This week Babson College reported findings of a study that analyzed venture capital funding for women entrepreneurs called “Bridging the Gap in Venture Capital.” The study tracks venture capital investments in women entrepreneurs since the original Diana Project research that was conducted in 1999.  Here are some of the good, the bad, and the ugly findings from the report.

THE GOOD

• Women entrepreneurs are a majority owner of about 10 million businesses in the US (representing 36% of all US businesses).
• Women entrepreneurs have experienced a 3X increase in obtaining venture capital since 1999.
• Businesses with a woman on the executive team are more likely to have higher valuations at both first and last funding (64% higher and 49% higher, respectively).

THE BAD

• Women entrepreneurs are only getting 15% of venture capital investments, meaning 85% of all venture capital funded business have no women on the executive team.
• Companies with a woman executive on the team received only 13% of total venture investments in the early stage and only 9% in the seed stage.
• VC firms with women partners are more than twice as likely to invest in companies with a woman on the management team (34% versus 13%). This is bad because of the ugly first bullet below.

THE UGLY

• The total number of women partners in venture capital firms has declined significantly since 1999, dropping to 6% from 10%.
• Companies with a woman CEO received only 3% of total venture capital dollars from 2011-2013.

Also of note, Massachusetts was 1 of 3 states with the highest number of investments in firms with women on the executive team (making us one of the best of an otherwise bad lot). 

The report also offers some big picture recommendations to improve the landscape for women entrepreneurs. I have a few concrete suggestions of my own that you can start on right away:

1. Putting together a startup-related panel? Make sure there is at least one woman on it. Can’t think of one? That means your network is too limited (you can call me, I’ll help you out).  If you are going to a program and you don’t see a woman on the panel, call out the organizers to do better.  Do it every time. Tell your friends to do it too.
2. If you are a man, attend “women’s” events.  Do it often. See what it feels like to be one of a few in a room.  It will expand your network and will give you a better understanding of how women often feel at tech and VC events.  That will make you sympathetic (which is a good thing).
3. VC’s, look at your portfolio companies? How many are led by women? How many have women on the executive team? If the answer is substantially less than 50%, than I would posit you aren’t doing a good enough job sourcing your deals.  Also, HIRE AND PROMOTE MORE WOMEN (start right now!)
4. Are you a woman who has raised venture money? Great! Share what you learned with other women entrepreneurs. Help them grow their network. Give advice. Be helpful in any way you can.
5. Don’t blame women for being women. I’m am completely fed up with hearing that women aren’t competitive enough, aren’t technical enough, can’t hack the 24-7 startup lifestyle, etc. That is a bunch of baloney.  Neither all women, nor all men are suited to be entrepreneurs.  These sweeping beliefs are gender bias, plain and simple. So if you are having one of those thoughts, identify it for what it is, and try to minimize its impact on your decisions.

Jules Pieri, co-founder and CEO of The Grommet, experienced her own challenges when she was raising money for her company. She has suggested that VC needs its own Title IX to incentivize change to the current funding norms, which could have significant impact on the industry.

I know there is no immediate and simple fix to this issue, but we can certainly do better. I sure hope we are willing to try. If you have suggestions, please share!