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If Diversity Is Not a Pipeline Problem

Author: Esther Yang | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: February 14th, 2019 | Download PDF

As the investor community agreed and acknowledged, diversity makes companies more productive and retains talent.[1]  A study by McKinsey & Company also showed that it was “increasingly clear that [diversity] makes sense in purely business terms.”[2] After examining proprietary data sets for 366 in public companies across a range of industries in Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States for several years, McKinsey found that “companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.”[3] The research showed that in the United States, “there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance: for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior executive team, earnings before interest and taxes rise 0.8 percent.”[4] While correlation doesn’t equal causation, there is a general consensus that diversity is and will continue to be an increasingly important to institutional investors, pension funds, employees, and other stakeholders. (more…)

Women on Board

Author: Ken Taylor | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: January 18th, 2019 | Download PDF

California governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill No. 826 into law on September 30, 2018. The law requires publicly-traded companies incorporated in California to put at least one woman on their board under threat of penalty.[1] In addition to the issue of constitutionality, there are numerous problems with this law.

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The Power of the Purse: The Role of VC Funding in Closing the Tech Gender Gap

Author: Julia Molo | UC Berkeley School of Law | J.D. Candidate 2020 | Posted: October 15th, 2018 | Download PDF

Venture capital (VC) funds play a critical role in determining the tech leaders of tomorrow. As such, closing the “gender investment gap” is one of the most talked about issues in the tech industry. As are the benefits – and unrealized opportunities – that will come from closing the gap. Indeed, report after report has shown that businesses founded by women outperform their male-founded counterparts, growing faster and ultimately delivering higher revenue.

Nonetheless, a staggering gender investment gap persists.

Only 2% of VC funding went to women in 2017. Since 2013, the average male entrepreneur has raised more than four times the funding than his female counterpart. And the numbers are even worse for women of color – a mere .0006% of VC funding has gone to black female founders since 2009. (more…)