouraged to enter fields such as science, technology and engineering, the gender gap could widen. In the 2019 report, there are disproportionate inequalities in almost all of the job sectors related to the technology of the future - like cloud computing, engineering, data and AI, and product development. The collective gender pay gap for the EU-28 countries stood at 16%, meaning that women in the EU work 2 months extra unpaid each year compared to men. The silver lining in the report is that 7 out of the top 10 most gender equal countries are in Europe. Topping the list is Iceland, in all categories, for 11 years in a row. It has closed almost 88% of its overall gender gap, making its gap 12%. Iceland is followed by Norway (2nd), Finland (3rd) and Sweden (4th). Other Europeans in the top 10 are Ireland (7th), Spain (8th) and Germany (10th).

Worldwide, despite improvements in the gender pay gap in countries with substantial tech economies, the perception remains especially among women, that the gender pay gap is still an issue. A survey on over 800 women in tech revealed over half of the women respondents believe that the pay gap is still an issue. In the US, another survey revealed 60% of women were offered lower salaries compared to men for the same role at the same company. The pay gap widens when considering minorities. The average gender pay gap in US tech is 3% - but the research showed that for LGBTQ women that gap rises to 8%, while Hispanic women are paid 9% less than their white male counterparts. Black women were being paid just $0.89 for every dollar earned by white men in their companies, the survey found.

In the UK, the overall gender pay gap is at 18.3% higher than the EU-28 average (16%). Even at the top of the totem pole, female COOs in tech are consistently underpaid for doing the same job, at the same level, in the same industry, in the same city, as men, with an average pay gap of over 12%. The US and the UK have equal pay legislation that dates back to the 1960's.

The bottom line is that the gender pay gap, overall and in the tech industry, remains an issue worldwide. Women still do significant extra unpaid work, experience discrimination based on ethnicity, sexual orientation and age, miss out on work to take career breaks, face the glass ceiling and work in a segregated labour market.

There are measures in place - policies and laws safeguarding and ensuring a direction towards gender parity and active participation by the private sector. In the tech industry, tech giants lead the pack by being transparent, publishing diversity and inclusion reports - Google, Uber, Amazon, Apple and many others do this. Transparency sparks awareness and opens up discussion on how to improve the status quo. Hiring and rewarding based on meritocracy are also advocated by the tech industry.

There is still a long way to go but the tech industry is at a good starting point. Creating awareness through data and transparency, instilling gender equality policies and mindsets at the core of the company culture, using meritocracy to hire and reward - these are all steps in the right direction.

Do you want to take some action? Getting informed is one way to move forward. Take a look at our other Women's Day pieces for more insights and advice below:

"To tackle the investment diversity gap, we have to put weight behind it": Interview with Borski Fund's partner, Simone (Women's Day special)

"Look up funds that are targeting you as founders": Interview with founder of Unconventional Ventures, Thea (Women's Day special)

"The best thing companies can do is listen to women": Interview with Clue's founder Ida (Women's Day special)

10 promising femtech startups to watch in 2020 (Women's Day special)

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#EqualPay: The gender gap in the tech industry (Women's Day special)

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EqualPay. #MeToo. #HeforShe. These were the headline-grabbing hashtags in 2019, highlighting the issues women face towards achieving parity with men. In the tech industry, gender pay gap is always a hot topic, dominating the discussion and debate. A study conducted by global tech jobs-rating fir

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Demonstrates why this has started and the message it sends to employees in the company.

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Women in technology have a curious history. While women helped create the field of computer technology, their current representation within the industry is dwindling. In fact, a woman executive named Ruth Amonette was IBM's first woman vice president in 1943. Margaret Hamilton coined the phrase "software engineering," and led the team that made sure Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969. Yet as the industry has aged, fewer women are entering or advancing in tech. A commonly cited statistic is that women make up only about 24% of computer-related tech workers, with evidence that this number could be declining.

Despite this history, a study released today by Hired, Inc. shows that though incremental, women's representation among tech job candidates is growing. Hired is a job-searching platform that matches tech talent with tech companies, and its report The State of Wage Inequality in the Workplace shows both the encouraging and depressing sides of being a woman job-seeker in the technology industry. The report highlights differences in actual pay between women and men in the industry as well as gaps in pay expectations. It also details pay gap by city, job title, race and sexual orientation, tapping the data of 420,000 interview requests and individual survey responses from more than 1,200 candidates. Gender in the report was self-identified, and non-gender-conforming participants were not included. Hired hopes that by making the data around self-identified gender more transparent, this clear-eyed view of the data could help move the industry a little faster towards gender parity.

Though the statistics still favor male job applicants, Hired found that in the last year, women's representation in the candidate pool has increased by 7% overall. Yet when gender is controlled for, women are still underrepresented candidates 16% of the time. While women candidates are increasing in number, this doesn't make up for the fact that men make up significantly more than half of the applicant pool

Another stunning but perhaps unsurprising finding was that 63% of the time, men were offered higher salaries than women for the same role at the same company. The report found that companies were offering women between 4% and a whopping 45% less starting pay for the same job. Women in tech also tended to undervalue their market worth, asking for less pay 66% of the time, and would often ask for 6% less salary than their male counterparts.

At the same time, women tech workers know they are being underpaid, regardless of whether or not they underbid themselves. When women applicants were asked about whether they knew if they were being paid less than their male colleagues for the same job, 54% reported that they knew they were. This is in sharp contrast to the 19% of men who had experienced the same dynamic.

While nearly three-fourths of women surveyed believe that gender can impact pay, a majority of men (53%) also agree that gender identity can impact pay. The interesting point here is the majority agreement on how gender shapes earning potential.

What's even more interesting is that having a pay gap is considered an unattractive quality by both genders. A very strong majority of women (84%) said that negative attention around having a pay gap would also negatively impact their opinion of that company, with 50% of men agreeing as well. This finding suggests that if a company wants to attract key talent, taking steps to eliminate pay gaps within their company would be a clear recruitment tool for all genders.

This point isn't lost on Matt Rigdon. Rigdon is the Director of Recruiting and Human Resources at Searchmetrics, Inc. Searchmetrics, like many other forward-thinking companies in the United States, decided to voluntarily get certified as an equal pay company because they wanted to send a clear signal on how their company felt about equal pay. Rather than run an audit internally, they chose SameWorks to be a third-party auditor.

For Rigdon and Searchmetrics, getting certified was simply the right thing to do. "Really, it's about our organization doing what's right and fair. Getting certified is a way to learn exactly what is going on with wages, as well as find out what we have to do to correct any pay differences." Rigdon mentioned that being an equal pay company was a way to push back against the male-dominated dynamic in Silicon Valley and attract the talent that will help their organization be successful. "If we treat our employees equitably, it's our hope that they will stick around longer and be better performers. That's going to drive recruitment, make better technology and ultimately, profit. But even if it doesn't, it's still the right thing to do," he said. In fact, a growing majority agree with Rigdon. Hired found that 66% of all respondents feel that the US should adopt laws like the one recently passed by Iceland, requiring companies prove that they pay fair wages.

San Francisco and Boston are better for women in tech than other major cities. San Francisco has the lowest gap, at 8% and Seattle, at 11%, has the highest. Hired also found that New York and Los Angeles have a 10% pay gap.

Of the cities examined, Boston is the only city where women in tech are overrepresented at 5%, which suggests to them that recruitment efforts have been successful. Other cities like San Francisco (-14%), New York (-17%), Seattle (-25%) and Los Angeles (-29%) all have a significant lack of representation in terms of women job applicants.

When it comes to job title, project managers have the smallest gap at 4% or half the size of the gap for software engineering, data science and design, which have an 8% earning gap.

The gender wage gap also increases with age. When women start in their careers, between the ages 20-25, they make $0.97 for every dollar men in similar roles earn. The gap widens by the time workers are in their forties, increasing to $0.90 on the dollar. Women in their mid-thirties, or around 10 or more years in the industry, have a different gap. Women in this age group often ask for 2% less than their male counterparts but are often paid 7% lower.

Hired found that Hispanic and Black women are paid the least.White and Asian men earn the most money, and White women earn 96 cents on the dollar compared to White men. White women also outpace the earning of Black and Hispanic men, who earn 94 cents on the dollar.

The sexual orientation of a tech worker also influences their salary. "When we dug into other factors such as race, LGBTQ+ status, and age, we found that they all impact a candidate's salary expectations and ultimately the salaries they're offered," said Kelli Dragovich, SVP of People at Hired. But that doesn't tell the whole story. "Many times the intersection of these identities compounds to widen the gap and a closer look can uncover new insights," Dragovich said. She noted that the report found that identifying as LGBTQ+ negatively affects salaries for men, but women who identify as LGBTQ+ actually make more money than other females.

When it comes to effectively combatting bias and closing earning gaps, study after study shows that transparency wins the day. "We want to arm tech workers and companies with data. This report gives job candidates the information they need to ask for what they're worth and prompts companies to define their own compensation philosophy and hiring best practices," said Mehul Patel, CEO at Hired. As companies make changes, individuals can take action as well. Negotiating a job offer can affect earning potential. Dragovich offered negotiation tips for women in tech who might be negotiating salary at their next job. These takeaways include:

to determine what workers in your market with the same experience and skill set are earning is a good place to start. Other resources to leverage are salary calculators or resources like Rely on the data: Use existing data, such as Hired's State of Salaries report Payscale, that can help you determine exactly what your skill set is worth in the market.

Aim high: After you look at the data, ask for the high side of your expected salary range. Many employers will meet you halfway, so if you start on the low side you may end up disappointed.

: Using past earnings to inform salary decisions only perpetuates the wage gap. In some Never use your current salary as a starting point states and cities, it's actually illegal to ask for this information. Focus on the salary of the job you're interviewing for.

Avoid coworker comparisons: You'll be more successful if you rely on objective salary data to support your argument verse comparing yourself to colleagues. Again, focus on the job title and description.

Ask about the compensation philosophy: If you're unhappy with what a company is offering, ask how the company arrived at the proposed salary and the benchmarks that are being considered for your level and skill sets.

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By The Numbers: What Pay Inequality Looks Like For Women In Tech

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Women in technology have a curious history. While women helped create the field of computer technology, their current representation within the industry is dwindling. In fact, a woman executive named Ruth Amonette was IBM's first woman vice president in 1943.

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Explains how these strategies can be implemented at no additional cost

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While diversity and inclusion in the workplace continue to be among organizations' top core values - recent research from McKinsey has found its benefits range from greater employee engagement to increased business performance - challenges remain as to how to implement companywide tools and initiatives that help prevent biases in the workplace and instead encourage inclusivity, respect, appreciation and recognition of all employees.

Recent examples of simple, yet impactful ways companies have helped foster inclusivity within their organizations include adding nursing rooms for mothers, meditation or universal prayer rooms, gender-neutral bathrooms and acknowledging all religious and cultural holidays celebrated by employees. While certainly a good start, creating an inclusive workplace culture really begins by actively soliciting feedback from employees about how the company can improve diversity and inclusivity throughout the organization, which may also spark additional ideas and simultaneously strengthen a sense of belonging among employees.

It's also important to find meaningful ways to show workers that their diversity is a strength, not a setback. This motivates them to be their true selves and give their best at work, boosting their confidence and enhancing relationships along the way.

To get companies moving in the right direction, I've outlined a series of steps that leaders and organizations can take to gradually create a more inclusive and positive environment where employees feel inspired to do the best work of their lives.
Be Purposeful
A diverse organization isn't necessarily an inclusive organization. Leaders need to be purposeful about including others who see things differently from them, which will in turn help them better identify their own unconscious bias in the workplace. The narrative should focus on continuously highlighting the different, positive experiences that people from all backgrounds, identities, faiths and orientations bring to the company.
Move Beyond Sensitivity Training
Sensitivity training is an important part of the solution, but too many organizations use it as a one-time-use silver bullet that they believe will remove all risk of conscious and unconscious bias from their organization. Without the implementation of proactive measures, including an ongoing internal discussion, sensitivity training can easily end up being no more than a time-stamped exercise or experience that likely won't resonate among employees. A good example of sensitivity training done right is when Starbucks closed its 8,000 U.S. stores for a day to address racial bias within the company following the arrests of two African-American men who tried to use the restroom at a location in Philadelphia. It was a necessary measure, and it sent an important message, but it also underscored how this type of education needs to be part of a continuous internal effort that can help prevent this type of bias from occurring in the first place.

Remember that sensitivity training is a tool used to help educate managers and leaders about behavior that they don't necessarily realize is inappropriate. It helps to address a lack of knowledge or skills that might seem obvious to others. It's not designed to "fix" employees who intentionally exhibit harmful and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. In those instances, discipline or termination are the most effective solutions.
Measure "Thanks" in Real Time
A formal gratitude program that's widely adopted across an organization and aligned directly to company values can be a powerful tool for mitigating unconscious bias. It not only amplifies appreciation across an organization, but it provides managers with hard data on who's being most frequently recognized - and who is not.

By measuring recognition moments and analyzing the data, employers can hold a mirror to their recognition practices. For example, a company may learn that it's not recognizing women as often as men, or that one division is being recognized more than another, which gives them an opportunity to step back, ask why and then take corrective action.
Democratize Recognition
Companies that democratize recognition remove the hierarchy from performance feedback. Rather than recognition being solely a top-down practice given by one manager, democratization empowers everyone in an organization, from C-Suite executives to customer service representatives, to take an active role in recognizing their colleagues. Whether it's sending a companywide "thank you" email for a job well done or rewarding an employee through a recognition program, companies that democratize recognition can harness positivity and empower all employees to have a voice in their colleagues' success. This lessens the impact of unconscious bias felt by any single individual, promotes inclusion and brings a broader perspective to what good work looks like.

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How To Create A More Inclusive Workplace Culture

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While diversity and inclusion in the workplace continue to be among organizations' top core values - recent research from McKinsey has found its benefits range from greater employee engagement to increased business performance - challenges remain as to how to implement companywide tools and initiatives that help prevent biases in the workplace and instead encourage inclusivity, respect, appreciation and recognition of all employees.

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Executive Summary

Women of color face major obstacles to being heard, valued, and respected in their jobs. They feel their ideas aren't heard or recognized, and they express feeling stalled in their careers. But these individuals bring diverse ideas and experiences to the table, which can help companies innovate and grow. Any company that wants to realize the full potential of its employees should be taking action to create safe and inclusive workplaces where women of color can achieve their full potential.

There are a number of strategies employers, leaders, and managers can use to help create a more inclusive workplace. First, embrace the business case for diversity and inclusion. Second, tackle bias through employee and leadership training programs. Next, practice inclusive leadership by creating a safe team environment. Then, provide sponsorship programs, so women of color can learn the ropes and have someone advocate for them. Finally, hold leaders accountable. Make sure that inclusion is a core value of the organization - not just something you do to "check a box."

Tsvi Braverman/EyeEm/Getty Images

Women of color are entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, bringing education, ambition, and diverse ideas and experiences with them. As a result, they offer corporations a potent force of insight and innovation that will be increasingly needed to meet the needs of a diverse customer base. Yet, despite the value that women of color represent for companies, they're rarely given leadership positions, not to mention roles in the C-suite. Presently, there are no female black or Latina CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

For 15 years, the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) has researched gender and racial dynamics of the workplace. We have ample evidence that women of color face major obstacles that have historically hindered their advancement. In our 2016 report, Latinos at Work, we found that 59% of Latino men and women experienced slights and snubs in the workplace - a number that jumps to 67% when looking at just Latinas. In the same study, we found that 63% of Latino men and women do not feel welcome and included, do not feel invited to share their ideas, or do not feel confident their ideas are heard and valued at work - a figure that rises to 78% for just Latinas.

A similar story rings true for black women. In our 2015 study, Black Women: Ready to Lead, we found that 46% of black women feel their ideas are not heard or recognized. They are also less likely than straight white men to have their ideas endorsed. Furthermore, black women feel invisible: They are more likely to feel their talents aren't recognized by their superiors compared to white women (26% vs 17%). No wonder black women are far more likely than white women (44% vs 30%) to feel stalled in their careers.

Furthermore, women of color are more likely than white women to feel they must compromise their authenticity if they want be leaders. In our research, 72% of black women, 53% of Latinas, and 52% of Asian women say that "executive presence" at their company is defined as conforming to traditionally white male standards. In contrast, only 44% of white women felt that way.

Now, more than ever, any company that wants to realize the full potential of its employees should be taking action to create safe and inclusive workplaces where women of color can achieve their full potential. We've compiled a few facts that employers, leaders, and managers can use:

Emphasize the business case for diversity and inclusion. There are many reasons why American workplaces must change, but a significant one is that the country is changing demographically, as a recent U.S. Bureau report makes clear. Consequently, companies need diverse leaders who reflect the changing marketplace. Our research finds that when workplace teams reflect their target customers, the entire team is more than twice as likely to innovate effectively for their end users.

Recognize bias. No matter how well-prepared women of color are, they won't get a seat at the table unless those at the table allow them to pull up a chair. Companies can take steps to make this happen. One multinational company, for example, developed a leadership program that not only puts high-potential employees on the management track but also targets the supervisors who select the candidates. In de-biasing trainings, supervisors learned to recognize and control their inclinations to nominate candidates who were similar to themselves and instead acknowledge great candidates of color. Black women employees who participated in this reported feeling more engaged and better positioned for advancement opportunities. More importantly, their supervisors committed to offering these women leadership opportunities within one year.

Practice inclusive leadership. Leaders need to create a safe team environment where all employees can speak up, be heard, and feel welcome. They should embrace the input of employees whose backgrounds or expertise differ from their own, and foster collaboration among diverse staff, ask questions of all members of the team, facilitate constructive arguments, give actionable feedback, and act upon the advice of diverse employees. In addition, leaders can make women of color feel valued and included by prizing authenticity over conformity and operating from an understanding that a range of presentation and communication styles can succeed in the workplace.

Provide sponsorship programs. Corporations such as American Express and Bank of America have created programs that accelerate the progress of women and people of color by pairing them with more experienced sponsors who help them learn the ropes - not just in their first weeks or months on the job, but over the long haul. Our research shows that a mentor's advice is not enough; a sponsor's meaningful advocacy makes all the difference. Our research, for instance, finds that women of color who say they have sponsors are 81% more likely to be satisfied with their career progression than those without sponsors.

Hold leaders accountable. Make sure that inclusion is a core value of the organization - not just something you do to "check a box." For instance, when CTI's CEO Pat Fili-Krushel was head of HR at Time Warner, they instituted a tracking and reporting system to measure progress against the diversity and inclusion goals for each division. Leaders were held accountable with 10% of their bonuses tied to their goals.

If businesses are to grow and thrive now and in the future, it's imperative to elevate the voices of women of color and eliminate institutional barriers to their success. In order to do this, business leaders must intentionally address the relentless undertow of discrimination that continues to hinder them from doing their jobs. We must unleash all talent and, in the process, create more profit, equity, and a better world.

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5 Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Workplace

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Executive Summary Women of color face major obstacles to being heard, valued, and respected in their jobs. They feel their ideas aren't heard or recognized, and they express feeling stalled in their careers. But these individuals bring diverse ideas and experiences to the table, which can help companies innovate and grow.

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The companies can have a better HR team, host mentorship circles and workshops, and have honest conversations around the topics.

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The corporate culture is toxic and makes women fee unwelcome. The gender wage gap makes them feel undervalued.

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It is hardly news that women -particularly women of color-are chronically underrepresented in the US tech sector. Perhaps more alarming is that the trend is headed in the wrong direction. The percentage of computing roles women hold has largely declined in the United States over the past 25 years.

The situation is even more grave for underrepresented women of color: black, Latina, and Native American women.

To help more women prepare for careers in the tech industry, McKinsey collaborated with Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates, on a comprehensive study to examine how tech-company philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments can improve the gender diversity of the tech pipeline. This report, Rebooting representation: Using CSR and philanthropy to close the gender gap in tech, offers a detailed analysis of the current state of the tech sector's gender gap, as well as practical guidance for tech companies interested in increasing the diversity of the tech pipeline.

Stay current on your favorite topics

A lack of gender diversity carries with it a major opportunity cost, both for individual tech companies and the entire sector. Diverse teams, including those with greater gender diversity, are on average more creative, innovative, and, ultimately, are associated with greater profitability. This strong positive correlation between higher levels of employee diversity and stronger financial performance has been demonstrated consistently across sectors and geographies, and tech is no different. Plus, tech companies' recent public struggles on gender-related issues have demonstrated there are real, immediate costs that result from a lack of inclusion and diversity-lost stock value, lower market share, HR costs, and public relations costs, among others.

There is no question that the tech sector can help create a brighter future for women and girls in computing. Through a survey of 32 leading tech companies representing nearly $500 billion in revenues and slightly more than $500 million in philanthropic giving in 2017, as well as extensive interviews with approximately 40 tech-company leaders, we found evidence of why, exactly, current philanthropic and CSR efforts are falling short. Tech company action today will create opportunities for women to lead innovation tomorrow.

Women in computing today

The lack of diversity in the US tech sector is not a recent phenomenon; it has been a significant and consistent challenge for tech companies for many years. From tech start-ups to Fortune 500 industry anchors, tech companies of all sizes recognize that their workforce continues to draw mainly from a small segment of the talent pool-predominantly white and Asian men from elite educational institutions. Drawing from a narrow talent pool leaves money, innovative ideas, and star employees on the table-and potentially exposes organizations to criticism and reputational risk.

To understand the magnitude of the problem, consider the fact that women comprise just 23 percent of high school Advanced Placement computer-science exam takers, 19 percent of bachelor's computer and information science degree recipients, and 26 percent of the computing workforce (Exhibit 1). The situation is worse for underrepresented women of color: despite accounting for approximately 16 percent of the general population , women of color comprise only around 4 percent of technical roles in tech companies and are almost completely absent at the senior leadership level, with zero black or Latina women CEOs of Fortune 500 tech companies. While men of color are also excluded from tech, they participate at almost three times the rate of women of color.

And things are getting worse, not better: the share of black, Latina, and Native American women receiving computing degrees has dropped by 40 percent over the past decade, to 4 percent, from 7 percent (Exhibit 2). If this trend continues, the number of underrepresented women of color receiving computing degrees will not double over today's numbers until 2052-by which time they will represent a vanishingly small proportion of all graduates.

The tech sector needs to innovate to expand its technical workforce-and quickly. According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute discussion paper, demand for advanced IT and programming skills will grow by as much as 90 percent over the next 15 years. Business leaders across sectors are already reporting an expected tech skills shortage in their companies within the next three years. And the competition for technical talent is about to become much fiercer across industries as companies of all types grow their technical capabilities. To stay ahead, the tech sector needs to expand its talent pool rapidly by investing in and attracting historically underutilized talent, notably women.

Current philanthropic and CSR efforts to increase the gender diversity of the tech sector are falling short

Despite the growing number of voices pushing for gender equality across the United States, and many tech companies stating that diversity is a priority, we are not yet seeing concrete gains in the tech industry. If tech companies can successfully create pathways for women and girls-particularly the most marginalized women and girls of color, who face the greatest number of barriers-to pursue careers in technology, the industry will benefit from a much broader talent pool and realize new economic opportunities.

To ensure these efforts are successful, it is important for tech companies to begin with an understanding of why their current efforts are falling short. Our survey revealed several insights into the current state of philanthropic and CSR efforts.

Many companies do not apply a gender lens to their CSR and philanthropy. Despite many leaders' stated desire to bring more women into the sector, most companies do not invest significantly in improving the gender diversity in tech through their philanthropy. In 2017, only around 5 percent ($26 million) of companies' philanthropic giving went to programs with an explicit focus on women and girls in tech. Without deliberately focusing on women's representation in programs that prepare people for careers in tech, companies risk replicating the same gender ratios we see in the sector today.

Underrepresented women and girls of color fall through the cracks. Although companies express a strong desire to reach underrepresented women of color, less than 0.1 percent (or $335,000) of the 32 tech companies' 2017 philanthropic giving focused on reaching them specifically. Many companies sponsor programs to reach underrepresented minority communities generally rather than doubling down on removing barriers for women of color in particular. This current gender-neutral approach is unlikely to change the persistently low number of underrepresented women of color in tech.

Current investments focus on middle and high school students, though later on-ramps are effective at involving more women and girls. Tech companies concentrate 66 percent of their philanthropic funding on K-12 programs, compared to 3 percent on college-level programs (Exhibit 3). Although many invest in recruiting efforts in late college, few invest philanthropically earlier in higher education to build the cohort from which they will ultimately recruit, pointing to a missed chance for tech companies to influence the pipeline in the short term.

Decision making and ownership regarding gender-diversity initiatives are fragmented within tech companies. Tech companies reported that their various groups and functions involved in gender diversity-for example, HR, diversity and inclusion (D&I), and CSR-rarely coordinate on strategy, with no clear "owner" overseeing the company's approach to increasing the number of women in technology overall. Companies that successfully link their philanthropy and CSR efforts with their D&I initiatives under a unified strategy are more likely to see success on both fronts.

Companies struggle to navigate through the limited evidence of what works. Sixty-one percent of companies reported that it is difficult to know which programs have the most impact today, and 42 percent resort to self-guided online research to drive their giving strategy. The need for more research, as well as the synthesis and dissemination of findings, is clear.

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Best practices to increase tech gender diversity through philanthropic and CSR investments

Our research distills evidence from across the field to identify the approaches showing the most promising results in increasing the number of women studying computing and entering tech. A few critical best practices emerged from this research. Tech companies can draw on them in the design of their own programs and when engaging with organizations they fund or partner with.

Focus on women and girls

As part of a broader diversity effort, it is important for companies to support either girls-only programs or coeducational programs that focus on achieving at least 40 percent representation of girls through proactive recruitment and retention steps. Maintaining a focus on women's equal representation, with stated goals at the program level, is the only way to avoid replicating the same gender ratios we see in tech today.

Solve for those facing the most barriers-underrepresented women and girls of color

Women experience different types of roadblocks and biases when studying computing and pursuing a career in tech due to their race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and other elements of their identities and backgrounds. Companies can support strategies and programs that attend to the specific challenges faced by the subsegments of women who are facing multiple forms of marginalization. Focusing on the experiences of those who face the greatest number of barriers will spur solutions that ultimately improve the inclusivity of the tech sector for all underrepresented groups.

It is never too late; consider multiple on-ramps

Women in the Workplace 2017

Girls and women can begin their journey into tech at many different points in their lives. According to our research, because girls are less likely than boys to have exposure to computing as children, later on-ramps-such as those during higher education-offer high-impact opportunities to make up lost ground by involving women and girls who have minimal previous exposure.

Deliver eight critical building blocks for success

The evidence base points to eight components that programs need to incorporate to empower women and girls to succeed in tech. Tech companies should work with their partners to ensure these success factors are in place to maximize the impact of their investments:

1. Offer on-ramps for beginners.

2. Create a sense of belonging.

3. Build her confidence in her abilities.

4. Cultivate a community of supportive peers.

5. Ensure adult gatekeepers (family, teachers, counselors) are encouraging and inclusive.

6. Foster interest in computing careers.

7. Create continuity between computing experiences.

8. Provide access to technology and computing experiences.

Connect programs to each other

Most programs only target one particular stage in the tech journey. However, if the experience of women and girls in tech are one-off, they are less likely to remain engaged in computing. Companies can encourage the programs they support to connect with one another and transition young women smoothly from one experience to the next-and invest to fill any gaps in program offerings. Developing this "connective tissue" increases the likelihood that the experiences in which a company invests will ultimately lead women to enter the sector.

Measure impact

Companies can drive knowledge development by funding organizations and grantees to collect data against a consistent set of metrics. This report contains a dashboard that captures the relevant metrics for companies to apply across their CSR and philanthropic programs related to women in tech; the intention is to help the field coalesce around a manageable set of indicators that will enable us to understand what works.

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Together, tech companies have the opportunity to dramatically shift the trajectory of women and girls entering the industry and make tech an exciting career opportunity for all. Getting this right will result in women participating in the tech workforce in equal numbers as men. Achieving greater equality is a business imperative for the sector-and the benefits will spread far beyond it.

This article is an edited extract from Rebooting representation: Using CSR and philanthropy to close the gender gap in tech, a study undertaken by Pivotal Ventures and McKinsey. Pivotal Ventures is an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates. It partners with organizations and individuals who share its urgency for social progress in the United States.

About the author(s)

Michael Conway is a senior partner in McKinsey's Philadelphia office, Kweilin Ellingrud is a senior partner in the Minneapolis office, and Tracy Nowski is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office. Renee Wittemyer is the senior lead for women and tech innovation at Pivotal Ventures.

The authors wish to thank Celeste Jalbert, an expert on gender equality and the workplace, for her contributions to this article.

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Closing the tech gender gap through philanthropy and corporate social responsibility

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It is hardly news that women -particularly women of color-are chronically underrepresented in the US tech sector. Perhaps more alarming is that the trend is headed in the wrong direction. The percentage of computing roles women hold has largely declined in the United States over the past 25 years.

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How can we close the gender gap in technology? (What strategies can companies use?) (Why is it important?)

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How can we close the gender gap in technology? (What strategies can companies use?) (Why is it important?)