--- title: Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable? description: Money is being left on the table when women founders are overlooked. We need to change that. canonical: https://time.com/6266154/women-drive-wealth-so-why-is-equity-still-inequitable/ author: Shelley Zalis article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-27T11:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:00.228Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable? og:description: Money is being left on the table when women founders are overlooked. We need to change that. og:url: https://time.com/6266154/women-drive-wealth-so-why-is-equity-still-inequitable/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a6421d85376396/698a3b6f096a9407836ad9ad/GettyImages-668600179.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: New York Stock Exchange, Wall st, New York, USA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable? twitter:description: Money is being left on the table when women founders are overlooked. We need to change that. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a6421d85376396/698a3b6f096a9407836ad9ad/GettyImages-668600179.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=01c2faac-43c2-4da4-8b24-1c210920f300&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2023 TIME Women of the Year Red Carpet: Gender Equality [Watch (HLS stream): 2023 TIME Women of the Year Red Carpet: Gender Equality](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7NjQ5ZAO.m3u8) (3:45)  _Published 2023-03-09. Women and some notable men gathered from all over the world to celebrate International Women’s Day in Los Angeles on Tuesday for TIME’s second annual Women of the Year gala._ by [Shelley Zalis](https://time.com/author/shelley-zalis/) ## Shelley Zalis Mar 27, 2023 11:00 AM UTC  New York Stock Exchange, Wall street, Manhattan, New York, USA New York Stock Exchange, Wall street, Manhattan, New York, USA Matteo Colombo-Getty Images by [Shelley Zalis](https://time.com/author/shelley-zalis/) ## Shelley Zalis Mar 27, 2023 11:00 AM UTC I spend every day working with leaders trying to close the gender gap. As a founder myself, we’re up against it. What gets headlines is the fact that only [2%](https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard) of all VC funding goes to women, and less than 1% to women of color. While the math doesn’t lie, we’re focused on the wrong stat. We can’t allow this to be the accepted reality because this number is a reflection of today’s make-up of venture investors. It’s time to change the equation. This isn’t just a gender equality issue; it’s also a business imperative. The key fact is that women drive wealth. Emphatically. Let’s make the invisible visible: Research shows that women-led startups outperform their male counterparts, generating [63% ](http://10years.firstround.com)more value and [twice](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/why-women-owned-startups-are-better-bet) as much per dollar invested. The [Rogue Women’s Fund](https://roguewmn.com/) also found that women-led startups are five times more likely to become billion-dollar companies compared to male-led businesses. Proof that money is being left on the table when women founders are overlooked. Venture capital has historically been a male-dominated industry, with [95.5%](https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/2022-all-in-female-founders-in-the-us-vc-ecosystem) of U.S. VC firms having majority male decision-makers, leaving only 4.5% of firms with majority women decision-makers. At the Sun Valley Conference this year, only 10% of attendees were women. It’s hardly surprising that if men control the check-writing power, they’re more likely to bet on male founders. --- ### More from TIME --- When you lift the veil off the important role that women play in driving wealth, and the dominant role they play in driving funding toward women founders, a strong business case is undeniable. More importantly, any confidence gap narrows. Yet it begs the key question: Why are VC firms not hiring or promoting more women partners? You must bring the power of a pack of people to break a pattern, and [studies](https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/journal%5Fposts/women-vcs-invest-in-up-to-2x-more-female-founders#:~:text=At%20the%20Kauffman%20Fellows%20Research,overall%20economy%20and%20job%20growth.) show that when women are at the table, they’re twice as likely to invest in women founders than their male counterparts. Diversity begets diversity, giving way to a new investment strategy, and, ultimately, a new story. Let’s reimagine what’s possible when you add the female factor into the equation, recognizing the power of diversity to drive better outcomes for all. By ‘outcomes,’ I’m not strictly referring to ROI. It’s about ROE—return on equity—when representation is about the strength in numbers it takes to drive real change. The investment community has a huge opportunity and responsibility to ring the closing bell on tradition and rewrite a new normal—one where the collective minority can be greater than the current majority. As with any transformational change, it will require a conscious, concerted decision, and action to change the equation and close the gap. The question should not be: Why is only 2% of VC funding going to women founders? The question should be: Why are only 16% of decision-makers at VC firms women? ## Transcript How do you think about what steps to take toward achieving, you know better, gender equality I think it's to do. It starts just within yourself. I think you have to be able to be willing to fight for that and then it goes in in circles and you just keep widening your circle. There's so many actions. We can take 1 day 1 action, 1 voice, make progress each and every day for a better future that we can all build together to make the world more DayQuil and give all your money away. I think we love you, tell you it can feel hopeless but I think that there are a lot of people out there like doing their absolute best and and just give your money and resources to them. It's really important. Not only to uplift women, but also encourage the men's in our lives. Really step up and be allies part of the world that I confirmed. It starts very simple, and Gender. Equality means menstrual products and means that when women are pregnant and there's a natural disaster if they have access to health care and means that they have a right to choose who they want to marry it mean that they have a right to choose if they want to get married and that they have a right to an education is still like such a long way for me to go within my work. Some of professional athlete and the two pages far as he between men and women is just so big and you know, over time it's going to be a gradual fight. It's not going to be a fight that happens overnight. But you know it's slowly slowly. I see changes part of my effort to make gender equality. A real thing for people was to actually have women at the Forefront of the south end for the showing to not be about them being woman but just about me characters, their women who I care about so much as characters. I'm happy that the rest of the world cares about them. Do you know Wonderful script? Wonderful directors, you know search out new Talent, existing tablet, be open to telling stories that reflect the lives that we that we live. I can always be better because it has been bad for so long and I think we have a long way to go before. We really know what that means and that means the guys have to get educated more. I think it's a step at a time and I think it's also acknowledging. How far we've come? You know, I think, you know, and what connects us rather than what devices I'm an unfortunately being female is still a political act. And I mean, no one person can achieve gender equality. No one genda can achieve gender equality. And I think it's thinking about you not being hopeful about the steps that we have made them knowing that is a lot more to do and being in a room like this. You know. It provides me with so much resolved and energy, you know, I draw energy from those. Achievements. As a refugee myself, it means to go out into the world and for people to see you for people to see refugees has a lot of refugee crisis right now around the world. But how do people how do people get to invest in a story and follow the story until the end of the investment? That's really the most important part is great that we have equal pay and we're being paid, but I think in order to grow the sport, we need, you know we need the investment that the men have been able to get insecure and continue to secure above us, forever for all of these years. So just get us the money. We honestly know what to do with it. We know we know how to do it so just give it to us. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6266154/women-drive-wealth-so-why-is-equity-still-inequitable/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6266154/women-drive-wealth-so-why-is-equity-still-inequitable/"},"headline":"Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable?","datePublished":"2023-03-27T11:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:00.228Z","description":"Money is being left on the table when women founders are overlooked. 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