As engineer Susan J. Fowler’s viral account of her year at Uber underlined, a lack of gender diversity and faulty HR policies can lead to a vastly flawed corporate culture.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick replied indirectly to Fowler’s allegations with a company letter where he flagged stats of other leading Silicon Valley companies: Women make up less than 20 percent of technology teams at many, if not most, leading Silicon Valley companies.

Correcting imbalance and combating unacceptable behaviour are the responsibility of everyone in the tech industry. Right now, women are taking the lead. Whether through funding, advice, or mentorship, women are helping other women to thrive and succeed.

One of the keys to progress? Women funding other women:

The Clear Link Between VC Diversity And Success For Female Founders

But that’s not enough. VC firms often lack a female partner, which can create a culture of funding the familiar:

Propelling Tech Industry Success For Women: The Right Funders and the Right Insights

Building the ranks of female engineers and innovators starts with education. Organizations like Hackbright Academy are bridging the gender gap in tech through teaching:

There's constant discussion of the gender gap issue in the tech industry. "So what are the steps needed to change it?” asks Carol Langlois, VP Admissions and Marketing, @Hackbright Academy, a software engineering school for women founded in San Francisco in 2012. To close the gender gap in #engineering and #technology, #Hackbright says it has reimagined and improved engineering education through a model proven to bring women back into the field. #Hackbright’s results show it’s working. Over 90% of graduates have a job within 6 months. The role of leadership in tech companies is another part of solving the gender balance issue. It comes down to leaders demanding diversity and embracing change. “Companies ask us ‘how do we make a company more attractive to women?’,” says Langlois. “Unless their culture is open to it, it’s going to be hard for the women to work there and stay long-term. It’s one thing for a company to identify it, but they have to put measures in place to change the culture and make sure they are successful.” #Hackbright has an impressive list of partner companies who eagerly snap up their graduates, including @Uber, @Pinterest, @Dell, @NewRelic, @GoDaddy, @Salesforce, @Eventbrite, @Slackhq, @Udemy, @SurveyMonkey, and @Dropbox. “The numbers are slowly, but steadily increasing. We have graduates from two or three cohorts back that started as a coder but now run a department,” says Langlois. “That helps shift the culture around it too.” Click our bio link for our look at how VC diversity is impacting female founders in tech startups.

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