Redraw the Balance
Inspiring the Future
“You cannot be what you cannot see.” Both this mantra and this powerful video speak to why the visible representation of women and minorities in all facets of society matters. Watch as teachers ask a classroom full of children to draw firefighters, surgeons and pilots. Ultimately, nearly every child draws men in those roles. Then see their faces when real women who occupy those roles enter the classroom in their work regalia. We loved this approach to opening up young minds to the many possibilities of what women can achieve.


For Women in Tech, Clinton Campaign Events Double as Networking Opportunities
Christina Farr, Fast Company
An effort by the Hillary Clinton campaign to engage Silicon Valley’s movers and shakers has had an unintended — but great — side effect: bringing new networking and mentoring opportunities to the women in this tech world. While campaigning on behalf of Clinton, female techies and entrepreneurs have gotten connected with each other. And, it seems, the effect is not accidental. “That’s the intention,” Kate Maeder, an organizer for Ready for Hillary and Hillary for America, told Farr. “We’re making inter-generational connections between different women.”


Ghostbusters’ Steps Right Into the Hostility of Gender Politics
Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes, The New York Times
Discussions about the all-female remake of the 1984 classic movie “Ghostbusters,” which starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and other celebrated comedic actors, have been rife with outright sexism. Hillary Clinton’s campaign has often confronted the same sort of hostility. These two themes unexpectedly came together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, when stars of the reboot and the Democratic presidential hopeful wound up appearing on the same episode. The result was a fun and positive day for both camps of women — though, not everyone seemed excited about the two worlds colliding. “All this attention is great, but I hope they realize that Slimer is not a registered voter,” said Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony’s motion pictures group.


Why VCs Aren’t Funding Women-Led Startups
Knowledge@Wharton
The difficulties faced by women business owners seeking venture capital funding are well-documented. Why does this problem persist? And why is it getting worse? The share of A-round funding going to women-owned Bay Area startups in 2015 fell 30 percent from 2014, according to a recent report. Clearly, the problem has many roots: there’s a dearth of women in the VC world, and businesses started by female founders seem to get more skeptical treatment from VCs. Saikat Chaudhuri, executive director of Wharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, cites a “chicken and egg problem,” saying: “We don’t have enough women going into technology, engineering and entrepreneurship more broadly, so when it comes to funding opportunities, there’s just not a lot of women who are asking in the first place.” Changing that, Chaudhuri says, means grooming women tech entrepreneurs starting as early as childhood.

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