Run the (Tech) World (Girls): The Women Who are Shaking Up Silicon Valley

It’s no secret that many of the leading industries in the US are boys clubs. But where there’s a glass ceiling, there are women ready and willing to break it and the tech world is no exception.

Former Google CEO and current CEO of Joyus, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, started the campaign #ChoosePossiblity last year to bring gender equality to tech town. The movement’s efforts have been vast and include The Boardlist, launched last year and The Boardlist Index which launched Thursday. The Index tracks the number of private and public company board seats filled by women and will be updated quarterly. The current stats are staggering:

As of June 30, just 6.8% of private tech companies’ and 10.2% of unicorn companies’ (valued at $1 billion or more) board seats are filled by women.

The Boardlist aims to empower women by connecting business leaders with qualified women to serve on company boards.

Since its founding, 34 female candidates from the platform have been made directors at public and private companies.

Then of course there’s Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and Founder of Leanin.org. Sandberg is an activist and uses her platform to speak on issues of gender equality and empowering women in the workplace. Her 2010 Ted Talk inspired the book Lean In and the eponymous movement #LeaninTogether, which aims to support and celebrate women working together with a focus on female mentorship.

Women are more likely to receive vague feedback they can’t act on (such as, “Good job” or “Your speaking style can be off-putting”), and this disadvantages them at promotion time.

There is lots of work to be done, but it’s movements like these, founded by women for women, which we love to see. They continue to inspire women everywhere to stand up, lean in and choose possibility.

Check out Elle’s 2016 Women in Tech for more incredible women slaying the tech game.

Photo of courtesy of Fortune