Hollywood’s #MeToo movement has created global awareness around predatory behavior toward women in the film industry and exposed a number of high-profile offenders, sparking a wider conversation around stark inequities in workplaces around the nation. While the obstacles and biases women face in academia and professionally are far from news, the momentum of this equality moment has created a shift in the discourse around inclusion in every industry.

“This has been going on as long as women have been in the workplace, but … we’ve got the world’s attention now,” said Shelley Correll (pictured), professor of sociology at Standford University, Barbara D. Fineberg director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford, and founder and director of the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. “Let’s use … it is an opening that allows us to take the “me too” … moment … and turn it into a movement that produces sustainable change.”

Correll recently spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Women Transforming Technology event in Palo Alto, California. (* Disclosure below.)

In an effort to collapse the old systems holding back women in the tech industry, Correll is championing The Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, a Stanford-funded VMware Inc. initiative created to research and take action against the longstanding barriers to women’s advancement. Betsy Sutter, senior vice president and chief people officer of VMware, and Alaina Percival, chief executive officer of Women Who Code, also sat down with Martin during the Women Transforming Technology event to discuss the initiative and the state of women in the industry at large.

This week, theCUBE spotlights Shelley Correll, Betsy Sutter and Alaina Percival in our Women in Tech feature.

Watch the complete video interview with Shelley Correll below:

‘In order to innovate, you have to be inclusive’

The number of women currently working computing jobs is 25 percent, and only 11 percent hold executive roles in the tech industry, according to the National Center for Women & Technology. On average, women under age 25 earn 29 percent less than their male peers.

“Research shows that the progress, in terms of moving women into leadership, has all but stalled. … If we just sit back and wait, we’re not going to see … gender equality in our lives, our daughter’s lives,” Correll said.

Tech poses unjust challenges to women through biases in education, recruiting and career advancement. In one practice termed the “motherhood penalty,” women are deemed less suitable for roles if they are perceived as being mothers during the hiring process. “Our research found that if you take a resume for a woman and … add in subtle information that she’s a mother … that people are 100 percent less likely to recommend her for hire,” Correll said.

This prejudice is likely based on a belief that a woman’s familial commitment will preclude her from professional obligations, a judgement not leveraged against fathers in the industry. “People see fathers as more committed to the job than childless men. … Parenthood works differently for men and women in the workplace. … One of the barriers we want to get past is the effects of biases on how people are evaluated,” Correll said.

Women continue to suffer the effects of biases long after initial recruiting evaluation. Data shows that women are leaving technical roles at a rate of 50 percent at the mid-career level, according to Percival. Despite the commonly held belief that they are leaving to raise families, new reports reveal a more disconcerting truth behind the turnover.

“A big reason women leave tech … is they don’t feel like they’re supported in the workplace. … If you’re in a workplace where you constantly feel your talent is not being appreciated, that’s one way you quickly don’t feel included as a technical worker,” Correll said.

While the harmful effects of a lack of inclusivity at an individual level are enough to inspire change, the negative impact of inequality doesn’t end at the employee. Hiring and management biases point to inefficient talent assessments, which means the best employees may not be receiving appropriate opportunities to benefit from the success of their company.

Companies with diversity at the executive level are 21 percent more profitable, according to research from McKinsey & Co. “In order to innovate, you have to be inclusive. … Companies are starting to understand that if you don’t have diversity, you’re not going to have innovation, and you’re not going to win,” Sutter said.

Watch the complete video interview with Betsy Sutter below:

A new chapter in women’s leadership

In search of a lasting solution to all the issues created by a lack of inclusion, a number of organizations have risen to the occasion through initiatives that provide education, career training and support, and direct efforts toward removing biased barriers to entry for good.

Women Who Code, the largest and most active community of technical women in the world, offers a positive career impact for 80 percent of its members through a powerful professional network of women working in science, technology, engineering and math jobs. Last year the program hosted 1,900 free training events and gave away $2.8 million in scholarships and conference tickets.

Percival credits VMware’s partnership in Women Who Code with the organization’s efficacy. “When someone … gives you what you need to be able to harness that potential, you are able to achieve great things. …. That’s what we do for our members and their careers, and that’s what our partners like VMware do for us,” Percival said.

Watch the complete video interview with Alaina Percival below:

Also benefiting from the support of its longtime sponsor VMware, the Clayman Institute offers a leadership program that encourages the pursuit of STEM careers for high school girls called Seeds of Change.

In its latest inclusion venture, VMware partnered with Stanford to invest $15 million in the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, a new lab focused on researching and developing solutions for advancing women’s leadership.

Through its learnings, the lab aims to diagnose all barriers to women’s advancement and pilot solutions within companies to develop interventions that can be implemented across the industry. “This is a new chapter … around women’s leadership … and  innovation. … It’s going to be great to take progressive, groundbreaking research and put it into practice,” Sutter said.

Joining forces to continue the conversation

As more organizations recognize the need for change, women are being increasingly validated in their calls for action in the industry. “Things are getting  accelerated and amplified because voices are being used and heard. … There’s a movement. Women are coming together,” Sutter said.

With the pace of innovation in the industry enabling exponential growth of new enterprises, Correll advises burgeoning businesses to start from a place of inclusion. “If you get to 10 employees with no women, you’re already behind the curve,” she said.

Attention to biases against women is a positive step for tech, but it’s only the first step to creating a more inclusive industry for all marginalized groups. “They’re biases about gender, but also about parenthood, race, ethnicity, sexuality. … We’re probably going to need to have different kinds of solutions as well,” Correll stated.

While there is still much work to be done, the momentum behind tech’s equality movement provides a promising look at what’s to come. “The key is continuing to join forces … and continue the conversations to … create those platforms,” Sutter concluded.

Watch all of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Women Transforming Technology event below. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Women Transforming Technology 2018. Neither VMware Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE