Yet it's not all rainbows and kittens. A new study from Booking.com reports that gender bias during job recruitment is the biggest barrier to women in tech. FTN News summarized the findings and explained that nearly half of women (47%) said gender bias was a factor in getting a job in tech, despite the many recent industry initiatives striving to create gender equality in the industry. Female undergraduate students faced the most gender bias (62%). Gillian Tans, CEO of Booking.com, said: "Our research highlights just how pivotal tech companies' recruiting practices are to getting female candidates across the line into a role within tech. This includes how they talk about the industry, the job descriptions they post and the opportunities they promote." (See Tech's Gender Problem Starts at Entry Level – McKinsey.)

Burlington Telecom, a fiber-optic provider in the city of Burlington, Vt., is under watch this week as it reacts to the accusations of three female managers who say they were discriminated against because of their gender. Vermont newspaper Seven Days reports that the three employees "sued the utility and the city for sex discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract" because they were not awarded raises or bonuses though their male counterparts were. The company and city deny the claims and state that any differences were due to factors that did not involve employees' genders, though the allegations themselves have already been retaliated against with "additional discrimination" from the company. All three women have since left the company. (See WiC Panel: The Upside of Sexism Scandals.)

Raising VC cash for female-founded companies is no joke, yet opportunities do exist. Inc. explains that more than $1 billion has been set aside by specific funds for startups that are founded by women. So how can founders find these funds? Inc. looked at a nifty searchable tool called The Fundery that allows users to search for VC firms based on their company's needs. So far, 55 female-focused VC funds are listed, and any funds that are currently investing in female-founded companies are invited to submit their info to be added here. (See WiCipedia: Female Founders Find Funding & Automotive Careers for Women.)

So what do women in tech really, really want? Techopedia put this question out into the ether and the answer wasn't exactly a surprise: equality. "Women in tech want exactly what men in tech want," said Amy Romero, global chief marketing officer at CreativeDrive. "More opportunities for advancement, the ability to work on challenging projects that fuel their creative drive, unlock hidden potential and sources of growth, and role models in leadership positions." Katherine Noall, CEO of Sphere Identity, proclaimed that special programs for women in tech weren't even needed, though "better decision making" was. (See WiCipedia: The AI Diversity Struggle, Companies Aren't Prioritizing Equality & New-Mom Decisions.)

— Eryn Leavens, Special Features & Copy Editor, Light Reading