5 Seattle-Based Efforts to Bridge the Gender Gap

This article appears as part of the “Women at Work” cover story in the May 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription.

Diverse City Community Engagement Series
Cheryl Ingram partnered with sponsor organizations to host an interactive scenario-based learning session featuring small groups that brainstormed solutions to real-life situations. Ingram distributed a summary of findings to the participants for their use at work. The first session attracted 120 people entrepreneurs and people from nonprofits, startups and large tech companies with a 40-person waiting list. She plans two more this year. diversecityllc.com

Female Founders Alliance Champion Awards
Leslie Feinzaig began Seattle Female Founders Alliance to advance opportunities for women-led companies in the tech industry. Not a group to take a break, FFA hosted its first Champion Awards event in February to honor those helping to correct the dramatic gender gap in venture capital. The sold-out event celebrated top allies in four categories and nine unsung heroes. femalefounders.org

Women Leaders in Global Health & Development
The Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) partnered with Global Washington to host a symposium in February to talk about the issues keeping women out of global health leadership. Dena Morris, WGHA president and CEO, was shocked by the demand. The event sold out a week early with more than 100 enrollees who arrived hungry for information and eager to engage. wghalliance.org; globalwa.org

‘Show and Tell’ at Zillow
The online real estate database company Zillow recently launched Career Development on Stage, a program in all nine of its offices in which a local employee shares her career journey by explaining how she has used connections, experiences and resources to grow in her career. zillowgroup.com

PayScale Mentorship Pilot
Research by PayScale, the compensation data and software company, revealed that men tend to benefit from having a sponsor (internal resource in a position to advance careers) while women are more likely to have mentors (generalist life coaches from inside or outside the workplace). Researchers brought that finding to the PayScale People Team and a three-month beta test was born, matching 10 mentees with 10 more senior champions. Lydia Frank, VP of content strategy, hopes to see the program rolled out nationwide. payscale.com

This story is part of a multi-part cover story, “Women at Work.” Click here for a free subscription.