Table Stakes – a new study on gender gaps, this time measuring the distribution of equity.
In 2019, women earn 79 cents for every dollar men make — less if they are a woman of color. Pay Equity Day comes later for them.
In 2018, only 2.2 percent of venture capital financing went to female founders.
Now, the Table Stakes study is here to tell us that women founders own 48 cents in equity for every dollar men own. Last year, Carta, a platform for ownership management, partnered with the investment collective #ANGELS, analyzed equity in venture-backed companies with an eye on the gender of the holders.
Women equity holders own just 26 cents in equity for every dollar men own. Thirty-two percent of employees and founders are women but they hold only 11 percent of the equity value. If you look at all cap table millionaires, only 20 percent are female.
I’ve got my “incensed but not surprised” hat on as I’m writing this note. The graphics accompanying the report are stark and make the difference immediately apparent. Then things go from bad to “are you kidding?”
Searched Twitter for “TableStakes” and ended up turning up a tweet with the word included that showed an #AllMalePanel out of an Ohio conference. After briefly holding my head in my hands (from bad news to bad news), I retweeted it where it got the attention of a (female) senior executive at Merriam Webster. She pointed out that “the signage above the three dudes reads ‘Women in Agile.’”
Sometimes, you just can’t make this stuff up.
