The #MeToo movement began three years ago, yet there's evidence that despite all the policy changes and attention to the issue of harassment and discrimination that it brought, little has been done to create a lasting impact. PC Mag summarized the findings of a study from Women Who Tech, which shows that 55% of people do not think that there have been positive or negative changes since the movement started; rather, the tech industry seems to be at a standstill. Nearly half of the women interviewed have been victims of harassment, with 36% of those women reporting incidents in the past calendar year. Female founders have it worse, with an overwhelming 65% of founders in 2017 experiencing an offer of funding in exchange for sex. In 2020, that number decreased to 59%. (If I could use the facepalm emoji in this article, I would.) (See WiCipedia: Founders battle anti-racism, fight for equal-opportunity funding.)

Built in Chicago announced that The Mom Project, a Chicago-based platform that aims to help working moms find tech jobs, has launched a new nonprofit program. MomProject.org, otherwise known as RISE, will provide scholarships to 10,000 working moms of color so they can secure jobs in the IT sector. The program is specifically geared towards women of color as they have been hit hardest by job losses in the COVID-19 pandemic. "Women of color are in the fight of their lives and we can't sit on the sidelines," CEO Allison Robinson said in a statement. The Mom Project has ties to 2,000 various companies, so upon graduation from the program, recipients can expect to be matched with a job placement. (See WiCipedia: Startup School Scholarships, Losing Lena & UK Pay Discrepancies.)

AnitaB.org's tenth annual report, titled "Top Companies for Women Technologists," explains that we can expect to see equal representation of women in tech in roughly 12 years. Summarized by CNBC, the findings compiled data from 51 participating companies of all sizes, though many of the biggest names in tech were not included. The report looked at both gender and racial configurations of companies and found a steady, if small, increase in the number of women in tech positions year-over-year. If these numbers progress at the same pace for the next decade, it could be 2032 before we see real representation equality. (See WiCipedia: Falling short of the 2020 gender equality goal.)

Recently, we reported that one in four female keynote speakers at tech conferences experience sexual harassment, which seems like a number for the records. Yet new research from Ensono explains that women who simply attend tech events experience discrimination at even higher levels, The Fintech Times reports. One in three women report gender-based harassment or discrimination (and the number only rises for women of color), and more than 60% of women feel that the events are simply not set up for women. For example, attendees reported "barstools as onstage seating causing problems for skirt-wearing panelists, microphones designed to clip onto suit lapels making it awkward to attach to a dress, equipment like projectors and screens too high up for women to reach," and additionally, some of the venues didn't even provide restrooms specifically for women. (See WiCipedia: When tech and politics collide.)

— Eryn Leavens, Special Features & Copy Editor, Light Reading. Follow us on Twitter @LR_WiC and contact Eryn directly at [email protected].